Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

essential rain — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:20:21 GMT

This shows only some of the tricks that the medical and drug field use . there are many and people tend to believe what they have known, The biggest thing is once someone is adapt to one thing they are unsure of other things. I know this from experience. however when I was told there was nothing wrong with me and i spent thousands of dollar for help i knew i needed. I took over ten years to get anywhere. that was my turning point and I am glad that i tried the natural products that i did to achieve a more radiant and pain free life. I would love to share if any one would like information . please email me at dawnlldusk@tds.net

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Davey G. — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:09:14 GMT

I find it hard to believe that Big Pharma or anyone else for that matter would go to such lengths to publish what they do - BUT - lets not be naive here O.K...How the hell else are they going to keep their stockholders in the Black.?.And in the mean time, these Fat Cats hide behind their corporate walls...

This is A REALLY Sick Society folks...The owners make Bank while the consumer gets screwed AND Lied to...Raise you level of consiousness and bring on the REVOLUTION.!.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Garnet_Jule — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:57:29 GMT

Researchers and professors are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain funding to support their work. When I left working for a major Top 10 university in the Dept of Soil Science (Agriculture) in May 2005, it had been announced that federal grants were going to be drastically cut.

Researching is "what" professors and universities do; should we, perhaps, infer that maybe there are too many of them so that each person has to "stretch" to find something to study/do a study on? Maybe academia is getting to be like the "too many lawyers and judges," who make up absurd laws and take on any and all cases, even dumb ones, because they need clients to keep them busy and help fill their coffers.

Since research papers help researchers obtain funding, I can see where many of them would "fudge" the facts in order to keep receiving funding so their program keeps running and they aren't out of a job. Sick, but like everyone else, they need a job, too. I would think their conscious would bother them, though.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

ThomasT — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:23:06 GMT

The fault lies with the media. It is owned by the same scum that own the drug companies.They distort, trumpet the distortions of so-called scientific studies. Example. Beta Carotene Causes Lung Cancer, scream headlines. Read the study, Find that they used synthetic beta carotene, twice a day, 25 mgs, a tiny amount. Guess who received this dosage. Elderly (Danish) smokers. By chance more on the beta carotene died of lung cancer. Reading between the lines, one may think large amounts of natural beta carotene prevent cancer. Maybe, they do, but read below the new science that has superceded the beta carotene ideas. Dont be agitated if a cancer study is stopped, ie selenium & Vitamin E study. Get up to date with the science. The Cure and Prevention of All Cancers, 2007, H R Clark, PhD ND, shows the the causes, and pathways that have now have been identified using resonance comparison. The lay-person can today cure oneself and prevent.. Interestingly, organic selenium does play a part, but also is needed are organic Vitamin C and organic germanium, to boost the killer white blood cells to digest the no-longer-malignant tumor.. One commenter mentioned the Mediterranean diet for healh. This is but a sales pitch for olive oil. it fooled the dieticians, who then fooled the population. Note that different provinces of Italy traditionally cook with butter, goose fat and lard; the Spanish and Portuguese eat loads of faty pork, beef, and eggs; the Greeks daily consume very high sat fat feta goat cheese. The French eat loads of cheese and cook with cream and butter. Less heart disease, yes, but many of these prevent, ie eggs and butter. Also olive oil, learn the new science and discover that it contains three plant phenols, phloridzin, gallic acid and chlorogenic acid, which break down their three respective internal organs. The parts of these organs jon up to form the tumor causing cancer nucleus.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

HansMassage_203 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:40:18 GMT

I keep a constant search out for articles on a therapy I use. Interestingly from time to time a study will mention that a significant benefit was observed in a small segment of the study and that this should be studied further. Sure enough later a study will come out that carefully avoids duplicating the exact conditions that produced positive results but have enough elements in common to claim the original indications were false. Just like the selenium study cited by another commenter.

The logic is that I probably could get paid for a study that claims trigger point therapy dose not work because if it is done on a muscle that has no trigger points it makes no improvement and if I try really hard by pushing deeper the outcome is worse because of the bruising.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Hannover — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:11:45 GMT

Back to - - should you believe research results. As a research assistant, I became aware that my boss (can't say "superior") was fudging the results of a longitudinal study. I sought advice from his boss, and when he didn't want to do anything about it, I quit the job, rather than be a part of deception. No doubt, one of my boss's motivation was monetary, ie. obtaining the next grant to continue his "research".

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

webwitch6 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:21:26 GMT

Curious7: You have summed it up exactly. I think I want to make up a bumper sticker that says:

"This and all information should make you think, and think for yourself". :)

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

curious7 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:51 GMT

For the most part we as consumers do not think for ourselves. We will read about this study or that, and go no further. We must take all precautions get to the bottom of who, what when. and how. Who funded said study. For instance who funds the study of our nutritional needs, or who funds the study of our protein needs, or who funds the study about how much water we need, or what is high or normal blood pressure. Also we need to understand that one size does not fit all. At best studies are generalities, and what applies to one, does not apply to all.

For most studies the bottom line is money, and of course those with the money can steer a study in which ever direction best suits say the AMA, or BIG PHARMA. Then you are seen as some kind of a nutt if you disagree. The bottom line take no one's word for something as important as your health. Read and research for yourself, and for the sake of your family.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

RichJedi — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:37:48 GMT

This is why as I've said for a looong time now, you can only truly trust the information from the ancients since they had no monetary motive and they wrote down what truly worked and discarded what did not work.

