Yet More Bum Research on Supplements
Do they Work? Well, Yes & No......
Last week saw two new medical research findings hit the headlines saying that vitamin supplements not only don’t work but may actually be bad for you. Generally speaking that is true, or at least undeniable, but it is a bit like saying the Sun can give you skin cancer. It can be true, but only a fool would say the sun is bad for you and you should stop taking it. That is why the media, when they report these findings, fail so miserably to do their job. They simply do not do their homework or give us the facts we need to make an informed decision.
Anyone who takes supplements or is considering taking them, should seek to evaluate whether what they’re swallowing is doing them any good, or if they’re wasting their money? There is so much conflicting research, much of it self serving, it’s next to impossible to come to a definitive conclusion on almost any medical subject. All we can do is try to establish the facts, weigh the evidence and make the best decision we can. We need to know things like: who are the people making up the sample, was the survey properly conducted and statistically sound, who paid for the research, what were they given to take, with what frequency and in what dosage. Even, does the press report headline actually relate to the original purpose of the research? Weirdly, in one of these trials it does not.
The fundamental fact is that nutritional supplements taken appropriately can and do cure, prevent and alleviate many, often serious, illnesses. Consult a good orthomolecular MD and you will soon be in no doubt. Unfortunately, in most cases supplements are not taken appropriately and don’t work. That is why I always say “Supplements work - but most don’t!”.
Save your $’s
The LA Times and other leading media reported 12 November that according to antioxidant vitamins, supplements taken by many millions of people world over, don’t reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes or breast cancer.
In the first trial 14,641 middle-aged physicians took vitamins E and C for an average of eight years and did not see any benefit to their cardiovascular health. The second study tracked 36,641 post-menopausal women for an average of seven years and found that a daily regimen of of vitamin D and calcium did not offer any protection against invasive breast cancer.
From this bald data we are led to believe by some of the media that not only does calcium, vitamins C, E and D not only do you any good but increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and breast cancer. That is just so much crap.
When we look a bit further into the research we find that among the 7,315 people who took vitamin E, there were 620 cases of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease compared with 625 such cases among the 7,326 people who took dummy pills. The results for vitamin C showed 619 major cardiovascular events among the 7,329 doctors who got the vitamin versus 626 events for the 7,312 who got the placebo. The breast cancer study, which incidentally was not a breast cancer study but was researching hip fractures, found that over the course of the trial, 528 of the 18,176 women who got the pill developed invasive breast cancer, compared with 546 of the 18,106 who got the placebo.
So clearly it is not true to say or imply these vitamins can cause the disease, which is what some of the reporting would indicate. Merely that these vitamins don’t make any difference in preventing these conditions.
What’s a therapeutic dose?
Now lets turn to what was actually given these people in the samples. In the first study they received 400 IU of vitamin E and 500 mg of vitamin C, both in forms which are unstated. Vitamin C and E come in many forms of varying efficacy. For any therapeutic effect you need a lot more than 500mg of vitamin C, try 3,000 mg. The vitamin E in most common supplements is in a form which gives minor benefits at best. For maximum therapeutic effect it should be taken in an oil-based formulation containing tocopherols alpha through gamma. With the “breast” study, same thing. What form was the vitamin D and what kind of calcium was it? Other studies indicate you need 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D to do any good. What about the quality? Where did these vitamins come from? China? Huge amounts of vitamins are sourced from there, and that’s not exactly reassuring.
Then you have to consider, who is conducting the research and why? In this case the first study was sponsored among others by Roche and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Big Pharma is well known for using its money to get the results they want, and that does not include spending money to prove vitamins, which are cheap, as medically effective. The second study was commissioned by the American Breast Cancer Institute, a worthy body but a very conventional one hewing closely to the establishment allopathic industrial line on cancer treatment, particularly when it comes to broad spectrum chemotherapy.
These two pieces of research then, do not alter my view that these antioxidants, minerals and supplements in the right form and in the right dosage can and do play a big part in preventing heart disease, stroke and cancer.
It’s a Minefield
That said, I am afraid that most people buying supplements are indeed wasting their money. Most supplements on sale in a health food shops anywhere in the world, not just Indonesia, be it Singapore, Australia, the US or Europe, are unlikely to have any more than a placebo effect (trebly true if you get your supps via MLM). This is not because the products are no good, though up to 30% can be fraudulent. Nor is it necessarily because the vitamin C is from China and of unacceptable purity. No, it’s because almost always these products are sold in low dose non-therapeutic amounts and no one will tell you what constitutes a therapeutic dosage. Nobody wants you to know. The field is stacked against you. Almost the entire industry, including all those health journals touting the stuff, is a hugely profitable and legal marketing scam and you are being stiffed right royally.
So in a way, the doctors who tell you your supplements habit amounts to little more than expensive urine, have a point but massively miss the essential fact, which is that nutritional supplements can be amazingly effective and very cost efficient. You just have to do your homework is all. Otherwise, save your hard earned money for something you at least get some fun out of.
Note: Anyone wishing to check out what works, in what amount & how to buy smart can check back with earlier Alternative Voice articles on www.baliadvertiser.com where these subjects have been extensively covered over the last few years or so.
