Your Morning Fry-Up Is Killing Obese Mice And Other Media Scare Stories
ON 10 March, the Express ran the headline ‘Death by fry-up’ on its front page, claiming the full English breakfast was ‘lethal’, writes MacGuffin of Tabloid Watch:
It was a lazy bit of churnalism designed to flog a ‘weight management product’.
But on 1 April, the Express changed its mind about the humble fry-up:
A bacon fry-up at breakfast could be the healthiest start to the day
No, it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke – the Express’ health reporting is this ridiculous every day. And like the ‘fry-up is lethal’ one, this ‘fry-up is healthy’ article was written by Jo Willey.
Isn’t consistency a wonderful thing?
Moreover, the research was short of conclusive, having been conducted on mice rather than, say, humans eating fry-ups. As NHS Behind the Headlines points out:
It is important to note that the mice ate high-fat mouse food, rather than the ‘full English breakfast’ mentioned by newspapers…
Before we can claim that a fatty, calorific breakfast is good for the body, the theory needs to be tested in humans.
And they concluded:
This study provides some useful indicators about metabolism that may have some relevance to human diet.
However, it should not be taken as an endorsement that a fry-up is healthy or better for you than a breakfast of cereal or fruit, as several newspapers have suggested.
In other words: don’t get your health advice from tabloid newspapers. Especially when they change their advice from ‘lethal’ to ‘healthy’ in less than a month.
Posted: 7th, April 2010 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
