The A-Z of conflicting health advice

Drinking coffee is beneficial for or detrimental to your health, depending on which study you read. File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Every week, it seems a scientific study appears disproving what last week's study showed. Yesterday saw a classic medical volte face: aspirin, which has been prescribed to millions of people over the decades as a protective measure against heart disease, may have more drawbacks than benefits, according to a review in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

Although a daily aspirin helps prevent a second heart attack or stroke in people who have already had one, in healthy people any protection against cardiovascular disease may be outweighed by an increased risk of internal bleeding, researchers say.

Bleeding is a well-known side effect of aspirin and similar drugs that act as irritants to the stomach lining.

After years of headlines about the benefits of aspirin, yesterday's read: "Aspirin is bad for you".

In the last couple of weeks, we have also learnt that a father's presence at childbirth is bad for the mother, that drinking three cups of coffee a day protects against liver disease (for people with hepatitis C) and that consuming alcohol cuts a woman's chances of conceiving by IVF.

Yet fathers have been encouraged to attend childbirth for decades, coffee has been implicated in umpteen health scares, and alcohol is known to be good for the heart.

Here we review the ups and downs of medical research:

A is for alcohol

Good for: moderate drinking is good for the heart, though the effect is chiefly seen in middle-aged men - two or three alcoholic drinks a day cuts the risk of heart attack by at least 30 per cent.

Bad for: drinking to excess, liver disease, dependency - all are rising. Other effects are less obvious: one drink a day increases a woman's risk of all types of cancer by six per cent. This week, scientists from Harvard Medical School presented findings showing couples having IVF who drank one bottle of wine a week cut their chances of a live birth by a quarter.

B is for beta blockers

Good for: they are among the most widely prescribed drugs for preventing heart attacks in people with high blood pressure but without existing heart disease.

Bad for: patients undergoing surgery, millions of whom have been given them to reduce the risk of heart attack following an operation. Last year, an international study concluded that the practice had caused 800,000 deaths worldwide due to an increased risk of a stroke.

C is for coffee

Good for: caffeine is the world's most widely used stimulant drug and coffee is the form in which millions of people prefer to take it. It improves short-term memory, boosts muscle power, raises alertness n and tastes delicious.

Bad for: linked with an increased risk of heart disease, arthritis, stillbirth and raised blood pressure.

D is for dieting

Good for: getting into that wedding dress; preparing for the beach; dealing with Christmas excess. Much harder to sustain.

Bad for: anorexics, bulimics and all other diet obsessives. Yo-yo dieting increases the risk of heart disease, kidney cancer and osteoporosis.

E is for exercise

Good for: the heart, the lungs, the muscles, circulation - you name it. Helps prevents heart disease, cancer and extends life.

Bad for: the joints, if you run a lot (over 20 miles a week), without proper shoes and on hard surfaces. Heart attacks do occur (remember Jim Fixx, father of jogging? He died of one), but rarely, and mostly in those taking up exercise for the first time.

F is for folic acid

Good for: preventing spina bifida in unborn babies, 1000 of which are born each year despite advice to pregnant women to take folic acid supplements.

Bad for: elderly people with pernicious anaemia, a deficiency of vitamin B12, which folic acid may mask and can have neurological effects if undiagnosed. Fears folic acid increases the risk of bowel cancer have been discounted by the FSA.

G is for genetic testing

Good for: those unlucky enough to have inherited genes that increase their risk of disease; such as BRCA1, which raises the lifetime risk of breast cancer to 80 per cent. They can then have annual mammograms to treat cancer early or undergo preventive mastectomy to avoid cancer developing.

Bad for: people with genes for conditions, such as Huntingdon's disease or Alzheimer's, that are untreatable. Learning they are at risk blights their lives without conferring benefit.

H is for holidays

Good for: relaxation, fun, unwinding, time with the family, travel, change of routine.

Bad for: digestion, hangovers, accidents, illness and - this may come as a surprise - mental breakdown. The World Health Organisation says mental problems are among the leading causes of ill health for travellers and "psychiatric emergency" is one of the commonest reasons for evacuation by air ambulance.

I is for infection

Good for: young children, who need exposure to viruses and bacteria in early life to develop their immune systems. Those who miss out on such exposure are more likely to develop allergies, such as asthma, later on.

Bad for: just about everybody else.

J is for juice

Good for: people who don't like fruit and prefer to have it squeezed for them. But it only counts as one portion towards your five-a-day, no matter how much you drink.

