Robert Todd Carroll
SkepDic.com
Click to order from Amazon
New
Herbal Science International, Inc. Recalls Twelve Dietary Herbal Supplements
Nationwide Because of Possible Health Risk Associated with Ephedra,
Aristolochic Acid and Human Placenta
Airborne Agrees to Pay $23.3
Million to Settle Lawsuit Over False Advertising of its "Miracle Cold
Buster"
Glucosamine Update: A
New Study and a New Product
Vitamin E linked to
lung cancer (Taking high doses of vitamin E supplements can
increase the risk of lung cancer)
Vitamins can
kill and
Study: Garlic not so helpful
The antioxidant myth: a medical fairy tale - New Scientist
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE CONFERENCE STATEMENT
Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements and Chronic Disease Prevention
May 15–17, 2006
High iron levels raise cancer risk in people with high cholesterol
Vitamin C fails to prevent colds
Folic Acid Cuts
Dementia Risk
|
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supplements: vitamins, minerals,
herbs, & "natural" products
note: Here
you will find links to other entries in The Skeptic's Dictionary
about persons or practices relating to vitamins, minerals, or
herbs. Here you will also find excerpts from items in The Skeptic's
Refuge relating to people who make a living selling supplements at inflated prices
and encouraging others to do the same with the promise that by doing so you
will be on your way to riches beyond your imagination,
eternal youth, increased spirituality, or something of the sort.
There are too many companies
and products involved in this kind of chicanery to list them all by name. The following links should
help you decide whether a particular outfit or product is trustworthy.
For those cancer patients who are thinking of
trying an untested alternative therapy, please read Dr. Stephen Barrett's
A Special
Message for Cancer Patients Seeking "Alternative" Treatments.
Articles about persons and practices
-
Joel D.
Wallach, "The Mineral Doctor" (Claims that all diseases are due to
mineral deficiencies and that just about anyone can live more than one
hundred years if they take daily supplements of colloidal minerals harvested
from a pit in Utah.)
-
naturopathy
(Their favorite cure for anything that ails you is a diet rich in vitamins
and mineral supplements, often sold through their office.)
-
natural
(Of course, supplements aren't natural, even though some of the ingredients
in them are. My favorite claim here is one by Dr. Atkins that his low-carb
diet, which requires supplements, was the most natural.)
-
holistic
medicine (Holistic practitioners are often adamant that vitamins are
good for the soul.)
-
multi-level
marketing (There are probably more MLMs centering around vitamin and
mineral sales than any other product.)
-
Amway® (Quixtar®)
(Team of Destiny®)
-
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone)
(If your body produces it, it must be good to add it via a supplement,
right? Think cholesterol.)
-
shark cartilage
(Those who sell it swear it can cure cancer.)
-
bioharmonics (One of the more popular claims in "energy" healing is how
valuable supplements are to proper health and spirituality.)
-
aromatherapy
(Improve your life force or spirit with essential oils!)
-
Bach's
flower therapy (Homeopathic aromatherapy for the soul.)
-
Wicca (Wiccans
favor herbs over conventional medicines.)
-
homeopathy
(Vitalism at its best!)
-
alternative health practices
(One of the most popular AHPs is to use supplements for vitality, increased
harmony, wholeness, and wellness.)
-
Ayurvedic
medicine (Find the right foods and herbs for your body type.)
-
anthroposophic
medicine (Steiner discovered that "a plant is a healing plant when it
has a distortion or an abnormality.")
Excerpts from
Mass Media Funk, Bunk, and Newsletters
Vitamin D and
cancer
Herbal Remedies Found to Contain Toxic
Heavy Metals
Heavy
metals in Ayurvedic herbs Vitamin
supplements do no good in protecting against cancer or other diseases On
recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of vitamins and minerals
Vitamins and good health -
Vitamin
C, vitamin E and beta carotene do not reduce the risk of heart disease,
cancer, or mental decline
Longevity and vitamin and mineral supplements
-
Biggest
medical product recall in Australian history
Cancer "cure" of Nicholas J. Gonzalez -
Dangers
of taking herbs before surgery
Raw-food diet fad
Colonic irrigation (colon hydrotherapy)
Naturopathy: harmless therapy!
St. John's wort was no better than a
placebo
Ginkgo
Creatine
Herbs and your pharmacy
Vitamin C supplements and hardening of
the arteries
Herbal remedies
Herbs and prostrate cancer
Herbs, luck, and pregnancy
British Columbia and Traditional Chinese
Medicine
Anesthesiology, herbal products, and
unexpected bleeding and difficulty in blood clotting during surgery
Consumer Reports test St. John's
wort, SAM-e (s-adenosyl-methionine), and kava pills
Herbs and Hodgkin's disease
Herbs in ice cream and other
neutraceuticals
Apple cider vinegar
Bringing LIGHT into the world through
high quality nutritional supplements
From Mass Media Funk
or Bunk
-
September 30, 2004. A
new study published in the
Lancet has found that vitamin supplements do no good in protecting
against cancer or other diseases. In fact, the study has found that some
supplements may even increase one's cancer risk.
January 15, 2001.
The Institute of Medicine has issued the
latest of four
reports on recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of vitamins and minerals.
The report is based on a four-year review of the scientific research into
vitamins and minerals.
