More Secrets To A Longer Life

A couple of related stories caught my attention recently. The impression I got from them is that people continue to look for easy answers, tips and secrets. With all the new technology and scientific breakthroughs, they tend to abandon common sense, expecting something better and easier. This attitude drives a lot of wasteful behavior indicative of a lack of discipline and critical thinking.

 

The first was from a website called Outside with the title: “8 Simple Tips to Live Longer and Healthier.” These tips, it explains, are easy and based on scientific time-tested methods. The tips are merely to develop healthy daily living habits. This idea has been around for ages and the evidence to support it “has mounted, even as more people try to find the elixir of youth.”  A 2016 British study “found a healthy lifestyle reduces one’s chance of all-cause mortality by a whopping 61 percent.”

 

To make such a list, as the line from Casablanca goes, “round up the usual suspects.” They are easy to understand, but not so easy to adopt.

1. Exercise is good for you.
2. Watch what you eat.
3. Socialize – loneliness has surprisingly bad effects.
4. Avoid nearly all supplements – “the vast majority don’t work and may even cause harm.”
5. Get enough sleep.
6. Get outside and enjoy nature.
7. Don’t smoke.
8. Drink alcohol in moderation.

This kind of information is republished frequently by the news media and in public service announcements. By now it’s not really news! Some might add a few more such as: sunscreen, brushing and flossing, drink when you are thirsty, wash your hands and get a flu shot.  But most of this is common knowledge.

 

The one about the supplements is certainly right but not often mentioned. For example, Harvard School of Health calls claims about antioxidants “mostly hype” adding, “mostly disappointing [study] results haven’t stopped food companies and supplement sellers from banking on antioxidants.” The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) says, “Many studies have shown antioxidants do not add health benefits nor do they play a key role in preventing cancer or heart disease.” I have covered the dangers and waste associated with dietary supplements many times in the past.

 

The related idea of looking for the easy answer came from a story early in the pandemic. Americans were hoarding not only toilet paper but also another product that made little sense. Last May a Forbes article reported, “retail sales of orange juice increased 46% in the United States in a four-week period ending on April 11.” 

They apparently believed in the power of Vitamin C to cure colds and other viruses. That this is not true should also have been common knowledge. Back in 2006 NPR ran a story, “The Vitamin C Myth.” By then there had been “at least twenty well controlled studies on the use of mega doses of vitamin C in the prevention of colds, treating the duration of colds, and in treatment of the severity of colds;” none of them showed any evidence that “vitamin C in mega doses does anything.” 

 

This vitamin C myth is just another example of what I referred to recently in “Flashback – Fear of Power Lines” on September 11: when people get an idea stuck in their heads, it takes a great deal of persuasion to get them to change their minds, even if the science is definitive.

 

Problems in discipline cause us to ignore the simple but not easy-to-follow lifestyle instead hoping for a pill or magic medical device. Problems in critical thinking cause the brain latch on to one of those ideas and never again wonder if it’s accurate.

One Last Time: Alternative Medicine

There are certain subjects that have come up time and again over the last 9 years. The main benefit of a behavioral approach is that so many seemingly diverse behaviors can be grouped into categories or dimensions to make sense of the consequences that arise from the resulting choices. 

About five weeks ago, in August, I wrapped up the subject of unfounded fears over GMOs with a One Last Time entry. Today the subject is the very broad area of alternative medicine, which I have described as magic pills and miracle cures. Just typing “magic pill” in the search box at the top left corner of the screen will reveal about 20 entries on this subject from vitamins to caffeinated underwear. In these and several other cases I pointed out the fallacies in their advertising and directed attention to the legally required disclaimer: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

Recently, I found this informative site with an excellent summary.

First they list the various aliases used instead of alternative including: esoteric, complementary, holistic, integrative or natural medicine. It includes such a variety of treatments that “generally accepted definitions do not exist.” 

