In this Issue: Medical Research: A Play in Five Acts; The True Numbers for Breast Cancer; Most Research Findings Are Wrong; Check Out Our Previous Tips.

I am a fact junkie when it comes to health care. That means numbers: the hard, non-squishy kind. But while good numbers can guide prudent decisions in our health care, we suffer a daily barrage of fake, hyped numbers.

They come from all directions: Advocacy groups who want to persuade us that their issue is really, really important, or manufacturers who claim their product is the latest and greatest for healthy living, as long as we take it every day, or researchers who want to convince themselves and us that the project they have labored on for years has generated interesting important findings.

Whatever the source of the numbers deluge, I think it pays to be skeptical. And I say there is joy in skepticism, because the conclusion from a skeptical inquiry often is that we're doing just fine as is, thank you very much. S

o this month, I offer a few reports about a skeptical approach to new research findings and to hyped statistics. Read on for more details. As before: Feel free to "unsubscribe" on the button at the bottom of this email.

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