Conflicting Information

I get a few magazines each month. One is Self. If you aren't familiar with Self, it's a health and fitness magazine for women. I enjoy the little tear out page of exercises. I carry a plastic sleeve in my workout bag and keep several of these pages in it so I can have a wide variety of exercises to try.

This month's copy was very striking to me because of the positioning of an ad next to a regular feature, and how the two carried widely conflicting information. The ad was for Vagisil and it offered some tips on tuning out the world and relaxing. One was to cut back on caffeine. Not bad advice. Too much caffeine can make anyone jittery and agitated. Turn the page in the magazine and you get an article on how to stop headaches and what do they advise; have something with caffeine. Huh??? Were the editors paying attention to the position of these two items? It made me wonder what the average person is supposed to do about all the conflicting information we receive each week in the media about our health.

Look at calcium. We know calcium is important for strong bones. We know Caucasian and Asian women, particularly with small bones, should make sure they have enough calcium in their diets to prevent osteoporosis. But how to take it is very fuzzy. Some say a supplement in the form of a pill is fine. Some say it's best to take it as it occurs naturally like in dairy products. Some say take it with vitamin D to aid absorption. I found an article on the NIH website (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium.asp) that contains a ton of information about calcium and boy has the information we've received from the media been over simplified! For example, calcium is present in many non-dairy foods, but did you know that the body doesn't absorb that calcium as well because there are other substances in some of those foods that prevent absorption? Did you also know that the amount of protein and fiber in a food can affect the absorption and excretion of calcium? Of course, the point that calcium is important for bone health is the main thing we should all understand, but as with a lot of health and wellness related news, there is a lot more to what we are told. We should all be sure to get complete information about these topics and not take everything at face value.

It's looking to be a pretty quiet day here in sunny Columbia. We have one birthday party and a trip to the store to stock up on fruits and vegetables. Possibly a trip to the gym will be included. I'm happy it's getting cooler out because fall and winter meals ideas are easier to come up with. So until we meet again, my friends, have a lovely day.