This podcast addresses the problem of media, including social media and even celebrities selling bogus diets, health scares and beauty tricks. For every study that claims red wine or getting 9+ hours of sleep is beneficial, there is an opposing study that says red wine is harmful and sleeping 9+ hours a night will kill you! Phony diets like the werewolf diet (juice fasting on a full moon), baby food diet (yes eating only baby food), juice fast and detoxes, vampire facials (taking blood out of your body and putting it on your face), placenta facials (Placenta on the face) gluten free diet and so many more and so on are talked about and even sold to the naive consumer. This problem is real and has been for as long as I can remember, but now thanks to social media and the internet these "news stories travel far and fast! It is really becoming a problem in our society when people cannot decipher fact from fiction.
I was raised in a home where my mother was unfortunately the victim of every health scare or snake oil selling salesman that she came across. There are many problems in following every health "breakthrough" It is very time consuming, expensive, and can even be harmful to your health. Not to mention the psychological effects of being raised to believe every bit of information found through non scientific channels and discarding all scientific health discoveries.
These types of "reporting" is irresponsible reporting. These "Miracle" discoveries or these "This food will kill you" discoveries prey on so many of us and especially on the those who have a psychological disorder like Munchhausen syndrome where a person draws on attention or sympathy of others. They now, thanks to the internet, have a term called Munchhausen by Internet. These sensational stories and fraudulent health claims need to stop. These Health studies need to be responsible and upfront about their studies. They need to be held to a standard of scientific testing. Reporters that pass these fictional finds and studies along as "news" need to be held accountable for passing along false information.
A guest on the show John Bonhanen showed us how easy it is to start a health rumor by setting up a phony study with only 16 people over a period of three weeks to prove that eating chocolate aids in weight loss! This phone study, as suspected took off like wildfire. Even the data on testing is often incorrectly posted. When you hear claims like "reduces depression by 50%" You need to ask 50% of what?
Why are these bogus Health Claims so popular? Why do so many people believe these non- scientific claims or science? Psychologically we all want to escape death, socially we don't want to talk about death or aging or believe that is our inevitable destination. We live in a culture where we worship and idolize youth and beauty. We will believe just about anything that we read or hear that will help is attain longevity youth and beauty.
In addition to creating a standard of testing which all must be accountable , including where all test data is reported, and media being responsible for the validity of the information they pass along as "science" I fell that by as a society if we were to embrace aging and death as another stage of life Maybe people wouldn't always be chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. People would have less anxiety and learn to except and enjoy each stage of their life to the fullest.
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