Originally published December 31 2013
NYT, TheWeek.com fall victim to pharma-funded quack science hoax attack on multivitamins
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Don't look now, but all of those multivitamins and supplements that have been keeping you well for years... don't work.
Yes, that's right. They're worthless. A waste of money. The "science" on this is now settled, and it's indisputable. You've been ripped off through a combination of "money, politics, and a flawed genius named Linus Pauling." You're an idiot if you believe otherwise.
That's the claim now being made by the "scientific" community, according to an online publication called TheWeek.com:
Questions about the health benefits of vitamin supplements have been percolating in the medical establishment for decades - even as the multivitamin industry has grown to a multi-billion powerhouse in the U.S. This week, the respected journal the Annals of Internal Medicine put its well-heeled foot down.
"We believe that the case is closed - supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful," the journal said in an editorial. "These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough."
You've been hoodwinked, you see - except that you haven't
Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has even gone so far as to say that taking megavitamins and supplements is hazardous to your health.
"Vitamin manufacturers argue that a regular diet doesn't contain enough vitamins, and that more is better," and most people wrongly assume that "at the very least, excess vitamins can't do any harm," he wrote in The New York Times in June. He concluded that "consumers don't know that taking megavitamins could increase their risk of cancer and heart disease and shorten their lives."
You've been swindled, you hapless multivitamin and supplement user. Duped. Played for a fool.
Do you really believe that the "medical establishment," which relies heavily on flawed healthcare delivery models that lavish tens of billions on the medical industry, or Big Pharma, which has seen profits fall as the supplement industry has dramatically expanded, has a vested interest in being honest with you on this issue?
What motivates them is what they accuse the supplement industry of being motivated by - money. Only, the former exists because of the power and influence of money; the latter exists because tens of millions of Americans found benefit from their products.
As for the "study" cited by TheWeek.com for its anti-vitamins piece, it was no study at all. Rather, it was an opinion article that ostensibly summarized three studies. Furthermore, what is obvious about this new opinion piece is that it was not comprehensive; cherry picking three studies that do not show admirable outcomes regarding vitamin and supplement usage is not "case closed." There are literally thousands of other studies that have shown demonstrable benefits from the taking of certain vitamins and supplements.
Studies galore - not cherry-picked
Just some of the scientific studies - which are all searchable in the Science.NaturalNews.com database - have concluded:
-- That antioxidant effects of vitamins C and E are beneficial to the eyes [http://science.naturalnews.com];
-- That multivitamins were effective in boosting tolerance for anti-cancer drugs [http://science.naturalnews.com];
-- Vitamin C is an essential antioxidant [http://science.naturalnews.com];
-- Antioxidant vitamins C and E help prevent cardiovascular disease [http://science.naturalnews.com];
-- Cod liver oil supplementation is helpful in controlling rheumatoid arthritis [http://science.naturalnews.com];
-- CoQ10 supplementation is helpful in increasing endurance during exercise [http://science.naturalnews.com].
And so on.
And you'll notice that Big Pharma funded, in part, some of the studies used, as did the government. No conflict of interest there.
What's more, there was no new science. All that this "study" represents is a rehash of the same old, tired denials from the medical industry establishment.
Close-minded
Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, slammed the scam "study."
"The editorial demonstrates a close-minded, one-sided approach that attempts to dismiss even the proven benefits of vitamins and minerals," he said. "It's a shame for consumers that the authors refuse to recognize the real-life need for vitamin and mineral supplementation, living in a fairy-tale world that makes the inaccurate assumption that we're all eating healthy diets and getting everything we need from food alone."
He's right, of course. Even trying to eat healthy, which is something we should all do, sometimes isn't enough to provide you with all the vitamins and nutrients you need. Plus, when you need specific supplementation to combat specific ailments or health issues, you almost always have to buy specific supplements, because they don't always occur naturally in foods.
We'll steer you straight
Many readers of the TheWeek.com story were not fooled by its nonsensical claims.
"According to the study, well nourished people will not benefit from taking vitamin supplements. That's like saying if the gas tank on you're car is full you don't need gas. Of course if your gas tank is empty then you do need gas. Oh and even if you do eat lots of fruits and vegetables you are unlikely to get the minimal amount of all the vitamins and minerals your body requires. You would have to be asleep to not see right through the nonsense that is this article," said one reader.
"The economic argument is wholly bogus, not to mention it is no doctor's job to tell us what to spend money on. They are mum on sumptuary consumption that might actually affect public health," said another.
"Gee, they never pointed out that the medical industry kills around 200,000 people a year - I wonder why [that's] not mentioned," said yet another.
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and resident expert in nutrition, also slammed the "study" as more bogus Big Medicine/Big Pharma hooey:
Don't believe anything the mainstream media reports about nutrition. Mainstream media reporters are, by and large, outrageously ignorant about nutrition, isolated nutrients, whole foods, the games Big Pharma plays, the corruption of the science journals and so on. If you want to listen to someone who really knows nutrition, you need to find people who specialize in it (and who haven't sold out to the failed medical institutions of modern society).
In other words, stay tuned to Natural News.
Sources:
http://theweek.com
http://annals.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com
http://science.naturalnews.com
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