Re: News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins - Says Alfred Hitchcock

[Guest guest]

For a comprehensive explanation on why these vitamin studies are a bunch of

nonsense see:

http://www.jonbarron.org/baseline-health-program/2008-11-24.php

> From: <michael@...>

> Subject: News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins - Says Alfred

Hitchcock

>

> Date: Monday, November 24, 2008, 2:27 AM

> You ain't seen nothing yet.

>

> Even though each of these studies has been debunked

> thoroughly, the

> negative misinformation campaign against vitamins is

> ramping up to

> increase the frequency of their publication. Watch for more

> and watch

> for each one to be debunked to reveal what a sham they are.

>

>

> As just one example, the Nurse's Health Study this

> article mentioned

> that said that too much vitamin A intake increased the rate

> of hip

> fractures also said that too little vitamin A increased the

> rate of

> hip fracture. Vitamin A is one of the nutrients with the

> narrowest

> safety margins, so too much can cause problems, but because

> it is an

> essential nutrient, too little can cause problems, too.

> Severe

> deficiency can even lead to death.

>

> But, of course, unless you read the entire study you

> weren't told by

> the newspapers that too little vitamin A caused problems

> just like too

> much did, so you need some vitamin A -- in an optimal range

> for best

> health. This is because the newspapers typically present a

> biased

> partial picture in their consistent partnership in the

> misinformation

> campaign against safe, effective dietary supplements.

>

> Looking further into the Nurse's Health Study we find

> that it was a

> questionare-based study (food diary), which are known to be

> as much as

> 400 percent inaccurate and cannot be considered to be

> conclusive, even

> though the press presents them as conclusive. The study did

> not test

> blood levels of vitamin A to give us precise data and a

> well -founded

> conclusion. A few years later Barker tested the results of

> that study

> but in his effort to arrive at a real conclusion he

> published a blood

> test study - which is precise -- that showed that there was

> NO

> association between even high vitamin A blood levels and

> more hip

> fractures. To the contrary, higher blood vitamin A levels

> were

> associated with LESS hip fractures.

>

> See: Barker, ME, et al. Serum retinoids and beta-carotene

> as

> predictors of hip and other fractures in elderly women. J

> Bone Miner

> Res. 2005 Jun;20(6):913-20.

>

> To read more corrections of these bogus studies, see:

> http://www.michaelmooney.net/#Corrections

>

> Mooney

> www.michaelmooney.net

> wwww.medibolics.com

>

>

>

> >

> >

> >

> > NOVEMBER 20, 2008, 12:45 PM

> > News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins

> >

> > By TARA PARKER-POPE

> > The best efforts of the scientific community to prove

> the health

> > benefits of vitamins keep falling short.

> >

> > Consumers don't want to give up their vitamins.

> (Tony Cenicola/The New

> > York Times)

> > This week, researchers reported the disappointing

> results from a large

> > clinical trial of almost 15,000 male doctors taking

> vitamins E and C

> > for a decade. The study showed no meaningful effect on

> cancer rates.

> >

> > Another recent study found no benefit of vitamins E

> and C for heart

> > disease.

> >

> > In October, a major trial studying whether vitamin E

> and selenium

> > could lower a man's risk for prostate cancer ended

> amidst worries that

> > the treatments may do more harm than good.

> >

> > And recently, doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering

> Cancer Center in New

> > York warned that vitamin C seems to protect not just

> healthy cells but

> > cancer cells, too.

> >

> > Everyone needs vitamins, which are critical for the

> body. But for most

> > people, the micronutrients we get from foods usually

> are adequate to

> > prevent vitamin deficiency, which is rare in the

> United States. That

> > said, some extra vitamins have proven benefits, such

> as vitamin B12

> > supplements for the elderly and folic acid for women

> of child-bearing

> > age. And calcium and vitamin D in women over 65 appear

> to protect bone

> > health.

> >

> > But many people gobble down megadoses of vitamins

> believing that they

> > boost the body's ability to mop up damaging free

> radicals that lead to

> > cancer and heart disease. In addition to the more

> recent research,

> > several reports in recent years have challenged the

> notion that

> > vitamins are good for you.

> >

> > A s Hopkins School of Medicine review of 19

> vitamin E clinical

> > trials of more than 135,000 people showed high doses

> of vitamin E

> > (greater than 400 IUs) increased a person's risk

> for dying during the

> > study period by 4 percent. Taking vitamin E with other

> vitamins and

> > minerals resulted in a 6 percent higher risk of dying.

> A later study

> > of daily vitamin E showed vitamin E takers had a 13

> percent higher

> > risk for heart failure.

> >

> > The Journal of Clinical Oncology published a study of

> 540 patients

> > with head and neck cancer who were being treated with

> radiation

> > therapy. Vitamin E reduced side effects, but cancer

> recurrence rates

> > among the vitamin users were higher, although the

> increase didn't

> > reach statistical significance.

> >

> > A 1994 Finland study of smokers taking 20 milligrams a

> day of beta

> > carotene showed an 18 percent higher incidence of lung

> cancer among

> > beta carotene users. In 1996, a study called Caret

> looked at beta

> > carotene and vitamin A use among smokers and workers

> exposed to

> > asbestos, but the study was stopped when the

> participants taking the

> > combined therapy showed a 28 percent higher risk for

> lung cancer and a

> > 26 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease.

> >

> > A 2002 Harvard study of more than 72,000 nurses showed

> that those who

> > consumed high levels of vitamin A from foods,

> multivitamins and

> > supplements had a 48 percent higher risk for hip

> fractures than nurses

> > who had the lowest intake of vitamin A.

> >

> > The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews looked at

> vitamin C

> > studies for treating colds. Among more than two dozen

> studies, there

> > was no overall benefit for preventing colds, although

> the vitamin was

> > linked with a 50 percent reduction in colds among

> people who engaged

> > in extreme activities, such as marathon runners,

> skiers and soldiers,

> > who were exposed to significant cold or physical

> stress. The data also

> > suggested vitamin C use was linked with less severe

> and slightly

> > shorter colds.

> >

> > In October 2004, Copenhagen researchers reviewed seven

> randomized

> > trials of beta carotene, selenium and vitamins A, C

> and E (alone or in

> > combination) in esophageal, gastric, colorectal,

> pancreatic and liver

> > cancer. The antioxidant users had a 6 percent higher

> death rate than

> > placebo users.

> >

> > Two studies presented to the American College of

> Cardiology in 2006

> > showed that vitamin B doesn't prevent heart

> attacks, leading The New

> > England Journal of Medicine to say that the

> consistency of the results

> > " leads to the unequivocal conclusion " that

> the vitamins don't help

> > patients with established vascular disease.

> >

> > The British Medical Journal looked at multivitamin use

> among elderly

> > people for a year but found no difference in infection

> rates or visits

> > to doctors.

> >

> > Despite a lack of evidence that vitamins actually

> work, consumers

> > appear largely unwilling to give them up. Many readers

> of the Well

> > blog say the problem is not the vitamin but poorly

> designed studies

> > that use the wrong type of vitamin, setting the

> vitamin up to fail.

> > Industry groups such as the Council for Responsible

> Nutrition also say

> > the research isn't well designed to detect

> benefits in healthy vitamin

> > users.

> >

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