Misleading Titles on Vitamin B Supplements

The title of this article is as follows: Supplements a solution for B6 deficiency, says study

But the study said nothing of the kind. This is a glaring example of the slippery slope of inferrance. Here is the opening line, which follows the misleading header:

"Researchers at Tufts University have suggested inadequate vitamin B6 levels across large sections of the US population, which could be reduced via supplementation."

All they found was that vitamin B6 levels are lower than the US RDA. The authors speculate that they could be corrected by pills, but that study has not been done and has no basis here.

It seems like we want this to be true, and the search for a product (pill/supplement/drug) to correct a process (poor food/low exercise/high stress lives) forms the core of our current paradigm on health.

This is not a productive strategy, and should be replaced. In fact, we just read the article stating that vitamin B supplementation does not protect against heart disease. This adds to other examples where supplementation products did not correct health problems that are induced by an unhealthy process, or lifestyle.

Source: American Journal of Clinical NutritionVolume 87, pages 1446 -54."Trends of Vitamin B6 Status in US Population Sample"Authors: Morris MS, Picciano, MF, Jacques PF, Selhub, J.

Weight Loss Pills, Products, Potions Finally Falter

Food and Drink reports that weight loss products are flagging under the weight of consumer skepticism. This is great news for the culture of health, as this points to the "growing up" of the diet consumer.

Pills, powders, and other quick fix potions are being disregarded by people who are through with their unfulfilled promises of rapid and easy weight loss.

The Food and Drink report whines that this decline is due to those 'bogus' weight loss supplements and food products, which are $3.7B dollar industry. It is hard to shed a tear for their exploitation of your hopes, and blatant use of come-hither advertising to skirt the need for long term lifestyle solutions.

From the article: There have been 29 new weight loss supplement products launched in the US from January to May 2008. Last year, GNPD recorded a total of 59 new weight loss supplement launches. The food category for weight loss recorded 167 new products in 2007 and 94 new products in the 2008 year to date.

Volatile salesAccording to Mintel, liquid and powder meal replacement drinks have dominated sales in the weight loss category, but this segment has also seen declined sales between 2004 and 2006, "reflecting the market's overall poor performance".

Why are consumers sour on the pills/products/potions? A huge factor are all the law suits, health problems, and the fact that they just don't work in the long term.

"The FTC has prosecuted over 100 such cases since 1990, and by all indications appears to be tightening its regulatory methods in the near future. Furthermore, consumer worry about physical side effects and dependency also mitigate sales."