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> Death due to lack of certain nutrients isn't that uncommon. Citation? My understanding is that study after study has generally shown little impact from vita

by dpark 10y ago

> Death due to lack of certain nutrients isn't that uncommon. Citation? My understanding is that study after study has generally shown little impact from vitamin supplementation except in specific cases where subjects show obvious signs of deficiency (e.g. iron deficiency in pregnant women). > VDD related deaths are quite common especially in cardiac cases I'm assuming this is "vitamin D deficiency". I'd against ask for a citation. I couldn't find anything supporting this claim. Seems to be a risk factor but that's very different than being caused by the deficiency. We’re still a few years away from clinical trials that explore the possible link between taking vitamin D supplements to achieve higher vitamin D levels, and lower cardiovascular risk. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/clinical_services/centers_excellence/womens_cardiovascular_health_center/patient_information/health_topics/vitamin_d_and_the_heart.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/clin...

dogma1138 10y ago
Nothing to do with supplements, that is nonsense but we're talking about very low levels of certain nutrients including vitamins and various minerals. Low levels of vitamin D have been directly linked to increased death rates from cardiovascular conditions that doesn't mean the swallowing pills would help. Vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of blindness amongst children and pregnancy related mortality in the world, this also happens in western countries by not as much. And so on and so on, eventually you can tie a lot of medical causes to poor diet, not getting enough X which causes or makes condition Y worse leading to death. Dying to starvation proper (excluding famines and other natural disasters) is kinda hard in the west, and in many other places unless it's enforced starvation, you simply tend to die to exposure way before that.
- dpark 10y ago
  > Nothing to do with supplements, that is nonsense but we're talking about very low levels of certain nutrients including vitamins and various minerals. I don't know how to interpret this. You're saying that supplements are nonsense but the deficiencies are real? So the deficiency causes mortality but from fixing the deficiency doesn't reduce mortality? > Low levels of vitamin D have been directly linked to increased death rates from cardiovascular conditions that doesn't mean the swallowing pills would help." Vitamin D deficiency is correlated with certain cardiovascular conditions. "Directly linked" doesn't really mean anything and is misleading because it could easily be interpreted to be causal which is definitely not established. If it were causal then supplements would fix it. > And so on and so on, eventually you can tie a lot of medical causes to poor diet, not getting enough X which causes or makes condition Y worse leading to death. This is the sort of statement that I don't think is supported by the science, but is so vague that it's difficult to meaningfully discuss. What is "a lot"? Is it some small fraction of a percentage? My understanding is that in the western world, vitamin deficiencies are fairly rare and clinical evidence doesn't indicate most conditions are clearly tied to deficiencies. Obviously what you eat will impact your health but the area is so complex that the contribution of minor deficiencies is basically impossible to separate from the noise. An implication of this is that recommendations of specific supplements or specific foods for correcting deficiencies are generally not scientific.

by dpark 10y ago

dogma1138 10y ago

Nothing to do with supplements, that is nonsense but we're talking about very low levels of certain nutrients including vitamins and various minerals. Low levels of vitamin D have been directly linked to increased death rates from cardiovascular conditions that doesn't mean the swallowing pills would help. Vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of blindness amongst children and pregnancy related mortality in the world, this also happens in western countries by not as much. And so on and so on, eventually you can tie a lot of medical causes to poor diet, not getting enough X which causes or makes condition Y worse leading to death. Dying to starvation proper (excluding famines and other natural disasters) is kinda hard in the west, and in many other places unless it's enforced starvation, you simply tend to die to exposure way before that.

dpark 10y ago
> Nothing to do with supplements, that is nonsense but we're talking about very low levels of certain nutrients including vitamins and various minerals. I don't know how to interpret this. You're saying that supplements are nonsense but the deficiencies are real? So the deficiency causes mortality but from fixing the deficiency doesn't reduce mortality? > Low levels of vitamin D have been directly linked to increased death rates from cardiovascular conditions that doesn't mean the swallowing pills would help." Vitamin D deficiency is correlated with certain cardiovascular conditions. "Directly linked" doesn't really mean anything and is misleading because it could easily be interpreted to be causal which is definitely not established. If it were causal then supplements would fix it. > And so on and so on, eventually you can tie a lot of medical causes to poor diet, not getting enough X which causes or makes condition Y worse leading to death. This is the sort of statement that I don't think is supported by the science, but is so vague that it's difficult to meaningfully discuss. What is "a lot"? Is it some small fraction of a percentage? My understanding is that in the western world, vitamin deficiencies are fairly rare and clinical evidence doesn't indicate most conditions are clearly tied to deficiencies. Obviously what you eat will impact your health but the area is so complex that the contribution of minor deficiencies is basically impossible to separate from the noise. An implication of this is that recommendations of specific supplements or specific foods for correcting deficiencies are generally not scientific.