Media confusion

I read a lot… and I mean a lot. On top of reading books, I read the newspapers – the guardian, the times, the telegraph and the mail. Year after year more and more people are telling me how confused they are by what they read in the media regarding health. One week you may have an article saying red wine is good for your heart and then the next week, all alcohol is bad. I’ve just looked through 4 months worth of articles I’ve kept and if I didnt to the job I do I would be confused. One of the most confusing is the recent aspirin debate – one paper states its harmless long term and then another says its dangerous. So what do you do.

Well I think for starters anything to do with drugs, ask your own GP – he or she will know you well and your medical history and make an informed judgement on the risks and benefits for you.

With regard to food and nutrition, I’m afraid the best advice I can give is to ignore all of it. I don’t feel I’m being irresponsible in saying that either. Just listen to your own common sense and try not be guided by what the government or what the media says. Most of you have a good knowledge of what is good and bad to eat and if want some specific unbiased advice come and see someone like me!!

Many of the trials done are open to huge interpretation and its very easy to bias the outcomes depending who is funding them in the first place. So my advice to you all is take the health pages with a pinch of salt. Listen to your own GP who knows you better and can make better decisions for you and also listen to your own gut.

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