An incomplete list includes: acupuncture, anthroposophical medicine, applied kinesiology, aromatherapy, autologous blood therapy, Ayurvedic medicine, Bach flower remedies, bioresonance, chelation therapy, chiropractic, colonic irrigation, detox therapies, dietary supplements, energy healing, herbal medicine, homeopathy, iridology, Kampo medicine, macrobiotic, magnet therapy, mind-body therapies, music therapy, neural therapy, ozone therapy, reflexology, Reiki, shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine. I have discussed many of these elsewhere, here and here, for example, but some I’ve never heard of. 

Since they have no scientific backing, how do they lure in customers? “The realm of EM (Esoteric Medicine) is riddled with fallacies which confuse patients and consumers and are used regularly to undermine critical thinking.” In other words, they trick people. The most prevalent and important of these fallacies from the site are summarized below.

The “appeal to popularity” or “appeal to authority” tries to substitute popularity or the opinion of respected people for scientific evidence. But “medicine is no popularity contest” and “even people of high standing make mistakes.”

The post hoc fallacy wrongly assumes “an event ‘X’ that is preceded by another event ‘Y’ must be caused by ‘Y’. If the rooster didn’t crow, the sun would not come up. If the child skipped vaccinations, he would not have autism. (No and no.) It is not true for individuals or for groups.

Many of these interventions rely on the placebo effect. Scientists are just beginning to understand the power of the mind to heal the body. This effect is present whether the medicine is real or not. Likewise, sometimes people just get better on their own. These alternative treatments take advantage of these facts to gather supporters and celebrity endorsements without bothering with scientific evidence.

Using an appeal to tradition, citing a long history is another fallacy, assuming that if it has passed the test of time, it must be effective and safe. This may be good reason to conduct research, and if the argument is valid, the results will be favorable. But long history is no substitute for evidence. Many treatments were applied in the past that would be unconscionable today. Contrary to some popular opinion, ancient Chinese is not a code for safe and effective.

The article gives a long explanation of why EM is unethical by medical standards. “Informed consent is rarely possible in the realm of EM.” Often there is not a professional diagnosis.

“Another fallacy holds that EM defies science or extends beyond the boundaries of science as it is currently understood. Therefore, proponents claim, it cannot be tested in the same way as one would test conventional treatments.” 

Finally, because it is natural, it is assumed to be harmless. “Nature is pictured as benign and natural remedies are therefore not just intrinsically superior but also safer.” This shows a limited viewpoint and a basic misunderstanding of nature. Hurricanes, tornados and blizzards are natural. No one would argue that tobacco is safe because it is natural. To be enamored with words like “natural” and “non-chemical” or the phrase “available without a prescription” is to succumb to deceptive advertising.

These tools are used to “mislead the public such that even the most extravagant absurdities of EM might appear more plausible. Collectively they help foster and perpetuate a culture of unreason that is essential for EM to thrive.”

Ads for a vast number of bogus alternative medical products and services have cropped up since the advent of the COVID-19, faster than the authorities can alert the public or warn the purveyors about their illegal activity. The best defense is: Don’t be a sucker!

The truth is there is no such thing as alternative medicine (no matter what name it goes by); there is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work. All these tricks, alluring words and excuses do not change that fact. Lack of critical thinking in this area can lead to a waste of money, but worse, real harm to you or your family.

Don’t Be a Sucker

Last week I received an email where the subject line included the words “immune system.” There was something in the message about clicking on a link to unsubscribe. It was obviously either a promotion for a fake product or a phishing attempt. In any case, I sent it to the spam folder without opening it. 

Even if there were no link attached, it would have suffered the same fate. Anytime you see words like “boosting your immune system” or “promotes healing,” put your hand over your wallet and run away! It’s surprising how many people still don’t get it.

Marketing of these products has ramped up as the threat of the coronavirus pandemic hit the US. In fact according to this website, the airwaves and Internet are already overrun with bogus products and fake cures. “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have sent warning letters to seven companies allegedly selling unapproved products that may violate federal law by making deceptive or scientifically unsupported claims about their ability to treat coronavirus (COVID-19).” 

