* supplements: vitamins, minerals, herbs, & "natural" products

supplements: vitamins, minerals, herbs, & "natural" products
note: Here you will find links to other entries in The Skeptic's Dictionary about persons or practices relating to vitamins, minerals, or herbs. Here you will also find excerpts from items in The Skeptic's Refuge relating to people who make a living selling supplements at inflated prices and encouraging others to do the same with the promise that by doing so you will be on your way to riches beyond your imagination, eternal youth, increased spirituality, or something of the sort.
There are too many companies and products involved in this kind of chicanery to list them all by name. The following links should help you decide whether a particular outfit or product is trustworthy.
For those cancer patients who are thinking of trying an untested alternative therapy, please read Dr. Stephen Barrett's A Special Message for Cancer Patients Seeking "Alternative" Treatments.
Articles about persons and practices
Joel D. Wallach, "The Mineral Doctor" (Claims that all diseases are due to mineral deficiencies and that just about anyone can live more than one hundred years if they take daily supplements of colloidal minerals harvested from a pit in Utah.)
naturopathy (Their favorite cure for anything that ails you is a diet rich in vitamins and mineral supplements, often sold through their office.)
natural (Of course, supplements aren't natural, even though some of the ingredients in them are. My favorite claim here is one by Dr. Atkins that his low-carb diet, which requires supplements, was the most natural.)
holistic medicine (Holistic practitioners are often adamant that vitamins are good for the soul.)
multi-level marketing (There are probably more MLMs centering around vitamin and mineral sales than any other product.)
Amway® (Quixtar®) (Team of Destiny®)
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) (If your body produces it, it must be good to add it via a supplement, right? Think cholesterol.)
shark cartilage (Those who sell it swear it can cure cancer.)
bioharmonics (One of the more popular claims in "energy" healing is how valuable supplements are to proper health and spirituality.)
aromatherapy (Improve your life force or spirit with essential oils!)
Bach's flower therapy (Homeopathic aromatherapy for the soul.)
Wicca (Wiccans favor herbs over conventional medicines.)
homeopathy (Vitalism at its best!)
alternative health practices (One of the most popular AHPs is to use supplements for vitality, increased harmony, wholeness, and wellness.)
Ayurvedic medicine (Find the right foods and herbs for your body type.)
anthroposophic medicine (Steiner discovered that "a plant is a healing plant when it has a distortion or an abnormality.")
Excerpts from Mass Media Funk, Bunk, and Newsletters
Herbal Remedies Found to Contain Toxic Heavy Metals
Heavy metals in Ayurvedic herbs
Vitamin supplements do no good in protecting against cancer or other diseases
On recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of vitamins and minerals
Vitamins and good health
Vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene do not reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, or mental decline
Longevity and vitamin and mineral supplements
Biggest medical product recall in Australian history
Cancer "cure" of Nicholas J. Gonzalez
Dangers of taking herbs before surgery
Raw-food diet fad
Colonic irrigation (colon hydrotherapy)
Naturopathy: harmless therapy!
St. John's wort was no better than a placebo
Ginkgo
Creatine
Herbs and your pharmacy
Vitamin C supplements and hardening of the arteries
Herbal remedies
Herbs and prostrate cancer
Herbs, luck, and pregnancy
British Columbia and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Anesthesiology, herbal products, and unexpected bleeding and difficulty in blood clotting during surgery
Consumer Reports test St. John's wort, SAM-e (s-adenosyl-methionine), and kava pills
Herbs and Hodgkin's disease
Herbs in ice cream and other neutraceuticals
Apple cider vinegar
Bringing LIGHT into the world through high quality nutritional supplementsFrom Mass Media Funk or Bunk
September 30, 2004. A new study published in the Lancet has found that vitamin supplements do no good in protecting against cancer or other diseases. In fact, the study has found that some supplements may even increase one's cancer risk.January 15, 2001. The Institute of Medicine has issued the latest of four reports on recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of vitamins and minerals. The report is based on a four-year review of the scientific research into vitamins and minerals. The bottom line? "Nutritionists say a healthy daily diet, with at least five fruits and vegetables, can provide plenty of most vitamins." Nevertheless, 40% of Americans take supplements. Some need them. Some are probably being harmed by them. E.g. Vitamin A: "more than 3,000 micrograms daily can risk birth defects in pregnant women and liver damage for others." Vitamin E: more than 1,000 milligrams (1,500 international units) a day "could cause uncontrolled bleeding." Vitamin C: "more than 2,000 milligrams a day can cause diarrhea."
On the other hand, "many people over age 50 have trouble absorbing vitamin B12 from natural food sources and thus should eat fortified foods, like breakfast cereals, or a daily supplement to ensure they get 2.4 micrograms a day....[and] the amount of vitamin D older people need for strong bones has doubled, to 400 international units."
While the RDA has changed for many vitamins and minerals, the labels used on consumer goods generally follow the guidelines set down in 1968. To confuse matters even more, some products list the amounts of vitamins and minerals by milligrams or micrograms, while others use international units (a microgram equals 3.33 international units).
