Enough of modern health scares – we should be trusting our instincts

Enough of modern health scares – we should be trusting our instincts


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Just because the so-called medical experts tell us something, it doesn’t mean it’s true
Surely it should be up to a woman to decide whether to take HRT.


On Thursday, a million women experiencing the toughest time in the menopause – hot flushes, insomnia, startling mood swings – could have read the news that GPs are once again being encouraged to prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

A study, published in 2003, had shown a significant increase in the risk of cancer. Last week, the health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, said GPs had wrongly “lost confidence” in the drug. Women had been left to “suffer in silence”. Now, according to Nice, the benefits of HRT far outweigh the risks. Twenty-four hours later, a different story was reported. Nine experts on the 18-strong panel advising Nice were claimed to have financial links with drug companies behind HRT, companies that have seen their market shrink from 33% of menopausal women on HRT to only 10%. Moreover, two Oxford academics, Professor Klim McPherson and Professor Valerie Beral, who have spent 12 years studying the risks associated with HRT, were not consulted about the new guidance.


Prof McPherson says that if GPs follow Nice’s advice, there could be 7,000 extra cases of breast cancer within 10 years. That contradicts Nice’s view – or does it? – that out of 1,000 women taking HRT for five years, there could be just six extra cases of breast cancer and 1.5 additional cases of ovarian cancer.

Confused, dazed and addled? We ought to be, not least because we have allowed two warring tribes – managers and experts – to infantilise us as they bombard us with conflicting “advice” and shaky metrics. (Is a glass of wine one unit or three? How big is the glass? How generous the host?) On booze, sugar, bacon butties, salt, fat and tobacco, percentages are tossed about, fear stoked and guilt heightened by headline after headline that, too often, misread research findings and fail to correctly interpret levels of risk.

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/15/health-scares-trust-our-instincts