Findings from Flawed Study Don't Really Give you any Reliable Information

[Bill USA]

... this excellent article discusses a study which recently was reported in the media which concluded, among other things, taking vitamin E was detrimental to your health. LEF long ago was warning people not to take synthetic vitamin E. This article also points out how poorly designed the study was. So much so that their experts say you really can't draw any conclusions from it.

if you are going to take dietary supplements you should get educated as to what you should and should not be taking. LEF site is a great place for science based information on the subject.

http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/1014_Flawed-Study-Used-To-Discredit-Multivitamin-Mineral-Supplements.htm

Starting in 1983, the Life Extension Foundation® warned of dangers associated with commercial multivitamin/mineral formulas.

Our earliest concern was that free radicals generated by supplemental iron would increase cancer and heart disease risk. Our fears were born out shortly thereafter in published studies showing that elevation in markers of iron intake increased risk (by more than fivefold) of common degenerative diseases including heart attack and cancer.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17

Back in 1983, commercial companies bragged in their advertising about how much iron their multivitamins contained. Despite our repeated warnings, very few commercial supplement companies removed iron from their multivitamin formulas as the public perception was that supplemental iron was beneficial.

The result of this misconception was that individuals using commercial supplements were obtaining miniscule quantities of antioxidants to protect against free radicals, while simultaneously ingesting large amounts of iron (and sometimes copper) that are known free radical generators.18
(much more)

[provis99]

1. thanks for the link to the goofy cult site.

[MineralMan]

2. LEF is an advocacy site, and it's

articles should always be checked thoroughly for accuracy and distortion. When that is done, it turns out that LEF is often an unreliable source of information.

Caveat Emptor!

[Celebration]

3. not sure about all cases

but this seems like a good expose.....

Can you refute it?

[MineralMan]

4. I could refute it, but I'm not going to.

Some of the information in it is correct. Other information is based on the same faulty logic that LEF uses all the time. LEF's strategy is to connect one thing to another unrelated thing. Their business is selling supplements, not providing unbiased health information. It's all so simple. If you wouldn't pay attention to information from the pharmaceutical companies because they're selling something, why would you pay attention to information from someone who is selling supplements?

All information from advocacy websites should be checked thoroughly, whatever the site is advocating. The fact that pharmaceutical companies are trying to sell their products is not evidence that some other companies that are also selling products are providing correct and unbiased information. Think about it. You should be skeptical of both and do research not connected with either.

[Celebration]

6. I take everything with a grain of salt

But that vitamin study spin was particularly obnoxious scientifically. Once you take out copper, the results change dramatically. Naturally the "spin" didn't even mention that. Does it make you wonder WHY? Um, let me GUESS.

[hedgehog]

5. I am very interested in the possibility that a lot of

chronic diseases are due to vitamin deficiencies, but I never believe anything on a site that tells me how great Vitamin X is, and just happens to be having a super sale on Vitamin X!

[Celebration]

7. this all has to do with critical thinking skills

You don't have to believe everything on a site to get good information from it. It all has to do with being able to discriminate between the valid and the invalid information on it.

We should ALL be able to do that. We don't need to look to any authority for our information, whether it be drug companies, the FDA, or LEF, Natural News, some so called skeptical blog, or whatever. Any information that any of them post is subject to spin. In some cases the spin is subtle, and in some it is outrageous. In some there is none. But the challenge, and frankly, the fun (to me) is to try to identify the spin, and try to glean snippets of information that are true, no matter what the source.

[flamingdem]

8. The Vitamin E issue is truly confusing

I took 400 a day for years and then my wholistic / MD doctor advised against it, presumably due to the study in question. I'd like to find some objective information regarding E.

With all the confusing reports i find myself cutting out everything but 2000 of D and 500 of E and some calcium. This could be a mistake but how can I know?

This idea that our food is stripped of vitamins seems a bit exaggerated .. especially if one buys organic, but who knows.