In the "no f'ing kidding" department
Apr. 17th, 2007 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexThis is me ranting about modern snake oil. Skip if easily offended.
Story in the NY Times today: Study Sees Little Benefit in Chondroitin for Arthritis. Detail: a review of 20 earlier studies had found that the benefit of the supplement was “minimal or nonexistent.”
Chondroitin is one of the popular remedies found in "dietary supplements" and favored by an alarming number of my acquaintances as miracle cures. Right up there with zinc, emergen-C, garlic and other such foolishness. Yes, healthful supplements, yum yum. Miracle cures for joint pain, making colds vanish? No.
Repeat after me: "There is no biologically plausible way that [chondroitin] can work to repair joints damaged by arthritis." OK, that quote is from Dr. Eric Matteson, chair of the division of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic. Repeat after him, if it works for you.
Promotion of this product is twenty-first-century snake oil. That is, it's an item with plausible value in some situations that gets touted as the miracle cure-all, hey can't-hurt-to-take-it, my-friend-Joe-swears-by-it, whatever. And people shell out money time after time. Willing dupes at best.
Let me try to be plain: if you have a cold, pounding large doses of Vit C will not make the cold go away any faster, even if it is wrapped up in "32 different mineral complexes." It'll probably just make you pee funny. If you have injuries or arthritis or other joint pains, eating sugar and shark cartilage will not cure them. If you believe otherwise, demonstrate a biologically plausible way for it to happen.
It's unclear to my why so many people who are otherwise intelligent and rational, with fully functional critical thinking facilities, can fall prey to this kind of scamming. Is it because we desperately WANT there to be miracle cures? Sure, being sick sucks and arthritis hurts like hell. But that experience doesn't make me blind to my knowledge of biology, chemistry, and medicine. It's beyond me why people believe in this stuff.
It doesn't help me feel better at all when the Natural Products Association (there's an unbiased organization, yeah) responds that "Clearly, research has demonstrated..." Uh, no. No, it hasn't. That's the POINT, you charlatans.
For the record, I'm not speaking about herbal medicine. If you really want snake oil, take the actual stuff for your arthritis. The original snake oil (which I'm told you can still get in Chinese medicine shops) really does help join pain because it's an anti-inflammatory. Many years ago, I worked with a guy who took it regularly for bursitis. Said person wasn't miraculously cured of his condition but he did get relief with fewer side effects than western-style NSAIDS gave him.
There. I feel better now.
Story in the NY Times today: Study Sees Little Benefit in Chondroitin for Arthritis. Detail: a review of 20 earlier studies had found that the benefit of the supplement was “minimal or nonexistent.”
Chondroitin is one of the popular remedies found in "dietary supplements" and favored by an alarming number of my acquaintances as miracle cures. Right up there with zinc, emergen-C, garlic and other such foolishness. Yes, healthful supplements, yum yum. Miracle cures for joint pain, making colds vanish? No.
Repeat after me: "There is no biologically plausible way that [chondroitin] can work to repair joints damaged by arthritis." OK, that quote is from Dr. Eric Matteson, chair of the division of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic. Repeat after him, if it works for you.
Promotion of this product is twenty-first-century snake oil. That is, it's an item with plausible value in some situations that gets touted as the miracle cure-all, hey can't-hurt-to-take-it, my-friend-Joe-swears-by-it, whatever. And people shell out money time after time. Willing dupes at best.
Let me try to be plain: if you have a cold, pounding large doses of Vit C will not make the cold go away any faster, even if it is wrapped up in "32 different mineral complexes." It'll probably just make you pee funny. If you have injuries or arthritis or other joint pains, eating sugar and shark cartilage will not cure them. If you believe otherwise, demonstrate a biologically plausible way for it to happen.
It's unclear to my why so many people who are otherwise intelligent and rational, with fully functional critical thinking facilities, can fall prey to this kind of scamming. Is it because we desperately WANT there to be miracle cures? Sure, being sick sucks and arthritis hurts like hell. But that experience doesn't make me blind to my knowledge of biology, chemistry, and medicine. It's beyond me why people believe in this stuff.
It doesn't help me feel better at all when the Natural Products Association (there's an unbiased organization, yeah) responds that "Clearly, research has demonstrated..." Uh, no. No, it hasn't. That's the POINT, you charlatans.
For the record, I'm not speaking about herbal medicine. If you really want snake oil, take the actual stuff for your arthritis. The original snake oil (which I'm told you can still get in Chinese medicine shops) really does help join pain because it's an anti-inflammatory. Many years ago, I worked with a guy who took it regularly for bursitis. Said person wasn't miraculously cured of his condition but he did get relief with fewer side effects than western-style NSAIDS gave him.
There. I feel better now.
