Two Medical Studies Raise Concern Over Media Accuracy

Most Americans will eventually find themselves confused by what seems to be a steady stream of contradictory results regarding the results of medical studies that, for one reason or another, find their way onto the pages of the local newspaper or the evening news. Whether the news media will accurately report these findings is another matter.

The above paragraph, and this posting, was inspired by an item 1 that found its way to my inbox as part of a regular update regarding the professional literature in the field of cardiology (of several such news services and RSS feeds, I personally prefer and subscribe to Heartwire, which is published by WebMD). It concerned a story published in the October 18, 2006 edition of the New York Times in which columnist Marian Burros 2 appears to have taken a bit more than “literary license” concerning the results of two studies 3, 4 which examined the health benefits and potential risks that may arise from eating seafood.

The studies in question were published within a day of each other, addressed the same question, and arrived at essentially the same conclusions. Both examined the potential health benefits associated with regular consumption of fish and seafoods weighted against the potential health risks that may arise from fish and seafood contaminated with mercury, dioxin, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The studies were in agreement that diets including regular servings of fish or seafoods known to be rich in “fish oils” such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs,) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were associated with up to a 36% decrease in the risk of death from coronary heart disease and a 17% reduction in total year to year mortality.

The reports made a minor divergence in agreement regarding potential risks, particularly in pregnancy and to the infants of nursing mothers, related to foods that may be contaminated with the substances noted above. However, these divergences are easily explained by the different missions and target audiences of the agencies involved.