The world of health information is bewildering now, as Google opens up thousands of results for any symptom you care to key in. The trouble is, the more you know, the more you know how little you know. How can a person stay healthy in the information age?

A site like PubMed carries about 19 million studies, many of which are not well designed with trustworthy statistical methods and randomised controlled trials. Some are high quality and you can trust them, but you might not understand them. Meanwhile, medical guidelines seem to fluctuate with the weather, for example, should you mammogram before 50 or not? Should you eat butter or olive oil? It’s hard to trust the experts when they don’t agree.

A decade later, the Human Genome Project has still not made it any easier to make practical changes in one’s health. Even if you know you have a certain gene, that doesn’t mean you can do anything about it. If you are at risk for cancer, you might choose to lose weight, eat more fruit and vegetables, or exercise a lot, but this doesn’t guarantee anything. The ubiquitous phrase “talk to your doctor”, won’t help much because she’s as overworked as you are.

Michael Pollan, food writer, said: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says children need an hour of varied physical exercise each day, but adults can probably get away with 2.5 hours per week plus some basic muscle strengthening twice a week. Thomas Goetz, in his book The Decision Tree, offers three basic rules for good health: Early is better than late (prevention); Let data do the work (monitor your basic stats); Trust in openness (ask your doctor and your friends).

In essence, it means taking personal responsibility for your health. The old days of consulting the doctor when you have a problem are gone. Everything now is based on your lifestyle and your choices (and perhaps your insurance). These days nobody’s an expert. And if they are, you probably can’t afford them.

Ref: Newsweek (US), 28 June-5 July 2010, Healthy at any age. Mary Carmichael. www.newsweek.com
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Search words: medical advice, Google, Too Much Information, PubMed, mammograms, genomics, Human Genome Project, cancer, fruit, vegetables, exercise, The Decision Tree, prevention, PatientsLikeMe.com, openness.

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