tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post4925609997765246243..comments2023-10-01T04:36:19.806-07:00Comments on medicine: facts and fictions: Dietary Supplements (Vitamins and Minerals): Killers or Life Extenders?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post-60245369936317462482012-11-30T14:17:08.201-08:002012-11-30T14:17:08.201-08:00An article just published in JAMA (Nov. 7, vol 308...An article just published in JAMA (Nov. 7, vol 308, pp 1752-60) described a 10 year interventional study of adult male doctors, administered by Harvard University. A daily multivitamin did NOT reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths.george thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14810516710667919032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post-26174442679381412222011-11-16T19:23:49.567-08:002011-11-16T19:23:49.567-08:00And of course, we have the counter-intuitive fact ...And of course, we have the counter-intuitive fact that if a patient has calcium oxalate kidney stones, the proper dietary intervention is to INcrease the amount of calcium in the diet, instead of decreasing dietary calcium, which was formerly recommended for "obvious" reasons.george thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14810516710667919032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post-65247004860938652792011-11-09T19:17:01.636-08:002011-11-09T19:17:01.636-08:00A recent article on the Journal of the Americal Me...A recent article on the Journal of the Americal Medical Association (October, 2011) showed that men who increased the amount of vitamin E in their diet INcreased their risk of prostate cancer.george thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14810516710667919032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post-41332330717821570802011-10-28T15:47:25.058-07:002011-10-28T15:47:25.058-07:00One of my colleagues reminded me of some research ...One of my colleagues reminded me of some research done at Memorial Sloan Kettering, although he did not have the reference at hand: some scientists grew cancer cells in culture, and then tried to find the LD50 for drugs to kill these cells in culture.They found that the addition of anti-oxidants to the culture INcreased the resistance of the cancer cells to the anti-cancer drugs.george thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14810516710667919032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2981197052686065994.post-49208615886833220442011-10-24T16:25:02.449-07:002011-10-24T16:25:02.449-07:00I just remembered a curious study done about 20 ye...I just remembered a curious study done about 20 years ago at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and published in the New England Journal of medicine: It was well-known that a deficiency of vitamin B6 could cause distal neuropathies, and that a dose of 50 to 100 mg/day was the RDA. A clinician thought that double doses of this vitamin would cure females who had carpal tunnel syndrome, so they were started on 200 mg/day of Vitamin B6.After 6 to 12 months, those on the double dose developed the SAME type of distal neuropathy that those who were deficient had. This clinical result has never been explained, but it clearly demonstrates one case where an excess of a water-soluble vitamin caused a medical problem.george thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14810516710667919032noreply@blogger.com