Pharma's Don't-Take-Vitamins Study Diametrically Opposed by Valid Study

[SecularMotion]

A top expert criticizes not only the study’s methodology, but the familiar commercial intent behind the study.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Have you not asked yourself why vitamins (!) are suddenly an issue and who is behind it? As food is increasingly degraded, are you not aware how crucial supplementation for vital nutrients is? Are you aware that disease is an investment industry and this is in the service of it?

Huffington Post just published Women Who Take Vitamin Supplements May Have Increased Death Risk, at precisely the moment that the pharmaceutical industry is in health attack mode to limit access to nutritional supplements in the US. How coincidental!

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october152011/vitamin-study-ag.php

[glowing]

1. Along with the meme that Bill Gates would be alive today if

he hadn't taken herbals first and gotten the surgery immediately when diagnosed with cancer... His waiting 9 mos killed him... I've noticed that slick stick it to the man when he's barely been cold a few days

[NV Whino]

2. Um, that was Steve Jobs

Bill Gates is still alive and kicking... as far as I know.

[Lint Head]

4. Face Off?

[MedicalAdmin]

9. Alive, kicking and still fucking with public education. n/t

[glowing]

14. oops.. guess that's what an overnight double does to me..

sorry, I did mean Jobs

[MineralMan]

6. Bill Gates? As far as I know he hasn't died.

Uff da!

[LeftishBrit]

10. Bill Gates IS alive today!

[nilram]

13. yeah, those pharm boys are screwin with your head all right.

[glowing]

15. lol, more like a double over night.. sorry about that.

[midnight]

3. K&R

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Google - Huffington Post + Woo eom

[HuckleB]

7. The consensus of the science is that most people do not benefit from supplements.

You should know that by now, as it has been shown to you, repeatedly, and yet you keep spamming the board about this single study, which STILL has nothing to do with "Big Pharma," and which has a bottom line (most people don't need multivitamins) that agrees with the vast majority of other research.

Some examples:

A report on one older study:
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/mar/16/vitamin-efficiency/

Two more:
http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/the-multi-vitamin-fallacy/

And a summation on the science:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/vitamins-and-mortality/

[SidDithers]

16. Good find - thanks for posting...

:thumbsup:

Sid

[BuddhaGirl]

8. good find - thanks for posting

:thumbsup:

[LeftishBrit]

11. There are two different issues here

One is: are vitamins necessary for everyone? There are studies that suggest that only some people really need and benefit from vitamins, and that the rest could save their money. I think there is convincing evidence for this view, though I think that the jury is still out on some of it.

The other is: do vitamins kill you? Obviously, yes if you consume certain vitamins in poisonous quantities - e.g. eating polar bear's liver can kill you because it contains enormous quantities of vitamin A. But I am not convinced by the recently-reported study that taking vitamin supplements increases your risk of death, for precisely the same reasons that I wasn't convinced by the study a year or so ago that claimed that children who had the flu vaccine were more likely to end up in hospital. Children with pre-existing chest problems such as asthma are more likely to be given the flu vaccine, and are also more likely to be hospitalized. Similarly, people with health problems are more likely to take supplements, and are also more likely to die younger than totally healthy people. Using supplements as a substitute either for seeing the doctor, or for healthy diet, or both, *is* doubtless a health risk; but I would need much more evidence than this to conclude that supplements themselves are a health risk.

However: I do not trust 'experts' associated with the Alliance for Natural Health. It has just as much of an agenda as any Pharma company; and in particular, it claims to oppose Obama's healthcare reforms. Anyone who opposes Obama's healthcare reforms, for any reason other than that they don't go far *enough*, is a poisonous snake as far as I'm concerned, and I wouldn't trust them on anything to do with healthcare.

By the way, I take calcium and vitamin D supplements, prescribed for me by my doctor on the NHS.

[HuckleB]

12. There's also the issue that the article in the OP is mostly a pointless "Big Pharma" rant.

Meanwhile, the same article seems to have no problems with BIG SUPPLEMENT.

That seems odd, no?