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Mainstream Studies on Natural Health Flawed
by Tony Isaacs
Recent headlines from an Oregon State University study asserted "Vitamin E trials 'fatally flawed" and the following story detailed how most studies on Vitamin E have been flawed to the point of being essentially worthless. Here are some excerpts:
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Generations of studies on vitamin
E may be largely meaningless, scientists say,
because new research has demonstrated that the
levels of this micronutrient necessary to reduce
oxidative stress are far higher than those that have
been commonly used in clinical trials.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/osu-vet092107.php
In a new
study and commentary in Free Radical Biology and
Medicine, researchers concluded that the levels of
vitamin E necessary to reduce oxidative stress are
four to eight times higher than those used in almost
all past clinical trials.
This
could help explain the inconsistent results of many
vitamin E trials for its value in preventing or
treating cardiovascular disease, said Balz Frei,
professor and director of the Linus Pauling
Institute at Oregon State University, and co-author
of the new commentary along with Jeffrey Blumberg,
at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging at Tufts University.
'The methodology
used in almost all past clinical trials of vitamin E
has been fatally flawed,' said Frei, one of the
world’s leading experts on antioxidants and
disease."
Such news comes as no surprise to natural health advocates, but the public announcement of the results is surprising because it spotlights a common failure of testing natural alternatives that has gone on for decades: namely, testing dosage amounts well below the therapeutic level,
Many believe that testing such low dosage amounts, along with other flaws such as testing inferior or incorrect forms of the item being studied, studying only an isolated vitamin, mineral or compound without the supporting compounds found in nature are the result of looking at the minimum RDA amounts recommended to maintain good health instead of the therapeutic amounts needed to address illness and disease - as well as the fact that only synthetic creations, altered natural compounds and uniquely isolated compounds are patentable.
There is no economic incentive for industry to fund expensive studies and trials of something they cannot patent, have a good chance of recovering their study and trial costs, and then going on to reap large profits that can run into the billions of dollars. On a darker side, there are many who suggest that such profits are behind a great number of flawed industry funded studies on vitamins, minerals, & botanicals - in other words, the studies are purposely designed to show poor results in order to ward off natural competition that might be safer, more effective and/or much less expensive.
The public and our doctors have been told over and over again that natural alternative such as vitamins, minerals and botanical compounds provided by nature are inferior to what man creates in our labs and such flawed studies are what are often pointed to for justification. If the studies are flawed, by design or not, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Such suspicions of the motives behind flawed studies are magnified when one looks at the apparent agenda of the FDA and those behind the push for adoption of a North American Union kind of agreement modeled after the European Union model, which limits access to only a select group of natural vitamins, minerals and supplements at dosage levels far below what is effective.
It is this author's opinion that we should never fail to keep in mind that the people behind these studies have a vested stake in a trillion dollar plus annual industry and a track record of taking no prisoners when it comes to competition. These are, after all, the same people who trotted doctors and scientists before congress for four decades to testify that vitamins had no benefit and were even harmful, before finally giving in to a mountain of evidence they could not hide. These are also the same people who assured us of the safety of Vioxx, Bextra, Allieve, Avandia, Gardasil, Fosamax, mercury vaccines, mercury amalgam fillings, and a long, long line of past and present drugs associated with dangerous side effects, including large numbers of deaths.
The same group of vested interest, despite over half a century of abject failure in the war on cancer, still maintain that cutting out, burning out and poisoning out symptoms is superior to addressing the underlying causes and natural prevention. And, when you get down to it, it was pretty much the same group that assured us for generations that cigarettes were harmless.
It was a welcome surprise to many to see a mainstream study point out the failures of how vitamins and other natural therapeutics have been tested. Too bad we don't see such information constantly paraded before the masses on television and in journals, popular magazines and newspapers instead of the barrage of "Ask Your Doctor" ads clearly designed to condition the viewers into entering the wonderful world of managed illness.
Live long, live healthy, live happy!
Tony Isaacs
The entire news story about the Oregon State University study can be found at:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/osu-vet092107.php
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About the author Tony Isaacs is a natural health advocate and researcher and the author of books and articles about natural health including "Cancer's Natural Enemy". Mr. Isaacs articles are featured at Natural News, the Health Science Institute's Healthiertalk website, CureZone, the Crusador online, AlignLife, the Cancer Tutor, the American Chronicle and several other venues. Mr. Isaacs also has The Best Years in Life website for baby boomers and others wishing to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. In addition, he hosts the Yahoo Oleandersoup Health group of over 2000 members and the CureZone "Ask Tony Isaacs - Featuring Luella May" forum.