In the headlines
Most weeks something about ageing, diet or the brain makes the news, and most weeks it is more confident than the study it came from. Once a month we take one such claim and set it beside what the research actually says.
How a column works
- 01
The claim
Quoted as it appeared, with where and when it appeared, so there is no argument about what was said.
- 02
What the research says
The study behind the headline, if there was one: what kind of study, in whom, how large the effect really was in absolute terms.
- 03
How strong that is
One of the five phrases, and the study type. A single small trial gets called a single small trial.
- 04
What, if anything, it changes
Usually nothing, and we say so. Occasionally something, and we say what and for whom.
The five phrases
- Strong and consistent
- Several good studies, in people, pointing the same way, with an effect large enough to matter to a person rather than a spreadsheet.
- Promising but early
- Real signal, but from small studies, short follow-up, animal work or a single trial that has not yet been repeated.
- Mixed
- Good studies disagree, or the effect appears in some groups and not others. Honest answer: it depends, and we say on what.
- Insufficient
- Too little research in people to say either way. Not the same as evidence of no effect; it means nobody has properly looked yet.
- Not something we offer
- We have looked, and either the evidence is against it or the risk is not justified by what it might do. We say which.
The first column
The first column is being prepared and will appear here once a clinician has checked it. Columns are dated and kept, so if our reading of a claim changes, you can see that it did.
Seen a headline you would like us to look at? Send it.