6 ms·
Antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E associated with lower risk of Parkinson’s
- wombatmobile 6y ago> For the study, researchers followed 41,058 adults in Sweden for an average of 18 years. None had Parkinson’s at the start of the study. ... > A limitation of the study was that participants reported what they ate over the previous year based on memory, rather than their diets being closely monitored. Also, diets were assessed only once at the start of the study, so any changes in diet during the study were not recorded.
- person_of_color 6y agoWow. This passes for science? We really need a safe, unobtrusive device that can record body's micronutrient intake on a daily basis.
- arghwhat 6y agoGreat, then I can also get mandatory personalized ads based on my current exact nutritional needs!
- ta988 6y agoYou sure Amazon didn't patent that yet?
- amelius 6y ago> We really need a safe, unobtrusive device that can record body's micronutrient intake on a daily basis. Impossible.
- person_of_color 6y agoUh.. why.
- amelius 6y agoBecause how would you implement it? - Using a camera: can't detect micronutrients - Using barcode/RFID in the packaging: you can't have this in all types of food. - Using some kind of sensor: devices that can detect micronutrients are way too large to be "unobtrusive". - Letting the user enter the data: will never work.
- chapium 6y agoSure! Start broad, trying to determine what may be interesting and then design stricter and stricter experiments.
- ta988 6y agoUnfortunately yes, that's the problem with a lot of the studies people are making life decisions on, psychology, dietary supplements... Between studies funded by companies and/or authors with conflict of interest, unreliable methods (in vitro antioxidants) or cohorts selection issues (grad students that need the money so they lie on selection interviews for experiments or trials)... In those cohort studies, what people eat is highly dependent on their wealth, education, localisation, jobs... And they rarely control for everything (mostly because it is impossible and if they asked people to remember instead of giving them devices they don't may not have the money to spend on a carefully designed experiment).
- blockmeifyoucan 6y agoYes. All studies have limitations. You report them and interpret the results accordingly.
- adamc 6y agoMy interpretation is that the results aren't very certain.
- blockmeifyoucan 6y agoScience wins again.
- eloff 6y agoMy interpretation is the results are about as trustworthy as if they were using shiny hair in Instagram photos as a proxy for vitamin E levels.
- nsxwolf 6y agoEvery time you see a food study like this look at the details. You'll be surprised how often the data are based on these questionnaires.
- virtuallynathan 6y agoThis is how most nutrition "science" is conducted.
- eloff 6y agoWow, so basically an exercise in getting grant money to pretend like they're doing science.
- JohnJamesRambo 6y agoDon’t trust any recall study imo. I remember the stories where I used to work from a study on soy supplementation done on obese post-menopausal women. They would insist that all they ate that day was something like a half cup of green beans. The human mind is far too fallible and prone to deception for any meaningful thing to be gained from food memory. I really only trust studies now where they supplement in a controlled environment and monitor all food intake. Not surprisingly these studies often show no benefit of the supplementation.
- vmception 6y agoThere was some other study or observation that showed a lot of people trying to diet really did not associate some kinds of eating with “eating” Like someone would have a bunch of meal-sized snacks, and not consider that a meal
- hinkley 6y agoOne of the failure modes I'm aware of is people staying up past midnight and thinking of that as 'yesterday'. You had a giant bowl of ice cream and a cup of green beans today. As anyone who has ever had a morning surgery or even been friends or pet owner with someone who has had one, your body doesn't know 'yesterday', it only knows '12 hours ago'.
- sb057 6y agoThey relied on patient's memory being accurate in a study about Parkinson's?!
- three_seagrass 6y agoParkinson's mostly affects motor skills, though there can be comorbid dementia.
