{"id":2806,"date":"2004-08-10T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2004-08-10T19:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2004\/08\/sound-bite-science.html"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:40:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:40:19","slug":"sound-bite-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2806","title":{"rendered":"Sound-bite Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sound-bite Science
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\u201cThe Carb-Cancer Link\u201d! Now there’s a headline that gets your attention, and so does a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. This article was used to confirm our newest darling diet fad, by stating that those carbs really are bad and can even cause breast cancer \u2013 one more reason to hop on the float, and ride along with the parade.<\/p>\n

However, behind the headline startle lie the messy details. For example, this study was done on Mexican women whose main sources of carbohydrates included \u201ctortillas, soda, and bread.\u201d Soda was one of their top three sources of carbohydrates. Not beans, not fruits, not nuts, not vegetables. Nevertheless, the tie-in to the carb craze was seized upon for the headline.<\/p>\n

Nowhere in this story does it point out that the Asian diet is predominantly composed of carbohydrates, that the thin French and Italians eat white flour baguettes twice per day every day, or that none of these healthy cultures rely on sodas as their principle beverage.<\/p>\n

Nowhere does this story point out that the USDA\u2019s top 20 food sources of antioxidants (which prevent cancer) are almost all on the to-be-avoided list of high-carb foods.<\/p>\n

The headlines might have proclaimed \u201cSoda Linked To Cancer\u201d or, if you want to keep it on a more molecular footing, \u201cHigh Fructose Corn Syrup Linked To Cancer.\u201d But in choosing the most effective angle for this story, we were only served up carbs. Choosing the attention-getting headline is a completely arbitrary, half-full versus half-empty distinction decided not by the science but by the media.<\/p>\n

All facts aside, they need a headline that sells.<\/p>\n

For our part, most of us look at the media as if it were perfectly objective. And, to the degree that high fructose corn syrup is a carbohydrate, their take on the current study is factually accurate. But their concern about holding the attention span of a typically ADHD public readership will always play the largest role in the story angle. They tell the story we want to hear.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why consumers get the news distilled for their own consumption. This creates a self-sustaining social inertia (like all fad diet trends). Dr. Atkins, for example, had the very same program and results back in the mid 1970\u2019s, but it got no play because the lemmings at the time were heading in a different direction. Gaggles of low-fat eating, low-fat research, low-fat products, and low-fat news stories filled our lives.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the \u201ccarbs can cause cancer\u201d headline is so ironic. Only a few years ago, the exact opposite result was pasted in equally large letters on the front page of health sections: \u201cFats Linked To Breast Cancer\u201d. We were urged by organizations and their advertisers to eat up all the low-fat products and supporting stories they could produce.<\/p>\n

Hence the inertia. The public moves in a direction (like low carb dieting). Companies turn demand into a supply of products, and advertise on the stations that report on the benefits of these products. Completing the circle, the public receives news stories as gospel from the organizations that prepare the stories we most want to consume. This feed-forward mechanism keeps the movement going and growing.<\/p>\n

After all, we have no stomach for boring advice like \u2026 \u201cdon\u2019t eat so damn much.\u201d No one would read that story. We want quick fix, responsibility-absolving solutions.<\/p>\n

Melanie Polk, RD, Director of Nutrition Education at American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) seems to agree. “Four out of five Americans \u2026 say they’d rather cut out entire categories of food from their diets than look for healthy ways to scale back their overall consumption,” said Polk in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

So if you want to sell papers or magazines or get click-throughs, you\u2019ll be much more effective by confirming the lemming\u2019s low carb trajectory than by advising balance, low volume eating, or eliminating all trash food from your diet. How many times, after all, can you repeat this common sense approach and still have people buy, read, or click-through?<\/p>\n

In the end, sound-bite science leaves us with a chimera beast: a head of data, a body of entertainment, and a long trailing tail of self-fulfilling stories. But this animal (this form of health news) will never go away.<\/p>\n

So reader be reminded that, as always, you are here to be entertained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sound-bite Science \u201cThe Carb-Cancer Link\u201d! Now there’s a headline that gets your attention, and so does a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. This article was used … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-Jg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2132,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2132","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":0},"title":"Low Carb Leads to Colon Cancer? Researchers Let Feces Tell This Story","author":"Will Clower","date":"March 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Atkins diet was always good for a few quick pounds of weight loss. But the phrase, \"I'd die to lose weight\" may be (unfortunately) more applicable here that you want to believe.\u00a0Now you have to add \"bad for your colon\" to \"bad for your kidney\" and \"bad for your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"Andres Rodas works at a butcher shop in Buenos Aires January 18, 2008. REUTERS\/Marcos Brindicci","src":"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/resources\/r\/?m=02&d=20110316&t=2&i=364362915&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=2011-03-16T214201Z_01_BTRE72F1OA300_RTROPTP_0_ARGENTINA-BEEF","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13341,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=13341","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":1},"title":"Is Your Diet Inflammatory?","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Chances are better than average that our food choices create inflammation in our bodies. That's because a new study reveals that 57% of U.S. adults have diets that increase inflammation inside the body, which increases their risks for serious health issues like cancer and heart disease. The Mediterranean dietary approach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"concept image of a person looking at a fast food meal, which is on fire, indicating how these food increase Inflammation risk in the body","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Inflammation-food-fire-risk.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Inflammation-food-fire-risk.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Inflammation-food-fire-risk.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Inflammation-food-fire-risk.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Inflammation-food-fire-risk.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2749,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2749","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":2},"title":"Could Diet Soda be making you Fat?","author":"Will Clower","date":"July 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Diet Sodas and the American DreamWork hard, play by the rules, and you can be anything you want to be. This is American Dream, sewn into our souls as a fundamental truism. Do the right thing, do it with diligence, and you will succeed.There\u2019s a dietary version of this dream\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1997,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1997","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":3},"title":"Daily diet soda may increase risk of heart attack, stroke: study | Reuters","author":"Will Clower","date":"February 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what the researchers found ... (from the Journal of General Internal Medicine) older adults who drank diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack. 44 percent!! That's a HUGE number. Here's the caveat.\u00a0Their research showed a correlation between 2 things -- more diet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DietSodas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2162,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2162","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":4},"title":"Headline Fail: High Fiber Diets and Death: Reuters","author":"Will Clower","date":"February 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what we read: \u00a0\"People who eat a lot of fiber every day might be less likely to die prematurely from a range of illnesses -- including heart disease, cancer, and infection -- a new study suggests.\"The benefits of fiber in promoting weight loss, lowering cholesterol, and protecting against heart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-tLVLHQKvgdc\/TVvONnYk-QI\/AAAAAAAAC7k\/4Rv1Yh9GIgE\/s320\/FiberFoods.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1914,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1914","url_meta":{"origin":2806,"position":5},"title":"2 more HUGE reasons to give up sodas","author":"Will Clower","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Via @rodalenewsNeed another reason to put down that bottle of soda? 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