The bogus war on supplements continues

There have been some very positive stories about vitamin supplements making the rounds recently. So you and I both knew that at any moment, the other shoe was going to drop.

And, well… it looks like it just did.

Flawed research using flawed data

“Popular vitamin or mineral supplements taken by millions of adults do not help prevent or treat cardiovascular disease (CVD), with the exception of folic acid, which appears to reduce the stroke risk.”

That broad and overreaching misstatement came straight from a team of researchers upon the completion of their latest literature review. (The worst type of study you can conduct on vitamins — because most of the original research in question wasn’t properly performed in the first place.)

Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water! Where do I even begin? Let’s start with the details of this “research” and go from there.

This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at 179 randomized, controlled trials on vitamin and mineral supplements. And surprise, surprise… researchers concluded that none of the top four supplements (multivitamins, vitamin C, calcium, or vitamin D) had any effect on either heart disease outcomes or overall death risk.

This is a prime example of flawed research drawing conclusions from flawed data. And if you want my opinion, these scientists either didn’t ask the right questions — or they asked the right questions about the wrong vitamins.

Considering the fact that most mainstream researchers don’t know the first thing about supplements, neither explanation would surprise me…

Still, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And the one exception this study found was folic acid, which researchers concluded can slash stroke risk by 20 to 30 percent.

More specifically, trials showed that adding folic acid to a daily treatment with enalapril (a blood pressure medication that goes by the brand name Vasotec®) reduced the risk of a first stroke by 21 percent. (That’s compared to just taking enalapril alone.) And that risk fell by a whopping 73 percent among hypertensive patients with a low platelet count.

Even I was unaware of such a profound benefit, so you can be sure that none of your conventional cardiologists or primary care doctors were, either. And with so much attention focused on the dubious negative findings of this study, that won’t be changing anytime soon.

Which is just plain criminal, if you ask me.

Toeing the line and calling it “science”

Furthermore, this research review was littered with limitations. Namely, the fact that the researchers only used clinical trials, which tend to be shorter and less reflective of the general population. And the fact that they lumped all antioxidants into broad categories, which obviously doesn’t address their different mechanisms of action.

These are two huge things to consider. And typically, I’d be happy they were even mentioned were it not for the fact that everyone involved still seems to be quite pleased with themselves.

And if the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has gone on record saying that nutritional supplements don’t offer squat against heart disease or cancer, why shouldn’t they be pleased with themselves? Obviously, toeing the line is their whole point.

But here’s the truth: No one is saying that nutritional supplements are drugs, or that they can cure disease. Their purpose is to “supplement” your diet. Because no matter what you eat, the modern food supply is so damaged that you’ll never get the nutrients you need in the correct quantities. And unfortunately, that’s a problem none of these bozos will ever address.

In fact, they’ve even gone so far as to say that their findings reinforce the current recommendations to focus on plant-based diets to get your vitamins. But if they believe vitamins are practically useless, why should I be eating a plant-based diet to get more of them? Did I miss something here?

From where I’m sitting, there’s only one explanation for this circular logic. And that’s the fact that more than half the U.S. population takes supplements. And if they weren’t getting anything out of them, I doubt that number would be anywhere near so high.

These researchers can say there’s no consensus on the benefits of vitamins all they want. But science tells a different story.

Every natural solution I talk about — whether it’s here in the Reality Health Check, in my monthly Logical Health Alternatives newsletter, or in my Dr. Fred shows — is evidence-based and backed up by clinical research.

In fact, there’s so much research to support the use of nutrients in preventing and reversing heart disease, I’m currently working on a comprehensive, step-by-step protocol that will give you all the details you need to put nature to work for you — and your heart. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and you’ll be the first to know when it’s ready. So stay tuned for more details here and in my newsletter.

In the meantime, speaking of Logical Health Alternatives, don’t forget that subscribers have access to my entire archive, which is already chock-full of natural, science-backed tips for protecting your heart. Click here to learn more, or sign up today.

Source:

medscape.com/viewarticle/897563