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shadowfyr · 12-04-2003, 03:11 PM

It isn't about trust, it is about gullibility and the easiest person to fool is yourself. If someone tries to sell you something or give you something the first question is a) is it recognizable as medicine. If it is a "nutritional suppliment" then odds are it will have side effects when used with real medicines (or even something like caffine), won't work at all, or will work, but far less effectively that a medicine that has been specifically fine turned to produce greater effect. If it is labelled a suppliment, then you are basically taking your health into your own hands, since the FDA isn't required to regulate such suppliment, unlike real medicines.

The second question is b) Is there any real evidence to show it works? Often the only 'studies' about things ranging from Accupunture, to theroputic touch, to taking Ginko Biloba suppliments consists entirely of taking a bunch of people, giving them a convincing speach and asking them after if the 'feel better'. Real test have shown that it is the speach, ritual and expectation felt by those taking such treatments that appears to affect their answers. No attempt to measure placebo effects are ever used, since the effect is little more than a placebo effect to begin with.

The last question is c) Do you really have a clue what is in it and what those things do? This goes back to the issue in question A, about side effects. Even Vitaman E can have serious health consequences if taken in even normal doses in some instances. It functions as a blood thinner, making it difficult to stop bleeding. If you then tack on some herbs that do the same thing and add in some medication that is used for high blood pressure, then a relatively minor injury that causes internal bleeding will kill you, since even though very small, the wound won't stop bleeding. And while a cut on the skin won't cause you to bleed to death, it will take longer to heal and bleed for far longer than normal, because it won't clot properly.

All in all, your neighbor could be worse than a complete stranger, since as I said, the easiest person to fool is yourself and you can't really truly trust that your neighbor isn't in this instance being a complete and utter fool.

12-04-2003, 03:11 PM	#13
shadowfyr Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 310	It isn't about trust, it is about gullibility and the easiest person to fool is yourself. If someone tries to sell you something or give you something the first question is a) is it recognizable as medicine. If it is a "nutritional suppliment" then odds are it will have side effects when used with real medicines (or even something like caffine), won't work at all, or will work, but far less effectively that a medicine that has been specifically fine turned to produce greater effect. If it is labelled a suppliment, then you are basically taking your health into your own hands, since the FDA isn't required to regulate such suppliment, unlike real medicines. The second question is b) Is there any real evidence to show it works? Often the only 'studies' about things ranging from Accupunture, to theroputic touch, to taking Ginko Biloba suppliments consists entirely of taking a bunch of people, giving them a convincing speach and asking them after if the 'feel better'. Real test have shown that it is the speach, ritual and expectation felt by those taking such treatments that appears to affect their answers. No attempt to measure placebo effects are ever used, since the effect is little more than a placebo effect to begin with. The last question is c) Do you really have a clue what is in it and what those things do? This goes back to the issue in question A, about side effects. Even Vitaman E can have serious health consequences if taken in even normal doses in some instances. It functions as a blood thinner, making it difficult to stop bleeding. If you then tack on some herbs that do the same thing and add in some medication that is used for high blood pressure, then a relatively minor injury that causes internal bleeding will kill you, since even though very small, the wound won't stop bleeding. And while a cut on the skin won't cause you to bleed to death, it will take longer to heal and bleed for far longer than normal, because it won't clot properly. All in all, your neighbor could be worse than a complete stranger, since as I said, the easiest person to fool is yourself and you can't really truly trust that your neighbor isn't in this instance being a complete and utter fool.