YOU: and Snake Oil

alternative providers

His description of factors that might underlie and augment the placebo effect (the ability of sham treatments to relieve symptoms) is thought-provoking.

Among them:

•The patient/provider bond. It's no mistake, Bausell says, that alternative providers often seem especially caring. That connection helps convince patients that treatments will work — and may even lead polite patients to exaggerate or lie about improvement (as Bausell once did).

•The "Hawthorne effect." This effect is at play when patients improve health habits in response to close medical attention. (It's named for a power plant whose workers became more productive when observed for a study.)

So the arthritis patient getting acupuncture also takes her prescription drugs more regularly, but credits the needles when her pain subsides.

•The natural history of illness. Many conditions wax and wane or tend to improve over time. But treatment, not time, may get the credit.

•Mistaken memories. People who believe a therapy helps may remember their initial symptoms as more intense than they actually were — a mental trick that makes current symptoms seem milder.

•Pride. Patients and practitioners alike have a strong need to believe they've made smart choices.

- Biostatistician R. Barker Bausell

Beware of the twin flim flam words Miracle and Magic

A New Kind of Calcium
by Andrew Weil, MD (2005)

I'm aware of a product being sold on the Internet said to be a new type of calcium with a higher absorption rate.

However, I have seen no scientific studies to support this claim or any of the others made for the product: that it works better to build bone density and thus lowers the risk of osteoporosis more effectively than other forms of calcium, and that it also works better than anything else for heel spurs, fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis.

The manufacturers of calcium aspartate anhydrous say it is better than coral calcium, a product I do not recommend. I've seen no scientific research supporting any of the many health claims made for coral calcium.

I do recommend calcium citrate, because it is more easily assimilated than other forms. Calcium carbonate is easier to find and less expensive but not as well absorbed.

It is OK to use calcium supplements containing vitamin D. In fact, I recommend that all people take 1,000 IU of vitamin D to insure proper absorption and use of calcium (as well as to prevent multiple sclerosis and many forms of cancer).

To prevent osteoporosis, adequate vitamin D intake may be even more important than calcium supplementation. The reason for taking magnesium with calcium (in a 1 to 2 ratio) is to counteract calcium's constipating effect.

Bear in mind that should a new and better form of calcium come along that has made it past rigorous scientific scrutiny, you'll read about it on this site and hear about it from the mainstream media.

When checking out new products that sound too good to be true, look for some independent documentation.

Are scientific studies cited by name on the website? Will you find those studies if you look them up in the medical literature? You can search the huge MEDLINE database of medical journals. If you don't find any relevant studies, there probably aren't any.

Currently, no weight-loss supplements meet criteria for recommended use.

Although evidence of modest weight loss secondary to ephedra-caffeine ingestion exists, potentially serious adverse effects have led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the sale of these products.

Chromium is a popular weight-loss supplement, but its efficacy and long-term safety are uncertain.

Guar gum and chitosan appear to be ineffective; therefore, use of these products should be discouraged.

Because of insufficient or conflicting evidence regarding the efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid, ginseng, glucomannan, green tea, hydroxycitric acid, l-carnitine, psyllium, pyruvate, and St. John's wort in weight loss, physicians should caution patients about the use of these supplements and closely monitor those who choose to use these products.


(Am Fam Physician 2004;70:1731-38. Copyright© 2004 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

From John Hopkins:

While various mind-body and other nonconventional therapies continue to be explored as a way to prevent and treat cancer, various less credible alternative treatments have been proven to be ineffective and, in some cases, even life-threatening.

In evaluating potential cancer treatments, the National Cancer Institute recommends that patients and their families consider the following questions:

* Has the treatment been evaluated in clinical trials? A reference librarian can help patients interested in a particular treatment find out whether it has been reported in reputable scientific journals.

* Do the practitioners of an alternative treatment claim that the medical community is trying to keep their cure from the public? No one genuinely committed to finding better ways to treat a disease would knowingly keep an effective treatment a secret or try to suppress such treatment.

* Does the treatment rely on nutritional or diet therapy as its main focus? At this time, there is no known dietary cure for cancer. In other words, there is no evidence that diet alone can get rid of cancerous cells in the body.

* Do those who endorse the treatment claim that it is harmless and painless and that it produces no unpleasant side effects? Because treatments for cancer must be very powerful, they frequently have unpleasant side effects.

* Does the treatment have a "secret formula" that only a small group of practitioners can use? Scientists who believe they have developed an effective treatment routinely publish their results in reputable journals so that they can be evaluated by other researchers.

Alternative Medicine Advice for Seniors

What are the dangers of alternative therapies?

Some diseases are dangerous and require timely investigation and treatment with proven therapies.

Some herbal preparations can interfere with traditional medications, making conditions such as diabetes or HIV less responsive to proven medications.

Certain substances can mask important symptoms of serious medical conditions.

First check out the credentials of the person offering them. If they don't have training, experience, and haven't established a track record of successfully treating people with your condition, run - don't walk - to the nearest exit.

