To summarise this post: Science works by random experimentation, and then picking out patterns. More importantly, we pick what we think is statistically significant; patterns which apply to a large enough set of averages.
Health problems can be compared to a car crash, one that takes place over the course of years.
Take this case in point. The designers of a car designed the car after studying endless amounts of slow-motion footage and millions of points of data from crash-test dummies. But the best that they can do is to design a single life-saving mechanism (say a new air-bad design) for a single model of car that will save the most number of people.
Think about that. It means that if car crash fatalities in X brand car went from 100 deaths per 1,000 to 50 deaths per 1,000, there is a likelihood that the new air-bag design helped. But is the correlation that strong? Could it be that there were new traffic laws passed? Could it be that drivers drove less due to hiking gas prices? Or could it be other factors?
Most importantly, there are 50 people who are still dead. If your child is now dead because the manufacturer could not cater to the “exception” of young children and design an air-bag as such, how would you feel?
There are exceptions in the realm of health beyond our control. There are fat people who live to a 100. There are skinny diabetics. There are lean athletes who die of clogged arteries.
Fortunately, staying healthy is a long-term project for each and every one of us. As such, it isn’t like a car-crash. Instead, we all have the ability to react and respond to the changing circumstances. Most importantly, in regular life, you can shout “HELP!”, and someone can hear you.
I believe that we need to respect the scientific method, and trust in its efficacy. I also believe that we need to bear in mind that science can only tell us so much, and that we improve our ability to maintain our health by constant testing hypothesises on ourselves. Finally, I believe in the roll of the dice.
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