false 4 4 false false Mon Jun 01 14:23:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 15:29:06 -0700 2009
Here's the thing: even supposedly trustworthy sources aren't quite as neutral about these issues as one might imagine. In this book, health journalist Robert Davis carefully explains why that is. Everyone is aware, of course, of the basic conflict of interest that occurs when scientific research on new drugs, supplements, procedures, diets or health products is paid for by those who stand to benefit from a positive result. Davis does a good job of examining not only these more obvious conflicts of interest, but also how the media who should be more skeptically examining these claims will often swallow the PR hook because exciting new discoveries sell more papers than the usually more ambiguous truth. In addition, he also exposes how many seemingly neutral non-profits making health recommendations are actually funded by industries that benefit from the suggestions they make, and even those that aren't sometimes raise health alarms not based on good science but for other, more mundane reasons such as trying to get attention and new members.

The only way to avoid being unduly biased by all this health spin, Davis suggests, is to learn the basics of what constitutes a good study, get your information from as neutral a source as possible (many of which he includes in the book), and accept the reality that human health is far more complex than a marketing and PR campaign can ever accept. In the course of his discussion, Davis offers examples of how to be a good skeptical health consumer by examining a number of health claims from the sacred (lower your cholesterol, lose weight and wear sunscreen) to the fringe (anti-aging medicine is safe and effective.) I was surprised to learn that some studies suggest that the use of statins to lower cholesterol in some populations may not be worth the risk of side-effects, that losing weight may not always be the health-improving home run its presented to be, and that sunscreen, while helping prevent a mild form of skin cancer, has not been proven to protect against the most dangerous form of melanoma and may in fact increase risk of it by giving people a false sense of security about their level of protection.

In his final chapter, Davis discusses why people are often so easily swayed by questionable health advice. Most people like the idea that we can be in control of our individual destinies, and, to some extent, we are. He includes a clear list of those actions that have been definitively shown to improve one's health and suggests that people do make the effort to follow them. But in making health choices, he reminds us that it's important to prioritize and not try to follow every new health recommendation fad with scanty real evidence. Doing so will only cause us to become more stressed, and thus undermine our attempt to be more healthy in the first place.
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