Is This the End of Popping Vitamins?
( The Wall Street Journal, New York) -- "The case for dietary supplements is collapsing. A succession of large-scale human studies...suggests that multivitamins and many other dietary supplements often don't have health benefits -- and in some cases may even cause harm. The data have prompted some nutrition researchers to say taking vitamins is a waste of money for those without a specific nutrient deficiency or chronic illness. Such findings have also fueled a debate about whether the field should continue conducting expensive human trials to figure out whether particular supplements affect health...Researchers and nutritionists are still recommending dietary supplements for the malnourished or people with certain nutrient deficiencies or medical conditions. For instance folic acid -- the supplement form of folate -- reduces the likelihood of a common birth defect if taken by pregnant women. Studying the effects of vitamins and supplements in the real world is difficult, since people eat foods with multiple nutrients that can interact with supplements and skew results. And observational trials can only show an association, not cause and effect...Micronutrients, which include antioxidants like vitamin C, hormones like vitamin D and metals like iron, are essential to the body in small amounts because they help facilitate important reactions in and between cells. Too much of them, however, can cause problems. The effectiveness of many dietary supplements remains untested and makers aren't required to do tests before selling a product. Still, about half of Americans reported taking at least one supplement a month in 2006...The supplement industry brought in $28 billion in sales in 2010...Vitamin users may derive a benefit from the placebo effect, experts say. And they often are convinced the supplements make them feel better, regardless of what studies show."
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Flu Vaccine Not as Effective as Thought, New Study Says ( Minnesota Public Radio) -- "A new comprehensive analysis...screened thousands of flu studies published since the 1960s and found only a handful that adequately measured the effectiveness of flu vaccine...awareness campaigns...and easy access to the vaccine gives the impression that anyone who is immunized will be protected from flu. But the new [report]...suggests...on average, more than 40 percent of people who receive a flu vaccine get no protection from it against the flu."
Curb Soaring Population Growth? Keep Girls in School(Reuters) -- "In May, the United Nations projected the world population would reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100...Most family planning experts warn against extreme coercive population control measures, such as China's 'One Child' policy...the United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA...[is focused] on empowering women in such a way as to change the cultural norms...Africa is full of examples of countries struggling with efforts to attain full educational enrollment in the face of high fertility."
Panel Endorses HPV Vaccine for Boys of 11
( The New York Times) -- "Boys and young men should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, or HPV...the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices...[previously] recommended in 2006 that girls and young women...should be vaccinated...HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease [up to 80 percent of all Americans are]...infected at some point in their lives. Most...[suffer] no ill effects. But in some people, infections lead to cellular changes that cause warts or cancer...Vaccinating boys is cost effective when...rates in girls are relatively low, which they are now."
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Ovarian Cancer Risk Almost Halved After 10 Years on the Pill, Study Shows
( The Guardian, London) -- "Taking the contraceptive pill for 10 years almost halves a woman's risk of ovarian cancer...Getting pregnant was the next most protective behaviour...The bigger the family she had, the less likely a woman was to get ovarian cancer...The study...is part of a programme of research looking at the links between diet, lifestyle and cancer...How much protection...the pill depends on...individual risk...because some of the causes will be genetic."
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Measuring Quality Improves Doctors' Care, Study Finds (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) -- "Numerous studies have been done on the quality measures and outcomes now tracked and reported by hospitals...But relatively little information is available about the quality of care provided by doctors in their offices...[The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality] tracks more than 30 quality measures for physician practices. And [aims]...to show the value in gathering and disclosing the information."
Polio -- Nation Sinks in PAIN
(Daily Trust, Nigeria) -- "Nigeria faces a bleak scenario -- that poliomyelitis could resurge...in 2010, officials considered the country to be on target. The dip was less than expected, because activities in the run-up to general elections disrupted immunisation programmes...But [now] a rise in the number of polio cases...has shaken that confidence and ignited worry...The pressure to stop polio is increasing...Nigeria is still one of four embarrassingly named PAIN countries -- along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and India -- yet to completely stop the virus."
Report: Industry Decides US Food Ingredient Safety
(The Associated Press) -- "Thousands of ingredients that go into food have been classified as safe by private industry alone...Since the early 1960's, private companies and industry trade associations have determined at least 3,000 ingredients are safe, with no federal scrutiny, the study found...The Grocery Manufacturers Association says the industry only classifies ingredients as safe after a battery of rigorous biological tests, but agrees that more transparency in the vetting process would help build consumer confidence."
Pharma Giants Open Up Drug Patents in New Collaboration
(Agence France-Presse) -- "Pharmaceutical giants and the UN [United Nations] intellectual property agency launched...a collaboration to share certain patented drug information with public organisations. The cooperation is aimed at the development of new drugs and vaccines for around 20 diseases, including neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis, and will involve major drugmakers...Under the scheme, the intellectual property licences on these drugs would be available free of charge for the world's poorest countries."
As More Use Tech, Child Development Is an Issue
(San Francisco Chronicle) -- "Television is still the king of media for kids up to age 8...The survey is the first to look at how much kids, from birth to age 8, use the newest and increasingly popular forms of media technology...Doctors and child development experts generally agree that too much screen time isn't great for kids, but with so much of the technology still very new, there's little understanding of what effect -- good or bad -- the various media can have on young minds."
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1 comment:
Pro-vaccine propaganda has no place in a "Baha'i Perspective" on health. The Baha'i Writings do not promote vaccines. They say that in the future, disease will be treated with foods.
http://www.drcarley.com for the real deal on vaccines.
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