Comments on: SnakeOil? Scientific evidence for health supplements

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:28:58 +0000

I would double-check some of these…Don’t get me wrong; I love naturopathic medicine. However, many studies–in both the allopathic and naturopathic world–are unfortunately ill-conceived and statistically ill-supported, though the data seems there at first glance. Vitamin D deficiency, for example, has been shown to be incredibly overestimated by the medical community. (See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046611/ for the NIH’s review of the literature.) In fact, if you eat normally and healthily you should achieve appropriate levels of all vitamins without the need for supplementation (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/more-evidence-against-vitamin-use/). The only people who should supplement their diet with vitamins (and then only B vitamins!) are women who plan on getting pregnant, since folic acid is necessary for fetal development before you can even test positive for hCG.

By: Aaron Slepkov

Aaron Slepkov — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:07:18 +0000

I was very surprised to see Calcium missing under (low efficacy for) osteoperosis. Is this not the most widely taken supplement for the last few decades? I did then find it in the Google docs but I can’t seem to find it on the chart! It may be there nice and clear, but my XY chromosome is acting up and I can’t find it right in front of me. Is there a supplement for THAT?!

Awesome.

Aaron

By: Alex, Editor

Alex, Editor — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:19:35 +0000

Hi Robbie,

If you click through to the full image, you can hover your cursor on each bubble to see which conditions each supplement is for.
Give it a second and the labels should show.
If there are any specifically missing, let us know and we’ll check the graphic.

Alex

By: Robbie Mackay

Robbie Mackay — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:21:16 +0000

Looks great. But really hard to tell what condition each supplement is for since many don’t have a condition inside their bubble – really important given most of these are claimed to treat multiple conditions.

By: Joan

Joan — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:45:29 +0000

I don’t see any explanation for the size of the bubble. Larger study? Higher quality study? Stronger evidence? Or did I miss reading something?

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:59 +0000

I think your reply is spot on. If a supplement has no side effects, why would the “worth it” line be so high up? It’s like saying something is not worth it even if it might help you with no repercussions. How is that logical?

By: Lex

Lex — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:59:15 +0000

Your data is fascinating but I think ultimately presents a confusing picture: Certain supplements have been the focus of much attention – not necessarily due to their potential for effectiveness, but due to the potential for profit. So the number / focus of studies appearing on pubmed doesn’t necessarily give an accurate presentation of the supplement’s potential.

Also I should mention that if you want to “cut through” non human trials (why?), you might give a tip of the hat to the thousands of years of human trials of herbs before the supplements and pharmaceuticals industries started.

Why not do a follow up by a) doing a graph for the in vivo and in vitro studies and b) an assessment of data from old pharmacopoeia?

Or better still, a comparison of the proportion of reports of negative side effects for pharmaceuticals vs. the proportion of reports of negative side effects for supplements.

Infinitely more work, but perhaps infinitely more valuable given the current bias against even the best minds of ancient times…. I would love to see what proportion of the old folklore surrounding herb use turned out to have some basis in fact. A large amount, I would imagine.

By: Carolorenge

Carolorenge — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:42:23 +0000

I must say, what you guys do on this site is awesome, but this snake-oil analysis kinda baffles me a little.
Sorry, but am not a big fan of snakes either so I’ll probably have to stick to my dogs for now.
Hey is there any analysis on dogs? It will be interesting to know.

By: miriam

miriam — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:56:57 +0000

Hi DrC,

Thanks for your comment. The supplements are simply organised alphabetically along the x-axis.

By: Lee Mcavoy

Lee Mcavoy — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:16:54 +0000

Hi a new goverment directive is being initiated this year making it impossible to sell meny natural herbal preperations on the internet, this is really frustrating for consumers as well as bussiness as their is strong evience to suggest many of these products that contain these ingredients may benefit some health conditions. It seems the reason why this has been initiated (in my opinion is for the benefit of pharma companies).

Didnt see any data regarding flax hull lignanas http://www.novadetox.co.uk/acatalog/flax-hulls.html" Just the hulls from the seed, Numerous studies suggesting they may prevent the development of breast, prostate, colon & other cancers.