The foundations of health are very simple: diet and exercise. The healthiest individuals optimize both and make the gym and nutrition non-negotiable priorities in their lives.
Over the years, and even very recently, media campaigns have promoted poor health practices by pushing bogus science or comically incorrect research. As the "guardians of truth" and the keepers of democracy, shouldn't the media be concerned about whether their reporting is accurate or not? Of course they should - especially in an area as black and white as health.
Where did it all begin?
Back in 1910, soap manufacturing company Proctor & Gamble experimented with a new chemical process that claimed to create "a solid fat from a liquid." The company bought patents on the novel technology, and began creating large quantities of Crisco, which they described as "a food product consisting of a vegetable oil, preferably cottonseed oil, partially hydrogenated, and hardened to a homogeneous white or yellowish semi-solid closely resembling lard. The special object of the invention is to provide a new food product for a shortening in cooking." They created the first seed oil.
Proctor & Gamble then hired the J. Walter Thompson Agency, America's first full-service advertising agency, to push the seed oil into homes across the country. Advertisements in the Ladies' Home Journal encouraged homemakers to try the new fat and "realize why its discovery will affect every family in America." The unprecedented product rollout resulted in the sales of 2.6 million pounds of Crisco in 1912 and 60 million pounds just four years later, according to The Atlantic. It also helped usher in the age of margarine (which is still popular today) as well as low-fat foods.
It wasn't until the 1990s that the science behind Crisco and trans fats became well understood. But by then, after nearly a century of advertisements and media-pushed campaigns to popularize seed oils, the damage has been done. More Americans than ever are overweight and obese, and the trendlines are only going up. You can find seed oils hidden in a majority of foods in American grocery stores, including bread and some milks.
With the introduction of seed oils in the American diet in the early 1900s, health and nutrition was forever changed.
You'd think that with all we know now about the dangers of trans fats, poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyles, modern media would be actively pushing for a healthier population?
Well, you'd be wrong.
Several suspiciously prominent mainstream media sources have recently attempted to link physical fitness with far-right extremism.
According to The Guardian, "new analysis" shows that the far right is is "increasingly recruiting via online fitness groups, whose popularity soared during the pandemic, prompting fears that new members are being radicalised to commit acts of violence." Physical fitness is a badge of pride in some far-right groups, The Guardian claims.
The Guardian and the Daily Kos both referenced U.K.-based activist group Hope Not Hate, which stated that young men in Europe and the U.S. are being recruited and radicalized by a network of online “fascist fitness” chat groups. According to the group, these far-right fitness fascists lure in people looking for fitness advice, health tips and strategies for achieving greater strength and improving their bodies, "after which recruits are eventually invited to closed chat groups where extremist ideologies are the primary fare."
A piece in MSNBC, written by a woman claiming to be an "expert on extremism," stated that physical fitness has always been central to the far right, and noted that in Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler fixated on boxing and jujitsu, believing they could help him create an army of millions with aggressive spirits and impeccably trained bodies.
According to the writer, the intersection of extremism and fitness leans into "a shared obsession with the male body, training, masculinity, testosterone, strength and competition." Which are all bad things, apparently.
If marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs, then the barbell is a gateway to invading the Sudetenland, according to the media.
Even with access to an unfathomable number of research papers and studies on health-related topics, media outlets to this day continue to churn out embarrassing takes.
Just last week, the New York Post went viral on Twitter for posting this article: New research suggests physical exercise has ‘little’ mental benefits.
From the article:
"Analyzing data from over 100 individual trials involving more than 11,000 'healthy participants' found 'inconclusive evidence' that physical exercise improves cognitive ability, according to findings published by Nature Human Behaviour."
Not only does this conflict with hundreds of previously conducted studies on cognitive function and brain health, but it also runs counter to all common sense. Everyone who has spent some time in the gym, in the weight room or on the treadmill knows this.
Fortunately, the viral tweet did receive a strong fact-check from Twitter's Community Notes feature. If the media refuses to think before they publish, at least we'll have Elon Musk to save us.
All hope is not lost. Social media is full of individuals with expertise in health, fitness and nutrition. And it seems that people are hungry for their knowledge - these accounts have rocketed in popularity since the pandemic lockdowns of 2020. On Twitter, accounts such as Oliver Anwar, P.D. Mangan, Mark Sisson, BowTiedOx and Sol Brah are pushing people in the right direction. YouTube creators Jeremy Ethier and Jeff Nippard have exploded in popularity. Instagram personality Joey Swoll has attained internet celebrity status for being an advocate of "gym positivity."
For every massive blunder by the mainstream media, there are many hardworking individuals using their social media platforms to encourage others to get on the right path.
The media has a long track record of being on the wrong side of history regarding health and fitness. As their credibility continues to fall, perhaps the number of people misled by them will decrease as well.
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