(Press-News.org) A complex web of interactions between industry, advocacy organisations, and academia may be fuelling enthusiasm for calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent and treat osteoporosis, despite evidence of lack of benefit, warn doctors in The BMJ this week.
Calcium and vitamin D are highly profitable treatments that are widely recommended for osteoporosis, despite increasing evidence contradicting the practice, write Andrew Grey and Mark Bolland from the University of Auckland.
Several therapies previously recommended for osteoporosis, such as oestrogen and fluoride, have been discarded because of evidence of lack of benefit or important harm. So why are calcium and vitamin D supplements still recommended, they ask?
One possible explanation, they say, is vested interests of industry, advocacy organisations, and academia.
They searched the websites of key commercial and advocacy organisations and specialist societies to determine the extent of these interests.
They found that industry and its lobby groups fund and influence the activities and policies of osteoporosis advocacy organisations such as the US National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) and the Europe based International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF).
The commerical entities include supplements manufacturers, companies that produce vitamin D test kits, and the Council for Responsible Nutrition, which describes itself as the "leading trade association representing dietary supplement manufacturers and ingredient suppliers."
The NOF and IOF have not changed their positions to reflect the accumulating evidence, note the authors. In fact, after evidence accrued that calcium and vitamin D do not safely reduce fracture risk, "the nutrition industry continued to partner with osteoporosis advocacy organisations to promote their widespread use."
They argue that some prominent academics and specialist societies have undeclared commercial and academic conflicts of interest in the nutrition osteoporosis field.
They also point out that the National Bone Health Alliance (an offshoot of the NOF) recently advocated broadening the diagnostic criteria for osteoporosis, "which would lead to recommendations for treatment in 50% and 86% of American men and women aged over 75 years, respectively."
"Disentangling industry from academia might improve the translation of evidence into practice," conclude the authors. They suggest that the emerging requirements that drug companies declare payments to health practitioners "should be broadened to include supplements and food manufacturers."
Advocacy organisations and specialist societies "should eschew corporate sponsorship," they add, "and academics should not engage with advocacy organisations until it is clear that such commercial ties have been severed."
INFORMATION:
Doctors and medical students in India should stop wearing white coats, argues a doctor in The BMJ this week.
Edmond Fernandes, a postgraduate at Yenepoya Medical College in Mangalore, says evidence shows that long sleeved coats spread infection and lead to avoidable harm and cost to patients.
Although long sleeved white coats have traditionally been worn by doctors since the 19th century, we now know that white coats "harbour potential contaminants and contribute considerably to the burden of disease acquired in hospital by spreading infection," writes Fernandes.
He ...
Boston, MA -- People who are a low weight at birth and have unhealthy habits as adults, such as eating nutritionally poor diets or smoking, may have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people born at an average weight who live similar lifestyles, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In the first study to comprehensively assess how early development interacts with adult behavior to influence type 2 diabetes risk, the researchers found that 18% of cases were attributable to the combined effect of low birth ...
MADISON, Wis. - Savoring a beautiful sunset and the positive emotions associated with it can contribute to improved well-being, according to research. But why and how are some people better than others in keeping the feeling alive?
"It's important to consider not just how much emotion you experience, but also how long these emotions persist," says Aaron Heller, former graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at the Waisman Center and current assistant professor of psychology at the University of Miami. "We're ...
BOSTON - Advances in technology have spurred better outcomes for infants treated in neonatal intensive care units, but parents and physicians need to work together to avoid unnecessary and potentially harmful tests and treatments, according to new Choosing Wisely® recommendations developed by neonatologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published online in Pediatrics, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
"Infant mortality has dropped dramatically over the past 50 years, with almost all of the impact resulting from ...
In a survey of a diverse group of almost 250 young, low-income, inner-city pregnant and postpartum women, Johns Hopkins researchers have learned that more than 90 percent use smartphones or regular cellphones to give and get information.
In a report on the survey, published online in July in the Journal of Internet Medicine Research, the research team says the findings strongly confirm the potential of the devices as a desireable means of improving the health of those at risk for diabetes and other diseases during their childbearing years.
Cellphones stand out by far ...
Compared to its celestial neighbours Venus and Mars, Earth is a pretty habitable place. So how did we get so lucky? A new study sheds light on the improbable evolutionary path that enabled Earth to sustain life.
The research, published this week in Nature Geoscience, suggests that Earth's first crust, which was rich in radioactive heat-producing elements such as uranium and potassium, was torn from the planet and lost to space when asteroids bombarded the planet early in its history. This phenomenon, known as impact erosion, helps explain a landmark discovery made ...
Philadelphia, PA, July 21, 2015 - Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in older individuals. AMD and other serious chronic eye problems that affect younger individuals result when fluid accumulates abnormally under or within the retina. A new study published in The American Journal of Pathology shows for the first time that the release of substances from mast cells may be a causal factor in this type of eye pathology, and inhibitors of this release may offer new ways to treat serous retinal detachment.
Mast cells are white ...
Quantum theory is one of the great achievements of 20th century science, yet physicists have struggled to find a clear boundary between our everyday world and what Albert Einstein called the "spooky" features of the quantum world, including cats that could be both alive and dead, and photons that can communicate with each other across space instantaneously.
For the past 60 years, the best guide to that boundary has been a theorem called Bell's Inequality, but now a new paper shows that Bell's Inequality is not the guidepost it was believed to be, which means that as the ...
July 2, 2015 - Feed and production input costs are the primary economic inputs of the cattle industry. As input costs increase, producers and cattle are asked to be more efficient to satisfy global food demands. Furthermore, the amount of land available for cattle production in the United States has decreased over the past 10 years. Improvements with marginal land and marginal-quality harvested feeds are being considered.
Three studies were recently published in the Journal of Animal Science that were highlighted at the Forages and Pastures Symposium at JAM in 2015 titled ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- People aren't the only ones who perform better on tests or athletic events when they are just a little bit nervous -- dogs do too. But in dogs as in people, the right amount of stress depends on disposition.
A new study by researchers at Duke University finds that a little extra stress and stimulation
makes hyper dogs crack under pressure but gives mellow dogs an edge.
The findings appear online in the journal Animal Cognition.
According to an idea in psychology called the Yerkes-Dodson law, a little stress can be a good thing, but only up to a point. ...
