Headlines, Fake News and Dementia
The headline in the Mail Online says “Cold water swimming may help defend from dementia by stimulating latent hibernation protein, scientists say.”
Misleading Headlines
How is anyone to make sense of this? The headline is misleading because the story doesn’t match the headline. When you ask journalists about this sort of thing, they complain that although they interview scientists and write the articles, there is someone else who decides what the headline will be. That’s no excuse for the muddle in the story because the claims summarised at the start are credible. The protein stimulated by cold shock in mice which triggers removal and regrowth of synapses is also found in humans and if a drug could be found to do that, it might be interesting for brain health.
Mischievous Headline Wording
Why would anyone believe the headline? Well firstly, because the way it is worded means it is very hard to say that it is false. It says, “may help defend.”
“May” is such a mischievous word. The man next door could say that walking clockwise round a tree in his garden “may” help against dementia. It takes a long time to prove him wrong. And if anyone who follows his advice does get dementia, he can always say he never said it “would.” He said it “may”, so he was not mistaken or lying.
The second mischievous thing is that the headline says, “Scientists say.” The scientist didn’t ever say this.
How misleading this is depends on what you think about science. Most of us, even if we have some scientific training, do not have the in-depth expertise to evaluate research without help. With my training in one field of health, I cannot say a lot about other fields.
Scientific Studies?
However, I know that I need to look at the sample size. Was this a big number of people or just a few who were tested? I need to look at how the research was funded. It is possible that there is someone who gains, such as people who manufacture ice baths, or run cold water swimming clubs…. Did they fund this research to get the answer they wanted? And who did the research? Was it the man next door with no claim to be a scientist or someone from a respectable institution like the University of Cambridge that can’t afford to lose its reputation by peddling fake news? And where was it published? Good academic journals get a lot of other scientists to look at articles before they are published, to weed out any mistakes or even deliberate false conclusions.
This story about the research is in the Mail Online, which is often good, but has really mixed up and muddled this story. And it is not research. It’s a story.
It doesn’t tell you the sample size
It doesn’t tell you who funded the research
It doesn’t tell you the research was published. It actually says, “The research is yet to be published…”
It tells you that the research was done by a respectable Cambridge professor
The Story does not reflect the Research
So the strongest part of the story is the professor. And what does she actually say? Professor Giovanna Malluci, who lead the research is described in the Mail as saying the complete opposite of the headline ….
…. she warned cold water immersion is certainly not a possible dementia treatment because the risks of plummeting temperatures could far outweigh the benefits.
The people who should take a cold bath are those who write misleading headlines. It might be good click bait, but the insult and disappointment for frightened people desperate for a cure is unforgivable.
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