Re: Vitamins and Supplements: Do They Work? - US News and World Repo

[Guest guest]

"And supplements can work too. We know, e.g., that a multivitamin can significantly slow HIV disease progression and reduce morbidity and mortality."We don't "know" that. I know that the Tanzanian prostitute study was Nobel prize-winning, and the best study in the history of the world, but anyone with access to antiretrovirals who postpones therapy thinking vitamins will do squat is delusional.While that study raised some intersting observations, there has been no coroborating follow up.Anyone who perpetuates such nonsense is as guilty as Mbecki of urging people to die for foolish choices.JB

[Guest guest]

The point of suggesting an article called"Drugs: DO They Work?"was to underscore how completely STUPID the title is.It is AS stupid as Matthias Rath claiming a multi is all anyone with HIV would ever need. He and Mbeki are vile denialists. Mbeki, happily, is GONE.There are corroborating data--from an earlier prospective, but not randomized study, that showed a very similar result--a dramatic slowing in disease progression with a multi. There was the Thai study that showed people with low CD4 counts and detectable viral loads had reduced morbidity and mortality--but no benefit to CD4 count. The fact that morbidity and mortality is reduced is quite significant! Clearly, all these people should be on ARV. But millions are denied them because pharma has been blocking access to generics and PEPFAR has slowed things down in that regard, tho they have increased some numbers of treated individuals it's still far short.That of course does not mean that a person will never need ARV and you're right, anyone that would suggest that is delusional. If you are trying to imply that I am suggesting it, then you've never paid any attention to what I have been saying. That wouldn't be much of a surprise.We need BOTH. ARV. Multis. We need drugs used wisely and not lied about (like they have, say, with hypertension drugs or hormone replacement therapy). We need supplements that have more and better data--and they need to be accessible. CoQ10 is a GREAT supplement but out of reach for many.We don't need false, cheap polemics and more crap from the pharma-bought media. M.  On Dec 14, 2008, at 1:34 PM, Barrow wrote:"And supplements can work too. We know, e.g., that a multivitamin can significantly slow HIV disease progression and reduce morbidity and mortality."We don't "know" that. I know that the Tanzanian prostitute study was Nobel prize-winning, and the best study in the history of the world, but anyone with access to antiretrovirals who postpones therapy thinking vitamins will do squat is delusional.While that study raised some intersting observations, there has been no coroborating follow up.Anyone who perpetuates such nonsense is as guilty as Mbecki of urging people to die for foolish choices.