British Humour In The Bmj?

Scarletbegonia

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I was looking up “pectin in apple cider vinegar,” which led to a study on the benefits of a statin drug a day versus an apple a day.

This passage has me bemused. Amused, too, but mostly bemused.
Is this humour? Or are they serious?

Discussion
Prescribing either an apple a day or a statin a day to everyone over 50 years old is likely to have a similar effect on population vascular mortality. Choosing apples rather than statins may avoid more than a thousand excess cases of myopathy and more than 12 000 excess diabetes diagnoses. The basic costs of apples are likely to be greater than those of statins; however, NHS prescription prices and convenience may drive people to purchase their apples from a store rather than through a pharmacy, thereby reducing direct NHS costs, or the NHS may be able to negotiate apple price freezes (although defrosted apples may not be so palatable).23


Source:
A statin a day keeps the doctor away: comparative proverb assessment modelling study
 
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englad

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It sounds like they're being sarcy yes, but they have a serious point.

Some information about how the NHS works. It's funded through a scheme known as National Insurance, which is charged directly out of your taxes. It's free at the point of issue (no hospital charges, no doctor visit charges etc) and in Wales and Scotland, prescriptions are free, in England, there's a low charge (£9 per drug, regardless of prescription size). The NHS always ends up making a decision as to whether a drug is worth stocking, based on how effective it is and they do factor in the costs. So if they're saying apples are as effective as statins, they won't bother stocking the latter.