News Keeps Getting Worse for Vitamins - Says Alfred Hitchcock

[Guest guest]

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

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> 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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