Bad for: teeth - the acid in orange juice rots the enamel - and kids who drink too much lose their appetite for solid food, a condition doctors call "juice-drinking syndrome".

K is for kissing

Good for: welcoming, congratulating, comforting, seducing, fostering intimacy, parting.

Bad for: catching the "kissing disease" - glandular fever - which is spread in saliva. Also strep throat, cold sores, colds and flu. Hepatitis B can be transmitted by kissing.

L is for lasers

Good for: zapping unsightly blemishes on the skin, cauterising blood vessels, correcting eyesight, cleaning arteries, drilling teeth.

Bad for: patients going for eye laser treatment who end up with blurred vision and dry eyes. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration is investigating the level of side effects from the treatment.

M is for milk

Good for: children born a generation ago who needed the calcium for developing bones and keeping blood pressure down.

Bad for: the adults and children of today, who eat a much richer diet. Thickening of the arteries leading to heart disease begins in childhood and high-fat foods - like whole milk, butter and cheese - are key culprits.

N is for nuts

Good for: lowering heart disease risk, according to Harvard School of Public Health. Also vegetarians for whom nuts are an important source of protein.

Bad for: anyone with a nut allergy - at least 25,000 people in Britain.

O is for oily fish

Good for: protecting against heart disease in adults, boosting brain function and IQ in children, and in the developing foetus, thanks to the Omega 3 fatty acids it contains.

Bad for: mercury, a toxic chemical which is absorbed by oily fish, can affect IQ and increase the risk of heart disease, thus countering the beneficial effects of the Omega 3s.

P is for painkillers

Good for: killing pain, like it says on the tin - whether aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen or stronger drugs.

Bad for: the stomach. Thousands of people end up in hospital each year because of internal bleeding and ulcers caused by painkillers.

Q is for queues

Good for: ensuring the neediest of the UK's National Health Service patients get seen first. Patients may queue for hours to be seen in A&E or for weeks for a hospital appointment.

Bad for: those who have waited too long. Doctors complain government-imposed targets have distorted clinical decision-making. But it is thanks to targets that, over the last decade, the longest waits for treatment have been cut from 18 months to 18 weeks.

R is for roughage (fibre)

Good for: the bowels, digestion and preventing cancer of the gut. Also lowers heart disease.

Bad for: flatulence, abdominal discomfort, diarrhoea. Several large reviews have failed to find any protective effect against heart disease or cancer.

S is for sunshine

Good for: making vitamin D, which is essential for healthy bones and to protect against a range of diseases including cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis.

Bad for: causing sunburn which can trigger melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer. This led to doctors telling people to cover up and use sunscreen. But the message has been modified because of the importance of vitamin D. A little sun is good for you but too much could be dangerous.

T is for tea

Good for: black tea reduces heart disease. It also reduces stress, boosts mental alertness and may boost the immune system and help prevent diabetes.

Bad for: adding milk counteracts its effects. Sugar makes it worse.

U is for underwear

Good for: fashion, support, sex, hygiene.

Bad for: fertility in men when worn too tight. Testicles need to be below body temperature to produce sperm.

V is for vitamins

Good for: maintaining health, particularly in the sick or elderly, who may be vitamin deficient because they are not eating properly or cannot absorb vitamins from their diet.

Bad for: your wallet, if you are healthy and eating a balanced diet. Supplements are seen as a modern panacea but they do little for most people other to than create expensive urine.

W is for water

Good for: we cannot live without it, but how much is enough? The common advice is that humans need 2.5 litres daily - but that includes liquid from all sources including food.

Bad for: too much can result in water intoxication, hyponatraemia (low salt levels) and even death.

X is for X-rays

Good for: diagnosing broken bones, decayed teeth and disease.

Bad for: X-rays are the largest man-made source of radiation to which we are exposed. Research suggests the radiation emitted by X-rays causes six of 1000 cases of cancer a year.

Y is for yoghurt

Good for: probiotic yoghurts and drinks are sold with the promise they can improve digestive health.

Bad for: A review by the European Food Standards Agency last month rejected all 180 health claims made for probiotic ingredients.

Z is for zzzz

Good for: a few hours of quality sleep is better than eight hours thrashing about. Most adults manage with seven to nine

Bad for: shift workers; a body clock out of phase with the environment is thought to be harmful, affecting production of the hormone melatonin.

- INDEPENDENT