These companies and others are pushing products, running the gamut from teas to essential oils to colloidal silver and other supplements, as being able to treat or prevent the disease. By law all such substances must state in their advertisements that they have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Most do, but some, like the ones in the article, get into trouble when they fail to comply. 

In any case, there are not yet any treatments for coronavirus nor is there a vaccine to prevent it. Even without the disclaimer, it should be clear that these are scams. Here, for example, is what Mayo Clinic says about colloidal silver. “Colloidal silver isn't considered safe or effective for any of the health claims manufacturers make.” It doesn’t work for coronavirus or any other condition and may be harmful.

It takes almost no effort for critical thinkers to find flaws with the products and supposed health services listed. The truth should be common knowledge by now. (See any of my many previous entries debunking the benefits of dietary supplements, starting here.) References in the above article to a “naturopathic doctor” or to renegade chiropractors falsely claiming some power against the virus should raise red flags. 

But instead panic buying of supplements, or what this site refers to as “immune products,” in the wake of the coronavirus scare is leading to supply shortages and higher prices.

The expression “There’s a sucker born every minute” is often attributed to P.T. Barnum, but there is no evidence that he ever said it. It may have been said by any number of other people and is commonly heard and understood in the 21^st century.

I have no respect for these companies pushing fake remedies. They all should be sent to the spam mailbox. The ones that fail to post the disclaimer deserve their problems with the government. The ones that post the disclaimer but still imply some medicinal power for their products are no better than modern day snake-oil salesmen looking for the next sucker. Those who still believe in what NPR calls the Vitamin C myth or rely on other supplements, essential oils, reiki or other alternative medicine for their health needs may as well be handing their money to a witchdoctor for all the good it will do them.

Wise up. Don’t be a sucker.

Added Note: It is helpful to remember we are all in this together, except apparently for the news media, doing all they can to highlight the negative aspects of the disease and the efforts to combat it to promote fear and anxiety.

Cancer is Nothing to Toy With

Last week some troubling news came by way of a Harris Poll conducted for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Based on a sample of 4,038 adults and an additional 849 cancer patients, they found that 39% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement, "Cancer can be cured solely through alternative therapies, without standard cancer treatment(s)" despite clear evidence that those patients “have much higher mortality rates.” Another  statement, "Alternative therapies are a good supplement to standard cancer treatments(s)," reached a level of 75% overall agreement. 

Some experts commented that the high level of agreement likely was due to strong promotional efforts by the alternative and complementary medicine industry combined with a weak public understanding of science. The opposite of alternative medicine is called evidence-based medicine. In the latter case there is evidence from well-conducted experiments to back up the efficacy of treatment; in the former there are only stories, endorsements, myths, legends, ancient wisdom and uncorroborated, so-called clinical trials. To paraphrase one doctor, “There is no alternative medicine; there is only medicine that works.” (Late addition, 11/20/2018: Spain plans to ban alternative medicine in health centres.)

Walking down the vitamin and supplement aisle of any pharmacy or grocery store exposes the shopper to a wonderland of miracle cures and preventive pills and potions. The only problem is that many studies have shown them to have little or no value (unless prescribed by a doctor for a specific need). And news about supplements found to contain little or none of what’s printed on the label, and sometimes containing dangerous substitutes comes out periodically. A law passed decades ago with a boost from the nutritional supplement lobby ties the hands of the FDA until after problems are reported. 

The industry survives on heavy promotion, a vast amount of shelf space and the placebo effect. But cancer is serious business and should be treated as such.

Here is a case in point involving Robert Young, author of the bestselling pH Miracle books. Sixteen months after going to jail for practicing medicine without a license he has been ordered to pay over $100 million in a civil trial brought by one of his cancer patients. Her suit alleged negligence and fraud after he advised her “to forego chemotherapy and traditional treatment, and instead go with treatment in line with his alkaline theories.” She now has stage four cancer and her oncologist gives her three to four years to live.

The 39% who say they would do this on a survey may be overstated. When it’s life and death people will make more considered decisions than when checking a box on a Harris Poll. But it does happen and every instance is unfortunate and avoidable.

