There are many people who blindly believe what others say simply because it goes against the accepted norm.
There are also people who believe the accepted norm because it is...the accepted norm.
This blog is all about analysis, about presenting different views, about THINKING before believing.
Please read this Journal article by Malhotra and others. Ask yourself whether these populists have books to sell, lectures to charge for, media exposure to welcome and encourage. Ask yourself also whether what they say is true.
Also ask yourself what the effect might be on people who believe what they are saying:
a. If their analysis is correct
b. If their analysis is wrong
We are talking about quality of life on the one hand but life and death on the other.
Here is a reaction:
Dr Amitava Banerjee, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Clinical Data Science and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at University College London, said:
“This is an editorial, which does not present any new data or research. Unfortunately the authors have reported evidence simplistically and selectively. They failed to cite a rigorous Cochrane systematic review which concluded that cutting down dietary saturated fat was associated with a 17% reduction in cardiovascular events including coronary heart disease on the basis of 15 randomised trials1. A lot of the evidence the authors quote about saturated fats, including the systematic review by de Souza and colleagues in the BMJ, is based on observational data, making it harder to draw conclusions, due to confounding factors.
“There is no dispute over the key role of a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle (including more exercise) in good heart health and the authors are right to re-emphasise these issues. Health professionals, patients and public all need to focus more on the importance of diet and exercise when it comes to preventing heart attacks. However, an individual’s risk of coronary heart disease is based on the interplay of many factors, including diet, physical activity and clinical factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Other important contributors are social (e.g. education, socioeconomic status and stress), environmental (e.g. availability of open spaces to take exercise) and genetic. In order to tackle heart disease, a multi-pronged approach which addresses these different factors will be necessary, whether at individual or population level. Therefore physical activity and dietary change alone are necessary but not sufficient to prevent coronary disease.
“There is often an unhelpful tendency to pit treatment versus prevention as competition and exclusive approaches. As a health system, it is possible – and essential – to treat heart attacks and prevent them. Therefore, medicines (including blood thinners such as aspirin or cholesterol-lowering strategies such as statins) and more invasive strategies (e.g. angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery) have an important role alongside a healthy lifestyle.”
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