Understandably, navigating health news from the media can be extremely confusing. New information sometimes conflicts with that which you may have learned about in the past, scientists may appear to change their minds concerning certain topics, and new trends are always arising. Further, it is a goal of people within media to grab your attention, so it can be attractive for them to make their content radical.

The Harvard School of Public Health recently released an article to help people wrap their minds around the idea of putting health news into context. It is very short, concise and effective at providing tips to help people clear the confusion. It could be of great benefit to take a look at the complete article. Below are 7 questions taken directly from the source, that you can ask yourself in order to help you put news from the media into context.

7 Questions To Help Put Health News in Context

  1. One of the most crucial things to keep in mind is how does a given study fit into the entire body of evidence on a topic? What is the weight of the evidence?
  2. Is the story reporting the results of a single study? A single study is rarely influential enough to warrant that people change their behaviors based on the results. It is important to consider how that study fits in with other studies on the topic. Some articles provide this background, but sometimes you may need to do more digging on your own.
  3. How large is the study? Take note of the study’s sample size, as large studies often provide more reliable results than smaller studies.
  4. Was the study done on animals or humans? Many important studies have been carried out on animals, but to best understand how food and nutrients affect human health they must be studied in humans.
  5. Did the study look at real disease endpoints, such as heart disease or osteoporosis? Chronic diseases, like heart disease and osteoporosis, often take many decades to develop. To avoid waiting that long, researchers will sometimes look at markers for these diseases, like narrowing of the arteries or bone density. However, these markers don’t always develop into the disease.
  6. How was diet assessed? Some methods of dietary assessment are better than others. Good studies will be able to show sound methodology.
  7. What type of study is it? Study types fall into different categories, including cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, case control studies, and animal studies. The Department of Nutrition’s Dr. Frank Hu sums up why some study types are considered more reliable than others: (goes on to talk about randomized controlled trials)

 

Source: Harvard School of Public Health:  Diet in the News-What to Believe