I have advised many times in the past that words like miracle in "health" ads are clear warning signs of something fishy. After Young was found guilty of two counts of practicing medicine without a license, to avoid further jail time he “had to make a public admission [in court] declaring that he is not a microbiologist, hematologist, medical or naturopathic doctor or trained scientist." He may have been sincere about his belief in his miracle cure, but he had no evidence to back it up – as it turns out, and to the distress of his patient, he had just the opposite.

I like people to be able to do what they want with their time and money. If they want to throw it away on dubious pills, oils or ancient remedies, let them be. But when it comes to serious illnesses like cancer, please apply some critical thinking, and stick with real medicine from trained doctors. The odds are so much better.

One More Time – The Placebo Effect

Way back in early 2012, I first brought up the placebo effect – the tendency of the body to heal itself when belief in the cure is strong. How it works is still a mystery but that it does work is indisputable.

The example I used over 6 years ago was a $30 performance wristband, one endorsed by famous athletes and touted to improve athletic performance. In a test people were given the advertised wristband and exposed to some physical performance and balance tests. The before and after results showed some improvement. Then they were given a similar-looking one-dollar replacement band and told it was also special, performance on physical and balance tests improved comparably. Conclusion: it wasn’t the band at all; it was the perception that they were getting some extra, outside help – mind over matter.

Since then I have mentioned the placebo effect in essays warning about vitamins, acupuncture, forest bathing, chiropractic, healing crystals, gluten-free diets, cryotherapy, homeopathy, ear candling, essential oils and a few other subjects. (Wow, that’s a lot of toes to step on in only six and a half years!)

The point is not to make people angry and defensive, but to make them aware of the difference between science and marketing, and how the placebo effect can lead to an erroneous conclusion that a treatment really works.

When a cure is proposed, competent scientists will split a relatively large group in two, randomly assigning one to test the treatment while giving the other a placebo. Both groups usually show some improvement due to the placebo effect. To validate the treatment however, the improvement of the treated group must be significantly better than that of the control group. Otherwise they declare the treatment “no better than a placebo,” that is, no better than no medicine at all.

The placebo effect explains many of the endorsements we hear from celebrities, friends and neighbors. They sincerely (and enthusiastically) believe whatever they are recommending has beneficial effects, but with no scientific evidence it may be “no better than a placebo.” When you buy one of these products, the money spent is money wasted. That’s why the small print in ads, where they explain how the FDA has not approved their magic formula, they often add something like “results will vary.”

That takes us to a health story from England where the BBC reported a pure placebo experiment. With help from University of Oxford, they tried to see if they could “cure real back pain with fake pills.”

One hundred people with severe back pain were asked to participate in a study of a powerful new painkiller. What they didn’t know is that everyone would be given realistic looking pills that were really placebos, “capsules containing nothing but ground rice.”

The blue-and-white-striped pills “came in bottles, carefully labeled, warning of potential side effects and sternly reminding patients to keep out of the hands of children” to further the impression that this was powerful stuff.

Three weeks later researchers found “nearly half of our volunteers reported a medically significant improvement in their back pain” and that those who spent a little more time with a doctor merely discussing the pills were more likely to improve. In one case, a man went off his morphine but continues to take the ground-rice pills.

Placebo effect is not a trick that works only on the gullible. Taking a placebo can cause the body to release endorphins, natural painkillers. And sometimes subjects improve even when they know they are taking a placebo.

But that doesn’t mean the gullible aren’t tricked. In the earlier case of wristbands, even after the people learned that there was no difference and the improvement in both cases was psychological, they still wanted to buy the $30-wristband over the equally effective $1 bands. It’s like when people think the same wine tastes better when the bottle has a higher price tag. 

It does no good to understand science when critical thinking fails to kick in.

Living Longer (continued) – Are Multivitamins the Answer?

Last time we investigated the headline about how taking at least three weeks vacation was the key to living longer. The bad news is that the study was seriously flawed and the conclusion seemed very questionable. Realistically, there is no need to despair as the three-week-vacation option is out of reach for most Americans anyway. But how about those vitamins so many people take daily? As I wrote last time, “Not so fast!”