The USDA has set up a nutrient database online, so you can do a search for a product like milk and get a list of dozens of dairy products which you can then click on to find out what nutrients are contained in various sized servings.
April 13, 2000. WebMD reports that we're more likely to find vitamins conducive to good health in our kitchen than in our bathroom...if you have foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts in the kitchen. According to a recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) pill supplements for vitamins C and E, selenium, and carotenoids have no proven role in preventing disease. IOM recommends a ceiling on daily consumption of selenium and vitamins C and E to reduce the risk of adverse side effects from overuse. The full report is available from IOM.
July 8, 2002. A five-year study involving more than 20,000 people aged 40 to 80 found that a daily dose of vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene does not reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, or mental decline. Prof Rory Collins, a co-author of the report at Oxford University's Clinical Trial Service, said: "Over five years we saw absolutely no effect." At the end of the trial, people taking vitamins had exactly the same risk of heart disease, cancer, cataracts, bone fractures, asthma and mental decline as those who took a placebo. In contrast, cholesterol-lowering drugs reduced the risk of heart disease and stroke by around one third.
October 26, 1997. An article in the New York Times by Jane E. Brody reported the results of a 13-year study involving over 10,000 Americans which "found no evidence of increased longevity among vitamin and mineral supplement users in the United States." This is especially bad news, since most of the people who take vitamins are non-smokers who don't drink heavily and who eat more fruits and vegetable than the rest of us. (The study also found that supplements failed to help the longevity of smokers, heavy drinkers, and those with chronic diseases.) The results of the study have been out for four years. Nevertheless, it is estimated that some $6.5 billion a year is being spent by Americans on vitamin and mineral pills. (It might seem like $6.5 billion is a lot of money, but consider that Americans spend about $2.5 billion on Halloween candy and costumes.) Why do we spend so much on supplements? I suppose in part it is because some people really do have vitamin or mineral deficiencies and they need the supplements. Others may be taking supplements because they believe the pills will help fight cancer, give them more energy, help them live longer, improve their chi, rev up their spirit or vital energy, and so on. It is true that the information regarding nutrition, vitamins and minerals is bewildering, confusing and contradictory; that uncertainty gives some wishful thinkers hope that the stuff will do them good. Maybe. And maybe that is why vitamins and minerals are so popular among MLM programs. But why ignore the possibility that these pills might be doing some harm? Vitamin E can interfere with the action of vitamin K (which promotes blood clotting). Too much calcium can limit the absorption of iron and too much zinc can reduce the level of copper in the body (decreasing "good" cholesterol). Folic acid can react adversely with anticonvulsants and each year the greatest number of poisoning deaths among children is from iron supplements meant for adults.
April 28, 2003. An investigation into "alternative" medicines has led to the biggest medical product recall in Australian history, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Two hundred nineteen products have already been banned and eventually 70% of "complementary" medical products may be forced from the marketplace. The investigation began when 87 adverse reactions were caused by a travel sickness pill, Travacalm. Nineteen people had to be hospitalized. At least one lawsuit has already been filed.
The federal parliamentary secretary for health, Trish Worth, said "some people were very, very ill and tried to jump out of planes and off ships because of the hallucinatory effect it had." Testing found dosages varied from 0 to 700 per cent of that listed on the label.
Travacalm is produced by Pan Pharmaceuticals, Australia's largest contract manufacturer of alternative medicines. Pan's license to produce medicines has been revoked. The Therapeutic Goods Administration is considering criminal charges against Pan and has already found that Pan falsified test results and substituted ingredients for those listed on labels.
Since Pan produces products for many different companies, consumers were advised to stop using any alternative supplements until specific products can be checked out.
Bob Carr, the Premier of New South Wales, told reporters that it is time to end the hype over "alternatives" and do some proper scientific assessments of remedies touted as "alternative therapies." Carr said the public needed to be more skeptical about complementary or alternative medicines. "Let's encourage a healthy skepticism based on science," he said.[thanks to Kerrie Dougherty]
The New Zealand Herald reports:: "The Food Safety Authority last night issued a list of 642 dietary supplements and vitamins sold in New Zealand that are made by or contain ingredients made by the disgraced Australian company.
It took three days to put the list together, mainly because complementary medicines do not have to be registered in New Zealand, so authorities have no record of what is being sold, who makes what, or where products come from."
further reading
Stopper put on more herbal companies By Kirsty Needham and Jeni Porter May 9 2003
Can natural remedies recover? May 4 2003
Bastyr shows nation the way to naturopathy 2003-05-06 by Carole Beers
RatbagsDotCom
January 18, 2000. Any nut in a storm. That seems to be the motto of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. They've committed over $1.4 million over five years to study the crackpot cancer "cure" of Nicholas J. Gonzalez, who uses a variation on the Max Gerson treatment of coffee enemas and vitamins. Read all about it in the WashingtonPost.com. The fact that Gonzalez has already been convicted of incompetence and malpractice does not seem to bother those spending other people's money on this bogus research.