The bottom line? "Nutritionists say a healthy daily diet, with at
least five fruits and vegetables, can provide plenty of most vitamins."
Nevertheless, 40% of Americans take supplements. Some need them. Some are
probably being harmed by them. E.g. Vitamin A: "more than 3,000 micrograms
daily can risk birth defects in pregnant women and liver damage for
others." Vitamin E: more than 1,000 milligrams (1,500 international units)
a day "could cause uncontrolled bleeding." Vitamin C: "more than 2,000
milligrams a day can cause diarrhea."
On the other hand, "many people over age 50 have trouble
absorbing vitamin B12 from natural food sources and thus should eat
fortified foods, like breakfast cereals, or a daily supplement to ensure
they get 2.4 micrograms a day....[and] the amount of vitamin D older
people need for strong bones has doubled, to 400 international units."
While the RDA has changed for many vitamins and minerals,
the labels used on consumer goods generally follow the guidelines set down
in 1968. To confuse matters even more, some products list the amounts of
vitamins and minerals by milligrams or micrograms, while others use
international units (a microgram equals 3.33 international units).
The USDA has set up a
nutrient
database online, so you can do a search for a product like milk and
get a list of dozens of dairy products which you can then click on to find
out what nutrients are contained in various sized servings.
-
April 13, 2000.
WebMD reports
that we're more likely to find vitamins conducive to good health in our
kitchen than in our bathroom...if you have foods such as fresh fruits,
vegetables and nuts in the kitchen. According to a recent report by the
Institute of Medicine (IOM)
pill supplements for vitamins C and E, selenium, and carotenoids have no
proven role in preventing disease. IOM recommends a ceiling on daily
consumption of selenium and vitamins C and E to reduce the risk of adverse
side effects from overuse. The
full report is
available from IOM.
- July 8, 2002. A five-year
study involving more than 20,000 people aged 40 to 80 found that a
daily dose of vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene does not reduce the
risk of heart disease, cancer, or mental decline. Prof Rory Collins, a
co-author of the report at Oxford University's Clinical Trial Service,
said: "Over five years we saw absolutely no effect." At the end of the
trial, people taking vitamins had exactly the same risk of heart disease,
cancer, cataracts, bone fractures, asthma and mental decline as those who
took a placebo. In contrast, cholesterol-lowering drugs reduced the risk
of heart disease and stroke by around one third.
- October 26, 1997. An article in the New York
Times by Jane E. Brody reported the results of a 13-year study
involving over 10,000 Americans which "found no evidence of increased
longevity among vitamin and mineral supplement users in the United
States." This is especially bad news, since most of the people who take
vitamins are non-smokers who don't drink heavily and who eat more fruits
and vegetable than the rest of us. (The study also found that supplements
failed to help the longevity of smokers, heavy drinkers, and those with
chronic diseases.) The results of the study have been out for four years.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that some $6.5 billion a year is being spent
by Americans on vitamin and mineral pills. (It might seem like $6.5
billion is a lot of money, but consider that Americans spend about $2.5
billion on Halloween candy and costumes.) Why do we spend so much on
supplements? I suppose in part it is because some people really do have
vitamin or mineral deficiencies and they need the supplements. Others may
be taking supplements because they believe the pills will help fight cancer, give
them more energy,
help them live longer, improve their chi, rev up
their spirit or vital energy, and so on. It is true that the information regarding
nutrition, vitamins and minerals is bewildering, confusing and
contradictory; that uncertainty gives some wishful thinkers hope that the
stuff will do them good. Maybe. And maybe that is why vitamins and
minerals are so popular among
MLM programs. But why ignore the possibility that these pills might be
doing some harm? Vitamin E can interfere with the action of vitamin K
(which promotes blood clotting). Too much calcium can limit the absorption
of iron and too much zinc can reduce the level of copper in the body
(decreasing "good" cholesterol). Folic acid can react adversely with
anticonvulsants and each year the greatest number of poisoning deaths
among children is from iron supplements meant for adults.
-
April 28, 2003. An investigation
into "alternative" medicines has led to the biggest medical product recall
in Australian history, according to the
Sydney Morning Herald.
Two hundred
nineteen products have already been banned and eventually 70% of
"complementary" medical products may be forced from the marketplace. The
investigation began when 87 adverse reactions were caused by a travel
sickness pill, Travacalm. Nineteen people had to be hospitalized. At least
one lawsuit has already been filed.
The federal parliamentary secretary for health, Trish
Worth, said "some people were very, very ill and tried to jump out of
planes and off ships because of the hallucinatory effect it had."
Testing found dosages varied from 0 to 700 per cent of that listed on
the label.
Travacalm is produced by Pan Pharmaceuticals, Australia's
largest contract manufacturer of alternative medicines. Pan's license to
produce medicines has been revoked. The Therapeutic Goods
Administration is considering criminal charges against Pan and has
already found that Pan falsified test results and substituted ingredients
for those listed on labels.
Since Pan produces products for many different companies,
consumers were advised to stop using any alternative supplements until
specific products can be checked out.
Bob Carr, the Premier of New South Wales,
told reporters that it is time to end the hype over "alternatives" and
do some proper scientific assessments of remedies touted as "alternative
therapies." Carr said the public needed to be more skeptical about
complementary or alternative medicines. "Let's encourage a healthy
skepticism based on science," he said.
[thanks to Kerrie Dougherty]
The
New Zealand Herald
reports:: "The Food Safety Authority last night
issued a list of 642 dietary supplements and vitamins sold in New Zealand
that are made by or contain ingredients made by the disgraced Australian
company.
It took three days to put the list together, mainly because
complementary medicines do not have to be registered in New Zealand, so
authorities have no record of what is being sold, who makes what, or where
products come from."
further reading
-
January 18, 2000. Any nut in a
storm. That seems to be the motto of the National Center for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine. They've committed over $1.4 million over five
years to study the crackpot cancer "cure" of Nicholas J. Gonzalez, who
uses a variation on the Max Gerson
treatment of coffee enemas and vitamins. The fact that Gonzalez has already been convicted
of incompetence and malpractice does not seem to bother those spending
other people's money on this bogus research.
-
July 11, 2001. The current
issue of
JAMA
(vol 286 no 2) has an article warning patients about to have surgery of
the dangers of taking herbs before surgery. I find this interesting since
many people take herbs as an alternative to surgery. They think herbs like
ginkgo biloba and ginseng can prevent diseases which might require surgery
otherwise. The main danger is that the herbs might lead to excessive
bleeding. The authors are not campaigning to eliminate herbs from the
diets of millions of Americans, which would be fruitless since the numbers
who believe in the magical nutritional and healing power of their herbs is
growing exponentially, it seems. Rather, the authors are encouraging
patients to inform their doctors of any herbs they might be taking. Many
patients are not telling their doctors about their herbal intake, either
because they don't realize that herbs contain chemicals that might react
with anesthesia or other drugs given before or after surgery or because
they don't want their doctor to know that they are hedging their bets with
alternative medicine.
For purposes of the law, herbs are called "dietary supplements" and are
not subject to the same kind of scientific scrutiny as prescription or
non-prescription drugs. So, perhaps herb users think of their herbs as
"alternative vitamins and minerals."
The concern is not new and was reported on over a year ago
by
CNN,
ABC, and
HealthCentral. I reported on this concern last
October.
WebMD took up
the issue last September. A report on the JAMA study can be found
at the
CNN site.
The mystical belief in the power of herbs has carried over
from consenting adults who should be allowed to ingest whatever useless
remedy they wish, to marketing herbs for our
children and
our
dogs and
cats. Andrea Candee, MH, i.e., "master herbalist", claims to know what
herbs are "child-friendly." You can find out what they are if you buy
her book. I can understand an Aborigine, with 40,000 years of
tradition behind him or her, claiming to be a master herbalist. But I
wonder where Candee got her title. The fact is that herbs have
pharmacological properties, have been used in conventional
drugs
for years, and are being used by millions of self-medicators today. Those
who produce and market herbs should do less to make people think their
products are safe just because they are
natural, and do more to
inform people that herbs are drugs. When one's doctor asks what drugs you
or your children or pets are taking, one should list not just prescription
drugs but herbs as well. Your life or the life of those you love may
depend on it.
-
September 1, 2002. Peggy
Orenstein has an article in today's
New
York Times Magazine on the raw-food diet fad. She pays a lot of
attention to Roxanne's, a raw-food restaurant in Larkspur (Marin county,
about a 15-minute drive up 101 from the Golden Gate Bridge that connects
San Francisco to Marin). It's one of the "in" places to dine in the Bay
area; reservations must be made a month in advance for the privilege of
eating food that has not been cooked. For some mystical reason, food may
be heated to 118 degrees and still be considered raw at Roxanne's, which
is run by Roxanne Klein, wife of Michael Klein, who made his fortune in
data communications. Mr. Klein hasn't eaten cooked food in five years, is
a vegan who eats honey, and subsists on about 800 calories a day (he
says). Roxanne has been a vegan for 10 years and also hasn't eaten cooked
food in five years. Orenstein describes Michael as gaunt with muscular
arms. She describes Roxanne as making Kate Moss look fat. The Kleins claim
they are the poster children for health and good living.
I haven't dined at Roxanne's, and probably never will, but
I know several people who have. They gave it mixed reviews. The food was
interesting, they said, and most of it was tasty. But the service was not
what one would expect when paying something like $70 each for dinner (with
wine). Why, you might ask, would anyone want to spend that kind of money
to eat raw food? Well, why not? If the food is good and tasty, the wine of
high quality, the service excellent, and the ambiance pleasant, who cares
whether the soup is hot?
On the other hand, the raw-food craze seems to be based on
some pseudoscientific notions. The Kleins think that eating raw food will
ward off aging and disease. They seem to take literally the words of one
of the raw-food pioneers, T. C. Fry, who claimed ''All the diseases of
civilization -- cancer, heart disease, diabetes -- are all directly
attributable to the consumption of cooked food.'' Fry took the proof for
that claim to the grave seven years ago when he died at age 70. (It is
said, however, that he was in perfect health when he died and didn't look
a day over 60.)
Mr. Klein believes that cooking food destroys a food's
natural enzymes and minerals, and depletes it of protein and vitamin
content, while concentrating pesticide residues. Orenstein contacted David
Klurfeld, a professor of nutrition and food science at Wayne State
University in Detroit. He says that aside from a slight loss of some
vitamins, cooking food is not detrimental and provides many benefits, such
as making food taste better and sterilizing it in the bargain. According
to Klurfeld, heat ''denatures'' a food's proteins, changing their shapes
in ways that improve digestibility. The enzymes in a raw vegetable, says
Klurfeld, "are specifically tailored to that food and even left intact
rarely assist the human body."
Orenstein notes that one of Roxanne's multipurpose
vegetables, the lowly parsnip, contains "small amounts of light-activated
carcinogens, whereas the cancer-fighting nutrient in tomatoes is released
only when cooked."
Well, I'd like to write more about this interesting topic,
but from the smoke blowing by the study window I surmise that the
barbequed ribs are done, well done.
-
February 9, 2000. Despite the
lack of scientific studies to support any benefit to periodically douching
the colon, many people are self-medicating with colonic irrigation (colon
hydrotherapy) in the hopeful belief that it will help them live longer and
more healthily. Katherine Rauch of
WebMD reports on one
naturopath who prescribes colonics for "asthma, arthritis, sinus
problems, chronic fatigue and constipation." The fact that there is no
scientific evidence to support such treatment is little deterrent to true
believers in "nature's remedies."
One conventional MD is quoted as saying that the dangers
from colonic douching "include spreading infection from contaminated
equipment and harmfully altering the chemical balance of the colon." Dr.
Ross Black notes that "A major function of the colon is to absorb minerals
such as potassium and send them through the bloodstream. Colonics could
wipe out these minerals and thereby cause deficiencies."
-
February 25, 2003. Dorsey
Griffith, the Sacramento Bee Medical Writer, gives
naturopaths the thumbs
up in an
article on their push to be licensed as "healing arts practitioners"
in California. This will give them the legal right to practice medicine
here. (Only eleven other states license naturopaths to practice medicine.
However, Nevada, Idaho, and Massachusetts may join California in adding to
that list.) Anything that is
natural and non-toxic is a potential therapy for these folks,
including colonic irrigation and coffee enemas. Some of them do seem to
keep up on the latest scientific research on nutrition, but like most
"alternative" health care
providers, their membership usually includes many who disdain science and
work by intuition,
sympathetic magic, and spirit guides. Their favorite cure for anything
that ails you is a diet rich in
vitamins and mineral
supplements, often sold through their office.
The main "balance" in this article in the form of noting
that licensure is opposed by the AMA and by chiropractors. Nevertheless, the
headline writer (in the print edition) did us all a favor with the head
over the continuation of the article, which reads: Bill: Most therapies
harmless, a study by UCSF concluded
Now that's a real attraction: We use therapies, most of
which are harmless! Come on Down!
-
April 18, 2001. Sales of
St. John's wort, a medicinal herb used by many people as a mood
elevator, have declined from $310 million in 1998 to $195 million last
year, according to Grant Ferrier, editor of the Nutrition Business
Journal. Mark Blumenthal, of the American Botanical Council, does not
think that the reduced sale reflects the increased realization that the
herb isn't all that it has been cracked up to be. According to the
WashingtonPost.com, he "speculated that the reduced sales were caused
by recent reports of problems with herbal supplements and findings that
St. John's wort could interfere with AIDS medicines, cardiac drugs and
oral contraceptives."
A study published today in the
Journal of the American Medical Association found that St. John's
wort was no better than a placebo in treating severely depressed patients.
(The study involved 200 patients for eight weeks.) This contradicts the
results of an earlier study by Ronald Brenner, chairman of psychiatry at
St. John's Episcopal Hospital in New York City. (His study involved 30
mildly to moderately depressed patients for six weeks.) A third study may
resolve the issue for a while. The
National Institute of Mental Health and the
National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine are doing a joint study on the effectiveness of
the herb in treating major depression. The study is very large and will be
the most comprehensive study ever done on St. John's wort.
- June 10, 2000. "A few years ago, spending
$15 million to investigate an herbal supplement would have been labeled by
many a waste of taxpayer money, a foolish exploration into the realm of
hocus-pocus." So writes Bruce Taylor Seeman in "Testing the claims
for gingko." Now that Americans spend some $15 billion a year ($300
million on gingko alone) on "supplements" it has become fashionable to
spend tax dollars investigating folk remedies such as Ginkgo to improve
memory. The National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, part
of our national Institutes of Health, has launched a five-year, $15
million test of Ginkgo as a preventative for Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps
some politician saw the ad on television featuring an actor who plays a
doctor on TV touting the benefits of Ginkgo. I know that when I saw the ad
my first thought was "we ought to be spending millions to investigate this
matter."
In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and
Education Act, which deregulated the herbal products industry. Dietary
supplements do not have to be proven effective before putting them on the
market. They are, however, forbidden to exaggerate benefits--whatever that
means. Sellers of Ginkgo have claimed that it increases the flow of blood
to the brain, which it does, and that therefore it improves memory and
cognitive functions, which is speculation. Gingko has also been touted as
a cure for depression, hepatitis, asthma, tinnitus, hardening of the
arteries and impotence.
Dr. Steven DeKosky, a neurologist at the University of Pittsburgh is
leading the gingko study. He characterizes Ginkgo is as "a mild blood
thinner and an antioxidant." Antioxidants are readily available in many
fruits and vegetables and there are many strong blood thinners already
available, so why study gingko? Other than the fact that it is a
fashionable herb? Because it might be cheaper than food or drugs to
perform whatever useful function it might perform? I don't know. Gaia
Herbs sells their Extra Strength Ginkgo Leaf for about $16 an ounce
(regular strength is about half as much as the extra strength). That
doesn't sound cheap to me. Maybe it will be safer? Safer than raisins or
berries, which also are good sources or antioxidants? Until the law is
changed, there is no requirement that such "supplements" as gingko be
safe, much less useful.
