I ask…. does the reader have ability to use logic, apply discretion?

This is a good critique. I have just found out about Spearole tea (www.drred.com.au) as it was on a national news bulletin last night in Australia.

I have found that every journalist on the planet quoted the SAME quote

and EVERY journalist on the planet (except Aussie journos) got the name of the university wrong. They all incorrectly write Queensland University, when there is no such beast … it is The University Of Queensland.

So as you can see, EVERY journalist is exposed as a fraud and plagerist and incompetant, as they don’t even check basic facts…simply do the ‘copy paste’. Every Editor of these newspapers should be contacted about the inferior quality their journalists perpertrate.

So we all know the studies on Green Tea and immune system, to fight cancer, aids, and even Stroke [http://tinyurl.com/cvutrr] etc…

But on weightloss I did find that;

CHICAGO STUDY with GREEN TEA
1. In 2000 The Univesity of Chicago released study results that Green Tea may help weight loss, but issued warning
- Shutsang Liao: That’s a lot of tea
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0006/research/research-print.html
Scientists at the U of C’s Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research have found that a major chemical component of green tea may lead to weight loss.

In laboratory studies, rats injected with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) derived from green tea leaves lost their appetites and consumed up to 60 percent less food after seven days of daily injections, losing as much as 21 percent of their body weight.

Writing in the March issue of Endocrinology, biochemistry & molecular biology professor Shutsung Liao, PhD’61, and colleagues noted that it is unclear exactly how EGCG controls appetite and body weight. Liao warns that the diet should not be tried at home: to achieve the same results, a human would have to drink green tea almost constantly. Moreover, he adds, some of the hormonal changes observed in the rats could have negative effects in humans, especially in younger people.

But this long history of learning how not to fool ourselves–of
having utter scientific integrity–is, I’m sorry to say, something
that we haven’t specifically included in any particular course that
I know of. We just hope you’ve caught on by osmosis.

He also remarks on the need for scientists to employ “extra integrity” when explaining something to a layman.
Link.

Re influence of media coverage: I remember reading about the way German TV dealt with nutritionists and conflicts of interest. I’d seen the coverage Ben Goldacre had given Phillips et al on the Bad Science blog, but the work by Pareek & Pattison showing the influence of media (especially TV) on the decision to vaccinate was new to me at the time – and worrying.

Journalists exercising due care and discretion? Yes, it would be nice. I’m not overly optimistic though.

We’ve had some discussion of the influence of media coverage on health stories and it does seem to be considerable.

Perhaps until we have achieved Utopia and the majority of the audience for Daily Mail (and other papers) would be rated as scientifically literate, then the journalists should exercise due care and discretion, particularly when writing on hot-button issues such as this one.

Didn’t mention the source of funding because I was more exercised about
*the potential for some people reading this as a recommendation for ibuprofen and weightloss
*the disconnect between the optimism of the piece and the fact that the study (so far) is in rats and hasn’t been published.
However, I should have mentioned the funding.

as for responsibility to be sensible, the answer has to be yes they do but they rarely fulfill said responsibility…

If this is just about rats, no matter how good the animal model, this can’t be ready to publicise.

It is irresponsible to mention ibuprofen without all the warnings about associated gastric or other side-effects.

It would be good to see Health News Review or Behind the Headlines pick up on this story.