July 11, 2001. The current issue of JAMA (vol 286 no 2) has an article warning patients about to have surgery of the dangers of taking herbs before surgery. I find this interesting since many people take herbs as an alternative to surgery. They think herbs like ginkgo biloba and ginseng can prevent diseases which might require surgery otherwise. The main danger is that the herbs might lead to excessive bleeding. The authors are not campaigning to eliminate herbs from the diets of millions of Americans, which would be fruitless since the numbers who believe in the magical nutritional and healing power of their herbs is growing exponentially, it seems. Rather, the authors are encouraging patients to inform their doctors of any herbs they might be taking. Many patients are not telling their doctors about their herbal intake, either because they don't realize that herbs contain chemicals that might react with anesthesia or other drugs given before or after surgery or because they don't want their doctor to know that they are hedging their bets with alternative medicine. For purposes of the law, herbs are called "dietary supplements" and are not subject to the same kind of scientific scrutiny as prescription or non-prescription drugs. So, perhaps herb users think of their herbs as "alternative vitamins and minerals."
The concern is not new and was reported on over a year ago by CNN, ABC, and HealthCentral. I reported on this concern last October. WebMD took up the issue last September. A report on the JAMA study can be found at the CNN site.
The mystical belief in the power of herbs has carried over from consenting adults who should be allowed to ingest whatever useless remedy they wish, to marketing herbs for our children and our dogs and cats. Andrea Candee, MH, i.e., "master herbalist", claims to know what herbs are "child-friendly." You can find out what they are if you buy her book. I can understand an Aborigine, with 40,000 years of tradition behind him or her, claiming to be a master herbalist. But I wonder where Candee got her title. The fact is that herbs have pharmacological properties, have been used in conventional drugs for years, and are being used by millions of self-medicators today. Those who produce and market herbs should do less to make people think their products are safe just because they are natural, and do more to inform people that herbs are drugs. When one's doctor asks what drugs you or your children or pets are taking, one should list not just prescription drugs but herbs as well. Your life or the life of those you love may depend on it.
September 1, 2002. Peggy Orenstein has an article in today's New York Times Magazine on the raw-food diet fad. She pays a lot of attention to Roxanne's, a raw-food restaurant in Larkspur (Marin county, about a 15-minute drive up 101 from the Golden Gate Bridge that connects San Francisco to Marin). It's one of the "in" places to dine in the Bay area; reservations must be made a month in advance for the privilege of eating food that has not been cooked. For some mystical reason, food may be heated to 118 degrees and still be considered raw at Roxanne's, which is run by Roxanne Klein, wife of Michael Klein, who made his fortune in data communications. Mr. Klein hasn't eaten cooked food in five years, is a vegan who eats honey, and subsists on about 800 calories a day (he says). Roxanne has been a vegan for 10 years and also hasn't eaten cooked food in five years. Orenstein describes Michael as gaunt with muscular arms. She describes Roxanne as making Kate Moss look fat. The Kleins claim they are the poster children for health and good living.
I haven't dined at Roxanne's, and probably never will, but I know several people who have. They gave it mixed reviews. The food was interesting, they said, and most of it was tasty. But the service was not what one would expect when paying something like $70 each for dinner (with wine). Why, you might ask, would anyone want to spend that kind of money to eat raw food? Well, why not? If the food is good and tasty, the wine of high quality, the service excellent, and the ambiance pleasant, who cares whether the soup is hot?
On the other hand, the raw-food craze seems to be based on some pseudoscientific notions. The Kleins think that eating raw food will ward off aging and disease. They seem to take literally the words of one of the raw-food pioneers, T. C. Fry, who claimed ''All the diseases of civilization -- cancer, heart disease, diabetes -- are all directly attributable to the consumption of cooked food.'' Fry took the proof for that claim to the grave seven years ago when he died at age 70. (It is said, however, that he was in perfect health when he died and didn't look a day over 60.)
Mr. Klein believes that cooking food destroys a food's natural enzymes and minerals, and depletes it of protein and vitamin content, while concentrating pesticide residues. Orenstein contacted David Klurfeld, a professor of nutrition and food science at Wayne State University in Detroit. He says that aside from a slight loss of some vitamins, cooking food is not detrimental and provides many benefits, such as making food taste better and sterilizing it in the bargain. According to Klurfeld, heat ''denatures'' a food's proteins, changing their shapes in ways that improve digestibility. The enzymes in a raw vegetable, says Klurfeld, "are specifically tailored to that food and even left intact rarely assist the human body."
Orenstein notes that one of Roxanne's multipurpose vegetables, the lowly parsnip, contains "small amounts of light-activated carcinogens, whereas the cancer-fighting nutrient in tomatoes is released only when cooked."
Well, I'd like to write more about this interesting topic, but from the smoke blowing by the study window I surmise that the barbequed ribs are done, well done.
February 9, 2000. Despite the lack of scientific studies to support any benefit to periodically douching the colon, many people are self-medicating with colonic irrigation (colon hydrotherapy) in the hopeful belief that it will help them live longer and more healthily. Katherine Rauch of WebMD reports on one naturopath who prescribes colonics for "asthma, arthritis, sinus problems, chronic fatigue and constipation." The fact that there is no scientific evidence to support such treatment is little deterrent to true believers in "nature's remedies."
