Anti-Supplement Bias Evident in USA Media: From "Sham vs. Wham: The Health Insider"

[D.]

Today's post from "Sham vs. Wham: The Health Insider":

The American Media's Anti-Supplement Slant

As my readers know, I am over in Europe right now and what a
difference we have in the reporting of facts about herbs, or
about dietary supplements on this side of the water compared
to the States. I truly believe that we are seeing an agenda
playing out here, driven by pharmaceutical companies and the
huge money that they throw into the media with their
advertising campaigns for drugs.

Here's an example . . . Both today's BBC news, and the local
news in Lisbon, Portugal, carried the story of new, large
Echinacea clinical trials which show strong results from the
herb for keeping colds at bay, and also for knocking out
colds early. Here are some of the facts of this story about
the research done by researchers from the USA and reported in
The Lancet (one of the most important medical publications in
the world):

"Taking the herbal remedy echinacea can more than halve the
risk of catching a common cold, US researchers say. They found
it decreased the odds of developing a cold by 58% and the
duration of colds by a day-and-a-half. The results in The
Lancet Infectious Diseases conflict with other studies that
show no beneficial effect.

Experts believe echinacea, a collection of nine related plant
species indigenous to North America, may work by boosting the
body's immune system. Researchers, led by Dr Craig Coleman
from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy,
combined the results of 14 different studies on Echinacea's
anti-cold properties.

In one of the 14 studies the researchers reviewed, echinacea
was taken alongside vitamin C. This combination reduced cold
incidence by 86%. When echinacea was used alone it reduced
cold incidence by 65%."

As you might imagine, seeing this as front page headlines
locally and on the BBC, and seeing that it was an American
research team, I thought for sure that it would be repeated
either on CNN or on the various USA networks or print media.
Apparently, I was mistaken. It seems that the same news
media outlets which prominently featured the NEGATIVE trials
on this herb simply took this positive news and swept it
under the rug.

I am beginning to sense a serious MD/Pharma Company coalition
working against the dietary supplement industry. Does anyone
else have another explanation for this? See the news story
from BBC linked to this headline.

D.

[Jim Chinni]

"D." <djensen36@cox.net> wrote in part:

>Today's post from "Sham vs. Wham: The Health Insider":
>
>The American Media's Anti-Supplement Slant
>
>As my readers know, I am over in Europe right now and what a
>difference we have in the reporting of facts about herbs, or
>about dietary supplements on this side of the water compared
>to the States. I truly believe that we are seeing an agenda
>playing out here, driven by pharmaceutical companies and the
>huge money that they throw into the media with their
>advertising campaigns for drugs.
>
>Here's an example . . . Both today's BBC news, and the local
>news in Lisbon, Portugal, carried the story of new, large
>Echinacea clinical trials which show strong results from the
>herb for keeping colds at bay, and also for knocking out
>colds early. Here are some of the facts of this story about
>the research done by researchers from the USA and reported in
>The Lancet (one of the most important medical publications in
>the world):
>
>"Taking the herbal remedy echinacea can more than halve the
>risk of catching a common cold, US researchers say. They
>found it decreased the odds of developing a cold by 58% and
>the duration of colds by a day-and-a-half. The results in The
>Lancet Infectious Diseases conflict with other studies that
>show no beneficial effect.
>
>Experts believe echinacea, a collection of nine related plant
>species indigenous to North America, may work by boosting the
>body's immune system. Researchers, led by Dr Craig Coleman
>from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy,
>combined the results of 14 different studies on Echinacea's
>anti-cold properties.
>
>In one of the 14 studies the researchers reviewed, echinacea
>was taken alongside vitamin C. This combination reduced cold
>incidence by 86%. When echinacea was used alone it reduced
>cold incidence by 65%."
>
>As you might imagine, seeing this as front page headlines
>locally and on the BBC, and seeing that it was an American
>research team, I thought for sure that it would be repeated
>either on CNN or on the various USA networks or print media.
>Apparently, I was mistaken. It seems that the same news
>media outlets which prominently featured the NEGATIVE trials
>on this herb simply took this positive news and swept it
>under the rug.
>
>I am beginning to sense a serious MD/Pharma Company coalition
>working against the dietary supplement industry. Does anyone
>else have another explanation for this? See the news story
>from BBC linked to this headline.
>
>D.

Statistically, one would expect a positive result (0.05) about
1 in 20 times when there is no true effect. That's about what
we see for Echinacea.
--
Jim Chinnis Warrenton, Virginia, USA jchinnis@alum.mit.edu

[D.]

