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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Good Science: Its Role In Setting the Record Straight
How Media Contribute to Consumer Confusion
Popular media - television, magazines, newspapers - are a valuable resource for educating the public, and media reports on nutrition developments can increase the public's awareness of diet and health (14). Yet, short, catchy headlines and snappy sound bites, with words such as "breakthroughs" or "cures" that dramatize and oversimplify preliminary results of single nutrition studies, can lead to consumer confusion and misinformation (14,17-19). To be competitive and attract the public's attention, the media may use headlines that overstate a study's findings or make the findings from single studies sound conclusive (14).
The public, lacking the training necessary to understand the limitations of single studies, can be misled by the findings (19). Although there has been some improvement, media reports of single studies often do not discuss how the findings relate to previous research (14). For example, are the new findings supportive of or in conflict with the current state of knowledge? Also, the public may not appreciate that the findings from single studies can be misleading if the sample size is too small to address the question being asked, if numerous confounding factors are not controlled, or if substantial bias exists (14,19). In addition, the media seldom report different views or include perspectives and opinions of other researchers regarding a single study's findings. To put media reports of diet and health in perspective, the public must understand that nutrition science is an evolving science, subject to change (14). The results of a single study are not the final word on any subject. Sound scientific conclusions are based on consistent findings from several studies taken together.
Many news stories about diet and health lack context or sufficient information for the public to make informed decisions about their diets.
Lack of sufficient context in media stories about diet and health is perhaps the single most important factor contributing to public confusion about what to eat for health (1). According to a 1999 survey, only one in eight statements in the media associating a food with a potential harm or benefit included specifics about how much of a food to consume or the population to which the findings apply (1).
Media reports (particularly television and radio) of new scientific findings too often do not indicate the type of study conducted, size of the study population, statistical significance, and how long the study lasted (1,17). Each of these variables can influence the strength of the study's findings. The media and public often do not understand differences among basic research designs and statistics about risk (20,21). For example, epidemiological or observational studies suggest a simple correlation or association between two factors, not a cause and effect relationship (20). The latter can only be demonstrated using controlled studies, preferably double-blinded, placebo- controlled clinical trials in humans (20).
The media develops its stories from information obtained from researchers, major scientific journals, and press releases from professional organizations, universities, and the food industry (14,19). The research results and information provided by these sources should include sufficient information to enable the media, and ultimately the public, to put the findings into proper perspective. The media is increasingly turning to scientific experts for input (1). As a result, nutrition scientists have more opportunities to work with the media to help put complex nutrition findings into an appropriate context of dietary recommendations (18).
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