It is hoped, of course, that something useful will be learned about
Alzheimer's disease while studying the effects of gingko.
November 12, 1997.
"Athletes swallow expensive doses of hope" was the title of an article
by Chris Hays in the Sacramento Bee. The article did an excellent
job of explaining why it is so difficult to get unbiased information about
body-building supplements: the main source of information comes from body
building magazines which are all owned by the supplement manufacturers
themselves. Even so, Hays claims that "everyone agrees" that
creatine "works." A typical ad on the internet reads
Creatine monohydrate provides safe nutritional support for athletes
seeking peak performance in short-duration, high intensity workouts. By
supporting the body's natural ability to regenerate the primary energy
immediately available to working muscle, creatine monohydrate has the
potential to increase optimal work output in activities such as
weight-lifting and sprinting.
Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid, C4H9N3O2,
found in the muscle tissue and which supplies energy for muscle
contraction. Joseph Clark has written an scientific paper on the use of creatine
in sports. It is very technical sounding but he notes that "30% of the
population have a diet and metabolism such that they do not benefit from
creatine supplementation." The only negative side effects mentioned were
water retention and heat intolerance. The positive benefits include such
things as an increase in muscle peak torque production while decreasing
plasma ammonia accumulation. The author does note that a healthy body
self-regulates the production of chemicals (creatine is synthesized in the
liver and kidneys, using three amino acids derived from food intake) and
will shut down production when more of the chemical would be redundant.
Furthermore, beyond a certain amount of some chemicals the body simply
will not use them; hence, further supplementation is pointless or harmful
(if the body can't eliminate the excess, for example). (This is why
certain supplements are probably pointless, such as
DHEA. Taking a supplement
may shut down its natural production by the adrenal glands.)
-
January 21, 2000.
CNN.Com reports that at least one pharmaceutical firm is treating
herbal medicines like conventional ones. "CVS Corp. of Woonsocket is asking
customers to tell their pharmacists what herbal supplements they use. The
information is entered into a computerized program that cross-checks them
for adverse combinations."
-
March 2, 2000. Taking vitamin C supplements could
speed up hardening of the arteries, according to a study of "573 outwardly
healthy middle-aged men and women who work for an electric utility in Los
Angeles." Those taking vitamin C supplements showed "accelerated
thickening of the walls of the big arteries in their necks....the more
they took, the faster the buildup," according to the (now defunct)
Nando Times.
-
October ?, 1998. Los Angeles Times.
Andrew Weil, M.D.,
"In the medicine chest, a place for herbs." This article begins
by making a plea for herbal remedies while claiming that the New England
Journal of Medicine attacked herbal remedies in a recent editorial. He
also claims that a study done at Stanford University indicates that some
70% of us are using "alternative" medicine, i.e., medicine that does not
include drugs or surgery. However, the article quickly degenerates into a
paranoid whining about how the big bad bullies of real medicine have
hogged all the money for research and that's why naturopaths and
homeopaths can't do science. Weil thinks we should fund "integrative
medicine" (i.e., whatever spiritual hocus-pocus is suggested by whatever
shaman who happens to be in the neighborhood). If only these quackmeisters
had the funds they could prove the real value of shark cartilage or bee
pollen. But the big bullies at the A.M.A. have all the resources. The same
kind of pathetic plea was made in the 1950s and 60s by parapsychologists.
The only reason they couldn't prove ESP, remote viewing, etc., and collect
their deserved Nobel Prizes was that the real scientists had a good ol'
boys club and excluded them from participation. They couldn't get
university jobs where all the research was done. So now they have
departments and labs all over the world and what have they discovered that
is of any value to anyone? They've proved only that whining loud enough
and long enough pays off. The same tactic seems to be working for the
"alternative" folks. The National Institutes of Health has upped the
budget for the "Alternative" division to some $20,000,000 a year,
according to James Randi.
-
October 21, 2000. Today's Sacramento Bee has
an article by Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times regarding an
ancient herbal remedy that seems to be effective in treating prostate
cancer.
Chinese herbal medicine will probably get a big boost from the
results of two studies which used PC-SPES, a combination of eight
different herbs including saw palmetto and ginseng, to treat end-stage
prostate cancer. "The herbal remedy appears to have estrogen-like
properties. Estrogen is a female hormone and is one of the oldest proven
treatments for prostate tumors, the authors note."
This month, the Journal of Urology is publishing
the results of a study done on 69 men by Dr. Aaron E. Katz, associate
professor of urology at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. After
one year, 88% had a reduction in PSA. ("PSA is a protein in the blood that
is elevated in men with prostate cancer and certain other benign
conditions.")
However, "the men had a variety of other treatments for their cancer,
including surgery, radiation treatment or hormone therapy." According to Dr. Ian M. Thompson, Jr. chief of urology at the University
of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, the results of this study
are "exciting and disturbing." The good news is that PS-SPES seems to
work; the bad news is that we don't know how, what dose is right and safe,
or what the long-term side effects might be.
