Action Alert: Vitamin D Report Panelist Has Ties to Big Pharma
December 7, 2010
As we reported last week, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) new and absurdly low vitamin D recommendation flies in the face of scientific evidence. Now we need your help to get Congress to launch an investigation.
Some may ask, “Why are you treating this report as such a big deal? I’ll take however many vitamins I wish, and the government has no say in the matter.” But unless these findings are challenged, the public will accept it as true. Doctors, medical institutions, the media, and governmental agencies will all parrot these ultra-low recommendations on vitamin D dosage, pooh-poohing its important therapeutic benefits, and keeping the American public dangerously deficient in the vitamin. This will mean more colds, more flu, greater dependence on dangerous flu shots and antibiotics, more illness in general, more weak bones, more cancer, and many more deaths. Some experts calculate that proper vitamin D supplementation could save Americans $4.4 trillion over a decade—about $1,346 per person every year.
The IOM updated its official vitamin D recommendations for the first time since 1997. Despite raising the new vitamin levels by 300% for most Americans (suggesting that their previous vitamin D level recommendation was off by 300%), the IOM guidelines are still in contrast to overwhelming scientific evidence that confirms the significant medical benefits of higher vitamin D levels. A recent Harvard Medical School study and numerous other research institutes and doctors have found that vitamin D supplementation is safe and effective, and recommend significantly higher levels than the Institute of Medicine. The IOM now recommends 600 IU (international units) for people between the ages of 1 and 70—their previous recommendation was a mere 200 IU—whereas Harvard and the Vitamin D Council recommend anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 IU a day.
Studies also show that least one-third of Americans are wholly deficient in vitamin D (and a University of Tennessee Health Science Center study says 87% of patients are mildly to severely deficient). This is due to changing lifestyle and cultural trends in which many people in the US get less sun exposure and often inadequate dietary levels of the vitamin. A simple blood test will confirm whether one is deficient or not, although the IOM now appears to want to change the standard for optimum blood serum levels so that a lower level will still get a passing grade. (The IOM suggests the new standard should be changed to 20 ng/ml, whereas previously anything under 30 ng/ml was considered deficient. The Vitamin D Council recommends between 50 and 80 ng/ml.)
The IOM is supposed to be an independent voice. This “quasi-public” non-profit NGO (non-governmental organization) was founded in 1970 under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences. Its purpose is to provide national advice on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine, and health, and its mission is to serve as advisor to the nation to improve health. It works outside the framework of the federal government to provide independent guidance and analysis, and it is supposed to operate under a rigorous, formal peer-review system.
The problem is, the study carried out by the IOM Food and Nutrition Board violated sound scientific process, and its report, Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D, fails to meet the evidentiary standard. For one thing, the researchers refused to consider much of the evidence on vitamin D—their findings are based solely on the relationship between vitamin D and bone health, excluding all other health outcomes, citing a paucity of Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) evidence. They stated that only RCTs can show a causal relationship between an intervention (like vitamin D) and an outcome (like cancer).
In other words, the IOM is holding a vitamin to the so-called pharmaceutical gold standard. There’s a reason there are few RCTs for vitamin D: it’s not a patentable substance, so no big pharmaceutical company stands to make a bundle of money from it, so no one will shell out the millions of dollars necessary for a decent randomized controlled trial. It’s the proverbial Catch-22.
We might also add that the so-called drug gold standard doesn’t even fit dietary supplements. Supplements, which are concentrated food, must always be evaluated in the context of the rest of the diet. In the case of bone health, for example, vitamin D should be taken with calcium, vitamin K (especially K2), and other elements. These are vital co-factors and need to be present together. Supplemental calcium should not be taken without supplemental magnesium (although magnesium may be taken without calcium). And so forth. None of these essential nutrients is a synthetic drug and none of them should be evaluated in the same way as dangerous, synthetic drugs.
On top of that, the types of studies the IOM considered were arbitrarily selected and all over the map. For example, in looking at cancer generally, only four studies were reviewed—and none used vitamin D in doses higher than 1000 IU per day, far below the therapeutic dose, so of course they found no relationship between vitamin D and cancer control. Further, because the IOM declared that vitamin D benefits only bone health (their new, ultra-low, laboratory blood test level recommendations are the bare minimums for the prevention of bone disease), they never suggested optimum levels for overall health. Why didn’t they look at vitamin D levels in the healthiest of people before stating that vitamin D serves only one purpose?
