Recently, Prozac, the best-selling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, had hit the headlines. A research from the Hull University of UK had declared that the drug — and others in the same class — does not work creating confusion and consternation across the globe among doctors and patients.

A US study this week declares that water is not the detoxifying agent it is believed to be and drinking the standard eight glasses a day is not necessary at all. Worse, drinking too much water is positively harmful for your health.

The two studies are no exceptions.

Various researches in the past have raised equal alarm about various entities of daily use: Coffee, vitamins, fish, red wine… the list is long and practically everything seems unsafe.

Were you to believe all of them and alter your habits accordingly, you would end up starving and dehydrating yourself. What adds to the dilemma is the studies that come up with absolutely contradictory results on the same subject.

Take the case of fibre-rich foods and oily fish. While nutritionists across the globe advise regular consumption of these, a report in the New Scientist says recent studies have debunked notions that fibre-rich foods and oily fish can prevent cancer.

Coffee has been a cup of contradictions for long. A study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology this January linked an increased miscarriage risk to its consumption. But in the same month’s edition of Epidemiology, researchers reported that less than about two cups of coffee a day was unrelated to miscarriage.

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