Many articles and studies agree that, for the most part, taking multivitamins is a waste of time and money. This recent item from NBC puts it bluntly: “The multivitamin industry rakes in billions of dollars. But science says we're not getting healthier. Unless you have a clinically identified deficiency, the research tells us there is little reason to consume supplements.”

Remember my August 17 entry about what we think we know for sure? This is another subject that falls into that category of believing what we want to despite scientific evidence. About half of all Americans take a vitamin or other supplement with annual spending expected to grow to $300 billion within the next five years. (Reflecting on the Labor Day question of why do we work, imagine if that $300 billion could go into individual retirement accounts instead.)

So people are convinced (by the smooth-talking advertisers), but science continues to tell us the opposite, with reports citing “little evidence” and “no clear health benefit” and that “their use is not justified.” The only upside is that people who fall into the multivitamin trap tend to take better care of themselves in other ways. 

The downside is that these pills, like all other dietary supplements are under-regulated leading to consumers not getting what they pay for. In some cases, it’s not just a matter of throwing money away on ineffective pills. Instead, some contain fillers or substitute ingredients, and tests have found some containing contaminants, which may “pose serious health risks.” 

Even pure vitamins can be dangerous, especially in mega-dose amounts. High doses of vitamin E or A can be harmful, possibly increasing cancer risk. A 2017 study “noted that 20 percent of all cases of liver toxicity are caused by herbal and dietary supplements. Another study found that 23,000 emergency department visits a year are the result of adverse reactions to supplements.”

Well, now that the word is out, can we expect Americans to heed the warnings, make better choices and save their money? It’s doubtful, because this is not breaking news! Besides the fact that I have been writing about it off and on for the last five years, the headlines have rolled in for at least that long and been ignored. See the sampling below.

From earlier this summer: “The truth behind multi-vitamins: You may do more harm than good taking them.” 

“In the recent study published by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, it says vitamin supplements aren’t doing anything for your health.”

From articles in November 2013 and November 2015: “Even though half the U.S. population pops vitamins in the belief they can help people live longer, healthier lives, a very extensive look at the studies that have been done show it may be a waste of time when it comes to preventing the diseases most likely to kill you.”

From HealthDay News in December 2013: “With three new studies finding that a daily multivitamin won't help boost the average American's health, the experts behind the research are urging people to abandon use of the supplements. The studies found that popping a daily multivitamin didn't ward off heart problems or memory loss, and wasn't tied to a longer life span.”

From WebMD around the same time: “The studies, published in the Dec. 17 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that multivitamin and mineral supplements did not work any better than placebo pills.” 

CBS added in 2015, “taking lots of supplements may raise a person's risk.”

The articles and studies have all stressed the futility of using vitamins and other supplements as the magic answer to better health and longevity. The consistent reminder in every one of these reports is that, unless prescribed by a doctor for a specific deficiency, they are ineffective and never a substitute for healthy eating.

So apparently the vitamins are not the answer to health and long life either. But people don’t worry about any of this if they have been blessed with good genes – not so fast! We’ll look at that idea next time.

Being Misled About Multivitamins

I have been writing about a couple of related subjects lately. Last Monday’s theme was that no amount of consumer protection will keep the charlatans of the health industry from coming up with enticing schemes based on junk science. Americans must use critical thinking to avoid the traps that lead to certain financial loses and possible physical harm. The second is that much of what makes the news as “a new study” or “latest research” is merely a rehash of previous discoveries, traditional understanding or common sense.

Here is another example from last week characterized as a new study, attacking what to many is a “sacred cow,” which is why it has been ignored for so many years.

Canadian researchers found: “Popular vitamin and mineral supplements didn't provide any measurable health benefits to prevent cardiovascular disease, stroke or early death.” They also “found no helpful or harmful outcomes for people who took multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium and vitamin C.” But this was not based on comparing medical records for a large number of people. Instead findings came from a review and analysis of existing information, many other studies mostly around from 2012 through the fall of 2017 – in other words, old news with information confirmed many times over.