In determining the upper limits of vitamin D dosage, the IOM reversed course completely. Here they used not random controlled trials but only observational studies and animal studies because of “ethical considerations”—though since they weren’t performing the studies themselves, one could hardly accuse them of overdosing their subjects. The upshot is that the evidentiary bar was substantially lowered in determining potential harm. They decided the upper limit should be 4,000 IU, even though many experts say 5,000 is a good daily dose, with higher amounts to correct imbalances—and even the majority of studies the IOM considered say that toxicity doesn’t occur until somewhere between 25,000 and 40,000 IU per day. But, as they put it, “In the absence of a benefit at higher levels [as shown by RCTs], the cautious approach was deemed justified.”
Please note that this conflates safety and efficacy in a typical example of circular reasoning. Even though the available evidence suggests that it is safe to take higher doses, it isn’t really safe because the benefits have not been demonstrated to the researchers’ satisfaction, using criteria that cannot possibly produce a positive result.
To put all this in context, 600 IU (the new recommended daily dose) is equal to just four minutes of mid-day full-body summer sun exposure. About thirty minutes of sunshine would produce approximately 4,000 to 5,000 IU of natural vitamin D in many American latitudes, which the new guidelines indicate may be an overdose. If this is true, nature seems to have goofed badly.
The Vitamin D Council reports that the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) consulted with fifteen vitamin D experts (whom they thank on page vii of their report) and, after reading these fifteen different reports, the FNB decided to suppress them. “Many of these consultants are either famous vitamin D researchers, like Prof. Robert Heaney at Creighton University or, as in the case of Prof. Walter Willett at Harvard, the single best-known nutritionist in the world. So why won’t the FNB tell us what Professors Heaney and Willett thought of their new report?” The Vitamin D Council has filed a federal Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the IOM’s FNB for the release of these fifteen reports.
The Vitamin D Council also points out out that the new recommendation says that an infant and a 300-pound pregnant woman should have the same daily intake, which shows how totally absurd this recommendation really is.
There is, unfortunately, a hidden agenda afoot. A pharmaceutical company is developing a patentable man-made vitamin D analog—yes, a synthetic drug version of vitamin D. And Glenville Jones, PhD, one of the committee members who determined the new vitamin D guidelines and who is quoted as saying that under these guidelines, most people “probably don’t have vitamin D deficiency” and “We think there has been an exaggeration of the public’s interest in vitamin D deficiency,” is an advisor for that same pharmaceutical company.
While the IOM presents itself as a private entity, eighty percent of its budget comes from federal grants. The General Accountability Office (GAO) has a statutory authority to improve the performance and ensure the accountability of groups using tax dollars for the benefit of the American people. The IOM report was sponsored by multiple government agencies and administrations, which means the report and the IOM itself can be subject to investigation by the GAO. In addition, the GAO has previously investigated the IOM and their public health reports.
So beginning today, ANH-USA is collecting signatures for a petition which we will send to Congress. We will be asking Congress to do two things:
- Appoint a new scientific panel to look at all the vitamin D data, including the research from Harvard, the Vitamin D Council, and the fifteen reviewers whose research was suppressed by the FNB. The panel needs to look at all the studies, whether they were Randomized Controlled Trials or not, to see if there is a correlation between vitamin D and health benefits other than bone health, and specifically review whether it was appropriate to lower target serum levels based on limited evidence related to bone health alone. They also need to investigate how the IOM selected upper limits even while admitting there was a lack of evidence to support their findings.
- Ask the GAO to investigate the IOM’s behavior in the creation of this report. The GAO needs to find out why the opinions of the fifteen vitamin D experts were suppressed, and examine the relationship between the scientist on the IOM panel and the pharmaceutical company for whom he is a consultant. They also need to investigate the IOM’s Office of News and Public Information and its role in the widely divergent and inaccurate media coverage of the IOM report, in which many news outlets seemed to think the report was warning us about the “dangers” of vitamin D when in fact the FNB had raised the recommended daily allowance by 300%.
Please sign our petition! We must get Congress to review this latest example of flawed science and crony capitalism. Please take action today!
