| Health articles under scrutiny New nutrition information comes out every day and the media is quick to report much of it. Magazines like Men's Health, Muscular Development, Shape and Fit have given us news on every food with their pros and cons of consumption. In their haste to report news, they have presented misinformation from misinterpreted research, 2 examples follow: Article misinformation # 1: Chocolate is healthy Several months ago there was a surge of columns talking about how chocolate contained certain antioxidant compounds known as phenolics and catechins and how due to these compounds, chocolate was good for your health. It is true that there are certain heart-protective antioxidants in chocolate, however controversy has arisen because the articles went on to report that it is okay to have chocolate in small doses. What the magazines failed to report is that although chocolate contains healthy compounds, chocolate bars and snacks have other unhealthy compounds in them besides cocoa like cocoa butter, sugars and palm oils. These compounds can elevate your bad cholesterol levels and add to your waistline. Overall chocolate consumption will increase your chances of getting cancer rather than preventing it. Therefore it cannot be concluded that chocolate is good for your health. This is a prime example of where research was falsely interpreted. The articles should have been reporting that consuming cocoa not chocolate could be beneficial to people's health. Article misinformation #2: Wine is good for you This is an older finding which recently has been better explained but was such a widespread misinformation that it deserves mention. Due to the antioxidants in wine and some grape skins known as polyphenols, red wine was shown to have cancer preventative properties. The bioflavonoids in wine also lead health journalists to report that wine prevents heart attacks. Initially, this lead magazines to recommend drinking wine for cancer and heart attack prevention. As most of us know excessive alcohol consumption of any kind is not good for our liver and is high in calories so can be bad for our gut too. Even more contradictory, excessive alcohol intake increases the risk of cancers of the breast, colon, rectum, mouth, throat and esophagus. Health professionals also realized that there were other, healthier sources of bioflavonoids such as fruits and vegetables that could be equally effective in preventing heart disease. As a result of this realization, after several months magazines changed their recommendations to moderate wine consumption of one glass a day. The bottom line is that next time that you read news regarding a new health claim, read it with a fine tooth comb and make sure that it makes logical sense or else your haste might make waist. |
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