This stuff shouldn't irritate me, but it does

Things reporters get wrong but shouldn't part45...

This report on abdominal obesity on the BBC health news website says 'Excess weight around the middle generates oestrogen and excess chemicals in the stomach, which put people at higher risk of killer diseases.'

I haven't checked the source materials, but I'm pretty sure the excess chemicals they are talking about are inflammatory cytokines. Which would be hydrolysed and destroyed if they were in the stomach, and so not in a position to do any damage. It's when the cytokines produced by the metabolically active fat gets into the blood that the trouble starts (and it's fair enough not to go into too much detail on the immunology...)

The BBC would not let a political or sport story containing such a howler to get through. Its reporters and editors are complete geeks about the different stages of a parliamentary bill or the Liverpool back four from 1974.

Didn't an editor somewhere along the line, wonder how chemicals in abdominal fat cells were transported to the stomach, and how they would then be in a position to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer? Did no one in the news room have A level understanding of digestion?

Just looked up the source for the story. It's a churnalism classic: amplifying a badly written and ambiguous phrase in the press release and turning it into an error.

Lazy, careless and ignorant.