Making sense of contradicting health advice

Making sense of contradicting health advice

The most frustrating aspect of doing your own research on health and medicine is that half of what is said appears to contradict the other half. Every study contradicts another study. One health guru disagrees with the next health guru.

Let's first look at the positive:

It is often the case that two apparently opposing opinions on health are each largely correct. It is just that one treatment or protocol or diet will work for one person and another contrasting treatment or diet will work for another person. Both opinions might be logical and backed by evidence. The issue tends to be that one expert thinks that their treatment works for everyone on all occasions. Health rarely works this way. One man's medicine is another man's poison.

Let's now consider the human factor:

A problem facing any expert is that they are invested in their profession being the "correct" profession and having the answers to all things health. Doctors have spent a decade or more learning to prescribe prescription drugs. They need the answer to your health problem to be prescription drugs, otherwise they have wasted their lives. Likewise, a naturopath needs the answer to be a natural solution whereby the patient leads a more healthy lifestyle, and a health guru who is an expert on a particular vitamin or mineral is excited about the solution to your illness being a high dose of that vitamin or mineral. We best take the approach that we might learn something from each of these people, and that each offers a solution that might or might not work for us.