Something to keep in mind… I think its real and probably is what we see with the small group of “LDL-cholesterol is good” influencers out there…
In a lecture transcript I recently saw, a scientist poked fun at media outlets for covering research in ways that suggest regular coffee-drinking bestows longevity. He pointed to the proclaimed links between three cups of coffee per day and longer life, expressing sincere doubt that his one cup that morning would make him live longer. The gist was that there’s no truth to any of this.
But there’s some truth to it. Large observational studies consistently find that drinking coffee is associated with better odds of enjoying a longer life. Associations don’t prove causation, but it’s also true that absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.
This post isn’t about coffee. It’s about the hype / hyper-skepticism cycle that takes up too much real estate in the health journalism landscape.
The Third Law of Wellness Discourse
Here’s how it works: In phase 1 of the cycle, mainstream media outlets report a study showing benefits of health behavior X. A headline trumpets a claim loosely based on the study. Post-click, the article (usually) clarifies the study’s limitations and more conservative conclusions in the actual write-up. Social influencers enthusiastically echo the spirit of the headline, omitting the buzz-kill details.
Phase 2: If the media coverage gets enough eyeballs and pick-up, it provokes a wave of hyper-skepticism, a backlash that treats the uncertain, inconclusive evidence as if it shows behavior X is probably worthless for health.
In Newtonian terms, we might call this phenomenon the Third Law of Wellness Discourse: for every exaggerated health claim, there’s an equal and opposite contrarian overreach.
The hype / hyper-skepticism cycle repeats with regularity across many areas of research. It’s often followed by reverberations in which the enthusiasts and skeptics take increasingly flagging punches at each other, like boxers fatigued in the final rounds, before another study makes headlines, renewing their pugilistic vigor.
Read the full substack posting: