More mediocre studies try to convince you to ditch your daily supplements

Here’s one of the more ridiculous headlines I’ve come across lately:

“Most popular vitamin and mineral supplements provide no health benefit, study finds.”

No health benefit? How can that be?! Reputable studies are published every single week that illustrate the wide-ranging health benefits of dietary supplements.

And if you read beyond the headline, you find this article does too. Here’s a direct quote: “The study found folic acid alone and B-vitamins with folic acid may reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke.”

Well that sounds like a pretty significant benefit, doesn’t it? So why in the world would they claim supplements have “no benefit” in the headline, when their findings show the exact opposite is true?

That’s a hard one to answer, but it sure wouldn’t be the first time we saw anti-supplement bias in medical reporting. In fact, that bias comes across loud and clear in another recent article, this one from HealthDay News which led with an equally absurd headline:

“Supplements Won’t Help Prevent Heart Disease: Study.”

According to this report, supplements “are probably a waste of money” in preventing heart disease.

But, what’s worse, this article leaves out a critical detail about the study. HealthDay notes that those who took niacin (a B vitamin) had a slightly higher risk of dying during the study period. But what they didn’t report was that in the actual study, this risk was seen in those who took niacin with a statin drug — my, what a convenient omission!

Also, keep in mind that this study was a meta-analysis of more than 175 studies. That might sound impressive, but the rule of thumb with meta-analyses is this: The fewer studies included the better. That’s because a wide range of study designs (different doses, use of inferior supplements, placebo control in only some trials) means that researchers are ultimately comparing apples to oranges… and apricots, bananas, pumpkins, etc.

In short, it’s a muddied data that can’t be completely trusted.

But the HealthDay article shows its bias even more blatantly. They quote a cardiologist who wasn’t even involved in the meta-analysis, who says, “Taking all those supplements really just makes your pee very expensive.”

“Expensive urine” is the anti-supplement crowd’s favorite tagline. And in a literal sense, there’s some truth to it.

You’ve probably noticed that after taking certain supplements, your urine takes on a bright yellow hue. This is seen by some to mean that the vitamins are just flowing through you. In other words, you’re literally flushing them down the toilet.

Don’t believe a word of it.

As Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (editor of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service) explains it — vitamins in your bloodstream are absorbed and put to use. Then your kidneys purify your blood and extract excess vitamins, which end up in your urine. He says, “If your body excretes vitamins in your urine, that is a sign that you are well-nourished and have nutrients to spare.”

And that’s not just good for your heart, it’s good for your whole body. To learn more about the supplements that science shows are essential to optimal heart health, check out Dr. Marc Micozzi’s Heart Attack Prevention & Repair Protocol. You can learn more about it or enroll today by clicking here.

 

SOURCES B PIECE

sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180528171511.htm
Most popular vitamin and mineral supplements provide no health benefit, study finds
St. Michael’s Hospital
May 28, 2018

consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/nutritional-supplements-health-news-504/supplements-won-t-help-prevent-heart-disease-study-734269.html
Supplements Won’t Help Prevent Heart Disease: Study
HealthDay News
May 29, 2018

sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109718345601
Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals for CVD Prevention and Treatment
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
June 5, 2018

orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n21.shtml
The “Expensive Urine” Myth
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D.
November 10, 2008