AMA 'junk science' study falsely attacks vitamins, minerals

AMA ‘junk science’ study used to falsely label vitamins and minerals as dangerous

by Tony Isaacs

(The Best Years in Life) The mainstream media is awash and abuzz with news about a new study which purports to show that taking vitamins, minerals and other supplements can be dangerous. However, even a perfunctory look at the study reveals it to a seriously flawed study using junk science.

The study, published in the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Archives of Internal Medicine, actually consisted of nothing more than an analysis of a series of three questionnaires given to almost 39,000 women over a 19 year period.

The researchers analyzed the self-reported results and determined that there was a 2.4 percent increased risk of death associated with the use of multiple vitamins. Though such an amount is statistically insignificant, that did not keep the media from jumping on the story as proof of the danger of taking vitamin and mineral supplements. And the study authors themselves declared:

“We see little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements”.

The Alliance for National Health (ANH) immediately blasted the so-called study in an article titled “Shame on AMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine”, noting that:

“In the study, all of the relative risks were so low as to be statistically insignificant, and none was backed up by any medical investigation or biological plausibility study. No analysis was done on what combinations of vitamins and minerals were actually consumed, and no analysis of the cause of death was done beyond grouping for “cancer,” “cardiovascular disease,” or “other”—there was certainly no causative analysis done.”

Another large problem with the study was that there was no differentiation made between unnatural synthetic vitamins and crushed rock minerals and natural whole foods derived vitamins and minerals. The vast majority of the vitamin and mineral supplements used by the women were assuredly common over the counter items which contained few, if any, whole foods derived vitamins and minerals.

The body knows the difference between synthetics and the forms of vitamins it has utilized for many tens of thousands of years. The body most often treats unnatural petro-chemical coal tar derivative vitamins as unnatural toxins. Consume unnatural toxins and put crushed rocks in your body for up to 19 years and there might well be an increased likelihood to have negative health results - especially if you happened to be someone who tried to offset unhealthy diet and lifestyle practices with supplements.

Minerals are absolutely essential for proper absorption and utilizations of vitamins. Thus the vast majority of the women in the study were taking minerals which were hard to properly absorb and utilize, which in turn made those synthetic vitamins that much harder to absorb and utilize.

Had a study been conducted on people who took only whole-foods derived supplements the results would have likely been markedly different. However, we are unlikely to ever see such a study by the AMA – an organization which has a dark history of opposing, suppressing and even persecuting alternatives to patented drugs and mainstream medical treatments.

See for example:

Modern Medicine: How Healing Illness became Managing Illness for profit

The study authors and other mainstream medical commentators also tried to further the maim-stream myth that one can get all the nutrition they need from simply eating a healthy diet. Such a myth has been shown to be one of the worst ones perpetrated on the public by the sickness industry. See:

The myth of being able to get all the nutrition one needs from diet alone

As the ANH aptly concluded in their article:

“In short, this study is less than useless: it is dangerous, because it is being used by the media and the mainstream medical establishment to blacken the eye of nutritional supplements using poor data, bad analysis, and specious conclusions - otherwise known as junk science.”

Other sources included:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-10/vitamins-may-boost-death-risks-in-older-women-study-suggests.html
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/171/18/1625
http://www.anh-usa.org/shame-on-ama-archives-of-internal-medicine/
http://www.naturalnews.com/033610_diet_nutrition.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/023509_studies_supplement_vitamins.html

About the author

Tony Isaacs is a natural health advocate and researcher and the author of books and articles about natural health including "Cancer's Natural Enemy".  Mr. Isaacs articles are featured at Natural News, the Health Science Institute's Healthiertalk website, CureZone, the Crusador online, AlignLife, the Cancer Tutor, the American Chronicle and several other venues. Mr. Isaacs also has The Best Years in Life website for baby boomers and others wishing to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. In addition, he hosts the Yahoo Oleandersoup Health group of over 2000 members and the CureZone "Ask Tony Isaacs - Featuring Luella May" forum.

See also:

Mainstream Studies on Natural Health Flawed

Study Finds that Multivitamins and Calcium Slash Breast Cancer Risk

Forget the Headlines - Keep Taking Your Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements

The lack of science behind mainstream medicine's rejection of alternative healing