Eating vegetables isn't enough to reduce the risk of heart disease, according to recent British research, yet according to American scientists, a plant-centred diet can help achieve this.
Faced with a surfeit of information, it can be hard to know what it's best to eat, says journalist Nicole Schmidt.
Part of the problem is that food has trends just like fashion, she tells Jim Mora.
Photo: Nutriciously / Unsplash
About ten years ago, kale hit the spotlight, Nicole says, partly thanks to the "bizarre personal crusade" of a PR agent who claimed to be hired by the imaginary American Kale Association.
"Kale started appearing on more restaurant menus, you had Beyoncé wearing a kale sweatshirt in one of her music videos, you had Gwyneth Paltrow preaching about the benefits of kale… it completely took off.'
Then, in 2015, came the kale backlash after molecular biologist Ernie Hubbard suggested eating too much could cause chronic fatigue, neurological disorders, heart abnormalities and hair loss because it contained thallium – a chemical element often used in rat poison.
Although Hubbard's findings were found to be flawed - "the average person would have to consume 150 pounds of kale a day for it to be a health hazard" - the leafy green has now fallen out of favour with New Zealanders.
Coffee-drinking hasn't, though and with so far roughly 20,000 studies conducted on how coffee affects us, a person could be researching forever.
It's good to remember that it's not always a specific food or substance itself that causes harm – the problem can be more about lifestyle, Nicole says.
"Someone who drinks between five and six cups a day might be busy, stressed out, they may not be sleeping very well… but it's those habits that are more likely to be the cause of any ill health effects, maybe not the coffee itself."
While we keep an open mind about how reliable nutrition studies are, a time-honoured cliche may be our best guide, Nicole says.
"All things in moderation seems to be the best rule of thumb."
