Is egg good or bad for you? Is it a good idea for the middle-aged to have aspirin every day? What about vitamin pills? Are they good, bad, or merely useless? Well, nobody knows despite the spectacular parade of medical science that has been going on for some decades now. The fact of the matter is that medical ‘science’ is not much of a science. Like home remedies and conventional wisdoms, it is for the most part anecdotal. This doctor from this institute says A; that doctor from that other institute says B. Good luck with choosing A or B, or C for that matter. The situation is akin to attempting to knock on the right door in a pitch-dark room with conflicting advice constantly coming from all sides.
Physics is science – the only true science. Even chemistry in many ways is very far from that stage. Biology has yet to even start on the journey; therefore, medicine and health are likely to remain predominantly anecdotal for a fair while. Sure, they are often referred to as sciences, but only in a very loose sense of the word.
What makes matters even worse in case of health reports is that one is often reassured, worried, surprised, or shocked (as the case may be) by one of the ‘latest’ researches before one realizes that it was sponsored by the egg farmers or the tobacco industry! This is like Butt Sweets sponsoring a study on the beneficial effect of confectioneries on human health. Secondly, the samples, control groups, and methodologies employed invariably leave a lot to be desired although the layman, who has no idea of statistics, rarely goes beyond the conclusions published as headlines. Furthermore, the link of these headlines to the actual findings are tenuous at best; but this too is beyond the expertise of the ordinary man to take into consideration before judging the worth of a study.
In addition to conflicting views on a given subject, there is another thing that usually goes on simultaneously. These are broader trends on which most doctors agree in any given era. The trends themselves keep changing over time. For example, up until the eighties it used to be said that anybody who ran a mile every day was proof against the threat of heart disease. Then it ceased to be so black-and-white. Tobacco was acceptable (at worse debatable) for a long time, before suddenly becoming an out-and-out killer. (People had always suspected that making your lung tissue to chemically react with cigarette smoke could hardly be the cleverest of ideas, but ‘studies’ continually failed to validate the suspicion. Until one fine day when it became clear as daylight that cigarettes were detrimental to health. Shrewd observers had predicted long ago that science was likely to start piling up the evidence the day cigarettes became associated with the lower classes.) Alcohol is still not completely bad for health, with the usual proviso of indulging it in moderation. Depending on the doctor (and the locality), even recreational drugs have their place in healthy living.
Coming back to our original questions, one doctor maintains that egg yolk contains this many grams of cholesterol, so it is a definite no-no. Another doctor reassures you that an egg yolk or two is absolutely fine because the body daily.
When it comes to the various diet fads – protein, high-carb, vegetarian, vegan, keto diets – each one has its ardent supporters– doctors and health experts included. On sugar, there has been the traditional opinion that processed sugar is bad whereas fructose is good for the body, provided one is not diabetic and one does not go overboard in consuming fruits. Many doctors and nutrition professionals are now claiming that fructose is in fact worse than refined sugar because the former can only be processed by the liver, which puts a lot of stress on the organ, while the latter is much more widely processed. In all such controversies, either side has its studies to support its position. So, with whom should one throw in one’s lot is not easy to decide. Since very few mortals can pore over these studies, and fewer still can make head or tail of what they read; in the end it invariably comes down to a coin-toss.
Among the medical professionals fasting was traditionally considered a bad idea, before Keto enthusiasts (among them doctors) discovered that it was very beneficial for weight management, for detoxification of the body, and in the interest of giving much needed rest to the organs. When it comes to weight control, there are those that advocate alternating between short bursts of hearty eating and long intervals of going without food as the best way to lose extra kilos. And sure enough, there is the rival camp which recommends breaking the total amount of food one consumes into seven or eight smaller meals spread over the waking hours. And there are numerous variations in between the two extremes.
Coming back to our original questions, one doctor maintains that egg yolk contains this many grams of cholesterol, so it is a definite no-no. Another doctor reassures you that an egg yolk or two is absolutely fine because the body daily produces twenty times that amount of cholesterol of its own. One doctor says that whatever else you do after turning forty, make it a point to take one baby aspirin pill every day. Another doctor tells you not to be silly. ‘Ask your doctor’ used to be sound advice concerning all medical questions. Not anymore, for it all depends on which doctor you happen to ask. This may again become meaningful advice one day. When medical ‘science’ becomes a science in a few hundred years.
