Hi Everybody,
If you’ve been watching the news lately you probably know there is a war on vitamins right now. It seems that every other day there is another article on a vitamin that is supposedly “bad” for you. If you actually get the studies and read them, some interesting things emerge.
The points that follow are a mixture of the our input as well as input from the Orthomolecular Society on these new vitamin studies. The Orthomolecular Society is a group of Medical Doctors and Medical Researchers who study the use of natural substances like vitamins and minerals in the prevention and treatment of a whole host of diseases, from cancer to schizophrenia.
(1) FINANCIAL TIES- If you look on the last page of the actual study that claims Vitamin E to be bad for you (page 1556) under the “Conflict of Interest” section, you see that most of the authors of this study were receiving large amounts of money from pharmaceutical companies. These conflicts of interest were not noted in the media articles or in the brief JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) article. You would have had to have read the full actual article to get this information. Merk, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, Abbot, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Amgen, Firmagon and Novartis are the main monetary suppliers to these authors. Is there any question what conclusions these paid pharmaceutical employees would come to?
(2) REAL OR FAKE- As mentioned in previous emails, there is no distinction made between real vitamins as found in nature and artificial vitamins that are created in a lab. The studies showing vitamins are harmful are using totally synthetic vitamins.
(3) CHEATING- According to the Orthomolecular Society, these vitamin studies have a rigged outcome from the start. Not only are the vitamins synthetic, but ineffective or harmful doses are used. In addition, when studying herbs, the studies regularly use the wrong part of the plant. If this is purposeful, it seems evil. If it is not, it seems ignorant. Either way, we don’t want these guys in charge of our vitamins.
(4) FDA TAKEOVER OF VITAMINS- We believe the entire purpose of what is going on is to get vitamins in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession. The articles in the papers keep using the same buzz words over and over – they talk about how there is no FDA oversight to vitamins like there are with medications. How vitamins are not safely regulated by FDA regulations like medications are. The drug industry has tried for years to get rid of vitamins. Now they seem to be trying to get control of vitamins instead.
The drug corporations have tried for years to sneak bills through Congress that no one knew about to gain control of vitamins, but the public was able to find out about these sneaky bills and block them every time. But the Pharmaceutical Industry made so much money on the new prescription Niacin (Niaspan) and Fish Oil supplements that they now seem determined to get control of the entire industry. By scaring the public into wanting FDA regulation and oversight they will be able to influence the FDA into making rules that only pharmaceutical companies have the financial ability to follow. The vitamin companies would basically go bankrupt.
(5) The number of deaths from properly prescribed medications per year- 100,000
(6) The number of recorded emergency room visits caused by antibiotics per year- 700,000
(7) American Medicine is now ranked as the number 3 cause of death behind cancer and heart disease. Some new estimates rank it as number one.
(8) The number of deaths from vitamins in the past 27 years: Zero!!
The Society of Orthomolecular Medicine pointed out that hardly any of those facts have made it into mainstream media, yet the idea that vitamins could be bad for you is making front page news.
SUMMARY- Do not let them scare you into avoiding vitamins or handing over control of the vitamin industry to the Pharmaceutical groups. Be smart, avoid synthetic vitamins, avoid artificial colors and preservatives in your vitamins, and ask a health professional if you’re unsure of the proper dosage. Be especially careful with the fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K). You CAN get too much of these and synthetic forms of these tend to be very bad for you.
Medicine by sincere medical doctors is very important tool, but it is only one tool. Trying to make it into the only tool available in the “Healthcare Game” creates a very dangerous situation. We do not mean to imply that vitamins are better than medicine – they are both different tools with different experts in their use, that are best used for certain conditions and at certain times. Just like you wouldn’t go to an herbalist or nutritionist for medication or surgery, going to a medical doctor or relying on a pharmaceutical company for the proper use of natural substances is not appropriate.
Hope this helps,
Dr Matt and Dr Robin
This week’s bit of Useless Information:
The photograph used for the current postage stamp picture is actually of the replica of the Statue of Liberty that stands outside the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV, and not the actual Lady Liberty herself.
Everything we say in these posts are expressly our opinions and only our opinions. We are reporting what we see in our clinic and what we live by. As the FDA is not particularly fond of natural medicine, we must, by law, tell you that neither this nor any of our emails or treatments in the clinic are allowed to be or intended to be medical advice and should not be taken as such. By law, these emails can only be considered informational only, and none of the nutrients or treatments discussed here are considered legally viable options for diagnosing, treating, or curing any disease or disorder.