Fri, Mar-05-04, 10:14
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There and Back Again
Posts: 1,590
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 200/194.4/140
BF:42%/42%/20%
Progress: 9%
Location: Northern Colorado
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The conundrum...
My take on this is that there is quite a mess going on with supplements.
On one hand, as you reference, there are the powerful pharmaceutical companies that stand to lose sales if alternative non-prescription remedies are available for consumers. And certainly, I believe that most basic chronic ailments, more than likely have a healthy supplement alternative.
On the other hand there is a terrible lack of regulation on the purity and efficacy of supplements, to the point that many people are 1) swindled by "magic" snake-oil pills, 2) made ill by impure or unsafe supplements, or 3) simply buy supplements that say they have a certain milligram of ingredient, but don't.
Those three areas of serious concern to me. Self-regulated industries are as bad or worse sometimes than government-regulated industries.
I've come to realize that I can't depend on medical studies necessarily, because I can't determine how unbiased they are.
So there is definitely a rock and a hard place going on.
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