Spotted the following item in the Classified section: “Health Food Store for
sale. Genuine reason for quick sale. Current owner too ill to continue working.”
OK, perhaps I used a little poetic license there, but the
real situation is the fact that recent studies have shown that health food
supplements give no guarantees of superior health, and in fact some supplements
may even be harmful!
A panel of five experts, led by Dr Maria Elena Martinez, from
the University of California at San Diego, wrote, “Undoubtedly, use is driven by
a common belief that supplements can improve health and protect against disease,
and that at worst, they are harmless. However, the assumption that any dietary
supplement is safe under all circumstances and in all quantities is no longer
empirically reasonable.”
The US scientists said there was no good evidence that
supplement pills and capsules reduced the risk of cancer in healthy individuals,
pointing out that antioxidants such as beta carotene, and vitamins C and E might
even have biological effects that promote cancer. Now that is certainly not good
news for the “anti-oxidant” crowd.
One of the biggest problems to be overcome, from the lay
persons point of view, is that they are bombarded with amazing claims by the
health food industry with health supplements sales estimated at USD 30 billion,
said the scientists, who assessed the evidence relating to several supplements
including antioxidants, folic acid, vitamin D and calcium.
Looking at the well known anti-oxidants, they are believed to
counter the destructive effects of rogue oxygen molecules called free radicals.
Oxidative stress by free radicals, which attack cell membranes, proteins and
DNA, has been linked to cancer and heart disease. But the US authors, writing in
the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, argue that the supposed
benefits of antioxidant supplements are largely a myth, saying people were
misled by “messages from supplement manufacturers” promoting the health benefits
of their products, including cancer prevention.
Now, conventional medicine is subject to rigorous testing
(though I will admit we do make some mistakes from time to time) and this is
called Evidence Based Medicine, or EBM as we love acronyms.
Now according to the US studies, some animal, laboratory and
observational studies had appeared to show that dietary supplements could lower
cancer risk; however, those findings were not confirmed by the “gold-standard”
in evidence-based medicine, which requires randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Only a small number of RCTs had been carried out to test the effectiveness of
dietary supplements, said the experts - and several of these had reported
increased risks.
There are those who will claim that because the “natural”
products come from plants, the ingredients are therefore OK for us humans. This
is pseudo-scientific nonsense. Extracts of plants and herbs are chemicals - and
some chemicals can kill, that is why wild animals can die after eating the wrong
plants. So can you!
Unfortunately, despite all the advances in conventional
medicine, I have to admit that it is still somewhat of an inexact ‘science’. We
do not have the cures for all ailments, in fact far from it. We continue to try
and most importantly, to test. With EBM we must test until we have the evidence
that any drug or treatment really does work. This all takes time, as the
evidence cannot just hang on one person who got better. It requires huge series,
across the globe.
However, as patients, or sufferers of any complaint, we want
that “cure” right now! Consequently, with all medical conditions where we cannot
give the patient the “wonder drug” there is then a tendency for them to try
something else, anything else, hoping for the relief that conventional medicine
has not promised or delivered.
This turning towards alternatives is then quite easily
understood. For the musculo-skeletal conditions, for example, the “alternatives”
are multiple, from magnets to mussels from New Zealand. But do they really work?
According to the pundits, the green lipped mussels have had numerous clinical
trials, and unfortunately, the same number of clinical failures! However, I
believe they are quite nice steamed with garlic, ginger and shallots!
Consider the evidence before expensive alternative
treatments!
(Thank you Dr. William for bringing this item to my
attention.)
