Just type “studies show” into any search engine and the yield will be 20,000 entries strong. When it comes to science research in the media, things tend to get blown a little out of proportion. Some foods prevent cancer, some foods cause heart disease, some foods that prevent cancer cause heart disease. In an age where we are surrounded by information, how do you figure out what is legitimate and what isn’t?
Science research seeks answers to hypotheses by finding relationships between variables. But much of the time, those relationships can be explained by other factors as well. That’s why most valued studies are typically reviewed by peers, or experts within the field. People who can examine the results and help determine whether the findings are valid and what further questions need to be explored.
When the latest headline touts some health research claim, you may need to think twice before taking it at face value. Science is ever evolving and new research is constantly taking place. Some findings can be world changing and some findings can inch a theory just a little bit further. Study results are so frequent, they need to be considered with a great deal of perspective.
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi illustrates this best with his tongue-in-cheek Harper’s Magazine column, entitled Findings:
Scientists discovered that eating blueberries and having friends are good for the memory and that pregnancy and smoking are bad for it. Brazilian researchers may have created human sperm cells by injecting pulp from the teeth of human babies into the testicles of mice, and sensory analysts created the perfect cheese sandwich. Citrus-scented Windex encourages ethical behavior. Israeli researchers developed software that evaluates the depression of bloggers. Psychologists warned against drawing universal conclusions on the basis of research conducted in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, or “WEIRD,” countries.
So unless you plan on avoiding pregnancy to preserve your memory, smelling citrus-scented Windex to become more ethical, or injecting the pulp from teeth into the testicles of mice, you might want to disregard the majority of the outrageous health claims made in the media today until you’ve heard all of the facts.
Click here to read what Dr. Matthew Edlund in Psychology Today has to say about why beds do not kill people.