Next month the Journal of Clinical Oncology will
publish the results of a study by Dr. Eric J. Small et al. with similar
positive results. Dr. Small, of UC San Francisco, was concerned about the
effect of his study since "we don't even know what [PS-SPES's] long-term
side effects are." The Katz and other studies have found breast
enlargement, reduced libido and blood clotting, among other things, as
side effects. In other words, the side-effects are similar to those with
estrogen treatment.
An earlier study on PC-SPES, published in the
New England
Journal of Medicine (September 17, 1998), concluded: "PC-SPES has
potent estrogenic activity. The use of this unregulated mixture of herbs
may confound the results of standard or experimental therapies and may
produce clinically significant adverse effects." However, it is unlikely
that the side effects will be as severe or as permanent as those from
microwave treatment for enlarged prostate:
burnt urethra or partial penile amputation.
Because PC-SPES is considered an herb rather than a drug,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not tested or recommended
it. Herbal remedies are essentially unregulated. Thus, their purity as
well as their effectiveness may vary with their source.
Coincidentally, it is reported today in DrKoop.com that the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, has announced
$7.8 millions in grants for various studies on alternative therapies,
including one "to examine whether...PC-SPES may reduce DNA damage in
cancer cells and improve the immune system in prostate cancer patients."
- February 23, 1996. Ann Landers, (from the Davis Enterprise).
Today, Ann Landers gave a boost to alternative medicine quackery by not
responding to the illogical reasoning of P.W. from Taiwan regarding
Western medicine men versus Chinese herbalists. P.W., a European married
to a Taiwanese, wrote that while in Europe his wife had become pregnant
three times and each time she miscarried due to fetal chromosomal
abnormalities. Their European doctors declared the couple to be "healthy"
and apparently gave them every indication that they were just unlucky.
This evaluation was "depressing," says P.W.
The barren couple went East
and in Taiwan their gynecologist gave them "a bag full of herbs" which
they were instructed to take for a year. Halfway through the "treatment"
Mrs. W. became pregnant. At the time the letter was written their son was
10 months old.
P.W. implored Ann: "Please, Ann, tell your readers in the West that
couples who cannot have a child do not necessarily have a problem. The
problem might be with their specialists, whose Western knowledge of the
human body is sometimes quite limited." Now, I think most Western
physicians would admit that their knowledge of the human body is often
limited, but it hardly relates to P.W.'s situation. He assumes that the
Chinese herbalist, who spoke of "harmony and balance in the body and
mind," was instrumental in his wife's pregnancy. Furthermore, he assumes
that the Western specialists were wrong in attributing their problem to
bad luck. What evidence does P.W. have for these notions? The only
"evidence" he has is the fact that his wife got pregnant after taking the
herbs. This bit of post hoc
reasoning is totally insufficient to warrant P.W.'s conclusions and
Ann Landers should have let him know that. Instead, she replied:
I'm for whatever works. Considering the number of people who die from
botched and unnecessary surgery and improper medication, herbal medicine
could be a viable alternative.
Ann doesn't consider how many people die or continue to suffer when
they take herbs instead of getting proper "Western" treatment with
surgery, medicine, or drugs. But worse than that she seems oblivious to
the insufficiency of evidence presented by P.W. The fact that his wife got
pregnant after taking herbs does not prove the herbs had anything to do
with her getting pregnant. It might have been "luck" [the luck of natural
events taking their course] or divine intervention, for that matter, that
explains the pregnancy. However, P.W. had ruled out divine intervention
because his wife's father, an herbal doctor, told him "there are no
miracles in healing." To which P.W. commented in a fitting non sequitur:
"those so-called miracles just show how little some traditional doctors
know."
Ann doesn't ask what herbs they took and she certainly indicates no
interest in whether anyone has done a controlled study on the
effectiveness of these herbs. She's for "whatever works." What does that
mean? It seems to mean, "I'm for believing whatever you feel like
believing when you are happy with some event." P.W.'s happy he has a son,
so he is welcome to believe that the herbs did it and that the European
physicians who told him he and his wife were healthy but unlucky didn't
know what they were talking about. Furthermore, this proves herbalists
with their notions of harmony and balance and other gibberish are not just
valid, but superior notions to the Western notions of the body and
cause-effect relations. What bunk!
- January 2, 2001. Soon, British
Columbia will be the only place in North America where traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM)
practitioners will be recognized as doctors by a regulatory body,
according to the
TheGlobeandMail.com. Two years ago, the British Columbia's Health
Professions Council recommended that Chinese medicine practitioners be
regulated. Last month, the B.C. Ministry of Health agreed.
TCM doctors use
herbs instead of synthetic drugs and
acupuncture and
chi kung instead of
surgery or other traditional Western medical therapies.
TCM doctor Henry Lu, founder of the International College of
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Vancouver, supports the move. "Many
diseases that have been treated by Western medicine are not quite
successful," he said. True, but that doesn't mean TCM will be any more
successful. Randy Wong, the registrar at the college, thinks the licensing
will help in several ways. He notes that currently anybody can call
himself a TCM doctor and set up practice in B.C. Licensing will weed out
the bad guys.
"Wong said it will take at least two years to license TCM doctors in
B.C. after bylaws on education and the prescription of herbs are approved
by the government and the TCM community."