On Jun 25, 10:09 am, Susan <neverm...@nomail.com> wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> Jim Chinnis wrote:
> > There is almost always laboratory support for mechanisms
> > with any drug/"supplement." There have been some
> > randomized studies of echinacea to see if it prevents
> > colds. Those are what I recall seeing.
>
> > I know I used to take echinacea and stopped after seeing
> > too much negative data from controlled studies.
>
> \ There are data both for and against, very likely due to
> the variability in the preparations and their constituents.
>
> At least, that's what a review of the literature pointed to
> when I did a quick search earlier today.
>
> Susan

The meta analysis of all trials has now been done, and is
reported on in today's USA Today, finally . . .

D.

[Susan]

x-no-archive: yes

Jim Chinnis wrote:

> Statistically, one would expect a positive result (0.05)
> about 1 in 20 times when there is no true effect. That's
> about what we see for Echinacea.
> --

I don't know what you've been reading, but when I researched
it years ago, I found evidence for macrophage mobilization and
other immune stimulatory effects of echinacea.

Anecdotally; it made me extremely faint and weak when I tried
it for sinus infection many years ago; this is a very common
occurrence in CFS and FMS patients who try it at anything
above tiny doses.

I think some of the research I read supporting it for
infections was from the German E commission.

Susan

[Jim Chinni]

Susan <nevermind@nomail.com> wrote in part:

>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Jim Chinnis wrote:
>
>> Statistically, one would expect a positive result (0.05)
>> about 1 in 20 times when there is no true effect. That's
>> about what we see for Echinacea.
>> --
>
>I don't know what you've been reading, but when I researched
>it years ago, I found evidence for macrophage mobilization
>and other immune stimulatory effects of echinacea.
>
>Anecdotally; it made me extremely faint and weak when I tried
>it for sinus infection many years ago; this is a very common
>occurrence in CFS and FMS patients who try it at anything
>above tiny doses.
>
>I think some of the research I read supporting it for
>infections was from the German E commission.
>
>Susan

There is almost always laboratory support for mechanisms with
any drug/"supplement." There have been some randomized studies
of echinacea to see if it prevents colds. Those are what I
recall seeing.

I know I used to take echinacea and stopped after seeing too
much negative data from controlled studies.
--
Jim Chinnis Warrenton, Virginia, USA jchinnis@alum.mit.edu

[Susan]

x-no-archive: yes

Jim Chinnis wrote:

> There is almost always laboratory support for mechanisms
> with any drug/"supplement." There have been some randomized
> studies of echinacea to see if it prevents colds. Those are
> what I recall seeing.
>
> I know I used to take echinacea and stopped after seeing too
> much negative data from controlled studies.
\ There are data both for and against, very likely due to the
variability in the preparations and their constituents.

At least, that's what a review of the literature pointed to
when I did a quick search earlier today.

Susan

[John H.]

E has been found to increase the risks of asthma and allergy
problems. I'm not a fan of immunostimulants. Most people seem
to think that anything which increases immuno activity is a
good thing. Not true, it can be quite dangerous, particularly
for your nervous system. In any event, getting the occasional
mild infection may be good for us.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html-
?in_article_id= 464156&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

"D." <djensen36@cox.net> wrote in message
news:1182796681.993215.130180@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Jun 25, 10:09 am, Susan <neverm...@nomail.com> wrote:
> > x-no-archive: yes
> >
> > Jim Chinnis wrote:
> > > There is almost always laboratory support for mechanisms
> > > with any drug/"supplement." There have been some
> > > randomized studies of
echinacea to
> > > see if it prevents colds. Those are what I recall
> > > seeing.
> >
> > > I know I used to take echinacea and stopped after seeing
> > > too much
negative
> > > data from controlled studies.
> >
> > \ There are data both for and against, very likely due to
> > the variability in the preparations and their
> > constituents.
> >
> > At least, that's what a review of the literature pointed
> > to when I did a quick search earlier today.
> >
> > Susan
>
> The meta analysis of all trials has now been done, and is
> reported on in today's USA Today, finally . . .
>
> D.

[D.]

On Jun 25, 4:41 pm, "John H." <bingb...@goaway.com.au> wrote:
> E has been found to increase the risks of asthma and allergy
> problems. I'm not a fan of immunostimulants. Most people
> seem to think that anything which increases immuno activity
> is a good thing. Not true, it can be quite dangerous,
> particularly for your nervous system. In any event, getting
> the occasional mild infection may be good for us.

I don't know John, I love not getting colds, flu, etc, and
haven't been sick at all since taking Arctic Root, a brand
of Rhodiola (adaptogen) made in Sweden. Not one day of work
missed since then -- why exactly would I want to be
infected again?

Dave