Dr. Mercola November 04 2008 21,873 views
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.
"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."
That's great research, D Quixote! You're absolutely right, you need the proper forms of selenium and "E."
There's something else that also doomed the study results: combining Selenium with Vitamin E! That combo is just fine...if you don't have cancer. But the combo is 'dumbo' and dangerous if you do have cancer.
Here's why: Dr. Emanuel Revici discovered that cancer patients have an imbalance in their metabolism. They are either too anabolic or too catabolic. Those are opposites! Cancer patients need to balance their metabolism, so that it is neither too anabolic or too catabolic.
Well, selenium is catabolic and Vitamin E is anabolic. So it's a self-defeating combo, dooming the study to failure.
If you have cancer, you absolutely need to know which supplements are catabolic and which ones are anabolic. The wrongs ones will promote and accelerate cancer growth.
In a previous study, the right kind of selenium benefited 50% of the prostate cancer patients. The authors were oblivious to the anabolic/catabolic factor. If they had determined whether their subjects were catabolic, they could have achieved a higher success rate.
When I cured myself of Stage 4 cancer, I used the correct oil. Here is the free information so you don't make a mistake that could cost you:
itsnotjustforsex.blogspot.com/.../she-said-my-knife-piercing-pain-is.html
The best to you.
Kelley Eidem
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.
Matt Hasty:
Some bad research comes out of preconceived notions, as in this is the way it is supposed to be. Such as cooking everything we eat. We later found that a meal comprised mostly of raw whole fruits and vegetables is best.
Well said. I am just about to finish my education process, and they are still teaching neurology as if the brain does not heal, the thalamus is a relay station, and glial cells are just support cells. That is the way it is. New research shows that the brain DOES heal, The thalamus is the central integration and processing plant of all sensations, and that glial cells are adult stem cells that are constantly growing into neurons to replace dead ones and making new connections as we learn. These things would have been hippocracy one year ago, but the schools haven't changed over yet regarding the new science. (yes, this is pure science, not research)
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.
I am a resident physician, my self search on the wholistic healthing very much reflect the Taoist system, or (Chinese, Hindu, Greek, Turkish, and etc.) Much of our current knowledge about new science continue to further confirm the Ancient way. If you want long life, look at what Jeanne Calment habits and food, look at the Meditarian folks, and the Okinawa folks. Observe and learn from the healthy folks. Don't go to a sick man for advice of health. Don't go to a fat man for advice on losing weight. Always be cautious about the latest research, but trust in the Ancient folks.
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.