Those who think Vitamin C helps fight colds should take
Vitamin C.
Those who don't think it helps should not take Vitamin C.
Problem solved.
Where's my Nobel Prize?
Ah, but you see, you forgot to work in the Global Warning angle.
Tsk...tsk...tsk...
Posted on 11/10/2008 2:14:06 PM PST by yankeedame
Is Stephen Barrett, M.D. a Quack?
According to the Quackwatch website, Stephen Barrett, M.D. says this about quackery: Dictionaries define quack as “a pretender to medical skill; a charlatan” and “one who talks pretentiously without sound knowledge of the subject discussed.”
Stephen Barrett, M.D. does not have a degree in nutrition science. He has been trained in psychiatry but has not practiced psychiatry for many, many years and has, to the best of my understanding, never practiced nutritional medicine. In my opinion, Stephen Barrett, M.D., when it comes to the field of medicinal use of nutritional supplements, can be easily defined as a Quack since he pretends to “have skills or knowledge in supplements and talks pretentiously” without actually having clinical expertise or sound knowledge of herbal and nutritional medicine.
A person can’t be an expert at a topic if they have not had hands-on experience. Would you feel comfortable having heart surgery by a doctor who has read all the medical books on how to surgically replace a heart valve but has never performed an actual surgical procedure in an operating room? Would you feel comfortable relying on nutritional advice from a retired psychiatrist, Stephen Barrett, M.D. of Quackwatch, even though he has not had hands-on experience using supplements with patients and does not have a degree in nutrition science?
On a positive note, Stephen Barrett, M.D. often does a good job when it comes to researching credentials of individuals in the nutritional industry, or researching the legitimacy or marketing practices of certain supplement companies. He has uncovered or brought to light several cases of companies that have shady or fraudulent practices. I suggest he stay on this course (which is his forte) rather than giving his uneducated opinion on nutritional medicine or supplement research. I also hope he becomes more balanced in his reviews and makes the effort to also mention positive outcomes regarding supplement research, and not just negative outcomes.
Stephen Barrett, M.D. and Quackwatch lose legal battle and ordered to pay defendant’s attorneys’ fees
December 2007 - After a 6-year legal battle, a California judge ordered Stephen Barrett, M.D. to pay the legal fees of a defendant who, although she has posted negative statements about him, was not held accountable due to a technicality. In an effort to protect Web hosting companies from what is posted on their clients’ Web sites, the US Congress put into legislation language that the courts have interpreted as protecting individuals from suits if they don’t originate the alleged libels.
If Jimmy Carter can get one, why not you?
So it seems that the diet restrictions would make sense. Cancer needs sugars/carbs to fuel it, and eating veggies and some fruits (simple unrefined sugars) would really cut off the fuel supply. Without fuel the cancer cells can’t sustain themselves.”
Unless you have a severe metabolic disorder, you're not going to change the bodies PH by what you eat. The normal body functions of respiration, and the kidney function is designed to maintain a very precise PH balance.
With all due respect Doc you’re reading too much of the literature being put out by the statin makers and those being funded by said.
Statins and their relative success in reducing heart attack and death is miniscule and when you figure “all cause death”, which obviously takes into consideration the negative components associated with statin use, the positive results are little.
I have read mountains of data to backup my opinion and would be happy to forward some of it to you.
The Framington studies are a good place to start because it’s the largest and most comprehensive evaluation every done on heart disease. Also a very good book is “The Great Cholesterol Con” by Malcolm Kendrick.
Good solution, but mine goes one step further: Don't get colds and you won't have to worry about the debate. (Colds are so old-school. Do people really still get those?)
I haven't had one since January 2001. I don't know if the Vitamin C is responsible, but I will argue that 3g a day prevents mystery bruises (the kind that magically appear and aren't the result of an injury).
As we all learned in history class*, colds were actually an invention of the American government to keep the black man down. But the disease careened out of control and it spread throughout the population.
A cure has been developed. It has been held secret for decades and, until now, it has only been shared with the white power structure. Finally, the antidote will be released to us all by the new Obama regime.
Obama is a truly great man. Stay tuned, I hear he has also found a cure for rainy days and flat tires but he's saving the news for after inauguration.
/s
* US History 101 with Prof. Ward Churchill
While vitamin C may not be so spectacular, vitamin D(3) along with retinoic acid from vitamin A may actually be of considerable help in fending off infections. The two have been proven to erode the outer coating that protects pathogens.
Importantly, vitamin A is the lesser of the two in the equation, and taking too much can be toxic, so the emphasis is on just taking a normal amount of A, and increasing vitamin D levels, which is much safer.