Canada has what we in America call Socialized Medicine, but so far the
government has not agreed to pay for TCM visits and treatments.
Licensing will also be a step towards integrating TCM with traditional
medicine. The final step will be when the government starts to pick up the
tab for TCM.
The article did not go into the reasoning behind The Ministry of
Health's decision. Maybe they see this as a way to save money. Maybe they
see that TCM is growing in popularity, and if allowed to continue
unregulated could prove unhealthy for the province. Maybe they really
believe it works as well as the medicine they now provide their citizens.
Even if they don't believe there is anything important to TCM, the
politically correct thing to do is regulate it. At least the government
will have some control over what herbs are being distributed and can
regulate their purity. Whereas, in America all you have to do is call your
product a food or supplement, rather than a drug or medicine, and you can
distribute it with minimal interference from the Federal Drug
Administration or other government agencies. Teenagers in health shops who
have read a few pamphlets distribute health advice and recommend herbs to
customers as if they were physicians with years of knowledge and
experience. The government might like to say let natural selection work
this out but it might also feel a strong paternalistic urge to protect
its citizens from unscrupulous purveyors of mugwort and ginkgo biloba.
-
March 7, 2000. Anecdotes are circulating among
anesthesiologists that herbal products, taken by many advocates of
"alternative" medicine, may be causing unexpected bleeding and difficulty
in blood clotting during surgery, according to
CNN.com. And I thought people who took such herbs did so to avoid
surgery!
-
November 21, 2000. The December 2000 issue of
Consumer Reports (CR) says that tests on St. John's wort were
"reassuring." They tested 13 brands and all "contained a reasonably
standardized dose of dianthrones." St. John's wort is a mood modifier
popular among self-medicators who are looking for a pick-me-up with
minimum side-effects. There is "fairly solid" evidence, says CR, that St.
John's wort "can help people with clinically significant mood disorders."
And the only major side effect is increased sensitivity to sunlight. CR
does note that "self-treatment can be dangerous, particularly with
depression, which causes some 20,000 reported suicides a year in the U.S."
CR also notes that St. John's wort "decreases the effectiveness of a host
of medications, including oral contraceptives, cholesterol-lowering statin
drugs, beta-blockers, and calcium-channel blockers for high blood pressure
and coronary heart disease, protease inhibitors for HIV infection, and
many other prescription drugs."
CR also tested 12 brands of SAM-e (s-adenosyl-methionine)
and found that "manufacturers are generally producing a reasonably stable
standardized product," though they found four examples of misleading
labeling. SAM-e "helps cells regulate the brain chemicals dopamine and
serotonin" and is also used by self-medicators as a mood elevator. CR
notes that the side effects of SAM-e can include upset stomach, insomnia
and mania. And it is not cheap, costing $55-$260/month for 400-mg daily
dose.
Finally, CR reports that 13 of 15 brands of kava pills
contained approximately the amount of kavalactones that their label said.
Extract of the root of the kava plant has long been used by Pacific
islanders. It allegedly relieves anxiety and elevates mood. "Kava can
magnify the potency of other antianxiety medicines and reduce the
effectiveness of several other drugs, notably Parkinson's drugs containing
levodopa." Side effects include blurred vision and impaired coordination.
CR does warn those taking prescription drugs to consult
with your doctor or pharmacist before self-medicating with herbs. There
may be drug interactions and some of these could be
serious, even life-threatening.
- February 26, 1997. Today Katherine Quartz spoke at Sacramento
City College and I was able to attend and get some more information on the
case. She was part of a panel which included her lawyer, a Native American
who is also a psychologist and a woman who heads an Indian Services
Agency. Her son, Thomas, was also in attendance.
Apparently, an Indian who lives on a reservation is not a citizen of
the United States and is under the jurisdiction of Indian tribal laws and
courts. Had Ms. Quartz never left her reservation, she would have been
free to seek any kind of treatment she wished for her son. But she had
gone to Portland, Oregon, to go to college. This fact was used by
authorities in Oregon and California to impose their laws on her. She did
seek out a pediatrician for her son when he first got ill. She did not
seek out an Indian healer at that time, she said, because the only healer
in her area was gravely ill himself. The diagnosis of Hodgkins was not
immediate, but was not made until four months after the first visit with a
physician. When chemotherapy was offered as the only reasonable therapy
for her son, she says she told the doctors she wanted to do some research
first. She did and concluded that chemotherapy was not a reasonable
modality of treatment. She then took her son to a practitioner of
traditional Chinese medicine, who treated her son with acupuncture and
herbs. (She asserted a belief that "herbs can go in and break up tumors,"
though she gave no source for this notion.) She then took her son to a
naturopath who treated him with herbs.
She says that her troubles began when she tried to get a CAT scan of
her son, which she says she wanted in case any questions came up later
about the efficacy of the treatments she'd chosen for her son. X-rays had
shown significant reduction in tumor size and growth, she says. But a CAT
scan would provide better evidence, she believed. Her treatment by the
medical doctors in Oregon she went to for the CAT scan was less than
respectful of Indian ways. She was told that chemotherapy was the only
correct medical treatment for her son and that she was endangering his
life by seeking alternative treatments. One pediatrician even wrote to
authorities investigating the case that Ms. Quartz's thought processes
were impaired. His evidence seemed to be limited to the fact that she
disagreed with him on the proper medical treatment for her son.
