Am I going out on a limb by suggesting that a high proportion of what you read in the popular media as concerns health and nutrition ( and many other subjects to be sure) is untrustworthy? I guess that depends on whether the tree is genetically modified and grown with non-bovine fertilizer.
All joking aside, remember when Coffee was "linked" to pancreatic cancer and should be avoided in favor of soft drinks at breakfast time? I do, it was back when some were trying to take Aspirin off the market because "tests showed" it to have no value. If a cynic like me suggested, and I did, that The Coca Cola Bottling Company and the people who make non-aspirin anti-inflammatory drugs had some part in conducting and interpreting those tests, names were called. We can't trust big corporations unless they're conducting tests that vilify other corporations. Somehow anything pretending to defame common assumptions has a good chance of being believed uncritically, particularly when presented as something "they don't want you to know." It makes us feel savvy and hip and part of something important.
Times change however. We know how aspirin works now, and that it does work and that it has uses other than treating headaches. In some cases it can be lifesaving. Coffee it seems, has medical benefits beyond getting you to the point where you can get dressed in the morning. It may even help you avoid pancreatic cancer and some dementias, and a recent study suggests regular, moderate intake may reduce risk of type 2 diabetes substantially. It may also reduce Coca Cola breakfast sales just as aspirin, a product there's little profit in, cuts into Tylenol and Ibuprofen profits.
Capitalism can be a dirty business. Those of us old enough to remember how cigarettes prevented colds and flu might by now have begun to lament that our schools don't seem to teach critical thinking or the application of logic in everyday life. It can often appear that hardly anyone knows what science is much less to respect it as a way to get at the truth, but Capitalism has no morals. You sell things any way you can and hyperbole, Gerrymandered evidence and captious arguments are the rule. Is it true that aspirin is worthless while Tylenol is safer and more effective? No. Is it likely that you'll hear from Johnson & Johnson that it is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States, causing 60,000 emergency room visits every year: that it is the leading cause of liver transplants in England? Not unless the government makes them do it and that of course would be "too much regulation." Is anyone touting the "no-Tylenol lifestyle?" I don't think so and I think the reason is that no corporation profits from bashing acetaminophen.
But we Americans are outrage junkies and all we need is a story plausible to the average man, a bogeyman or villain and a way out that usually consists of buying what the outrage monger is selling.
We scan the papers and watch the news and worst of all we look at YouTube and the blogs for new outrages every day. I admit I'm one of those people. Righteous indignation is better and cheaper than Cocaine and harder to kick - and it fills blog posts.
Flattering egos by offering an "in-crowd" membership, like enraging the public, is a major component of every sales campaign but do we blame them or do we blame ourselves for our gullibility and ignorance? It doesn't seem we do. It's more likely we will defend our mistaken choices. We'll try to race that 700 hp Dodge with our 200 hp Nissans and our Ultimate Driving Machines and we'll have a good reason to ignore the results and try again when the inevitable occurs. We will never get a colonoscopy but we'll avoid "processed" meats. We will remain suspicious of aspirin and Alar and insist that rusty nails cause tetanus. We'll insist our candidate isn't a crook when he's caught red handed, that our non-Alar apples taste better and make us feel good. We'll ignore the dangers of "organic" fertilizers loaded with heavy metals, because of course it's "natural." Most of all we'll simply ignore or shout down unfashionable criticisms of our cherished beliefs. After all we're animals. We're Natural, unprocessed and organic - how could that be bad?
Drugs manufactured from plant bases as opposed to synthetic manufacture are pretty much always going to be the better choice. For mild ailments I am prone to using herbal teas, tinctures and syrups but I am not beyond reaching for pharmaceuticals when the need is acute. Aspirin as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory is great for achy arthritis or mild headache but some pains need more. Here is a fun fact. The effectiveness of opioid type drugs like morphine, demerol and oxycontin are enhanced by adding an aspirin or two. Don't remember the exact research behind it but it was shown to increase the ability of the body to utilize the drugs. Tylenol may also do the same thing as they frequently add this to opioids now like percocet.
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