著者

松山 圭子

出版者

日本医学哲学・倫理学会

雑誌

医学哲学 医学倫理 (ISSN:02896427)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, pp.46-56, 1996-10-01 (Released:2018-02-01)

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Medicine has discourse space filled with exchange and interaction between professionals and laypersons. How do Newspapers and magazines treat medical discourse? There have been many changes and controversies concerning cholesterol. After World War II cholesterol was considered to be a bad substance which generates atherosclerosis and should be lowered. However public health researchers showed that cerebral apoplexies among Japanese (specially farmers in rural district) occured because of the low-cholesterol in the blood. This result contradicted cardiologists' advice and the common sense. So the controversy started and continued. In newspapers and magazines either articles supporting the common sense or opposing ones appeared. There have been no articles dealing with both opinions of this controversy. From a point of view low-cholesterol in the blood as a risk factor of cerebral hemorrhage was shown after a progress of medicine. But from another point of view public health researchers could not overlook cholesterol, the substance in fashion. And the medical fashion of worrying about cholesterol has spread all over the country.