Real Age = Real Bad Science Reporting
It’s been a while since I’ve discussed “Real Age” – so this is long overdue. Yeah, I’ve continued to get the weekly newsletter, although most of the time, I just click “Delete” without actually looking at the contents… just been too busy. Today was almost no exception… but a headline caught my eye just ahead of my usual click on the big red “X.”
It read: “Prevent a Cold With This White Edible.” This immediately sent my BS meter to “11,” without even knowing what the “white edible” was. So I clicked the link to investigate further.
Yup – the resulting article confirmed my reaction.
Give the frontline soldiers of your immune system some reinforcements by serving a skewer of white button mushrooms with your favorite meals.
Nothing brings you down like a summer cold. But eating white button mushrooms may help make colds less likely. Seems something in mushrooms encourages your dendritic cells — important immune system helpers — to grow up and get to work.
Mushroom Secrets
Dendritic cells lasso viruses — like the rhinoviruses and influenza viruses responsible for colds and flu. Then they bring those viruses to your germ-killing B lymphocytes to be finished off. And though it’s not clear how or why, researchers think that polysaccharides — compounds in white button mushrooms — may help trigger the whole process. But there’s no reason to hold out on mushrooms while researchers unravel the mystery. We already know that mushrooms have a host of health-promoting qualities: They’re low in fat, low in calories, and full of a little antioxidant called ergothioneine, which is good for your arteries. So slice them up and add them to salads, omelets, and cookouts for a low-calorie, fat-free, juicy, meat-free treat.
Ok, for starters, I got nuthin’ against mushrooms. In fact, I love ’em. And certainly, research suggests that mushroom polysaccharides have therapeutic potential. But will adding more mushrooms to your diet really keep you from catching a cold? Despite the headline, the article presents NO direct evidence for this; and even worse, the single study described and cited as a reference was in-vitro – the researchers used isolated mouse bone marrow dendritic cells differentiated in the presence of concentrated mushroom extracts.
Unsurprisingly, the conclusion reached by the researchers wasn’t even remotely close to “eating mushrooms can prevent colds.” In fact, they wrote:
“Whether the doses used in the current study have any relevance to dietary consumption in form of whole food or extract supplements is not clear and no relevant information is available to make a speculation. Future in vivo studies may provide some clues. Nevertheless, the results from this study are useful in guiding further investigation in defining the immunologic effect of WBM.”
For the record, the few feeding studies available don’t provide a whole lot of insight on the utility of consuming white button shrooms to prevent colds (or any other infection), either. For example, a second study by the same group demonstrated that feeding mice dried mushroom powder at 2% or 10% (wt/wt) of the diet enhanced natural killer cell activity, but the animals themselves were not challenged with any viruses (in fact, they were killed, and their spleens removed to perform the experiments).
To make a loooooong story short, you have to do one hell of a lot of extrapolating from these studies to conclude that eating more mushrooms will protect anyone from getting a cold. Right now, the evidence is waaaay too thin to support that conclusion, and to imply otherwise, as “Real Age” does, is irresponsible. The fact that the advice is harmless (and potentially healthful in other ways) doesn’t justify bad science reporting.
June 26, 2011
I also get the “Real Age” weekly updates. I don’t know why. I normally just delete it like you do. I have found that most off their info is just “off base”.
Just like you point out here, no substantial proof to their claim. It seems they just throw out a lot of mostly useless info.