I’ve warned you that dietary supplements remain under attack. The government-industrial-medical complex has mounted a campaign to discredit them. And one way they discredit supplements is by pointing out studies that are technically right, but all wrong.
You see, the conclusions drawn in these studies are right. But only because the study uses the WRONG form of the vitamin. For example, most studies with vitamin E use an incomplete or synthetic form. Well, you never find vitamin E this way in nature. So when a study shows an incomplete form of “vitamin E” doesn’t prevent cancer…I’m not surprised. It’s the wrong form.
Unfortunately, most people don’t know the difference. They don’t know that vitamin E has many different forms…and you need all of them! Nor do they know that most “vitamin E” supplements sold in retail stores are incomplete. And come from synthetic sources.
My first experience with this kind of failure occurred in the disastrous National Cancer Institute (NCI) study on beta-carotene to prevent cancer in the 1980s. I warned my NCI colleagues there wasn’t good evidence to use beta-carotene in the first place, compared to the well-studied vitamin C, for example. But they ignored my advice. And used a synthetic beta-carotene pill. Conveniently available from Big Pharma (whose representative conveniently sat on the NCI advisory board).
The study showed that beta-carotene did not decrease cancer. And it even increased cancer rates in some groups. Of course, the press jumped all over this study. But the study was all wrong to begin with.
Most likely, the synthetic form interfered with normal carotenoid, vitamin A, and micronutrient metabolism. And, in the group who was not well nourished to begin with, it actually created micronutrient imbalance and deficiency. Which obviously poses serious risks. (It’s not nice to try to fool Mother Nature!)
The same kind of thing happens with calcium. Occasionally, a study will come along showing that men and women who supplement with calcium increase their risk for heart disease.
Again, this conclusion is technically right, but the approach is all wrong.
Of course, all muscles need calcium. Including the heart. But without essential co-factors that should come from a balanced diet and healthy sun exposure–like vitamin D and potentially vitamin K2–you are just dumping an inert, hard mineral into a biological system. This action potentially disrupts normal metabolism.
But there’s yet another way researchers appear to be right while being wrong…
This one happens a lot: They use a small, inadequate dose of a supplement in a study.
Researchers waste a lot of taxpayer money to “prove” the obvious–that inadequate doses of anything can’t prevent anything. And can’t treat anything.
To be less stupid and wasteful, they should include physicians and scientists who are truly experts in their studies. The real experts know that 60 IU of vitamin D won’t accomplish anything. But when the National Institutes of Health doesn’t turn to the real experts in their studies, how can we expect the wider research community to use this common sense approach?
Put aside all the statistical research study shenanigans. Our very existence is proof that eating a balanced diet is key to health and longevity. When modern crops lose their nutrient content… when “fake” and “junk” ingredients are substituted…when large numbers of people just can’t “eat right” and are “fed” misinformation about foods for decades by the government…when many people exclude healthy foods and entire food groups for reasons having nothing to do with nutritional science…then we no longer get enough of the nutrients nature intended.
And, of course, our health will suffer. (I’ll explain more about these problems in the May issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter.)
Then, there are the well-known interactions between drugs and nutrients. Even safe and effective drugs can cause nutrient depletion. Like Metformin, which causes loss of vitamin B. Truly complementary medicine should work so that doctors know when to recommend dietary supplements when the drugs they prescribe cause malnutrition.
On top of all this, Big Pharma has such a pervasive influence. They only allow the drug studies they like to even be published. In fact, a recent analysis found that up to one-third of all clinical drug trials never see the light of day.
But the convincing studies on nutrition that DO get published show that millions of Americans are frankly malnourished. Especially when it comes to B vitamins, vitamin D, and essential minerals.
How ironic.
We live in a country with food abundance and the ever-helpful U.S. Food and Nutrition Board looking out for our recommended daily allowances. Yet many Americans are starving in a sea of plenty. Now there’s a headline-worthy discovery. The press should praise the use of quality dietary supplements in today’s day and age. Instead, it’s all about the latest “wonder” drug you should take. And pushing you to get ever-more screenings you may not need.