Category: Herbs & Supplements
Don’t call CAM “cost-effective” unless it’s actually effective
Before deciding CAM is cost-effective, it is important to determine if is just effective. That low bar has not been surmounted.
More HIV Nonsense in Africa
It is estimated that 5% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV – that’s 22.5 million people. Infection rates vary wildly from country to country, with Swaziland having the highest rate at 25.9%. Gambia is below average, at 2% or 18 thousand people, but still has a serious HIV problem, and now finds themselves at the center of the...
Iron supplements for fatigue
How are you feeling today? Tired? Is it your active lifestyle wearing you down? Or is it a sign of something more serious? Complaints about fatigue seem ubiquitous. Perhaps it’s a product of a culture with little downtime. Yet from a medical perspective, fatigue can’t be dismissed with a simple instruction to “get more sleep”. When approached in the pharmacy, I take...
Procera AVH: A Pill to Restore Memory
At the recent Amaz!ng (no, the ! is not a typo) Meeting in Las Vegas, Dr. Gorski, Dr. Novella, “Dr. Rachie” (Rachael Dunlop of Australia) and I participated in a workshop on “Dr. Google” about how to find reliable health information on the Internet. In my presentation, I described step by step how I researched a typical diet supplement product, Procera AVH....
Magnesium: The cure to all disease?
Having spent many evenings and weekends working in a retail pharmacy with a thriving vitamin and supplement aisle, I’m no longer surprised at the purchasing habits of consumers. The setting gave me not only the opportunity to learn about the latest supplement fads, but also to speak with consumers that place great faith in these products. A recent paper suggests 25% of...
Rejecting cancer treatment: What are the consequences?
There have been several studies of people who have refused scientific treatments for cancer. The results have not been good.
Andrew Weil’s Seasonal Supplements
Dr. Andrew Weil has teamed with Innate Response Formulas to develop a series of seminars and a line of products for “seasonally appropriate integrative strategies.” Seasonal Therapeutics is a system for adjusting diet supplement recommendations according to the season of the year. To kick off the program, a one-day seminar was presented by Weil’s colleague Tierona Low Dog in Boston on August...
Cinnamon for diabetes? The consequences of “natural alternatives”
A customer strolled up to the counter one night when I was working in a retail pharmacy: “My doctor says I have prediabetes. I don’t want to take any drugs. Do you have something natural I can use to cut my blood sugar?” I looked at him in the eye, and pointed at his sizeable midsection. “Sir, if you’re at risk for...
Are Berries the New Snake Oil?
Are berries a superfood? No, they're just good for you, like all fruit.
ASEA: Another Expensive Way to Buy Water
ASEA is an expensive way to buy salt water, backed up by an enormous number of sciencey-sounding buzzwords and no meaningful evidence, all wrapped up in a multi-level marketing scheme designed to separate the credulous from their money. Don't buy it.