Given the unique status of Indians--they are basically members of a
foreign nation, but have unique status granted in the U.S.
Constitution--the Tribal appellate court's ruling is binding and
California cannot order the boy back into chemotherapy. According to Ms.
Quartz, her son received five chemotherapy treatments against her will. He
looked fine today, but she said that after the treatments he looked awful.
His hair fell out and he developed mouth sores and other signs of physical
debilitation (which are common side effects of chemotherapy). She says
that her research discovered that her son might be made sterile by chemo
and that the statistics were not exactly as promising as they might seem.
According to her lawyer, the survival rate was 90% if the patients were
followed for ten years. But if they were followed for fifteen years, the
survival rate was less that 10%. Both claim that there is evidence that
while chemo might stop a cancer, it so debilitates the immune system that
the effects after ten years are devastating.
In her quest to seek the best course of treatment for her son, Ms.
Quartz was charged with child endangerment and had her son taken away from
her. She was charged with kidnapping for taking him from a hospital. She
claims a police officer held a gun to her head and told her she was
killing her son by not getting him into chemotherapy. A medical doctor
abused his authority to try to get her declared mentally incompetent
because she dared to favor alternative medicine to traditional medical
treatment. Her behavior as a mother was exemplary and her seeking out an
Indian healer is consistent with her life on a reservation for the past
sixteen years. I don't know if I would have made the same decision as she
did about the chemotherapy, but I know that I would have done research,
too. And if I came to the conclusion that the therapy recommended by my
physician was not the best for my child, I would not put my child into the
therapy. Furthermore, I would not expect to be labeled mentally
incompetent or a child abuser simply because I came to a different
conclusion than my physician.
As readers of my pages know, I hold no sympathy for alternative medical
treatments. But I have even less stomach for authoritarian bullies whether
they carry guns or a stethoscope.
(Ms. Quartz says her son has been given a
"clean
bill of health" but she doesn't say by whom. Master herbalist Joseph?)
- July 19, 2000. "Are 'functional foods' dangerous? Opponents
renew call for stricter FDA regulations," is a
CNN.com story about cashing in on the growing fascination with
"alternative" medicine and "natural" drugs. Manufacturers of ice cream,
cereal,
teas, soft drinks, etc. are adding herbs along with unsubstantiated
claims about improving memory and enhancing immune systems. The so-called
nutraceuticals are popular with consumers, despite the lack of
evidence in support of the claims being made.
"According to the General
Accounting Office, the investigative division of the U.S. Congress,
American consumers spent about $31 billion last year on dietary
supplements and herbal food products."
[thanks to Jon Henrik Gilhuus]
From Skeptic's Dictionary
Newsletters
-
#30. Pat
wrote: "I would like to know the truth about the claimed health benefits
of drinking apple cider vinegar [ACV] and honey tonics." I always turn to
Quackwatch for information on
questionable medical practices and I suggest everybody else do the same.
A recent issue of Dr. Stephen Barrett's
Consumer Health Digest
just happened to have a way to find the answer:
Three apple cider vinegar marketers warned to curb claims. The
FDA has warned three Internet marketers of apple cider vinegar tablets
to stop making claims that their products are effective against various
diseases:
-
HCC
DemoMarketing, LLC, of Germantown, Tennessee, was told to stop
suggesting that its products are useful for arthritis, osteoperosis
[sic], and sore throats.
-
Apple-Cider-Vinegar-Diet-Pills.Com, of Dayton, Ohio, was warned to
stop claiming that their pills can relieve arthritis pain, fight
infection, fight osteoporosis, control cholesterol, help people with
high blood pressure, and relieves sore throats, laryngitis, and nasal
congestion.
-
Sharon L. Bush, of Birmingham, Alabama, was warned to stop
suggesting that her pills are useful against arthritis, prostate
problems, multiple sclerosis, and high cholesterol levels.
ACV tabs are also part of the lucrative
diet-pill scam business. See
"Vinegar and Weight Loss: The Sour Truth Will vinegar pills help me lose
weight?" by Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD.
The Nutrition Forum
(Vol 14 No. 6 November/ December 1997) contained the essay "The Sour Truth
about Apple Cider Vinegar" by Beth Fontenot, MS, RD.
***
Jay wrote to complain about his doctor who has a
sales office in his examination room.
A quick missive to THANK you for exposing the
despicable, coercive tactics of MLM [multi-level
marketing] recruiters. One of the worst I have encountered in recent
years is a physician I visited who had all sorts of vitamins,
supplements and magnetic therapy (!) products prominently displayed in
his office. As he was poking away at my foot with all manner of sharp
instruments, he began to pitch me on these products, especially a
magical magnetic mattress cover that sold for THOUSANDS of dollars! How
totally unethical! And how much of an argument am I going to give the
guy who's holding the scalpel? I think MLMs ARE a cult!
I have no idea why Jay thinks this guy is involved in
an MLM. Trying to sell you something is one thing; trying to recruit
you to sell the product is another. Both would be unethical, in my view,
for a doctor to do out of the examination room.
-
#8.
HarmonicInnerprizes says it
"dedicates itself to bringing LIGHT into the world through high quality
nutritional supplements, assisting in the facilitation of the advancement
of human consciousness on our planet." (How can I ridicule such
nobility!?)
External articles
worth a look
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