A quick search of the Internet yields many of these previous studies. A CBS News story from December 2013 carries the headline: “Multivitamin researchers say ‘case is closed’ after studies find no health benefits.” The advice back then was to save your money because “supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful.” Studies backing up this announcement were not trivial. One tracked 24 studies and two trials involving more than 350,000 individuals. A second followed 5,950 older male doctors over a 12-year period under controlled conditions. Another of 1,700 heart patients showed “no difference in rates of another heart attack, chest pain, the need for hospitalization, cardiac catheterization, or rates of stroke and early death between vitamin-takers and placebo-takers.”

Clearly, this is not new. Many professionals have recognized the ineffectiveness of multivitamins for a long time. Five years ago the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) decided not to recommend the regular use of any multivitamins or of any herbal supplements and recommended against taking additional beta-carotene or vitamin E.

But what about the earlier comment that they found no helpful or harmful outcomes? This comes from the USA Today last summer.  “Taking too much vitamin B6 and B12 could dramatically increase lung cancer in men, according to a new study.” That study consisted of more than 77,000 patients followed for more than 10 years. 

The majority opinion is that these supplements have no benefits, and adverse side effects are possible. So, as this headline reads, why do “Americans Spend Billions on Vitamins and Herbs That Don’t Work”? The numbers vary from one source to another, but the amount spent on vitamins and herbal supplements, which can be far more dangerous, ranges from $30 billion to $37 billion per year, and that number is expected to grow with an aging population and increased health concerns.

Sales typically make up “5 percent of all grocery sales in the United States” with profit margins nearly ten times higher. But despite the high cost and years of research 50% of Americans take at least one multivitamin and about 20%, take other supplements as well. Have they not been paying attention?

The explanation is simple. The power of the industry and the accompanying superstitions that drive people to the magic of supplements and so-called health foods is frightening. As an example, one of the references I cited above proclaiming the dangers and impurities in supplements has an accompanying link to one of those you-may-also-be-interested articles entitled: “11 Vitamins and Supplements That Boost Energy.” After warning of the dangers in the first article, the second sings the praises of a bunch of airy-fairy herbs and chemicals. Everyone should know better, but there is no escaping the hype.

One More Time: Dietary Supplements (3)

In previous entries, most recently last October, I warned about the use of dietary supplements.  Manufacturers and retailers continue to get bolder in their advertising trying to maintain and grow the size of their market.  This is big business in America with these companies cashing in on misleading claims about the benefits of their products.  Products classified as dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, probiotics and fish oil.

Near the end of last year, the New York Times put it bluntly:  “Americans spend more than $30 billion a year on dietary supplements – vitamins, minerals and herbal products, among others – many of which are unnecessary or of doubtful benefit to those taking them. That comes to about $100 a year for every man, woman and child for substances that are often of questionable value.”  These are often the same people who see themselves as being so careful in other cases about what they put into their bodies.

A boom in sales came after the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, pushed through by lawmakers with close ties to the supplement lobby.  The number of products grew from 4,000 to 55,000+ over the next 20 years.  The law allowed the industry to sell their products without submitting any evidence to the Food and Drug Administration as to their safety or effectiveness.  Marketers are legally allowed to promote products as supporting the health of various parts of the body but are banned from any claims that they prevent, treat or cure any condition.  Clever advertising often skirts this provision and sometimes violates it completely.

But the problem is not just that they may be ineffective, that is, a waste of money.  Last fall the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a summary of studies done on supplements.  “During the past 2 decades, a steady stream of high-quality studies evaluating dietary supplements has yielded predominantly disappointing results about potential health benefits, whereas evidence of harm has continued to accumulate.”  They cite various examples of the increased problems including more than 10,000 calls per year to national poison centers since 2002 “related to ephedra poisonings.”