It's NO coincidence that modern medicine goes on and on about how nothing is true unless some study proves it, yet there are constantly conflicting studies out there, many are which are conflicting by design. Yet at the same time, the legitimate studies keep validating over and over again what the Ancient Chinese and many other ancient cultures have been saying for centuries and millenia.

If you really want to know the truth and get your mind out of this modern Babylon (confusion) of modern medicine then follow what the ancients did. Thousands and thousands of times already it's been proven that the ancients, especially the Chinese are correct, even after modern medicine for decades poked fun at what was said time and time again, only later to admit that they were right.

I've been doing things against what doctors, medical and scientific journals have said we should not for over two decades now by following what the Chinese have known all this time. That's why if you read up on Chinese medicine and see how the longest lived groups in the world ate and lived such as the Buddhist fighting monks of Shaolin and the Taoists you'll know exactly what you should be eating and how as well as other life extension techniques such as moderate exercises that does not tire the body out, breathing, meditation and the proper use of herbal tonic formulas to help boost immunity and increase life span. Sometimes to fantastic levels.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Matt Hasty — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:35:35 GMT

I do a lot of research into the health field. As a chiropractor I want what is best for my patients. In dealing with research, most of what is easily availible is because the industries intended to make it available to the masses. I have heard many many people tell me that they researched a subject thoroughly and were completely wrong.

My advice in taking information from research is to trust only the research that has no monetary value with the results. If it is in the mainstream media, someone paid for it to be there!

Many times I am confronted by people think they have a grasp on the research. I ask them what my benefit is to give them false research. I would make more money if I told people to be on drugs that harm them. By giving people proper research I am keeping them out of my office. How does that benefit me? I get the reward of helping people live healthier lives without drugs or surgeries.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

ExJohnson — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:15:07 GMT

Keira, a postmodern critique tells us that Dr. Mercola is slanted towards some bias, no matter what his intentions are, so "truth based on the judgment of Dr. Mercola" is still a slippery slope. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you, and I use Dr. Mercola as a resource. I'm developing a tan because of his advice. I think in any capatilistic society, ethics inevitably disappears. Prime example would be the generous sales people who helped all those Americans with poor credit and low income get huge mortgages. Who do we blame? People who want houses? Sales people (mortgage specialists) who are told to help people with certain criteria get loans? Loan officers approving contracts? Share holders selling (dumping) debt to larger corporations to increase profit flow? The answer is everyone and no one, because everything was legal, even if it was unethical. Yes, I believe it is unethical to buy something you can't afford, sell something that isn't helpful, unload poor company decisions to protect stock. Take this lesson to health care and see what also happens.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Dquixote1217 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:10:46 GMT

It appears that studies are often designed to return negative results when it comes to vitamins, minerals and other natural items which might represent threats to the hundreds of billions of dollars of profits that mainstream drugs generate.

The latest example is the recently halted SELECT ((SELenium and vitamin ECancer prevention Trial)study funded by the National Cancer Institute. After two previous studies indicated a remarkable effectiveness in preventing prostate cancer for both selenium and Vitamin E, the NIH designed a new and much publicized study, but then halted it when it amazingly found no benefits at all, and possibly even slight risks for increased prostate cancer as well as diabetes.

Just one catch - the form of Vitamin E used was an unnatural petroleum derived synthetic and the form of selenium was obtained from a by product of commercial ore mining.

When it comes to studies on natural alternatives to drugs, it appears that the key considerations to look at before accepting the mainstream favoring results should be:

1. Who funded the study

2. How were the study participants screened

3. What forms of supplements were used (normally the least effective and synthetic forms are used in such studies)

4. What were the dosage amounts (normally much less than a therapeutic dose is administered

and

5. Whether the items studied would represent a threat to the profits of mainstream drugs and treatments.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

Heather Marsh — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:42:10 GMT

This also applies to applications for promotion- the more flamboyant and entertaining papers, and those that seem to support the interviewer's own views (no matter how loosely based on fact) get precedence over those that address the basics without embellishment.

Who pays ? is perhaps the most pertinent question. If a university's primary funding is from the seed and grain concerns they will hardly approve for publication something that is against the interests of their sponsor.

And they will also likely choose an interesting read over something factual, dry, and self explanatory.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

hyperhypo — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:01:53 GMT

I often read the studies talked about in this newsletter, and I find them interesting and provocative, but if this latest 'study' is true, then should we assume that 50% of what appears on the Mercola site is also false? Sometimes I wonder whether Dr. Mercola's is primarily an information service, or primarily a marketing venue.

re: Why You Can’t Trust Most Studies on Health

KelleyEidem — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:57:58 GMT

If we measure crookedness by the number of people killed, perhaps the biggest fraud committed ever published in medicine appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association on October 18, 1965.

On that day, Dr. Emanuel Revici's results in treating cancer were falsely reported. The lead author, who wrote the article without input from any of the other authors, falsely claimed that there was no evidence of any tumor shrinkage in any patient. Photographic evidence of shrinking tumors put the lie to the claim.

Still, despite the falsity of the report, the lie has remained and is still believed.

At least 10 million cancer patients have died since then. If you have lost someone who has died from cancer, you and your loved one were affected by the lie.

The entire story is told in the book "The Doctor Who Cures Cancer."

The best to you.

Kelley Eidem