Before the internet arrived with all of the wonderful tools it provides, encyclopedias were the source for information. They had to be updated often and took up a lot of space. While they were good for the time, they didn’t come close to the opportunity that the internet provides us to do our own fact-checking.
The ability to do research and to decide what is best for you and your family is wonderful. It can also be a bit confusing, as there is always conflicting information to try to decipher. Making assumptions based on incorrect research is dangerous, and there are a lot of flawed studies out there.
History can teach us many lessons. From the 1930’s to the 1950’s, there were multiple advertisements that featured doctors telling people that cigarettes were healthy and everyone should smoke, including pregnant women and the young. These erroneous claims continued to be made long after research was proving conclusively that smoking caused all sorts of health issues. It wasn’t until 1964 that the U.S. Surgeon General’s report stated unequivocally that smoking causes lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and chronic bronchitis. By that time, thousands of smokers had died from these diseases.
Action – Educating yourself is a good thing, but always consider the source of the information. The cigarette companies sponsored their own research studies to provide conflicting evidence and confuse consumers, which allowed them to cast doubt on other research while encouraging people to smoke. It wasn’t until 1998 that the Tobacco Institute and the Committee for Tobacco Research finally disbanded due to a lawsuit settlement.
When trying to decipher the research and get to the facts, look to see who sponsored the study. If it was funded by a company that sells the product or a paid organization representing the interests of the makers of the product, it could be a biased study.
Steps – Do your due diligence and take responsibility for your own health. Just because products are sold in stores, or have been consumed for the last 20 or 30 years doesn’t mean that they are good for you. There are multiple products that are pulled off the shelves every year because research has finally shown that they are harmful.
The World Health Organization has access to unbiased studies, and they do what they can to provide the most reliable information. It’s not always easy to figure out who to trust, but by using common sense and following the money trail it can lead you to the research that is unbiased.
Why It Makes You Feel Better – Your health is the most important thing you have. Relying on other people to make decisions about what is safe or not safe for you can be dangerous. If your doctor told you to smoke, and you then found out that the doctor was getting a kickback from the tobacco company and you now had lung cancer, how would that make you feel?
This is a sensitive area because there are a lot of things we just don’t know yet. But if you are feeling unwell, start to look at what you are consuming and the products or pharmaceutical drugs you are using and then do your due diligence. It’s your health, after all.
Example – For me, consuming dairy never made me feel well. When I eliminated it from my diet I felt much better. I was then able to find unbiased studies to understand why that was. Again, only you know how you feel and this needs to be what works for you, not what anyone else tells you to do.
The more information you have, the better. Just always remember to consider the source.