Surprisingly, as more research shows that particular substances are no more effective than the sugar pill, the sales do not generally decrease.  Consumers seem to think that if they don’t work for the target ailment, they at least promote general good health.  A list of supplements that have failed to live up to the advertisers' promises includes vitamin C, vitamin E and glucosamine/chondroitin.

What about consumer protection?  The government is very involved in this – considering the fact that they cannot act until actual harmful effects are reported or the vendors cross the line by promising more than supporting good health.  According to this release from the Truth in Advertising website, the supplement store GNC, “which has more than 9,000 store locations worldwide, has been the subject of numerous federal and state actions and has been named in more than 100 consumer lawsuits.”

Since 1984 the Department of Justice has cited problems in advertising 3 times.  Two resulted in fines or settlements and the latest in an agreement to take aggressive steps to prevent illegal products and ingredients from being sold in its stores.  The Federal Trade commission has taken seven actions against GNC or its suppliers, including “Sensa for its deceptive ‘sprinkle, eat and lose weight’ claims.”  On top of that there have been three USPS probes, six investigations by individual states and ten problems with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  (Details are provided in the Truth in Advertising link.)

There are valid reasons to use supplements such as for known deficiencies.  In the UK for example, some researchers are recommending that vitamin D be added to some food, like it is to milk in the US, to address the problem of a populations with lower exposure to sunlight.  In general, though, it is always better to get nutrients from food rather than popping a pill.  If supplements are needed, patients should use caution and critical thinking and consult with a health care professional to confirm that a problem exists and that the particular supplement will be effective in solving it.  Research continues to show that taking a pill just because it “makes you feel better” is about the same as throwing away your money.

One More Time: Dietary Supplements (2)

This is another in my “one more time” series.  See also: One More Time Gluten-free, GMOs, Social Security, and Dietary Supplements – this is the second one-more-time for supplements.  But I can‘t drop some of these subjects because erroneous information I have pointed out before and supporting information for what I have already posted keeps coming up in the news and on ads, even some political ads.

These all fall into the same category – hype and bold promises.  The purpose of these news flashes and promotions is not to make you smarter, but to get you to buy, vote or keep tuning in.  They generally have no scruples about fooling you, as long as they can do it legally.  They rely on trigger words that often can get you acting without thinking or investigating the validity of their claims – in some cases, keeping you coasting along on planted beliefs instead of facts for a very long time. The government usually steps in with consumer protection programs for the blatant lies, but against the subtler forms of misinformation there is no protection except your own critical thinking.

My previous posts on supplements warned about several aspects of using them:  the fact that they are not tested in the same way as prescription drugs either for effectiveness or side effects;  that there is no guarantee of purity – because many come from big companies that have a reputation to preserve, they are probably better than drugs bought on the street corner, but some independent lab tests have found instances of foreign matter, ingredients not listed on the label and an absence of ingredients that are listed on the label; and the makers are not legally allowed to say they cure or improve any condition without solid experimental evidence.  Some claim to have such evidence, but it is not replicated by independent tests.  Most rely on endorsements from “satisfied customers,” celebrities or TV doctors.

A couple of recent news items brought up the issue again.  This headline, “Herbal and dietary supplements tied to liver damage”, got my attention.  Today, twenty percent of chemical-induced liver damage cases come from herbal and dietary supplements, double the number from 10 years ago.  If supplements are “overused, or used in combination with other supplements, or used for very prolonged periods or in combination with conventional medications, they may become harmful."  These problems arise because packages usually give no guidance and people don’t often tell their doctors what they are taking.  Although steroids are a bulk of the problem, other supplements can cause liver damage as well.

The study concludes with a couple of warnings. 

• First, of course there is also a risk with prescription drugs; but when they are detected, the pills are pulled from the market.  As long as you are getting what you think you are getting and are careful about possible interactions, supplements are generally safe.  But “many supplements have no proven benefit, only a potential risk.”  

• Second, they remind us, “There is no miracle in a bottle that will build muscle, detoxify your system, cure cancer, or cause rapid, long lasting weight loss. At best it is a waste of money. At worst you could die." 

