I think Herb was referring to the news from the FDA yesterday in which they (FDA) say Green Tea does not reduce risk of cancer.

Maybe there's a reason for that.

Interesting post from James Joyner over at Outside the Beltway. Dr. Manley Goldfinger, a dean the University of Pennsylvania (at Indiana) Medical School, explains why drinking large amounts of tequila each day provides zero benefits to one's health....

all that supposedly contradictory health news isn't contradictory at all - it's just slightly more complex than the media - or the public - are able to comprehend.

Very mild sunlight exposure is good for you (those particularly susceptible to this health risk would be a dark-skinned person living through 6 months of winter in Boston). Heavy sunlight exposure is bad for you (this applies to pasty office workers that scald themselves on brief vacations and 90% of American youth that obsessively tan).

Coffee's diuretic effect is conquered by the fact that it contains large amounts of water. the coffee bean has certain anti-oxidants and might help mildly stave off diabetes (probably due to the stimulatory metabolic effects of caffeine), but the ingestion of coffee also creates a pretty acidic metabolic environment and several cups per day will drain the vigor from your willie (among other things).

Eggs are less bad because -

1. Dietary cholesterol intake is less associated with your body's high cholesterol level than poor dietary choices that have bad metabolic, hormonal effects - like simple carb ingestion.

2. They're packed with vitamins and minerals and protein.

3. That being said, eating tons of egg yolks is still bad for you, as the animal fat and cholesterol causes inflammation in the body (something tied to all land-animal fats).

4. Green tea, is a great substitute for coffee, because it's truly a MIRACLE plant. I have no idea what stories you're reciting that cast aspersions on its cancer fighting ability, but it's been tied to lower rates of various cancers (primarily ones in parts of the body where the tea will come into contact with potentially cancerous areas), as well as being cited in innumerable positive studies in applications as diverse as anti-inflammation to metabolic improvement to skin care. It's a miracle substance. Drink up. Bathe in it.

5. Salt is indeed bad for you, in the quantities found in most prepared foods. Causes high blood pressure, water retention, fights with and overwhelms potassium for finite absorption ability.

None of this is contradictory; it's just the apparently incommunicable complexity that goes over the media's/public's head. Which is why I get frustrated with simplistic outlets that tout breakthrough results that aren't validates, as well as the outlets that sneer at them by providing an overly simplistic contradictory narrative.