- stevespang 6y agoTake THAT, trolls, who have been naysaying vitamins for years
- gregwebs 6y agoThis is a correlational study. So there is no causal link, there is a correlational association. I think the term "link" needs to be banned in this context. "associated" would be much clearer. Maybe the Hacker News mods could change the headline posted here. It's worth noting that Vitamin E supplementation is declining in the US, probably because several studies on its supplementation have not shown benefit (or shown harm). [1] The primary understood role of Vitamin E is as a fat soluble anti-oxidant, and that is primarily to stop PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) oxidation. Most sources of PUFA come with Vitamin E, so this often works itself out in the diet. But cooking at higher temperature can destroy vitamin E. The Institute of Medicine didn't express the RDA as a ratio between vitamin E and PUFA, but they wrote that "high PUFA intakes should certainly be accompanied by increased vitamin E intakes." [2] A natural source of vitamin E that is low in PUFA is red palm oil. But another way of dealing with vitamin E status is to avoid most vegetable oils and thus lower PUFA intake. Vitamin C seems a more straightforward supplement, but even for that I avoid Vitamin C supplementation after exercise due to its potential inhibition of mitohormesis. [3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_E#Declining_supplement_use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_E#Declining_supplement... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225461/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225461/ [3] https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/106/21/8665.full.pdf https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/106/21/8665.full.pdf
- haltingproblem 6y agoThis simple suggestions "link --> associated" will greatly help clear the fog around supplementation and nutritional studies. The other word that I would love to see is intervention study. Ultimately, intervention in a clinical context setup as a RCT (e.g. use of Vitamin D for Covid patients) is the best judge of clinical outcomes.
- zerocrates 6y agoBut that's already what "link" means. If you make everyone use "associated" in this context it will just acquire the same colloquial connotation as "link" and you've gotten nowhere.
- deeviant 6y agoIs Parkinson's such a common disease that the average person would need to take action to specifically lower risk for it specifically? If the output of the study was "Vitamin C and Vitamin E lower risk of Parkinson's and have no negative effects", that would be useful. But that is not the case, supplementation of various vitamins and minerals, specifically over supplementation have been shown to have risks. For example, Vitamin C is linked to increase iron absorption, and higher iron levels have been correlated with high risk of Alzheimer's. I'd much rather have Parkinson's than Alzheimer's.
- r00fus 6y agoI'd say this study may be useful for those who have a family history of Parkinsons or find out via genetic testing that have genetic markers that predispose them to it. I wonder for those suffering from early stages of Parkinsons whether boosting C&E would impact onset.
- hinkley 6y agoPrecautionary Principle. Among creative workers, which there are a lot of here, MS, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's are all seen as living hells you would not wish on your worst enemy. Essentially, the consequences are infinity, so if probability > 0, prevention is justified. (And in some circles, assisted suicide).
- deeviant 6y agoYou didn't seem to respond regarding the possible negative consequences of supplementing with C, which may increase the chances of developing Alzheimer's. Which makes it look like my point went right past you.
- hinkley 6y agoFair. Avoiding things and avoiding running toward things are different risk classes for humans, and we aren't always rational in these cases (see also: Thinking Fast and Slow). I've known a couple of people with anemia, and many of those conversations have lead to discussion of its opposite - hemochromatosis. The iron and vitamin C link is very temporal. If you're trying to increase your iron absorption from food, adding it to the dish is much more effective than taking a vitamin C pill in the morning. If you're trying to lower it, you try to avoid ever getting vitamin C with food. A routine blood test can show elevated iron levels (mine came back elevated but not dangerous, which is why I stopped using cast iron for cooking).
- jcoq 6y agoMany mega dose vitamin supplements are associated with higher cancer risks - folic acid and beta carotene. Paradoxically, the same vitamins are known to reduce cancer risk when obtained from food sources. The reasons behind this are poorly understood, and it's possible that confounding factors are to blame. But either way, nutrient rich food is exceedingly easy to obtain for mid-to-high income people in developed nations. For this category of people, vitamin supplements are almost completely useless and potentially harmful.
- nikolay 6y agoDon't foods have folate, not folic acid though?