Healthy Bytes

Now it causes cancer, Now it doesn’t

read time: 463 words, about 2 minutes

How tired are you of conflicting results?
I mean one study says eating blabla will prevent (fill in the blank malady). Then another study comes along and says blabla does not have an effect on (fill in the blank malady).

My sense from a lot of people is, in some ways they’re numb to all these “studies”. At minimum, they’re confused and frustrated. When it comes to teasing and toying with your health and the quality of your life, well, it seems a bit cruel.

You can’t blame the researchers in most cases – assuming they don’t have a hidden agenda that has significantly tilted the research.

But here’s the thing – in my strong opinion – all of this research, or at least the interpretation of it, tries to fulfill a much greater role than it possibly can. Often this is driven by hope, mortal fears and our inherent need to make things better.

Additionally, while a particular study may look at one particular food, or one effect, it cannot completely control everything else. For instance, “subjects” that are apt to ‘eat a healthy diet’ are also apt to practice numerous other healthy habits. Since they’re probably healthier to begin with, the results they experience may significantly differ from the results a less healthy person will realize.

Let me explain.
Think about a couple phrases you’ve probably heard a billion times:
Eat a balanced diet
Everything in moderation

These are very, very, very core truths and the first filter you should use for everything.
A> There simply is not ONE thing, not ONE food.
B> There’s an inter-relationship among the systems in the body. What you eat does not have a single effect on a single system. Nor is the effect generally noticed immediately.
C> You need a plethora of nutrients to thrive. Eating a small number of foods won’t get you there.
D> The body is pretty forgiving. It can take sporadic and temporary stresses. But constant stress and malnutrition have a cumulative effect.

All this to say, that yes, for example, blueberries are very good for you. But, simply adding blueberries to a bad diet is not enough to absolve the effects of a bad diet. It’s only enough to tilt the scale a little.

While there is value in research findings, understand them in perspective. And try to understand why a particular food or advocated diet is good or bad. For instance, in the case of blueberries - they’re very good anti-oxidants. So to increase your anti-oxidant intake, blueberries are one of the best ways.

So when you turn on the evening news and here about the “latest” miracle food or miracle exercise, understand the limitations of research. And don’t abdicate your responsibility to consistently eat well for the health of it.

This entry was posted on Wed, 20.Dec.2006 at 2:34 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.