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I’ve spent most of today going through all the emails that came in while I was on leave. One, from Clare Cheney, Director General of the Provision Trade Federation, asks if the FSA could formulate advice, informed by internal or independent external opinion, on the latest food stories running in the media.
To be honest, it was one of those emails I wished had reached me via the blog. I really want the food industry to engage with this resource and to see its potential for open debate, in the way that Peter Melchett did when he posted the Soil Association’s views about my blog on organic tomatoes. I replied to him, and to others, yesterday.
Anyway, Clare's email was written on the day it was reported than a daily tipple increases the risk of bowel cancer by 10%, but another study claimed it can protect against heart disease.
A week earlier, a story had apparently linked eating half a grapefruit a day to breast cancer. I’m sure these stories were reported in Cornwall but I was in deep holiday mode so they passed me by.
As Clare pointed out, this drip feed of conflicting information and simplistic reporting of scientific research can undermine official advice on diet and health.
She suggests it would be useful to have ‘something’ to send people to so they could read general advice on the on the whole subject, pointing out that people shouldn’t necessarily change their diets as a result of such research.
It’s a fair point, because it is, of course, the whole diet that matters, not just individual constituents.
It’s difficult for the Agency to quickly support or critique a particular piece of scientific research that’s attracted the media’s attention, though we’re frequently asked to. Often we won’t have seen the research in question, so it’s difficult for us to comment immediately. We won’t necessarily know if it’s been peer-reviewed, the survey sample size, whether it’s a literature review or some other kind of study etc, etc.
This isn’t to say that some very good attempts haven’t been made to add context and comments to media stories. Ben Goldacre, the Guardian’s ‘Bad Science’ columnist, pointed out the NHS’ National Library for Health website to me a few weeks back. It’s an excellent site that looks at drug and treatment-related stories.
Yesterday, for instance, it analysed four newspaper stories suggesting that children as young as eight with familial hypercholesterolemia should be given statins. It looked at the source of the evidence, the study author’s objectives, their conclusions, and how reliable they were. All good stuff.
But that’s about drugs, not food. Perhaps the food industry might want to set up a similar food-related resource? I’d see the Agency’s channels – our websites, my blog, our committees on independent scientists – supporting and adding value to such a venture. Got any comments? Have your say on the blog (particularly if you’re from the food industry!).