TO SIGN THE PETITION TO CONGRESS Click THIS LINK to go to the Action Alert page. Once there, fill out the form with your name and address, etc. We’d also love to hear your comments about this article—just add your thoughts below—but remember that the messages below are only seen by our ANH-USA readers and not Congress, the FDA, etc.
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It is noteworthy to see that the IOM used data from animal studies to “prove” that humans need less vit.D. This is yet another example, like the mice studies to determine human harm from nicotine, of animal study data trumping human study data to determine policy, to the detriment of humans (and animals).
Please investigate the findings of the IOM regarding Vitamin D optimum levels. Are they truly independent or taking money/coming under the influence of big pharma! I WANT AN INDEPENDENT BODY interested in true scientific findings from true scientific studies!!
Sincerely,
Rosemary Fritz
Thanks for this exceptional report. People like you keep the rest of us informed and cognizant of what is really the best way to care for ourselves.
Merry Christmas!!
Jorge
I agree with this article; so does Dr. Mercola in his website newsletter ie. mercola.com.
The FDA and IOM have been deceptive and do not protect the public. One must be proactive and do the research for food safety, drug safety, cosmetics, skin care product safety, etc. on their own.
As far as I’m concerned the FDA should be dismantled.
My family (all five of us ages 67, 42, 40, 16 and
were found Vit D deficient after I myself insisted on getting the blood test done. I had to practically argue with all doctors (two internists for my husband and mother and the Pediatricians for my daughters) to get the tests ordered because they said that you should not be deficient in Vit D if you are eating a balanced diet. It has made a huge difference in the overall health of all of us after we started taking the supplement.
Based on blood tests, I need to take 8000 IU D3 per day to maintain around 50 ng/ml 25(HO)D3. I have not had a cold or flu in several years. Earlier in life, before supplementing D3, I usually had 2-3 colds or flu per year.
This article was very informative. Something I could direct my clients to, who were very upset and scared by the article by IOM.
generally the us government, fda, big pharma and big agra, to some extent lie to the american people in an organized collusion with the purpose of financial and/or politicla gain. I recently discovered a tiny plaque build up in 1 heart artery , following a previous calcium score of zero on a ct scan. I e mailed doctors from the international cardioogical congress to find out what to do to reverse and prevetn the problem. They directed me to studies done bythe Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health in Washington DC ( not a gov agency)—It generally stated that the food we eat (big agra) contqains omega 6 to omega 3 ratios of 7:1 to 20 :1 and this highly inflammatory diet is the cause of all major diseases of welath (cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, autoimmune diseasess and so forth)–How can we fix this? Eat foods that have omega 6 ratios to omega 3 of between 4:1 and 1:1–add in a little Omega 3 pill to make up the difference and get a blood test called Essential Fatty Acid profile. Metramex labs does it for $300, but Quest Labs (if your insurance covers thqat) does it for free (paid by your insurnqace). Also a cuase of all these diseases is an imbalance in the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic . The sympahtetic is the exicitory one and is overbalanced in our society. What to do? Take Qi Gong classes . The other peice of info I got was from
Steven sinatra, a now retired cardiologist who did a lot of resesarch in CVD. He used Hawthorn (a natural ACE inhibitor to treat hypertension when someones’s angiotensin I makes too much angiotensin II.) He stuidied the energy physiology of the heart and discovered the heart needs, Calcium/masgnesium; d-ribose, carnitine,taurine and Co Q 10. in additon to the usual vitamins. Thesse give the mitochondrian of your heart more ATP (fuel) and other benefits. Acetyl L carnitine is similar for the brain. This is not a Vitamin D story–so why am I writing this?? Because it is one more BIG AGRA, BIG PHARMA scam on teh american public in order to increase their profits— the diet with the correct Omega balance excludes all the beef that big agra produceds by feeding cattle grains and chikens grains. What we should be eating for the correct omega ratios is: Grass fed beef (ratio of omegas 6 to 3 is about 2:1), real freee range chickens (they are on grass alll day eating grass and bugs not running around a chicken coop and being fed grain); the eggs of such chikens, the organ meat of such cattle(ratio is 1:1); wild alaskan caught salmon; wild caught sardimnes (off Spain coast); lots of organic green vegetables; berries; nuts; hemnp oil has a 3:1 raatio; canola oil has a 1 1/2:1 rqatio; olive oil has a higher ratio. Youj caN SEARCH THE WEB FOR RATIOS IN ALL FOODS. but THE BIGGEST OFFENDER HERE IS BIG AGRA. The average bloood level in Americans for Omega 6:to Omega 3 is bnetween 10:1 and 20:1, hence our rising and great numbers of cardiological diseases.who benefits? Pharmaceutical companies and the vendors of the diagnostic tools for CVD. In India the ratio is 58:1- which is why they have the highest rate of CVD in the worldThey do not eat beef since it is forbidden in the Hindu religion but they use many seed oils some of which have realy unhealthy omega 6 to omega 3 ratios and also eat mostly grains which is actually gnetically not suitable for humans. Although socially we our twenty first centruy, genetically we are in teh paleolithic era. So, humans have not evolved genetically for 40, 000 years. 