One conventional MD is quoted as saying that the dangers from colonic douching "include spreading infection from contaminated equipment and harmfully altering the chemical balance of the colon." Dr. Ross Black notes that "A major function of the colon is to absorb minerals such as potassium and send them through the bloodstream. Colonics could wipe out these minerals and thereby cause deficiencies."
February 25, 2003. Dorsey Griffith, the Sacramento Bee Medical Writer, gives naturopaths the thumbs up in an article on their push to be licensed as "healing arts practitioners" in California. This will give them the legal right to practice medicine here. (Only eleven other states license naturopaths to practice medicine. However, Nevada, Idaho, and Massachusetts may join California in adding to that list.) Anything that is natural and non-toxic is a potential therapy for these folks, including colonic irrigation and coffee enemas. Some of them do seem to keep up on the latest scientific research on nutrition, but like most "alternative" health care providers, their membership usually includes many who disdain science and work by intuition, sympathetic magic, and spirit guides. Their favorite cure for anything that ails you is a diet rich in vitamins and mineral supplements, often sold through their office.
The main "balance" in this article in the form of noting that licensure is opposed by the AMA and by chiropractors. Although, the headline writer (in the print edition) did us all a favor with the head over the continuation of the article, which reads: Bill: Most therapies harmless, a study by UCSF concluded
Now that's a real attraction: We use therapies, most of which are harmless! Come on Down!
April 18, 2001. Sales of St. John's wort, a medicinal herb used by many people as a mood elevator, have declined from $310 million in 1998 to $195 million last year, according to Grant Ferrier, editor of the Nutrition Business Journal. Mark Blumenthal, of the American Botanical Council, does not think that the reduced sale reflects the increased realization that the herb isn't all that it has been cracked up to be. According to the WashingtonPost.com, he "speculated that the reduced sales were caused by recent reports of problems with herbal supplements and findings that St. John's wort could interfere with AIDS medicines, cardiac drugs and oral contraceptives."
A study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that St. John's wort was no better than a placebo in treating severely depressed patients. (The study involved 200 patients for eight weeks.) This contradicts the results of an earlier study by Ronald Brenner, chairman of psychiatry at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in New York City. (His study involved 30 mildly to moderately depressed patients for six weeks.) A third study may resolve the issue for a while. The National Institute of Mental Health and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine are doing a joint study on the effectiveness of the herb in treating major depression. The study is very large and will be the most comprehensive study ever done on St. John's wort.
June 10, 2000. "A few years ago, spending $15 million to investigate an herbal supplement would have been labeled by many a waste of taxpayer money, a foolish exploration into the realm of hocus-pocus." So writes Bruce Taylor Seeman in "Testing the claims for gingko." Now that Americans spend some $15 billion a year ($300 million on gingko alone) on "supplements" it has become fashionable to spend tax dollars investigating folk remedies such as Ginkgo to improve memory. The National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, part of our national Institutes of Health, has launched a five-year, $15 million test of Ginkgo as a preventative for Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps some politician saw the ad on television featuring an actor who plays a doctor on TV touting the benefits of Ginkgo. I know that when I saw the ad my first thought was "we ought to be spending millions to investigate this matter."
In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which deregulated the herbal products industry. Dietary supplements do not have to be proven effective before putting them on the market. They are, however, forbidden to exaggerate benefits--whatever that means. Sellers of Ginkgo have claimed that it increases the flow of blood to the brain, which it does, and that therefore it improves memory and cognitive functions, which is speculation. Gingko has also been touted as a cure for depression, hepatitis, asthma, tinnitus, hardening of the arteries and impotence.
Dr. Steven DeKosky, a neurologist at the University of Pittsburgh is leading the gingko study. He characterizes Ginkgo is as "a mild blood thinner and an antioxidant." Antioxidants are readily available in many fruits and vegetables and there are many strong blood thinners already available, so why study gingko? Other than the fact that it is a fashionable herb? Because it might be cheaper than food or drugs to perform whatever useful function it might perform? I don't know. Gaia Herbs sells their Extra Strength Ginkgo Leaf for about $16 an ounce (regular strength is about half as much as the extra strength). That doesn't sound cheap to me. Maybe it will be safer? Safer than raisins or berries, which also are good sources or antioxidants? Until the law is changed, there is no requirement that such "supplements" as gingko be safe, much less useful.
It is hoped, of course, that something useful will be learned about Alzheimer's disease while studying the effects of gingko.November 12, 1997. "Athletes swallow expensive doses of hope" was the title of an article by Chris Hays in the Sacramento Bee. The article did an excellent job of explaining why it is so difficult to get unbiased information about body-building supplements: the main source of information comes from body building magazines which are all owned by the supplement manufacturers themselves. Even so, Hays claims that "everyone agrees" that creatine "works." A typical ad on the internet reads
Creatine monohydrate provides safe nutritional support for athletes seeking peak performance in short-duration, high intensity workouts. By supporting the body's natural ability to regenerate the primary energy immediately available to working muscle, creatine monohydrate has the potential to increase optimal work output in activities such as weight-lifting and sprinting.
Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid, C4H9N3O2, found in the muscle tissue and which supplies energy for muscle contraction. Joseph Clark has written an scientific paper on the use of creatine in sports. It is very technical sounding but he notes that "30% of the population have a diet and metabolism such that they do not benefit from creatine supplementation." The only negative side effects mentioned were water retention and heat intolerance. The positive benefits include such things as an increase in muscle peak torque production while decreasing plasma ammonia accumulation. The author does note that a healthy body self-regulates the production of chemicals (creatine is synthesized in the liver and kidneys, using three amino acids derived from food intake) and will shut down production when more of the chemical would be redundant. Furthermore, beyond a certain amount of some chemicals the body simply will not use them; hence, further supplementation is pointless or harmful (if the body can't eliminate the excess, for example). (This is why certain supplements are probably pointless, such as DHEA. Taking a supplement may shut down its natural production by the adrenal glands.)
January 21, 2000. CNN.Com reports that at least one pharmaceutical firm is treating herbal medicines like conventional ones. "CVS Corp. of Woonsocket is asking customers to tell their pharmacists what herbal supplements they use. The information is entered into a computerized program that cross-checks them for adverse combinations."
March 2, 2000. Taking vitamin C supplements could speed up hardening of the arteries, according to a study of "573 outwardly healthy middle-aged men and women who work for an electric utility in Los Angeles." Those taking vitamin C supplements showed "accelerated thickening of the walls of the big arteries in their necks....the more they took, the faster the buildup," according to the (now defunct) Nando Times.
October ?, 1998. Los Angeles Times. Andrew Weil, M.D., "In the medicine chest, a place for herbs." This article begins by making a plea for herbal remedies while claiming that the New England Journal of Medicine attacked herbal remedies in a recent editorial. He also claims that a study done at Stanford University indicates that some 70% of us are using "alternative" medicine, i.e., medicine that does not include drugs or surgery. However, the article quickly degenerates into a paranoid whining about how the big bad bullies of real medicine have hogged all the money for research and that's why naturopaths and homeopaths can't do science. Weil thinks we should fund "integrative medicine" (i.e., whatever spiritual hocus-pocus is suggested by whatever shaman who happens to be in the neighborhood). If only these quackmeisters had the funds they could prove the real value of shark cartilage or bee pollen. But the big bullies at the A.M.A. have all the resources. The same kind of pathetic plea was made in the 1950s and 60s by parapsychologists. The only reason they couldn't prove ESP, remote viewing, etc., and collect their deserved Nobel Prizes was that the real scientists had a good ol' boys club and excluded them from participation. They couldn't get university jobs where all the research was done. So now they have departments and labs all over the world and what have they discovered that is of any value to anyone? They've proved only that whining loud enough and long enough pays off. The same tactic seems to be working for the "alternative" folks. The National Institutes of Health has upped the budget for the "Alternative" division to some $20,000,000 a year, according to James Randi.
October 21, 2000. Today's Sacramento Bee has an article by Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times regarding an ancient herbal remedy that seems to be effective in treating prostate cancer. Chinese herbal medicine will probably get a big boost from the results of two studies which used PC-SPES, a combination of eight different herbs including saw palmetto and ginseng, to treat end-stage prostate cancer. "The herbal remedy appears to have estrogen-like properties. Estrogen is a female hormone and is one of the oldest proven treatments for prostate tumors, the authors note."
This month, the Journal of Urology is publishing the results of a study done on 69 men by Dr. Aaron E. Katz, associate professor of urology at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. After one year, 88% had a reduction in PSA. ("PSA is a protein in the blood that is elevated in men with prostate cancer and certain other benign conditions."*) However, "the men had a variety of other treatments for their cancer, including surgery, radiation treatment or hormone therapy." According to Dr. Ian M. Thompson, Jr. chief of urology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, the results of this study are "exciting and disturbing." The good news is that PS-SPES seems to work; the bad news is that we don't know how, what dose is right and safe, or what the long-term side effects might be.
Next month the Journal of Clinical Oncology will publish the results of a study by Dr. Eric J. Small et al. with similar positive results. Dr. Small, of UC San Francisco, was concerned about the effect of his study since "we don't even know what [PS-SPES's] long-term side effects are." The Katz and other studies have found breast enlargement, reduced libido and blood clotting, among other things, as side effects. In other words, the side-effects are similar to those with estrogen treatment.
An earlier study on PC-SPES, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (September 17, 1998), concluded: "PC-SPES has potent estrogenic activity. The use of this unregulated mixture of herbs may confound the results of standard or experimental therapies and may produce clinically significant adverse effects." However, it is unlikely that the side effects will be as severe or as permanent as those from microwave treatment for enlarged prostate: burnt urethra or partial penile amputation.
