7 ms·
Supplements are a $30B racket
- nwah1 9y ago"Supplements" is such a broad category that to make sweeping assertions about them is absurd.
- mathgeek 9y agoKind of like saying that all GMO's have health benefits. Must be National Broad Statement Headline Day.
- malkia 9y agoAnd there is still homeopathy sold in the stores... You are fuckin lyin' to people... okay... i get it - placebo!!!
- claar 9y agoThis topic tends to be flamebait unfortunately, and the title of this article doubly so. A better title might be "Harvard releases vitamin and mineral supplements guide for clinicians". The actual guide is more informative than the original link as well in my opinion: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2672264 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2672264
- nwah1 9y agoThank you. And if you compare the recommendations to supplement sales, it is probably much more aligned than the headline would suggest. Sales of vitamin D, B12, folic acid, etc would total in the billions of dollars, and thus make up a large percent of the industry. But this guide isn't comprehensive at all, and doesn't go into the evidence for the multitude of vitamins, whereas other researchers have tried to synthesize more of that data. [1] [1] https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-scientific-evidence-for-health-supplements/ https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-... (I wouldn't say it is exhaustive by any means, but this is the correct framing of the debate)
- hprotagonist 9y agoSure are. The real crux of the issue for me is the wild lack of quality control. I'm broadly in favor of the FDA and other regulatory agencies, if for no other reason than they have the power to require that you're really selling what you claim you are, and enormous power to punish you if you don't. That this is not the case for supplements is largely the fault of Orrin Hatch.
- ensignavenger 9y agoAre supplements generally exempt from fraud laws?
- hprotagonist 9y agohttps://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/new-york-attorney-general-targets-supplements-at-major-retailers/ https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/new-york-attorney-... no. But for makers of actual pharmaceuticals, etc., the FDA can appear at your plant and they have the legal authority to close the site and halt manufacture until they're done auditing you. That particular power is not granted to them for supplement makers. I think it ought to be.
- madeuptempacct 9y agoWhatever Hiro.
- ensignavenger 9y agoPerhaps, but that does seem disruptive to business. There probably needs to be better anti-fraud enforcement, but maybe there is a way to do it without shutting down facilities just to conduct an audit. Woudn't testing product samples to ensure that they are what they claim to ve (and nothing else) be enough?
- hprotagonist 9y ago>Perhaps, but that does seem disruptive to business. It's sure supposed to be! > Woudn't testing product samples to ensure that they are what they claim to ve (and nothing else) be enough? Experience has shown otherwise. Though random product QA testing is absolutely the first and normal line of defense, you need the fist, too. Actual plant shutdowns are rare, very costly, and normally get people's attention.
- madeuptempacct 9y agoThe title is misleading - the article covers the fact that some supplements are useful. Yes, there is a ton of crap, but that doesn't make the entire industry a racket, just as fast food doesn't make the food industry a racket.
- empthought 9y agoThat's not a good analogy, though -- even if fast food is not healthy per se, it is provably food and suffices to supply people with calories in order to live. Most supplements don't pass muster with the basic premise that they do what people claim they do.
- ci5er 9y agoSo you are saying that food has calories, and therefore, based on caloric content, keeps you energetic or fat (depending on) fulfulling it's "food function", and that supplements are not macro- devices, so not only do they lack caloric benefit, they may (or may not) lack the micro-nutrient content claimed? (In other words - a Vitamind D supplement may not contain Vitamin D?)
- cornholio 9y agoFast food is still food, tasty, safe and nutritious - albeit with a macronutrient profile that is unsuitable for modern life styles when eaten in quantity. Fast food is not the problem, lack of awareness of how to use food is the problem. Unlike food (or fast food) most supplements are not fulfilling any biologically useful function when consumed by otherwise healthy people - unless we consider placebo effects as biologically useful. They are unnecessary for the functioning of the human body, unregulated, untested and driven by often unscientific claims that don't have to be proven clinically. When the majority or large portion of the sales are related to deceptive marketing of useless products, it's fair to say a market is a "racket" as a way to alarm the public, notwithstanding the many honest producers and effective products.
- ci5er 9y agoThis sounds interesting. Can you break down your embedded assumptions, claims and conclusions in bullet-form? No matter how many times I re-read this, I am not able to follow it front-to-back. EDIT: I love this line -- "lack of awareness of how to use food is the problem."
- crystaln 9y agoThe idea that the lack of a rigorous specific study indicates supplementation doesn't work is flawed. The entire Eastern system of medicine evolved based on shared experience and knowledge, and ample experience exists with many supplements to support their use, even if not the sort of rigorous evidence we might like. Sure this opens the gate to fraud and self-deception, however the level of personal experience shared on the internet is unprecedented in human history and certainly worth referring to when deciding on the efficacy of supplements. Further, scientific studies are very often flawed. I trust how I feel at least as much as I trust a study.
- ceejayoz 9y ago> the level of personal experience shared on the internet is unprecedented in human history and certainly worth referring to when deciding on the efficacy of supplements Similarly, we can safely conclude that vaccines cause autism, ghosts are real, and the moon landings didn't happen.
- crystaln 9y agoHow many of our colleagues troll the internet for anecdotal evidence about recreational drugs or nootropics or Rsi cures. Not all knowledge has been established by science. In fact, I'd say less than 1% of knowledge, and much of medical science is wrong or misleading. Medical science has brought both cures and devastating harms and lies. Just like other forms of knowledge, it must be taken with scepticism. Human knowledge has so much more to offer.
- cbzbc 9y ago"The entire Eastern system of medicine evolved based on shared experience and knowledge" and the stuff that worked has became .. medicine.
- crystaln 9y agoAll of it? No. The entire holistic method? Definitely not. Bits and pieces of Chinese medicine have been appropriated by Western medicine in piecemeal ways that often miss the point. There are large universities to teach this stuff. To believe that Western medicine has studied and adopted all that works is colonial arrogance.
- wuliwong 9y ago"There’s just no clear evidence to prove that they have any benefit." Then... "One large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled US trial in men found that some who took multivitamins had a slight reduction in total cancer risk (particularly those with previous nutritional deficiencies and cancer diagnoses). But the trial needs to be repeated with women and more baseline data of nutrition status." This is some really confusing writing but it sure sounds like there's some evidence that the multivitamin is helpful.
- elhudy 9y agoI use examine.com when choosing which supplements to take (which are very few). I had hoped that the underlying article would discuss fish oil but it appears to be out of scope.
- LinuxBender 9y agoDisclaimer: Unpopular opinion ahead. It's taken me a lifetime to figure out the combination of vitamins, enzymes, amino acids and other compounds that I need to compensate for what I lack in a diet. If I followed any one websites advise, I would have serious health problems. I have also learned over time that doctors actually learn very little about this in school. They know even less about the gut. I believe that each person needs to review and study what they eat vs. what they need and use trial and error. You will find side effects to different combinations of supplements. Some supplements also affect medication you may be taking, so study that as well. Don't stop when you find some wordpress site. Look for multiple government studies that explain testing methods, numbers of participants, human vs. animal testing, etc. I found several studies that directly conflicted with each other on some compounds.