Second, remember, the questions you need answered are:

* effectiveness: show me evidence that it works
* safety: prove that it will not harm me
* cost: is the potential benefit worth the cost or are there cheaper alternatives with equal effectiveness?

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Circa '03-'05

Rosedale, Kimkins, Coral Calcium, Hamptons Diet and Macadamia Nut Oil,

Fat Fast, Fat Flush, No-Vegetable Atkins,

Sea Salt Cleanse, bathing in Celtic Sea Salt, Dry brushing,

Yo-cheese and Yogurts fasts.


To name a few.

A quack's vocubulary

Buzz words: watchout for words used to describe medical treatments such as

* "secret or secret formula"
* "proven"
* "miracle" (lol)
* "foreign"
* "breakthrough"
* "works overnight"
* "guaranteed to work"

"Conspiracy Theory": Many quacks claim they are fighting against a conspiracy of physicians who are unwilling to acknowledge new treatments. ( )

They may claim their products provide a complete cure for a wide variety of problems without any side effects.

Serious conditions often targeted include obesity, depression, cancer, AIDS, diabetes, and arthritis. Quacks may also claim to have products that increase lifespan.
.

How can food quacks and other vitamin pushers be recognized?

1. When Talking about Nutrients, They Tell Only Part of the Story.
Many claim that their products or programs offer "optimal nutritional support."

2. They Claim That Most Americans Are Poorly Nourished.
In fact, no normal person following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is in any danger of vitamin deficiency.

3. They Recommend "Nutrition Insurance" for Everyone.
Most vitamin pushers suggest that everyone is in danger of deficiency and should therefore take supplements as "insurance."

4. They Say That Most Diseases Are Due to Faulty Diet
and Can Be Treated with "Nutritional" Methods.
Although diet is a factor in some diseases (most notably coronary heart disease), most diseases have little or nothing to do with diet.

5. They Allege That Modern Processing Methods and
Storage Remove all Nutritive Value from Our Food.
Quacks distort and oversimplify.

6. They Claim That Diet Is a Major Factor in Behavior.
Food quacks relate diet not only to disease but to behavior.

7. They Claim That Fluoridation Is Dangerous.
Curiously, quacks are not always interested in real deficiencies.

8. They Claim That Soil Depletion and the Use of Pesticides and "Chemical" Fertilizers Result in Food That Is Less Safe and Less Nourishing.
If an essential nutrient is missing from the soil, a plant simply doesn't grow. Chemical fertilizers counteract the effects of soil depletion.

9. They Claim You Are in Danger of Being "Poisoned" by Ordinary Food Additives and Preservatives.
This is another scare tactic designed to undermine your confidence in food scientists and government protection agencies as well as our food supply itself.

10. They Charge That the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs)
Have Been Set Too Low.
The reason quacks charge that the RDAs are too low is obvious: if you believe you need more than can be obtained from food, you are more likely to buy supplements.
.

11. They Claim That under Everyday Stress, and in Certain Diseases, Your Need for Nutrients Is Increased.
Suggestions that "stress vitamins" are helpful against emotional stress are also fraudulent.

12. They Recommend "Supplements" and "Health Foods" for Everyone.
Food quacks belittle normal foods and ridicule the food-group systems of good nutrition.

13. They Claim That "Natural" Vitamins are Better than "Synthetic" Ones.
Each vitamin is a chain of atoms strung together as a molecule. With minor exception, molecules made in the "factories" of nature are identical to those made in the factories of chemical companies.

14. They Suggest That a Questionnaire Can Be Used
to Indicate Whether You Need Dietary Supplements.
Supplements are seldom necessary unless the person is unable (or unwilling) to consume an adequate diet.

15. They Say It Is Easy to Lose Weight.
Diet quacks would like you to believe that special pills or food combinations can cause "effortless" weight loss. But the only way to lose weight is to burn off more calories than you eat.

16. They Promise Quick, Dramatic, Miraculous Results.
Often the promises are subtle or couched in "weasel words" that create an illusion of a promise, so promoters can deny making them when the "feds" close in. False promises of cure are the quacks' most immoral practice.

17. They Routinely Sell Vitamins and Other "Dietary Supplements" as Part of Their Practice.
Although vitamins are useful as therapeutic agents for certain health problems, the number of such conditions is small. You should also disregard any publication or Web site whose editor or publisher sells dietary supplements.

18. They Use Disclaimers Couched in Pseudomedical Jargon.
Instead of promising to cure your disease, some quacks will promise to "detoxify," "purify," or "revitalize" your body; "balance" its chemistry or "electromagnetic energy"; bring it in harmony with nature; "stimulate" or "strengthen" your immune system; "support" or "rejuvenate" various organs in your body; or stimulate your body's power to heal itself.

19. They Use Anecdotes and Testimonials to Support Their Claims.
We all tend to believe what others tell us about personal experiences. But separating cause and effect from coincidence can be difficult. If people tell you that product X has cured their cancer, arthritis, or whatever, be skeptical. They may not actually have had the condition. If they did, their recovery most likely would have occurred without the help of product X.

