Value in What You Read On Line

I subscribe to a very informative and helpful resource that evaluates health news based on sound, professional journalism standards.

The goal of this resource is to help eliminate puff pieces and raise the bar.

At Natural Health News we try to do the same in the direction of natural health.

I've been in journalism since 1968 when I worked at the Chicago Tribune while living in the Chicago area.  Later in 1991 my original natural health and green living column "Health Matters" first appeared in a publication owned by The Washington Post Company. I've also taught writing and been an editor.

I try to have a style manual close at hand too. I guess this is like relying on Turabian from grad school days.

I suppose now anyone can fancy themselves as a "journalist" or an "editor", without any real understanding of the art.  There may be little or no consideration that what they are circulating, in their highly hyped SEO web sites, has meaning or value in the content.

One such article caught my attention last week.

This blog is dispersed widely, and in a recent syndicated version that carries other articles as well, I noted one that I took time to read.

I thought the basic concept of this piece was OK, but in general the material was too superficial.  It showed little understanding by the writer of what the facts are regarding  in regard to four things he listed as helpful to immunity.

What makes it worse is that he is one of those "citizen journalists" promoted by a SEO site backed by unknown Taiwanese.  This SEO operation relies on hundreds, if not thousands, of back linked sites to raise position.  Many of the "dummy sites" have been copied and/or plagiarized from other reputable sites.  I think of it as WalMart of the Amazon on the SEO web site industry.

Of the four items listed in this article, deemed worthy of being featured by the SEO "editor" one stood out.

This one item stood out because of the verbiage following the name of the food.  The food listed was 'almond'.  The write hung on the insane and ill-understood physiological importance of blood pH.  Claiming, with no backup, that being 'alkaline' boosts your immunity is clear dis-information.

For some people, depending on their physiology, moving to a blood pH that is closer to 7.35-7.45 is good.  For others it may not be so good. For some being alkaline is a doorway to very poor health.

In the discussion of almonds, nothing was mention that it would be important to know if you are allergic to almonds.  Nothing was mentioned about how important it is to avoid using irradiated almonds, or any type but raw or organic.

There was no mention that it is important to soak almonds in pure water over night so that you will be better able to absorb the protein from these nuts (seeds).  

And this "writer" failed to mention any information about the fact that you must have a very high acid pH in your stomach if you want to be able to digest this food.

Some time ago there was a commercial with the punch line, "It'll cost ya". In this case, " it'll cost ya" if you don't get the information you need.  This will put your health at risk and you'll just be another groupie to the Pied Piper.Thinking optional!

Your word for today: Discernment.