Almost every day the CBS Early Show puts on light and fluffy "news you can use." This week they delivered news no one can use yet - because it was in mice. But they never delivered that punchline.

On HealthNewsReview.org, we said:

There's nothing wrong with reporting on animal research. But when you suddenly one day drop in animal research in a time slot used almost every day for consumer health news, and then fail to emphasize the limitations of animal research, you're not doing the audience a service. Is the CBS Early Show going to regularly report on basic research and animal research? Or just stories they think are cute because they involve coffee at a time when people are waking up? ...

The physician-reporter twice called the study results "very encouraging" - although the results of what actually happened to the mice was never adequately explained. And they're mice. The focus of the segment appeared to revolve around illustrating for viewers the amount of coffee they would need to consume to equal the amount given to the mice. All this, without ever once mentioning that results in mice do not guarantee similar benefit in humans.

The segment just flat failed to acknowledge the limitation that this was an experimental study in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease and that human studies need to be done before a recommendation could be made for people.