20. They Claim That Sugar Is a Deadly Poison.
Many vitamin pushers would have us believe that refined (white) sugar is "the killer on the breakfast table" and is the underlying cause of everything from heart disease to hypoglycemia.

21. They Display Credentials Not Recognized by Responsible Scientists or Educators.
The backbone of educational integrity in America is a system of accreditation by agencies recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which is a nongovernmental Coordinating agency.
"Degrees" from nonaccredited schools are rarely worth the paper they are printed on.

22. They Offer to Determine Your Body's Nutritional State with a Laboratory Test or a Questionnaire.
Various health-food industry members and unscientific practitioners utilize tests that they claim can determine your body's nutritional state and—of course—what products you should buy from them. One favorite method is hair analysis.

Other tests used to hawk supplements include amino acid analysis of urine, muscle-testing (applied kinesiology), iridology, blood typing, "nutrient-deficiency" and/or lifestyle questionnaires, and "electrodiagnostic" gadgets.

23. They Claim They Are Being Persecuted by Orthodox Medicine and That Their Work Is Being Suppressed Because It's Controversial.
The "conspiracy charge" is an attempt to gain sympathy by portraying the quack as an "underdog."

Quacks typically claim that the American Medical Association is against them because their cures would cut into the incomes that doctors make by keeping people sick.

Don't fall for such nonsense! Reputable physicians are plenty busy.

Any physician who found a vitamin or other preparation that could cure sterility, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, or the like, could make an enormous fortune.

Patients would flock to such a doctor (as they now do to those who falsely claim to cure such problems), and colleagues would shower the doctor with awards—including the extremely lucrative Nobel Prize! And don't forget, doctors get sick, too. Do you believe they would conspire to suppress cures for diseases that also afflict them and their loved ones?

When polio was conquered, iron lungs became virtually obsolete, but nobody resisted this advancement because it would force hospitals to change. And neither will scientists mourn the eventual defeat of cancer.

24. They Warn You Not to Trust Your Doctor.
Quacks, who want you to trust them, suggest that most doctors are "butchers" and "poisoners."

They exaggerate the shortcomings of our healthcare delivery system, but completely disregard their own—and those of other quacks.

For the same reason, quacks also claim that doctors are nutrition illiterates. This, too, is untrue. The principles of nutrition are those of human biochemistry and physiology, courses required in every medical school.

Some medical schools don't teach a separate required course labeled "Nutrition" because the subject is included in other courses at the points where it is most relevant.

For example, nutrition in growth and development is taught in pediatrics, nutrition in wound healing is taught in surgery, and nutrition in pregnancy is covered in obstetrics. In addition, many medical schools do offer separate instruction in nutrition.

A physician's training, of course, does not end on the day of graduation from medical school or completion of specialty training.

The medical profession advocates lifelong education, and some states require it for license renewal. Physicians can further their knowledge of nutrition by reading medical journals and textbooks, discussing cases with colleagues, and attending continuing education courses.

Most doctors know what nutrients can and cannot do and can tell the difference between a real nutritional discovery and a piece of quack nonsense.

25. They Encourage Patients to Lend Political Support to Their Treatment Methods.
A century ago, before scientific methodology was generally accepted, valid new ideas were hard to evaluate and were sometimes rejected by a majority of the medical community, only to be upheld later.

But today, treatments demonstrated as effective are welcomed by scientific practitioners and do not need a group to crusade for them.

Quacks seek political endorsement because they can't prove that their methods work. Instead, they may seek to legalize their treatment and force insurance companies to pay for it.

One of the surest signs that a treatment doesn't work is a political campaign to legalize its use.

Speaking of miracle oils and supplements:
"When an outbreak of the Spanish flu spread worldwide in 1918, a doctor in Newark advised his patients that they could cure their illness with red onions and coffee."



Times haven't changed much since 1918.
Apparently a percentage of the people are gullible in every decade.
.

My belly laugh for the day. A sucker born every minute.

Foot detox

* Purpose. Toxins are allegedly drawn out of the body through the soles of the feet.
* Evidence of effectiveness. Both methods claim to stimulate the outflow of toxins through the feet. However, there is no scientific evidence for this. Promoters assert that the success of the process can be monitored by a color change in the pad or in the water of the foot bath as impurities are leached from the body. But the pads, which are impregnated with wood vinegar, have been shown to turn the same dark color whether they absorb foot perspiration or are sprayed with tap water; and the color of the foot bath changes because the metal electrodes corrode.

The bottom line
The human body can defend itself very well against most environmental insults and the effects of occasional indulgence. If you’re generally healthy, concentrate on giving your body what it needs to maintain its robust self-cleaning system — a healthful diet, adequate fluid intake, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, and all recommended medical check-ups. If you experience fatigue, pallor, unexplained weight gain or loss, changes in bowel function, or breathing difficulties that persist for days or weeks, visit your doctor instead of a detox spa.