"I don't understand how they come up with all these studies all of a sudden," Linderman wondered out loud. "Who is making this research?"
Last week, it was the busy scientists at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting in New Orleans. They released a storm of papers warning already-boggled consumers that:
* Decaffeinated coffee may raise cholesterol levels.
* Blood pressure may actually go up when salt is cut back.
* Even a single drink may be bad for people over 50.
* Shoveling snow may be all right for the heart, but getting out of bed in the middle of the night may not.
Now add this one: Health studies, consumed in large quantities, can also be hazardous - to mental health.
"It does drive you crazy - you don't know what to think," said George Bintner, 51, of Colmar. He had given up eggs, butter, salt and regular coffee - only to learn of the decaf report, done by a Stanford University researcher who studied the cholesterol levels of 188 coffee-drinking volunteers.
"Can't anyone do an article on what foods we can eat that are not going to be bad for you five years from now?" pleaded Woodbury special-education teacher Christine Neilio, a vegetarian who lately has been upset by the salt content in soybean products. "You think one thing is good. You go do that. They turn around and say it's bad."
Last week was unusual only in the volume of reports unleashed on the public. Two weeks before, couch potatoes learned that just a small amount of exercise would help prolong their lives. Recently, scientists have battled over whether cholesterol is really bad, a nutritional supplement has been linked to blood-disease deaths, and electric blankets - even electric toasters - have been declared possible villains in the electromagnetic-field flap.
AMATO'S VIEW