10,000 years ago when agriculture was invented and humans began domesticating grains our health began to decline. Before that cardiovasculAr diseae and cancer did not exist. . The vitamoin D nonsense is part of this same problem. IF we are TOO HEALTHY who loses money? Pharmaceutical companies and the vendors of diagnostic devices. Another example. the supplement DMAE has been shown by much research to prevent the build up of amyloid plaques in the brain thius preventing alzheimers disease. How do we know that medical science and pharmacuetical companies know this is true? They are trying to creat a drug that they can patent by combining DMAE woith some artificial substance so it will be a drug, not a natural substance and to use it to cure alzheimers. Unfortuantely for them DMAE does not work after only before alzheimers.–so it combinged with Phosphidytyl complex is the best brain antioxidant–but phara cannot patent that. So they are not happy that we wilol not be getting alzheimers. How much money does that casjue them to loose??? Same thing with Vitamin D. If all americans ate healthjy diets, took appropriate suppplements and took a brisk 40 muinute walk every day, worked out with afew weights twice a week—how much money would pharmaceutical companies loose? Would slews of doctors go out of businmess? Would lthye all have to become anti aginh or preventative health alternative doctors. In this country we have the best scienc and also teh best manipulatrs to lie and cheat us of our health. What’s wrong with this piucture???
I’ve just sat through a half hour “Medscape CME” video of CDC experts on H1N1 flu vaccine with the usual lies abut safety (1/1,000,000 serious adverse event) and efficacy………….not a word about Vitamin D and its role in flu prevention. Not a word about Thimerosal and Squalene (in it or not?)
or that it’s pretty much hit and miss with about 4% protection rate at best.
Sickening.
CDC…….Centre for Deceit and Corruption
FDA……..Fraud and Death Administration
now ,IOM………….?
Institute of Mendaciousness?
It is time to STOP BIG business’ of all kinds that prey for the gain of money instead of a product with integrity and safety. People’s health is not something to play with. Accountability is the name of the game, and our government needs to start with themselves and check out why they are not already taking action at these monopolistic inhumane juggernauts. It’s time for our Government to throw a wrench in the gears of the huge Pharmaceutical Companies and put them in their place. Isn’t it obvious that the pharmaceutical companies are FARMING the public, planning to make people sick and creating down the road business by popping out a new medicines what seems like weekly, for some new disorder or even, they have the gall to call these new designer illness “diseases”. Just to sell their new pill, that will no doubt give a person cancer down the road, resulting in tons of testing and constant control of that person until they die, wringing out every penny that person had including the closest family and friends who try to help… What a pity we even have to have this kind of conversation with the congress when they most likely know all about it… Doesn’t the pharmaceuticals companies give money to their campaign?
Thank you so much for your articles and site in general. I do not leave my name because I am a (sic) consumer still taking a psychiatirc drug that I have tried for years to wean myself off of. After repeated attempts, I am finally down to less that the minimum manufactered dosage, which I must keep a secret (consumers, both de jure and practically) do not enjoy the same rights as the general public. Unfortunately, so many “mind” pharmasuticals alter the brain (and body) in such a way that going off them places the consumer in a situation of extreme emotional/mental stress, not unlike (acknowledged, finally) withdrawal but much worse, because the damage is much more servere, particuarlly with the passage of many years of drug-induced bio-chemical damage. The psychiatic community in the US esp. believes this withdrawal confirms the efficacy of the drug and the need for it. Many of us, years ago, were simply suffering a “nervous breakdown” but misdiagonized as schizophrenic, etc. (see eg books authored by Robert Whittaker). Thank you so much for the insight and confirmation you offer to those of us who were told, many years ago, that the drugs were ok- it was us.
God bless you people for giving it your all to protect the public! Many thanks to you!!
Let us use rational scientific principles of inquiry when determining the amount of Vitamin D is necessary. All humans before the industrial revolution spent many hour outside in the weather. I live in Seattle, WA…home of the highest MS and breast cancer stats. My vitamin D was way too low when tested a couple of years ago. I take 4,000-5,000 units daily and it is now normal.
For shame!
Dr. Glenville is making a mockery of the institutions charged with the health safety and conciousness of the public. Shame.
May I send this report on to the LA Times? On Monday (Dec 6th) they ran a story in the Health Section about the “exhaustive” IOM report, giving the impression everything said was gospel and no other studies or data were valid. Perfect example of so-called reporting – but obviously with no investigation. Would love to have them run a retraction based on your information! Thanks!
Thanks for the information. I knew these new guidelines were a bunch of hogwash and now I know why. Please continue to keep us informed. I am passing this info on to all my friends who care.
Please read and help stop these high priced pharmasuitacal Companies
It makes sense to recommend the amount of Vitamin D which will achieve the same levels found in healthy people living in tropical or sub tropical regions. This is 50 to 70 ng per ml and most people living in the north would need a lot of Vitamin D to achieve it, e.g. 400 IU per day or the amount they make when they go in the sun for at least half an hour. Considering the number of genes upregulated by Vitamin D and the fact that most cells have Vitamin D receptors and the fact that epidemiology fiinds so many diseases associated with its deficiency, one would think that a scientific advisor to the IOM would not be recommending minimal doses. It is sad to think that he appears more interested iin the profits of a drug company than the health of millions. Why on earth do we need a Vitamin D drug any way? This woulld be Vitamin D with its structure altered for patenting!!! Just think what harm that could do. At this rate we will never have good medicine! Doesn’t he even care?
Filled out all info on This Link to go to the Action Alert page, but there was NO submit button.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The Send button appears in the lower right-hand corner, below the text of the letter.
I totally Support the Alliance for Natural Health. I Appreciate your Action Alerts!!! I read up on your alerts and take action. Then, I write a comment and encourage Facebook readers to take part in contacting Congress, also. Thank you for ALL that you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have read up on Vitamin D3’s benefits for years now. We must do our part or Congress will Strip us from Safe health measures.
I think this is absurd. Is the IOM in bed with big pharma-I do not know but it would not surprise me. What is so absurd is that you are asking Congress to do something about it and WE ALL KNOW CONGRESS IS IN BED WITH BIG PHARMA.
I would bet a dollar to a donut that the IOM IS in fact doing as big pharma wishes!!!
A well balanced and informed article. I had grave suspicions which I raised with several friends in the US and Canada about newspaper reports on the new Vitamin D standards. I suspected a link to the Pharmaceutical industry and this article puts more evidence into the arena which hints strongly of that outcome.
Sadly I am English and live in the UK so I cannot sign your petition. I look forward to hearing the results of this investigation should it get approved.
I tried numerous times to click the link to go to the Action Alert page to sign the petition to Congress. Each time the little box at the bottom right of my screen said “done”, but the page never loaded – it stayed blank.
Please be careful in jumping to conclusions about Vitamin D levels. The science behind it is quite complex, and there is evidence to support the possibility that high levels of Vitamin D may seem beneficial short-term, but be detrimental to some health conditions over the long term. While called a “vitamin”, D is actually a type of steroid hormone, and may be functioning in some cases just like other steroids, like Prednisone — makes you feel great for a little while, but has nasty side effects when continued over the course of many years. It can be immunosuppressive. While I don’t trust or support Big Pharma (and I certainly don’t think we need a synthetic vitamin D drug!), in this instance it is quite possible that the IOM report may be correct. For some people with certain types of chronic inflammatory ailments, high doses of vitamin D may be detrimental!
