Medicine - Turning the Science of Misinformation into an Art Form

A new study published on February 28, 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) confirms dangerous vitamins and causes death. Is this true? Not to an experienced researcher who knows scientific literature and has no interest in non-drug treatment or hidden agenda.

The author uses what is called the 'gold standard'. I'm sorry. for the study, that is, meta-analysis to obtain larger numbers to provide better statistical significance and better understanding of the results. But, not if you have an agenda and want to trigger a competitor's product as a political candidate. This is marketing 101 for politicians. Now why are scientists trying to grow vitamins? What is there in this safe and effective food for them to do this?

Well they would save the US economy (read losses for Big Pharma, Mainstream Media and Medicine) $ 58 billion dollars a year if everyone took 1 multivitamin a day. This is based on the National NI-Science Conference (NIH) on Multivitamin / Mineral Increase and Prevention of Chronic Illness. May 15-17, 2006.

So Scientists, it's okay. Show Me Science '!

Here briefly is what Danish scientists do (if I use this term loosely) in the JAMA study.
They selected 68 out of 815 clinical trials with 232,606 patients and then collected them to form a large-scale study to look at vitamin benefits. They concluded that when taking antioxidant supplements separately, beta carotene increased mortality by 7 percent, vitamin A by 16 percent, and vitamin E by 4 percent.

News Media has all made headlines like - Vitamin Kills! And to our surprise, the author suggests - "that the money spent on vitamin supplements is wasted." Gee, I've heard it before; they should add that with the money stored in vitamins and your less nutritious body in need of repair, you have more money left to buy expensive prescription drugs.

So what they really do is compare apples to oranges. Or another analogy is that they compare --- basketball hockey to baseball to football and conclude that exercise is harmful to your health. It makes sense that exercise is good for you, as is vitamins. Walking on the road is dangerous for good. These authors are credible. But is that science? I have to say ' There's something rotten in Denmark! I'm sorry.

Damage and Medicine

Let's take a look at the author's methodology, from an article by Ed Edelson of HealthDay that reports that the JAMA study "attracted quick criticism from an independent expert."

"One of the key premises of such a meta-analysis is that its research should be comparable," said Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the Antioxidant Research Lab at Tufts University in Boston. "Here, they see primary prevention, treatment, old people, young people, smokers, not smokers, only when they use their own good criteria and what is bad, they can show an increase in the mortality of all causes."

"You can't see people dying and leaving too many antioxidant supplements," Blumberg said. "It's not going to happen, you have to explain to me how some important nutrients kill you over the years."

Antioxidant supplements "have been shown in some studies to have no adverse effects," Blumberg said. "They are non-toxic, but the evidence that they prevent heart disease and cancer is equal (susceptible to double interpretation)."

It's dangerous to say that vitamins are harmful based on defective data when scientists use "their own criteria" or "English body" (as other doctors put it) to achieve the results they want.

"Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics." - Mark Twain

A similar study several years ago by Johns Hopkins, which analyzed 19 clinical trials, concluded that 400 or more international units of vitamin E daily increased the risk of death from all causes by about four percent. Well-known doctor W. Gifford Jones, a syndicated columnist was initially taken in by this investigation, but a vacation on a cruise ship cleared his thinking ability and he saw a study for the defect as well. Read his account as reported on Canadafreepress.com.

Statistical manipulation is a form of art in a community that is scientifically known and should be a shame but some people you can't shame. The medical community has been praising Vioxxx and Hormones for many years because they are drugs, if they are vitamins, they will call congressional hearings to ban them. Vitamin and vitamin deficiency is evident when the defective study is published in medical journals.

There is often a potential risk if you go beyond anything; drink too much water and you won't feel good, however, the mind must be used. Adequate quality studies have been conducted to show the benefits of vitamins and antioxidants in reducing mortality, hospitalization and improving quality of life, to continue taking them without reservation.

------------------