Because PC-SPES is considered an herb rather than a drug, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not tested or recommended it. Herbal remedies are essentially unregulated. Thus, their purity as well as their effectiveness may vary with their source.
Coincidentally, it is reported today in DrKoop.com that the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, has announced $7.8 millions in grants for various studies on alternative therapies, including one "to examine whether...PC-SPES may reduce DNA damage in cancer cells and improve the immune system in prostate cancer patients."
February 23, 1996. Ann Landers, (from the Davis Enterprise). Today, Ann Landers gave a boost to alternative medicine quackery by not responding to the illogical reasoning of P.W. from Taiwan regarding Western medicine men versus Chinese herbalists. P.W., a European married to a Taiwanese, wrote that while in Europe his wife had become pregnant three times and each time she miscarried due to fetal chromosomal abnormalities. Their European doctors declared the couple to be "healthy" and apparently gave them every indication that they were just unlucky. This evaluation was "depressing," says P.W.
The barren couple went East and in Taiwan their gynecologist gave them "a bag full of herbs" which they were instructed to take for a year. Halfway through the "treatment" Mrs. W. became pregnant. At the time the letter was written their son was 10 months old.
P.W. implored Ann: "Please, Ann, tell your readers in the West that couples who cannot have a child do not necessarily have a problem. The problem might be with their specialists, whose Western knowledge of the human body is sometimes quite limited." Now, I think most Western physicians would admit that their knowledge of the human body is often limited, but it hardly relates to P.W.'s situation. He assumes that the Chinese herbalist, who spoke of "harmony and balance in the body and mind," was instrumental in his wife's pregnancy. Furthermore, he assumes that the Western specialists were wrong in attributing their problem to bad luck. What evidence does P.W. have for these notions? The only "evidence" he has is the fact that his wife got pregnant after taking the herbs. This bit of post hoc reasoning is totally insufficient to warrant P.W.'s conclusions and Ann Landers should have let him know that. Instead, she replied:
I'm for whatever works. Considering the number of people who die from botched and unnecessary surgery and improper medication, herbal medicine could be a viable alternative.
Ann doesn't consider how many people die or continue to suffer when they take herbs instead of getting proper "Western" treatment with surgery, medicine, or drugs. But worse than that she seems oblivious to the insufficiency of evidence presented by P.W. The fact that his wife got pregnant after taking herbs does not prove the herbs had anything to do with her getting pregnant. It might have been "luck" [the luck of natural events taking their course] or divine intervention, for that matter, that explains the pregnancy. However, P.W. had ruled out divine intervention because his wife's father, an herbal doctor, told him "there are no miracles in healing." To which P.W. commented in a fitting non sequitur: "those so-called miracles just show how little some traditional doctors know."
Ann doesn't ask what herbs they took and she certainly indicates no interest in whether anyone has done a controlled study on the effectiveness of these herbs. She's for "whatever works." What does that mean? It seems to mean, "I'm for believing whatever you feel like believing when you are happy with some event." P.W.'s happy he has a son, so he is welcome to believe that the herbs did it and that the European physicians who told him he and his wife were healthy but unlucky didn't know what they were talking about. Furthermore, this proves herbalists with their notions of harmony and balance and other gibberish are not just valid, but superior notions to the Western notions of the body and cause-effect relations. What bunk!
January 2, 2001. Soon, British Columbia will be the only place in North America where traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners will be recognized as doctors by a regulatory body, according to the TheGlobeandMail.com. Two years ago, the British Columbia's Health Professions Council recommended that Chinese medicine practitioners be regulated. Last month, the B.C. Ministry of Health agreed.
TCM doctors use herbs instead of synthetic drugs and acupuncture and chi kung instead of surgery or other traditional Western medical therapies.
TCM doctor Henry Lu, founder of the International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Vancouver, supports the move. "Many diseases that have been treated by Western medicine are not quite successful," he said. True, but that doesn't mean TCM will be any more successful. Randy Wong, the registrar at the college, thinks the licensing will help in several ways. He notes that currently anybody can call himself a TCM doctor and set up practice in B.C. Licensing will weed out the bad guys.
"Wong said it will take at least two years to license TCM doctors in B.C. after bylaws on education and the prescription of herbs are approved by the government and the TCM community."
Canada has what we in America call Socialized Medicine, but so far the government has not agreed to pay for TCM visits and treatments.
Licensing will also be a step towards integrating TCM with traditional medicine. The final step will be when the government starts to pick up the tab for TCM.
The article did not go into the reasoning behind The Ministry of Health's decision. Maybe they see this as a way to save money. Maybe they see that TCM is growing in popularity, and if allowed to continue unregulated could prove unhealthy for the province. Maybe they really believe it works as well as the medicine they now provide their citizens. Even if they don't believe there is anything important to TCM, the politically correct thing to do is regulate it. At least the government will have some control over what herbs are being distributed and can regulate their purity. Whereas, in America all you have to do is call your product a food or supplement, rather than a drug or medicine, and you can distribute it with minimal interference from the Federal Drug Administration or other government agencies. Teenagers in health shops who have read a few pamphlets distribute health advice and recommend herbs to customers as if they were physicians with years of knowledge and experience. The government might like to say let natural selection work this out but it might also feel a strong paternalistic urge to protect its citizens from unscrupulous purveyors of mugwort and ginkgo biloba.