I so appreciated you investigating this. When I heard of it I was aghast!
Big pharma just can’t stand any competition. We have to be on constant alert.
Thank you.
I would like to see some sensible and REALISTIC guidelines on how much Vitamin D is a good dose for someone my age. As it is, I can only guess. I take only 2000 IU a day, probably not enough. But how much more do I need? I’m not afraid of “overdosing,” but I can’t afford (the money) to take supplements I don’t actually need.
What do you expect from greedy imbeciles!
Of course they are in bed with big pharma. It is now law that only a drug (synthetic substance)
can cure a disease.
Are you sure our Congress and Senate actually care about what is right or how much money big pharma give to re-elect their stoolies
If sitting in the Sun for 20 minutes in a bathing suit
your body produces 20,000 units of Vitamin D makeing
this claim MUTE ! . If your Bidy did not require
Large doses then nature would not alllow the you to
produce such a large amount so Quickly ! .
And further more any one who has spent time in
Sun Knows how energized they feel especially in
the first few days .
I am very disappointed by the IOM’s recent report suggesting such low levels of Vit D as adequate – this is not in the best interest of public health and I am concerned by the stories that have been published in the papers the last couple weeks which even suggest that taking more that the new recommendations of 800iu as potentially harmful. This is not good data and needs to be challenged so that the public is not being mislead.
Dr Angela Agrios, ND
California Licensed Naturopathic Doctor (License ND -232)
I take 5000 ui of Vitamin D a day as prescribed by my doctor. She found that I was low and recommended this dosage to improve my health. I was getting colds at least every other month. Since I have been taking the Vitamin D, 1.5 years, I am lucky to get one cold a year. My health has greatly improved.
Strictly off the top, I can say the article is generally okay. However, you are missing one critical point: Codex Alimentarius. It is true that big pharma is controlling the FDA, etc. but the context has become much bigger than simply one industry with lots of political/money pull. As soon as the CAFTA treaty was signed with the slipped in clauses about supporting the Codex, the FDA began a major assault against nutritional supplements and other holisitic forms of healing and FOOD itself. They drew of up their DRAFT GUIDELINES for nutritional supplements which read like a copy of the CODEX guidelines. As you know quite well, the Codex demands that countries that sign onto the agreement, as per the WTO process, are required to bring their local laws into compliance. Thus, the increased assault against nutritional supplements and organic food. Why else would the FDA bring in the goon squads to assault a small family dairy and confiscate $250,000.00 of produce when in 30 yrs they never had a single health problem with their milk and milk products.
I am dismayed that an organization such as yours would not be doing more to educate the public about the New World Order efforts of Codex and its relation to the draconian tactics, recommendations and legislation that is coming from that agreement.
Does congress care? Does the senate care? I thought they were all in bed with Big Pharma.
YES- all of the medical industry and its associations are In Bed with Big Pharma. And they can’t
wait to pass Codex once they are done confusing the public and fear mongering them to feel like
scared little children.
When will our institution realize that they are harmed as well as us when they mess with Mother Nature?
At the end of the year, I’ll be flying to the Dominican Republic where I’ll get plenty of Vitamin D.
Big Pharma and the FDA have to go the way of the Federal Reserve … to prison!
Perhaps everyone really ought to look at the research on Vitamin D. Personally, I think the new recommendations by the Institutes of Health are ridiculously off base–too low–while the 25,000 to 40,000 IUs a day on the other end are inordinately high. In my opinion, trying to equate actual sunshine conversion into Vitamin D and how that is utilized in the body is totally different than shocking the liver with a high IU vitamin D capsule. An analogy can be how the body utilizes
oils via the digestive tract as opposed to oils being injected into the body via vaccines.
I just “love it” when conflict of interest doesn’t seem to be an important issue when advising on the results of ineffective and worthless studies.
Sad to say it looks like the old SF writers were on to something; years ago several different writers posited a near future where Big International Business became the true ultimate power, with national governments first falling under their sway through gifts, then graft, then finally became obsolete. We no longer declared our allegiance to the USA or France, but to whichever BIB held sway where we lived.
Our governments so-called watchdogs are already deeply in Big Oil, Pharma and Agri – now the governments themselves seem to be following suit. I never thought to see life imitate art in my lifetime, but if this continues that is where the world is headed.
