Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Tuesday, February 27. 2018

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements - What Clinicians Need to Know

Ideas about nutrition are filled with magical thinking. There's a lot of money in magical thinking.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical at 13:19 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I have always been a nihilist on vitamins but began taking some recently. In particular, I had been having night leg cramps and wondered if I was deficient in Magnesium. I started taking a Magnesium supplement and the crams seem to be gone. Next visit with my internist, I will get a lab check on it.

#1 Mike K (Link) on 2018-02-27 13:51 (Reply)

Forget lab check. If it works, great.

#1.1 Bird Dog on 2018-02-27 13:52 (Reply)

This 15 second PSA brought to you by the Ketosis is Health Movement.

#2 Meh on 2018-02-27 14:11 (Reply)

Coming at ya--hard and strong and fast. The new wave of "elder abuse"! You might get the lawyers at MF to explain the legal concept of elder abuse. Readers might benefit from knowing that those most liable to commit elder abuse are those most trusted with their care. Specifically, the professional care counselors or providers. Why don't you get Barrister and BD and others to take a look at this subject. You will find that most of the people doing time or charged with elder abuse are close professionals. See a little gold on the table and use their "professional status" to . . .

#3 another one on 2018-02-27 14:40 (Reply)

I have a cousin that is on dialysis, because of the drugs they gave him to treat his bipolar condition. My husband was prescribed heart medication. Several years later, they mentioned that they should check his kidney function, which they never scheduled. I was able to use supplements to improve his condition enough that they discontinued those drugs. And for me, I got tired of having my pulmonologist order expensive tests and do nothing to treat the auto immune issue . I started working with a naturopath to improve my immune system. My lungs will never be perfect but I do have improved function that I can measure.

We need to discuss the meds doctors prescribe. Most supplements won't hurt you. Many prescribed meds will hurt you. The medical profession also has a long history of ignoring data that contradicts their beliefs. How long did it take to convince the medical profession that bacteria could be the cause of stomach ulcers?

#4 Teri Pittman on 2018-02-27 14:52 (Reply)

"most supplements won't "hurt" you."
Well, this is true. There are a couple thousand supplements and perhaps just a few hundred cause you serious harm so "most" supplements don't hurt you "much". But it begs the question. Most supplements don't do diddly squat But many are indeed harmful to your health. So why indulge in them? Oh yeah, the "magic thinking"

"Many prescribed meds will hurt you".
Again, true. If you misuse them or fail to get required tests they can hurt you. If you have some allergy or a genetic predisposition to certain health issues some meds can aggravate that. And of course some medications over time do take a toll. But there is something else that tested pharmaceutical medications do; they save lives and cure diseases. Supplements do not. That is the bargain you make when you see a doctor and take modern drugs. There are side effects. No effective drug is free of side effects. many drugs are down right dangerous. In many cases your choice is to take the drug and live or not take the drug and die. This must be taken into consideration when you weigh the potential side effects.

#5 OneGuy on 2018-02-27 17:22 (Reply)

You, um, begged your own question.

#5.1 Meh on 2018-02-27 18:14 (Reply)

There was a time when common sense was on the verge of prevailing and congress was poised to require that all supplements and herbs and such sold or marketed as healthy would be under the FDA. But there were a hand full of congressmen who believed in the "magic thinking" and explicitly placed supplements and herbs outside of government oversight.

Now, technically, the seller/marketer of a herb or supplement cannot make health claims about that supplement. But the $30 billion industry got around this by having surrogates write books (protected by the 1st amendment) that made the claims for them. This worked out better than they could ever have expected because of the tendency of people to be predisposed to believe in "magic thinking" and also their willingness to spread the propaganda by word of mouth. Then too there are the many, some honest dupes and some fakirs, who will claim "that the doctors did no good for them and they were getting worse but then they took these magic plants/herbs/supplements/vitamins and now they are fully cured, can do back flips and have sex twice a day. So the deception continues...

#6 TheRiver on 2018-02-27 17:37 (Reply)

I never believe anything medical without a double-blind study. Population studies can never be more than suggestive of a cause-and-effect mechanism, and anecdotal evidence is often nearly impossible to distinguish from coincidence. On the other hand, I can observe what happens to my own body and make my best guess about whether to continue or discontinue a habit, without asserting that I'm on the track of the true medical faith.

#6.1 Texan99 on 2018-02-27 18:44 (Reply)

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/05-2/Lobbying%20ROI.jpg

#6.2 Meh on 2018-02-27 20:02 (Reply)

This published JAMA study is more propaganda published by the true cathedral of white coated "medicine men". Notice how they start out with the already known "bad" overdose effects of highly potent supplements - often taken by uneducated folks just beginning a journey away from the temple of priests in high authority. Then they barely allude to the few known benefit studies of the highly effective supplements. Germany is FAR ahead of this mind-controlled area of medicine in America. I will concur that since the area is unregulated, there are far too many fake and unreliable supplements on the markets. Education is VITAL to take care of yourself- BUT HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM GOING TO SEE SOME PILL PUSHER??? This is VERY disappointing to see this on a site promoting gardening for real food- FOOD IS our medicine- but most people have no choice other than the corporate AG garbage on the supermarket shelves- which has declined in nutrition drastically in the last decades, and is loaded with poison besides. People know they need better nutrition, and are trying to get it- "magical thinking"? Have you missed all the recent studies which prove that over half all so-called science research (BIG PHARMA in particular) CANNOT BE DUPLICATED? Magical thinking is pretending the big medical industry-insurance goobermint is here to do anything but rape you for your money. Real therapy begins with real education: The medical industry has one function- sawbones. All the distilled essences of the plants which lack the unbelievable complexity of the original materials (PILLS) or franken-chemistry are nothing but poison. Indoor plumbing and hygienic practices have saved far more lives than quack lab pill pushers ever will.

#7 coyote on 2018-03-01 19:19 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, February 27. 2018

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements