Eat right

How to keep yourself healthy in the popular media seems to focus almost entirely on what you eat. It seems like all newspapers, cable news stations and supermarkets now have some quasi-health nutritionista extolling the virtues of one particular fruit or vegetable extract for all that ails humankind. If it's not cancer fighting blueberries, it's vitamins or electrolytes or some weirdo way of fighting bacteria (garlic extract) while keeping bacteria (sentient yogurt).

Strangely enough, perhaps, in medical school there was 1 hour devoted to nutrition, and it didn't really extend much past the advice you can get from the Canada Food Guide.

Is this contrast in focus because medical schools inadequately prepare physicians to talk about what patients should eat? Or is it because maybe, when it all comes down to it, it doesn't friggin' MATTER if you're drinking pre/probiotic antioxidative quick electrolyte replenishing vita-elixir?

Years and years and years of research compounded with common sense and advice handed down from many a wise mother are combined into the more fiber, less fat, lots of varied vegetables and fruits, and sometimes meat/substitutes mantra. Unfortunately, this invaluable wisdom is often ignored in face of the "NOW we've REALLY figured it out" movement. It's amazing how quickly people will jump on to a new product without evidence that it fights cancer just because it says "antioxidants!" on the label.

POM Juice I'm on to you.

Here's what it claims on their website:

"Emerging science suggests that unstable little molecules called free radicals may be linked to disease. Where do they come from? Everywhere. Not only does your body produce them as part of normal metabolism but there are also many external sources such as air pollution, alcohol, pesticides, sunlight, tobacco smoke, drugs, and even fried foods. Antioxidants like those found in POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice fight hard to help prevent free radicals from doing their damage."

When something says "emerging science", basically it sounds a whole lot like "I'm jumping on this bandwagon to make money before the real scientific consensus can prove me wrong."

What the "emerging science" actually shows is that antioxidants don't do dick all for anybody. When people got antioxidants, there was no difference between their rates of cancer or heart disease over people who didn't get antioxidants. So what difference is there if you drink antioxidants versus eating some normal fruit or vegetable?

According to mature, past the emergent adolescent and attention seeking stage science, eating vegetables and fruit will fight cancer AND heart disease. And it's probably even cheaper than drinking POM juice. So save yourself some money and do somethin g good for yourself. Trash the POM, eat the veg.

For misleading the public at large regarding your health benefits, POM gets 0 trustworthy retro doctor heads out of 4.