All these health scares are making me ill. I need someone to tell me croissants are good for you | Emma Beddington

The mainstream media is obsessed with science and boring old facts. We unhealthy eaters need to be reassured that everything is fine and a little of what you fancy still does you good

The recent headline that a Daily croissant can take a toll on your heart in under a month" was like a dagger to mine, just as my beloved local baker had got really good at vegan ones. Not that it has to be a croissant: researchers at Oxford investigated the impact on heart health of a diet high in saturated fat for just over three weeks. It's bad, if you had any lingering doubt.

This comes on the back of admittedly unsurprising, but personally devastating health stories such as the one saying that eating croissants when you are stressed reduces arterial elasticity" - a very stressful read. I also felt targeted by research on how unhealthy snacking sabotages the benefits of a healthy diet (this week a woman in a cafe asked if I was having a party" when I put in my cake order; I was not). Then there is the continued drip-feed of doom about sedentary living and poor sleep, and general angst-provoking news about environmental contaminants.

Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist