Let the Research Speak

The following quotes help to illustrate the point that one-size-fits-all nutrition is totally obsolete and repeatedly confuses the issues concerning wellness. My comments and questions to these research quotes are in parentheses Welcome to that zany madcap world of epidemiology, where you, the ambitious scientists, attempt to unequivocally prove your theory of diet and disease. But watch out for those nasty pitfalls! Theyi re out to undermine your work at every turn Bonnie Liebman, M.S., "Playing The Research Game," Nutrition Action Health Letter, Vol. 21, No. 8, October 1994.

From the Update Mayo Clinic Health Letter, April 14, 1994, "Beta Carotene Supplements—Do They Prevent Or Promote Lung Cancer?" (Good question! According to studies in the New England Journal of Medicine, it cuts both ways. No surprise in a one-size-fits-all world.)

Thats when researchers from Finland and the National Cancer institute dropped a double whammy: not only did betacarotene and vitamin E supplements fail to reduce the risk of lung cancer, they might cause harm . . . . "It was totally unexpected," says Charles Henneteens, researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health. Robert McLennan from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research said quoting from his study, "People taking betacarotene developed 40% more precancerous polyps of the colon." Dr. Ziegler from the U.S. National Cancer Institute stated, "Its conceivable that certain amounts of a single form of beta carotene could interfere with the absorption, transport or utilization of other forms of betacarotene, other carotenoids, or other important compounds in fruits and vegetables." —Nutrition Action Health Letter, Vol. 21, No. 5, June 1994.

The research presented in the preceding pages offers evidence (in this case regarding betacarotene) that one-size-fits-all nutrition serves only to confuse the issue of what's good for you and what's not good for you. (It's hard to be sure when even the authorities can't figure it out.)

When you take an herbal supplement, you do so at your own risk. —Mayo Clinic Health Letter, Vol. 12, No. 6, June 1994.

Fish oil did not lower blood pressure—as some researchers have suggested—in one study of 18 people with mild hypertension and a second study of 38 middle-aged men with normal or elevated pressure.

—Nutrition Action Health Letter, Vol. 2, No. 6, July/August

1993. (You mean fish oil doesn't lower blood pressure? Earlier studies have demonstrated that it does. What gives? The studies referred to above were taken from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 57, No. 59, 1993, and the American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 83., No. 267, 1993.)

". . . two European studies say that margarine trans fats don't raise the risk of heart disease . . . . The studies were fatally flawed," according to Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, "When people are fed trans fat their cholesteroi levels rise."

—Nutrition Action Health Letter, Vol. 22, No. 4, May 1995. (The moral here is that you can't trust most research because it can change the latest news headlines from moment to moment. This only serves to confuse the one-size-fits-all state of mind.)

I also don't believe in over-the-counter supplements. They help some people, harm others, and have no effect on most. Popping vitamins doesn't do you any good . . . . We get all the vitamins we need in our diets and taking supplements just give you expensive urine . . . . Sometimes Vitamin C is a pro-oxidant—it creates free radicals and promotes disease... None of the antioxidants are pure oxidants. They are all redox agents—sometimes antioxidant— sometimes pro-oxidant.
comes to overdosing foods and supplements—shotgunners beware!)