On a related note, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that homeopathic teething tablets and gels may pose a risk to infants and children.  They have been associated with “seizures, difficulty breathing, lethargy, excessive sleepiness, muscle weakness, skin flushing, constipation, difficulty urinating, or agitation” in babies.  Parents should stop using them and dispose of the products immediately.

The similarity between these stories is that homeopathic products are available without a prescription, are only tested after someone reports a problem, and in the case of the teething gel, the FDA “is not aware of any proven health benefit.”

All this is important information, available with very little research.  Unfortunately, Americans tend to skip the research, instead taking the word of relatives and friends or reacting to those trigger words based on fads and myths.  Lack of critical thinking in this and many other areas often leads to the outcome described above:  At best a waste of money, at worst you could get sick or die.

Keeping the FTC Busy

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the government organization tasked with keeping advertisers honest.  “Its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of anticompetitive business practices.”  With all the fears and worries, real and manufactured, about physical and mental health that the pushers of pills and miracle cures take advantage of, the FTC keeps very busy.

I got a tip from a reader to check out the B12 stores that are springing up along the roadside in his state.  They offer Vitamin B12 injections and promise many health benefits.  One Internet site lists 22 areas where B12 helps the mind or body, prevents problems or boosts some function.  But as the reader points out 30 seconds of research on line shows that these injections are a waste of time.

This is quite right.  As this site explains, Vitamin B12 supplements are appropriate only when the patient has a deficiency.  It’s not the cure-all that it claims to be.  Since it is water-soluble, “[w]hen taken in excess, your body eliminates what it doesn’t need…So if you’re not deficient, you’re wasting your money.”  (In one end and out the other.)

The reader goes on to say he reported these false claims to the FTC. They called and thanked him but said they are so backlogged with other investigations that action would take months, maybe years.  What else is keeping them so busy? 

The next week, the answer came, in part, from the Consumer Health Digest, an non-governmental newsletter about deceptive medical claims.  “During the past two years, three marketers of questionable ‘brain training’ programs have settled FTC charges by agreeing to discontinue various claims.”

“The developers and marketers of LearningRx  ‘brain training’ agreed to stop claiming that their programs were clinically proven to permanently improve serious health conditions like ADHD, autism, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, strokes, and concussions and that the training substantially improved school grades, college admission test scores, career earnings, and job and athletic performance.”  

Then there was the case of the Lumosity games claiming to help users perform better at work and in school, and reduce or delay cognitive impairment associated with age and other serious health conditions.  They settled charges that they deceived consumers with these unfounded claims and agreed to pay $2 million.

Finally about 18 months earlier, Focus Education “agreed to stop making unsubstantiated claims that their computer game, Jungle Rangers, permanently improves children's focus, memory, attention, behavior, and school performance, including for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).”

In addition to the games and puzzles falsely claiming to make us smarter, more attentive and less forgetful, about 6 months ago “the FTC also settled charges against the marketers of Procera AVH, a dietary supplement claiming to have been clinically proven to improve memory, mood, and other cognitive functions.

These last four examples over the span of less than two years in only one category gives an idea of the size of the workload of the FTC as they try to police the deceptive claims of charlatans and hucksters, the snake oil salesmen preying on Americans looking for that magic cure, a cure for problems real or imagined, an easy way out.  Even some good companies may get carried away, trying to sell their products by promising cures when there is no evidence.   Perhaps they believe that what they are saying is true or that they have worded their ads cleverly enough to avoid legal problems.

In any case, these advertisers know a couple of things for sure.  Today there are so many reports of legitimate new drugs and advances in medicine that we are led to expect and be less skeptical of such claims.  They also know that any mention of Alzheimer’s, ADHD or autism will trigger an automatic, hopeful reaction.  So it’s up to us to be wary.  The FTC cannot protect us from every too-good-to-be-true ad that comes our way.  Discipline to do the work and not be sucked in by the promise of a miracle cure, along with a healthy skepticism that comes from critical thinking will push us to do a little research before accepting these claims at face value.  Such an approach can save significant time and money.