It's important to have the right information, not just a lot of it, to make good treatment decisions. I have here today an example of a bad website. I hope you can learn the skills of identifying bad websites and avoid them.
Here's the one I found:
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/
#1
Misinformation
This is a
piece of misinformation and lacks credibility as it just villainizes
pasteurized milk by labeling it as damaged and does not actually explain how
pasteurized milk might contribute to these dysfunctions. It plays on the reader’s
fear of harming her child to persuade her to buy raw milk.
This
websites ostensibly cites physicians, but it has chosen to quote Dr Joseph
Mercola, a controversial alternative medicine advocate who has been warned by the
U.S. Food and Drug
Administration three times before to stop making illegal
claims regarding his products' ability to detect, prevent and treat disease.
I wanted
to investigate the premise of the raw milk claim and went to mayoclinic.com.
There a found a blog, which may not seem too reliable, but it was written by
two nutritionists and presented a well-balanced argument.
The
information entirely refuted the raw milk suggestion given in the quack
Shirley’s website.
‘Fans of
raw milk assert that it tastes sweeter and fresher. They also claim that it
fights allergies, digestive problems, eczema, autism, arthritis and learning
disabilities, and boosts immunity — properties that they say are removed by
pasteurization. The FDA and other public health officials, however, point out
that these claims aren't supported by research.’
More
alarmingly, it said “Raw milk contains numerous pathogens, such as salmonella
and E. coli 0157:H7, that cause significant food-borne illness and can lead to
hospitalization, kidney failure and even death.” The food poising risks far
outweigh the unsubstantiated purported benefits of raw milk in preventing
eczema.
 |
| http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raw-milk/MY01293 |
#2 Type
of Evidence
The
type of evidence the website provides to support its eczema solutions are
predominantly testimonial and and only uses 1 testimonial- her own.
She
conveniently attributes her healing to a long list of approaches: homeopathy,
natural raw food diet and juice, special pils and tea, uropathy, and herbal
remedies. This allows her to market an entire range of products and increase
her profit margin.
#3
Commercial interest
This
brings me to my next point about Shirley’s real interests. It may be
disappointing for some, but her topmost concern would probably not be in
treating people’s ailments as it is in selling so-called natural, organic
products to earn money. There is potential bias in the information provided as
it would not be neutral and based on scientific fact but geared towards
promoting its products.
#4 Credentials of information provider
Although doctors and studies are cited
strategically throughout the website, the author herself is not a health
professional with any kind of academic credentials but merely a layperson with
certain health beliefs.
She openly admits it herself in the
disclaimer of the website that she
The website recommends “life-giving,
omega-3 rich oils” and describes an esoteric eating ritual of ingesting these
oils straight. Healthy skin can be promoted by a healthy diet but this is
an unnatural way to ingest nutrients and may even cause discomfort and nausea
from swallowing these oils straight.
This is wrong mindset towards food as we
have learnt that each food contains many nutrients and we cannot mentally
attribute 1 specific nutrient label to a particular food (like tuna
fish=protein). In fact, I learnt in an advertising class that marketers for
pharmaceutical industries try to expand perceived needs for products by
reinterpreting the wide range of properties in food stuffs and marketing each
individual property to fulfill a particular ailment.
Likewise this website
seems to jazz up the whole institution of eating by stressing the miraculous benefits
of certain components of food, (besides oil, it promotes Certified
Organic Whole-Food Sea
Vegetables and holy thistle tea) and this detracts from its credibility as it
does not provide commonsensical advice.
An eczema sufferer is much better off taking
a balanced diet which would provide all the nutrients than succumb to marketing
hogwash and spend money on these products.
To give this website the slight benefit of
doubt, I went to research on the purported benefits oil brings to healing
eczema and came to the National
Institutes of Health’s National Centre for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCAM) website.
 |
| http://nccam.nih.gov/health/eveningprimrose |
There is said that Evening
primrose oil may have modest benefits for eczema, and it may be useful for
rheumatoid arthritis and breast pain. However, study results are mixed, and
most studies have been small and not well designed.
This site was much more trustworthy as
well it showed that there was some truth in evening primrose oil, it included
scientific findings on it, as well as sections on introduction, side effects
and caution and sources.
#6 Fast-fixes for You J
Also notice the 14-day Cure-process item; which
presupposes tht eczema is like a disease. According to the American Academy of
Family Physicians, eczema and atopic dermatitis can’t be cured, but they can be
managed, and one can learn to avoid the things that trigger them.
Conclusion
Always be wary of unreliable websites
boasting about miracle eczema cures. Only go to reputable websites for
information or book an appointment with your general practitioner.
Some reputable websites
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