5 ms·

Vitamin D is under studied because it cannot be patented (my doctor told me).

tootie 6y ago
Your doctor is talking nonsense. There's mountains of studies on things that can't be patented. We don't have studies on much of anything wrt COVID-19. And most of the energy has gone to hydroxychloroquine whose patent expired long ago.
- bagacrap 6y ago
  but these studies are all relatively underfunded and underpowered relative to the stringent approval process for new prescription drugs, so I think the point stands.
  - tootie 6y ago
    Vitamin D doesn't require FDA approval. It's already rated as GRAS and is prescribed for known benefits.
ColanR 6y ago
I've heard the same thing. No economic incentives compared to making a custom drug.
- qayxc 6y ago
  You've heard nonsense. There's tons of studies and clinical trials about the use of vitamin D. Here's an article listing just a few: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322619 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322619 Every time you "hear" something about a topic that's important (e.g. in this case: health), just don't take anyone's word for it (doctors are people, too and have their cognitive biases and non-fact based opinions). It's not that hard to look this stuff up and just do a quick check in relevant publications or sites like research.net - https://www.researchgate.net/search/publication?q=vitamin%20d https://www.researchgate.net/search/publication?q=vitamin%20... - to get a more accurate picture.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    > It's not that hard to look this stuff up Aside from the fact that most health studies papers are retracted within 10 years, or found to be the opposite of what was claimed. Which is less annoying than people like you who fetishize anything published. I suggest you learn what "peer review" actually means before telling people to run off and read about false health claims.
pkaye 6y ago
Why don't governments fund the research though?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- qayxc 6y ago
  They do: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/10/666545527/vitamin-d-and-fish-oil-supplements-disappoint-in-long-awaited-study-results?t=1588980441791 https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/10/6665455... https://www.lifeextension.com/featured-articles/2010/12/federal-government-funded-study-fails-to-recognize-value-of-vitamin-d https://www.lifeextension.com/featured-articles/2010/12/fede... It's just that not everyone likes the results... If a doctor's cognitive bias leans towards "alternative medicine", for example, they don't want to accept certain findings, so they ignore them. The real complaint those people have is "there's not enough (government-funded) studies about [remedy] that fit my preconceived convictions". At least that's my suspicion - I could be wrong of course.
downerending 6y ago
This is almost certainly true, at least in part. Fasting is another such intervention. The patent system is probably an overall benefit, but as with everything else, it can't be better in each and every case.
Eric_WVGG 6y ago
There was an article here just three days ago suggesting that vitamin D could very well be not a supplement to, but rather a marker of, good health. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23086211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23086211

Your doctor is talking nonsense. There's mountains of studies on things that can't be patented. We don't have studies on much of anything wrt COVID-19. And most of the energy has gone to hydroxychloroquine whose patent expired long ago.

bagacrap 6y ago
but these studies are all relatively underfunded and underpowered relative to the stringent approval process for new prescription drugs, so I think the point stands.
- tootie 6y ago
  Vitamin D doesn't require FDA approval. It's already rated as GRAS and is prescribed for known benefits.

ColanR 6y ago

I've heard the same thing. No economic incentives compared to making a custom drug.

qayxc 6y ago
You've heard nonsense. There's tons of studies and clinical trials about the use of vitamin D. Here's an article listing just a few: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322619 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322619 Every time you "hear" something about a topic that's important (e.g. in this case: health), just don't take anyone's word for it (doctors are people, too and have their cognitive biases and non-fact based opinions). It's not that hard to look this stuff up and just do a quick check in relevant publications or sites like research.net - https://www.researchgate.net/search/publication?q=vitamin%20d https://www.researchgate.net/search/publication?q=vitamin%20... - to get a more accurate picture.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > It's not that hard to look this stuff up Aside from the fact that most health studies papers are retracted within 10 years, or found to be the opposite of what was claimed. Which is less annoying than people like you who fetishize anything published. I suggest you learn what "peer review" actually means before telling people to run off and read about false health claims.

pkaye 6y ago

Why don't governments fund the research though?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
qayxc 6y ago
They do: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/10/666545527/vitamin-d-and-fish-oil-supplements-disappoint-in-long-awaited-study-results?t=1588980441791 https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/10/6665455... https://www.lifeextension.com/featured-articles/2010/12/federal-government-funded-study-fails-to-recognize-value-of-vitamin-d https://www.lifeextension.com/featured-articles/2010/12/fede... It's just that not everyone likes the results... If a doctor's cognitive bias leans towards "alternative medicine", for example, they don't want to accept certain findings, so they ignore them. The real complaint those people have is "there's not enough (government-funded) studies about [remedy] that fit my preconceived convictions". At least that's my suspicion - I could be wrong of course.

downerending 6y ago

This is almost certainly true, at least in part. Fasting is another such intervention. The patent system is probably an overall benefit, but as with everything else, it can't be better in each and every case.

Eric_WVGG 6y ago

There was an article here just three days ago suggesting that vitamin D could very well be not a supplement to, but rather a marker of, good health. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23086211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23086211