ON 3 JANUARY, I broke a New Year’s resolution. I tried to stay strong but I cracked. I responded to the Twitter trolls.

An extract of my new book This Book Could Save Your Life – a round-up of the science of personal health, based largely on articles in New Scientist – had just appeared in The Times and had been picked up by Apple News. I was about to do a BBC interview, and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The tweets burst my bubble. One sneered at me for “just trotting out mainstream nutrition advice”. Another described …