Typically, the best way to get a big dose of vitamin D is by sunlight, a 15 minute whole body exposure producing almost 30,000 IU. And this may be why the cold and flu season are more pronounced in the dark of winter. Compare this with a typical vitamin D(3) supplement, when one pill provides a mere 1,000 IU.
People vary considerably in how much vitamin D they can take without problems. For some, taking as little as 5,000 IU of pills can have side effects. But for most people, taking up to 50,000 IU a day for several days running is needed for them to have side effects.
But it is important to know what your sensitivity is to vitamin D, as some are now recommending that at the onset of sickness, you take a 1-shot dose of 50,000 IU. That is, 50 - 1000 IU pills. This is followed up with just a slightly above normal dose until you are completely better.
It is also good to use other techniques for colds and flu. For upper respiratory tract problems, such as coughing, sneezing, congestion, and runny nose, a remarkably effective treatment is gulp after gulp, gargling a large glass full of warm, salty water four times a day. This amazing therapy works for a huge range of upper RT, sinus, oral, eustation tube and other problems.
Once this is done, you can attack upper RT problems with a different mechanism as well — metallic zinc. Not zinc pills, which are poorly absorbed by the mucous membranes, but the form of zinc found in Cold-Eeze lozenges, unique to them, that does get readily uptaken, so has the precious FDA statement that they are “proven to reduce duration and severity.”
Zinc and some other elemental metals have an odd ability to inhibit pathogenic reproduction. So when used after a warm, salty gargle has flushed out much of its growth medium, the zinc works to prevent the disease from reestablishing itself. It has a bad aftertaste, but that is desirable, as it is what is fighting the infection.
For severe congestion, nasal saline spray can be very effective at loosening clogged sinuses and helping drainage.
Early on, there was an assumption that it was the vitamin C in fruit juices that helped against sickness. But in truth, there may be entirely different reasons, and varied ones at that.
Cranberry juice in quantity has been discovered to prevent pathogen cell adhesion in both bladder and intestinal infections. If it cannot stick to the cell, it cannot attack it. However, it is unknown if it could help upper RT problems.
Black cherry juice tends to reduce some types of inflammation. Pomegranate juice has very high levels of antioxidants.
Any number of other juices such as blueberry, mangosteen, and grapefruit, have all sorts of interesting health benefits.
What a crock!
Lots of people "who lack the scientific expertise to evaluate" the theory of special/general relativity accept it. So this statement is just sophistry.
I have a little bit of scientific expertise, not quite as much as Pauling, but I have a bit. The real problem for Pauling is that his experiments related to Vitamin C and the common cold were not in accordance with the ones the government wants people to run. Here, specifically double blind studies; Pauling's tests were statistical as I recall. The government cannot abide people who don't play by their rules so they work to crush them.
I remember a medical student I discussed the C/Cold issue with around the time Pauling published his book about this. He quoted a "study" that was reported in Time magazine, and probably elsewhere, which was done at the University of Maryland. The study involve twenty (20!) people. Ten were given Vitamin C according to Pauling's regimen, and ten were given placebos. Participants did not know which group they were in. After some time each participant had rhino-virus injected to his/her nostrils. And each came down with a cold with no distinguishable difference in severity. QED, Vitamin C made no difference.
So I asked my medical student acquaintance, if he thought milk was important to the growth and strength of a baby's bones. He agreed it was. So I proposed the following experiment to him: Take twenty babies, and feed ten of them milk; and feed the other ten white colored water. After some decent interval place each baby's arm so that it bridges some small gap. The drop an anvil from 15 feet above the gap so that one lands on each baby's arm. Note the severity of bone damage.
The medical student understood.
ML/NJ
Problem solved.
Where's my Nobel Prize?
Ah, but you see, you forgot to work in the Global Warning angle. Tsk...tsk...tsk...
I’d take Barrett’s criticisms with a huge grain of salt (or Vitamin C).
Statins have been studied for 30 years in Scandanavia, with increasing benefits: my cardiologist put me on Lovastatin (Mevacor) 20 years ago.
Plaque isn't just stopped: it gets sloughed away in arteries in the body. In the vascularities of the brain it is likewise reduced, slowing any onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease. There's a reason Lipitor is the #1 prescription.
Mucinex nasal spray. I had a really horrible cold in February or March and could hardly breath. That was the only thing that would clear my sinuses enough to be able to sleep. It was a miracle for me.
Yeah, seems like over-the-counter stuff never works for me either.
If I sip while boiling hot, will I still have the roof of my mouth and tongue?
I can put stuff into my ear by myself; three ear surgeries unfortunately didn’t help with my hearing though. I’m no stranger to drops however. Also been recommended to go to an ear specialist at least every 6 months to have the gunk cleaned out of my ear (chronic discharge discovered in 3rd grade).
But thank you for the advice, as it feels like somebody stuck a basketball pump into my face and started pumping.
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