March 7, 2000. Anecdotes are circulating among anesthesiologists that herbal products, taken by many advocates of "alternative" medicine, may be causing unexpected bleeding and difficulty in blood clotting during surgery, according to CNN.com. And I thought people who took such herbs did so to avoid surgery!
November 21, 2000. The December 2000 issue of Consumer Reports (CR) says that tests on St. John's wort were "reassuring." They tested 13 brands and all "contained a reasonably standardized dose of dianthrones." St. John's wort is a mood modifier popular among self-medicators who are looking for a pick-me-up with minimum side-effects. There is "fairly solid" evidence, says CR, that St. John's wort "can help people with clinically significant mood disorders." And the only major side effect is increased sensitivity to sunlight. CR does note that "self-treatment can be dangerous, particularly with depression, which causes some 20,000 reported suicides a year in the U.S." CR also notes that St. John's wort "decreases the effectiveness of a host of medications, including oral contraceptives, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, beta-blockers, and calcium-channel blockers for high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, protease inhibitors for HIV infection, and many other prescription drugs."
CR also tested 12 brands of SAM-e (s-adenosyl-methionine) and found that "manufacturers are generally producing a reasonably stable standardized product," though they found four examples of misleading labeling. SAM-e "helps cells regulate the brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin" and is also used by self-medicators as a mood elevator. CR notes that the side effects of SAM-e can include upset stomach, insomnia and mania. And it is not cheap, costing $55-$260/month for 400-mg daily dose.
Finally, CR reports that 13 of 15 brands of kava pills contained approximately the amount of kavalactones that their label said. Extract of the root of the kava plant has long been used by Pacific islanders. It allegedly relieves anxiety and elevates mood. "Kava can magnify the potency of other antianxiety medicines and reduce the effectiveness of several other drugs, notably Parkinson's drugs containing levodopa." Side effects include blurred vision and impaired coordination.
CR does warn those taking prescription drugs to consult with your doctor or pharmacist before self-medicating with herbs. There may be drug interactions and some of these could be serious, even life-threatening.
February 26, 1997. Today Katherine Quartz spoke at Sacramento City College and I was able to attend and get some more information on the case. She was part of a panel which included her lawyer, a Native American who is also a psychologist and a woman who heads an Indian Services Agency. Her son, Thomas, was also in attendance.
Apparently, an Indian who lives on a reservation is not a citizen of the United States and is under the jurisdiction of Indian tribal laws and courts. Had Ms. Quartz never left her reservation, she would have been free to seek any kind of treatment she wished for her son. But she had gone to Portland, Oregon, to go to college. This fact was used by authorities in Oregon and California to impose their laws on her. She did seek out a pediatrician for her son when he first got ill. She did not seek out an Indian healer at that time, she said, because the only healer in her area was gravely ill himself. The diagnosis of Hodgkins was not immediate, but was not made until four months after the first visit with a physician. When chemotherapy was offered as the only reasonable therapy for her son, she says she told the doctors she wanted to do some research first. She did and concluded that chemotherapy was not a reasonable modality of treatment. She then took her son to a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, who treated her son with acupuncture and herbs. (She asserted a belief that "herbs can go in and break up tumors," though she gave no source for this notion.) She then took her son to a naturopath who treated him with herbs.
She says that her troubles began when she tried to get a CAT scan of her son, which she says she wanted in case any questions came up later about the efficacy of the treatments she'd chosen for her son. X-rays had shown significant reduction in tumor size and growth, she says. But a CAT scan would provide better evidence, she believed. Her treatment by the medical doctors in Oregon she went to for the CAT scan was less than respectful of Indian ways. She was told that chemotherapy was the only correct medical treatment for her son and that she was endangering his life by seeking alternative treatments. One pediatrician even wrote to authorities investigating the case that Ms. Quartz's thought processes were impaired. His evidence seemed to be limited to the fact that she disagreed with him on the proper medical treatment for her son.
Given the unique status of Indians--they are basically members of a foreign nation, but have unique status granted in the U.S. Constitution--the Tribal appellate court's ruling is binding and California cannot order the boy back into chemotherapy. According to Ms. Quartz, her son received five chemotherapy treatments against her will. He looked fine today, but she said that after the treatments he looked awful. His hair fell out and he developed mouth sores and other signs of physical debilitation (which are common side effects of chemotherapy). She says that her research discovered that her son might be made sterile by chemo and that the statistics were not exactly as promising as they might seem. According to her lawyer, the survival rate was 90% if the patients were followed for ten years. But if they were followed for fifteen years, the survival rate was less that 10%. Both claim that there is evidence that while chemo might stop a cancer, it so debilitates the immune system that the effects after ten years are devastating.
