Matthias Rath – steal this chapter

A longer post than usual, luckily I didn’t have to write it. This post was written by Ben Goldacre of Bad Science blog fame, enjoy.

This is an extract from
BAD SCIENCE by Ben Goldacre
Published by Harper Perennial 2009.

You are free to copy it, paste it, bake it, reprint it, read it aloud, as long as you don’t change it – including this bit – so that people know that they can find more ideas for free at www.badscience.net

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The Doctor Will Sue You Now

This chapter did not appear in the original edition of this book, because for fifteen months leading up to September 2008 the vitamin-pill entrepreneur Matthias Rath was suing me personally, and the Guardian, for libel. This strategy brought only mixed success. For all that nutritionists may fantasise in public that any critic is somehow a pawn of big pharma, in private they would do well to remember that, like many my age who work in the public sector, I don’t own a flat. The Guardian generously paid for the lawyers, and in September 2008 Rath dropped his case, which had cost in excess of £500,000 to defend. Rath has paid £220,000 already, and the rest will hopefully follow.  Nobody will ever repay me for the endless meetings, the time off work, or the days spent poring over tables filled with endlessly cross-referenced court documents.

Mangosteen

Mangosteen: Fruit of the future. Claims for the health benefits of this fruit range from preventing your arteries from hardening to being an anti-depressant and anti-tumor agent. In fact the claims are a laundry list of everything you would want your food to do to keep you healthy including fighting dementia -ah the irony. Once again the claims are based on basic research, not clinical trials, that may or may not be applicable to real world in vivo consumption of the processed fruit. The rest of the evidence is anecdotal testimonials which we know are next to useless when looking at these kinds of heath benefits.

One of the leading promoter/sellers of Mangosteen juice was issued a warning letter by the US FDA to reign in it’s extravagant claims for the curative powers of their product as it was essentially being marketed as a drug. As such it would need to be tested and found to be safe and effective regarding these claims, neither is the case. The multi-level marketing company however has thousands of distributors who are more than willing to gush over the effectiveness of their product in treating all sorts of maladies, as well as more general health giving properties.

In the end Mangosteen is just one more in a long line of faddish foods and supplements for which the claims are plentiful but the evidence is scant. Thousands of test tube studies do not prove anything in the way of safety or efficacy. Many plants and fruits contain bio-active compounds that may provide the basis for future treatments but this does not mean that any particular preparation of these is clinically useful. Broccoli contains anti-cancer agents but I would hope that no-one in their right mind thinks the best way to fight tumors is with a plate full of greens. Similarly with Mangosteen I hope you think before you drink.

Resources

http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/archive/g6031d.htm FDA warning letter to XanGo

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1541294-1,00.html

http://www.mangosteen.com/Sciencenonscienceandnonsense.htm

http://www.xing.com/app/forum?op=showarticles;id=3611977;articleid=3613327

Spirulina

Is Blue-Green (algae) my colour? As I’m sure you soon will be I was surprised to find that the health claims for Spirulina have almost no medical backing. One of the claims I have heard for the supposed wonder single celled organism is that it improves the immune system. These claims are backed up by saying that the product is nutrient dense and the “perfect” food. However I have never seen it marketed as a food, it is a supplement. The amounts of nutrients that are available in the capsule or teaspoon of Spirulina that are the recommended dose can be obtained more easily (and cheaply) from eating a balanced meal.

As for “boosting” the immune system, this claim is common to many suplements and alternative practices and like their many other claims is vague and misleading to the point of meaninglessness. Presumably a “boosted” immune system prevents illness and/or speeds recovery but within medicine there is no such concept and it is quite possible that the increase in immune function that is cited could itself cause problems. The immune system is very complex (but not irreducibly so – Ha) and as such there are many more ways for it to go wrong than go right, any attempt to alter it’s function should be done with caution.

Those that attempt to market Spirulina by attempting to trade on it’s alleged medicinal value make a mistake common in the supplement and alternative medicine business, that of confusing fundamental research and clinical trials. There are always projects looking at the effect of compounds on tissue samples, a proportion can look very promising. However the human body is a network of intertwined and sometimes competing reactions and these studies are not always a good predictor of clinical usefulness.

On second thought I don’t think this shade brings out my eyes.

Resources

http://www.theness.com/blue-green-algae-nature%27s-perfect-scam/

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/algae.html

http://www.quackcast.com/ *There use to be a link here to something useful on the Quackcast site, but it’s moved and I can’t find it. But go and listen to everything anyway it’s good stuff.