I know from personal experience how important, useful, and safe vitamin D is. From the researxch I did and from the information provided in this article, it appears that there is a direct connection between the low vitamin D recommendation and Big Pharma once again. When will this madness stop? Keep away from our vitamins Big Pharma!
I am glad you care!
Dorothea
Since you folks are so vigilant about Congress actions that are against our best interests, I think it would be extremely valuable to see a report card published on the web when re-election campaigns are launched. If our elected officials are working for their constituents, they should get credit for their voting records. If all they’re doing is a song and dance to get (re)elected, where they can then collect money from lobbyists and special interest groups, then they should get credit (blame) for that as well. The last election hasn’t faded too far from memory for me to remember that the big money TV ads were nothing more than mud slinging campaigns. Maybe they need a little wake-up call to let them know who they work for and that we’re watching?
Scott
Well done!!!!
You should have a way for people to get a separate update (other than an email alert as this one) specifically re Vitamin D as an ongoing topic as this controversy will be with us for awhile
.
This will allow your readership to self select a topic of special interest and will make it easier for them to forward it to others.
In my opinion this will increase your readership (as not everyone read every email from you) and will increase the radiation of the message.
I am confounded by all these contrary reports about Vit D3. They make me crazy. I do not know what to beleive. I certainly do not believe big pharmaceuticals. They lie for profit. They do not manufacture cures. I wish it were not so and we could get truly unbiased reliable studies whose only motive is to report the real truth.
Appoint a new scientific panel to look at all the vitamin D data, including the research from Harvard, the Vitamin D Council, and the fifteen reviewers whose research was suppressed by the FNB. The panel needs to look at all the studies, whether they were Randomized Controlled Trials or not, to see if there is a correlation between vitamin D and health benefits other than bone health, and specifically review whether it was appropriate to lower target serum levels based on limited evidence related to bone health alone. They also need to investigate how the IOM selected upper limits even while admitting there was a lack of evidence to support their findings.
Ask the GAO to investigate the IOM’s behavior in the creation of this report. The GAO needs to find out why the opinions of the fifteen vitamin D experts were suppressed, and examine the relationship between the scientist on the IOM panel and the pharmaceutical company for whom he is a consultant. They also need to investigate the IOM’s Office of News and Public Information and its role in the widely divergent and inaccurate media coverage of the IOM report, in which many news outlets seemed to think the report was warning us about the “dangers” of vitamin D when in fact the FNB had raised the recommended daily allowance by 300%.
I guessed that some drug company was trying to produce a synthetic Vit D3 and thats why this report has appeared.
Everyone I know who has started taking Vit D3 has seen an improvement in their health far quicker than most medication they take and I include myself and my family in that group.
All I ponder is if some drugs company finds a synthetic Vit D3 will that stop manufacturers producing the natural one for us all to purchase? Will the action of them patenting their synthetic version be the cause of the not patented version be taken off the market?
The more I take 20,000iu ++ a day, the better I feel in myself. I tested the tablets with kineseology and my body told me how much it woulld accept. The result was that anything UP TO 50,000 would be accepted. Hopefully my blood reading will be higher than it is, last reading was 52.
I have alwys believed that the FDA or any medical institute is in bed with pharmaceudicals. Pharmaceudicals are not here to save lives finding cures or advocating natural, cheap remedies. They are vultures feeding on sick,vulnerable people pushing their drugs, causing more harm than good. Their research money goes into finding more drugs for BIGGER and BIGGER profits. The FDA always passes these drugs. How many times have these drugs had to be taken off the shelf because they have caused death or devestating effects? The FDA and medical institutes have no ethics and should be monitored by governments who care about the wellbeing of their citizens and who are ethical and compassionate themselves. How much are the pharmaceudicals paying medical institutes to pass these drugs and never come up with any cures? Government has to be told that we don’t want these vultures in our health care.
restructure the fda and big pharma
Please allow the word to get out that Vitamin D is not a vitamin, but a hormone that is dangerously deficient in a third of the population and very likely the cause of massive pathology. The supplement is dirt cheap and would save us massively. Unfortunately, profits in health care are more considered to be way more important than wellness- in fact, wellness is a kind of scourge to health-care profiteers, just as peace is to Haliburton.