It's certainly not news that many studies are flawed and that...

It's certainly not news that many studies are flawed and that many treatments based on such studies are often invalidated at a later time.

Medicine is not a science. It is an art that attempts to validate via science.

The problem with biological systems are that they are so complex they defy formal description, and individual responses are so variable that predicting outcomes in individuals from population derived data is fraught with error.

there is also a huge input from vested interests - both pharmaceutical and equipment factions as well as entrenched medical positions. Such entrenchement derives from both financial and professional protectionism.

It sure ain't perfect.

BUT: the difference between orthodox medicine and quackery is that there is a genuine drive to examine, research and analyse on a scientific basis, and not base treatments on anecdotal evidence alone.
Although as a doctor, I know that we practice in many ways under the influence of our own anecdotal experiences, such is the fallability of the human condition!

The use of the double blind randomised control trial is an important cornerstone of research and the article referred to acknowledges this at the end (I suspect many readers have moved to the next story before reading this).

The Cochrane Collaboration plays a vital role in sifting through the mountains of evidence and producing a statement that is as close to the truth as is possible with the current state of knowledge - and even that will not always be right.

Much of current medical knowledge is verifiably accurate. There is also much that is not - and unfortunately vested interests often perpetrate errors of treatment. And like endeavors in many other aspects of life it can be extremely difficult to challenge such entrenched positions. The AGW debate being a case in point.

Anyone who suggests that you are safer getting your health advice from the snake-oil merchants as you are from a competent medically trained professional will take their life in their hands far more frequently than vice versa.

It only matters when it matters, and in most conditions it doesn't matter whether you wave a coloured rag at it or prescribe a medical treatment, you're going to get better regardless.

Not so with diabetes or appendicitis......