In her quest to seek the best course of treatment for her son, Ms. Quartz was charged with child endangerment and had her son taken away from her. She was charged with kidnapping for taking him from a hospital. She claims a police officer held a gun to her head and told her she was killing her son by not getting him into chemotherapy. A medical doctor abused his authority to try to get her declared mentally incompetent because she dared to favor alternative medicine to traditional medical treatment. Her behavior as a mother was exemplary and her seeking out an Indian healer is consistent with her life on a reservation for the past sixteen years. I don't know if I would have made the same decision as she did about the chemotherapy, but I know that I would have done research, too. And if I came to the conclusion that the therapy recommended by my physician was not the best for my child, I would not put my child into the therapy. Furthermore, I would not expect to be labeled mentally incompetent or a child abuser simply because I came to a different conclusion than my physician.
As readers of my pages know, I hold no sympathy for alternative medical treatments. But I have even less stomach for authoritarian bullies whether they carry guns or a stethoscope.
(Ms. Quartz says her son has been given a "clean bill of health" but she doesn't say by whom. Master herbalist Joseph?)
July 19, 2000. "Are 'functional foods' dangerous? Opponents renew call for stricter FDA regulations," is a CNN.com story about cashing in on the growing fascination with "alternative" medicine and "natural" drugs. Manufacturers of ice cream, cereal, teas, soft drinks, etc. are adding herbs along with unsubstantiated claims about improving memory and enhancing immune systems. The so-called nutraceuticals are popular with consumers, despite the lack of evidence in support of the claims being made.
"According to the General Accounting Office, the investigative division of the U.S. Congress, American consumers spent about $31 billion last year on dietary supplements and herbal food products."[thanks to Jon Henrik Gilhuus]
From Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletters
#30. Pat wrote: "I would like to know the truth about the claimed health benefits of drinking apple cider vinegar [ACV] and honey tonics." I always turn to Quackwatch for information on questionable medical practices and I suggest everybody else do the same.
A recent issue of Dr. Stephen Barrett's Consumer Health Digest just happened to have a way to find the answer:
Three apple cider vinegar marketers warned to curb claims. The FDA has warned three Internet marketers of apple cider vinegar tablets to stop making claims that their products are effective against various diseases:
HCC DemoMarketing, LLC, of Germantown, Tennessee, was told to stop suggesting that its products are useful for arthritis, osteoperosis [sic], and sore throats.
Apple-Cider-Vinegar-Diet-Pills.Com, of Dayton, Ohio, was warned to stop claiming that their pills can relieve arthritis pain, fight infection, fight osteoporosis, control cholesterol, help people with high blood pressure, and relieves sore throats, laryngitis, and nasal congestion.
Sharon L. Bush, of Birmingham, Alabama, was warned to stop suggesting that her pills are useful against arthritis, prostate problems, multiple sclerosis, and high cholesterol levels.
ACV tabs are also part of the lucrative diet-pill scam business. See "Vinegar and Weight Loss: The Sour Truth Will vinegar pills help me lose weight?" by Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD. The Nutrition Forum (Vol 14 No. 6 November/ December 1997) contained the essay "The Sour Truth about Apple Cider Vinegar" by Beth Fontenot, MS, RD.
***
Jay wrote to complain about his doctor who has a sales office in his examination room.
A quick missive to THANK you for exposing the despicable, coercive tactics of MLM [multi-level marketing] recruiters. One of the worst I have encountered in recent years is a physician I visited who had all sorts of vitamins, supplements and magnetic therapy (!) products prominently displayed in his office. As he was poking away at my foot with all manner of sharp instruments, he began to pitch me on these products, especially a magical magnetic mattress cover that sold for THOUSANDS of dollars! How totally unethical! And how much of an argument am I going to give the guy who's holding the scalpel? I think MLMs ARE a cult!
I have no idea why Jay thinks this guy is involved in an MLM. Trying to sell you something is one thing; trying to recruit you to sell the product is another. Both would be unethical, in my view, for a doctor to do out of the examination room.
#8. HarmonicInnerprizes says it "dedicates itself to bringing LIGHT into the world through high quality nutritional supplements, assisting in the facilitation of the advancement of human consciousness on our planet." (How can I ridicule such nobility!?)
External articles worth a look
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE CONFERENCE STATEMENT Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements and Chronic Disease Prevention May 15–17, 2006
Quackwatch on "Dietary Supplements," Herbs, and Hormones
The Dangers of Dietary Supplements
Colloidal Mineral Supplements: Unnecessary and Potentially Hazardous by James Pontolillo
DHEA: Ignore the Hype by P.J. Skerret
Herb (St. John's Wort) ineffective as anti-depressant
Some Herbs Boost Breast Cancer Risk (Herbal Supplements to Fight Menopause Symptoms Can Be Dangerous) by Liza Jane Maltin
Kava Linked to Liver Damage
Dietary Supplements and Animals by Linda Grassie
Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation (Part 1); (Part 2.)
High doses of vitamin E may increase risk of death
Vitamins 'may raise death risk from cancer' Oct 1, 2000
Vitamin A and increased risk of bone fracture
Vitamin E supplements may increase heart risk