Much amusement among the MHF staff following a news story claiming that men are better able to suppress their urges to scoff the sorts of tasty, tempting treats that can cause us to put on weight. Anyone who has ever been to an MHF event will confirm that this is patently untrue.
Of more serious concern is the widespread media coverage that was given to these findings which were based on a survey of just 23 people. How big is the study is one of the key questions to ask when trying to assess whether research is reliable.
Of course, male weight problems are often down to drink as much as food and the National Statistics office's data that more than 40% of men had exceeded safe drinking limits in the week before the survey. (The source of the stats is another important consideration and National Statistics are - usually - a pretty good one.) One man in 4 had drunk more than double the safe amount.
Less widely reported was the news that more people have heard of safe alcohol limits than 10 years ago - up from 75 to 86%.
Trouble is most people don't know what the safe limits are. Only 38% of people knew that the safe limit for men was three or four units a day. Check out the limits if you're not sure what they are or don't know exactly how much a unit is. (You'll need pop-ups enabled to get the best from this link.)
1 comment:
I always liked a biscuit or three.
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