So, let’s get this straight. Coffee helps you live longer (hooray!), but high levels of “good” cholesterol aren’t going to inoculate us from heart disease (darn!).
Red wine is beneficial (yes!), but even moderate drinking shrinks the brain (say it isn’t so!).
While an era of robust medical research has resulted in breakthroughs that help Americans live longer and healthier lives, the messages can be confusing.
What are health-conscious folks to do?
Study up, for one thing, and look at the fine print.
For instance, the coffee study, which made news last week, said for those who smoke, drink more alcohol, eat red meat and don’t exercise, coffee intake didn’t help them.
Take note: Get on the right side of those issues before you count on any benefit from coffee.
Similarly, the news about HDL cholesterol, the “good” kind, is a bit more nuanced than it comes across in a headline and a sound bite.
Researchers were careful to say that they weren’t trying to contradict the finding that high HDL levels are associated with lower heart disease. More precisely, authors of the study are saying one does not cause the other.
So, your high HDL levels might be indicative of something else going on that is protecting your heart. It’s a subtle difference, but potentially an important one.
And what of one of the treats that humans have gravitated to for ages — sweet, creamy chocolate?
One could write a book — and many have, to be sure — on whether that confection confers benefits on those who consume it.
A recent study said eating chocolate was linked to — get this — lower body mass index. Well, all right, a diet that almost anyone could love.
Once again, not exactly. That stick-in-the-mud word crops up again: moderation. You have to eat chocolate in moderation, it would seem, so that its calories won’t override the suspected metabolic boost that you get from consuming it.
Contradictions and caveats are many in the world of health and diet advice. How about the consumption of red meat?
The Paleo Diet has been the rage in recent years. Colorado State University professor Loren Cordain literally wrote the book proposing a diet similar to that consumed in the Stone Age. It’s a healthful diet promoting vegetable and lean meats, including beef.
But what is one to make of a recent Harvard study linking red meat consumption to increased risk of cancer?
The bottom line is that ultimately, people will have to examine their personal health histories and risk factor and in conjunction with their doctor, and take the route that seems most beneficial.
While that may not make for a catchy sound bite and adds complications to our already busy lives, it’s the best approach at a time when we’re bombarded with interesting but often contradictory information.