July 13, 2009
Last week the newspapers covered the story of Katie Peck who is both a degree-credentialled nutritionist and a Registered Dietitian. What is particularly interesting about this story is not the nature of some of her advice but that had she been recruited to work as a nutritionist, rather than RD, in her role at an NHS Diabetes Clinic, then there would not have been a hearing involving the Health Professions Council (HPC) and it is plausible that there would be no mechanism to allow scrutiny of the evidence-base for her advice to patients (the hearing has been adjourned until December, Mrs Peck denies any wrong-doing).
So, if you were to dispense some advice that your colleagues claim to lack an appropriate evidence base as an RD, then you might be asked to account for your actions before the HPC. However, if you dispense the same advice as a nutritionist (and, let’s imagine a scenario where this is a BANT rather than Nutrition Therapy Council nutritionist), then the route for challenging the advice is unclear at best. Keep reading →
July 7, 2009
Jerome Burne is co-author of Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs (FIBMTD) with Former Visiting Professor Patrick Holford. FIBMTD has a chapter on Balancing Hormones in the Menopause -The HRT scandal vs natural control: there is a brief discussion of “Natural progesterone – a safer way with hormones”.
Progesterone is given in amounts equivalent to that normally produced by a woman who is ovulating (between 20 and 40 mg a day) and, unlike oestrogen or synthetic progestins, it has no known cancer risk – in fact…quite the opposite. [pg. 167, the reference for this bold assertion is a self-help book, not a journal paper or similar, if you were curious. And, no, no specific page reference or indication that this is a study/trial, in vitro, in vivo or animal.]
Mid-May we noticed that Burne had left a long comment, recommending his own research, on a post about The Alternative that Isn’t: Bioidentical Hormones at Science-Based Pharmacy. Gazing into our crystal ball, we anticipated that a Burne special on the topic must be in progress and so were not surprised to read today’s Should middle-aged women be taking natural HRT? in the Daily Mail. The shorthand version of the remainder of this post is:
No. Not if you are relying upon the Holftorf review to provide a comprehensive overview of the relevant evidence on efficacy and safety.
Keep reading →
Filed under Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs, Jerome Burne, patrick holford
Tags: Big Herba, bio-identical hormones, bioidentical hormones, BPSDB, Daily Mail, Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs, HRT, Jerome Burne, Kent Holtorf, menopause, progesterone
July 7, 2009
From the Science: So What Campaign. Initially part-time (with hours to be agreed), this is a job opportunity for someone with experience of science writing and a strong interest in social media and science communication. Keep reading →
July 7, 2009
After L’Affaire Economist, (parts 1, 2, 3) HolfordWatch really wanted to be able to commend Jerome Burne for something. We have noticed that although his last few articles in the Daily Mail haven’t actually carried links to the research upon which he relies, he has provided enough detail to allow the careful reader to identify the papers. It would, of course, be good if we did not have to resort to a treasure hunt to identify the primary sources but that is probably a confluence of out-moded thinking by both journalists and newspaper.
Today, Burne gave generous amounts of detail as to one of the major sources for his claims in his article: Should middle-aged women be taking natural HRT?. HolfordWatch was poised to congratulate Burne for semi-identifying this work up until we actually read the paper that he describes as a “major review”: Are Bioidentical Hormones (Estradiol, Estriol, and Progesterone) Safer or More Efficacious than Commonly Used Synthetic Versions in Hormone Replacement Therapy?. Leaving aside the lack of appropriate rigour in the paper, we noticed that, despite his usual exquisite sensitivity in such matters, Burne seems to be overlooking the “review” author’s failure to declare what might appear, to others, as a substantial conflict of interest. Keep reading →
July 6, 2009
Correction: as Lothian has helpfully pointed out, the leaflet is still readily available on the GCC site [PDF]. I did spend some time looking for it previously – but clearly not effectively enough. The scratched post is towards the bottom, with the text struck through; sorry about the error. Now the leaflet is online, I can post about what I was planning to originally.
In late June, Edzard Ernst published an open letter to UK chiropractors. He asked that chiropractors should
let the British public know, through your professional organisations, which of these three possible explanations is correct: you no longer hold that chiropractic is an effective treatment for non-spinal conditions like asthma, you admit that the inclusion of treatment of non-spinal conditions in chiropractic means that it can no longer be considered an evidence-based profession, or you can provide good evidence that chiropractic can treat non-spinal conditions.
A GCC leaflet (PDF, p. 2) argues that, with chiropractic treatment
You may also see an improvement in some types of
● asthma
● headaches, including migraine; and
● infant colic
Keep reading →
July 5, 2009
I was disappointed to see the BBC News website giving lots of space to a health product from Nelson Honey and Marketing, despite a lack of evidence of efficacy. It appears – strangely – that the BBC views the fact that Nelson has asked the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for permission to make certain claims for their product as newsworthy in itself.
The BBC reports that Nelson is
seeking EU approval to market honeybee venom to help people with arthritis ease their pain. Nelson Honey & Marketing says two teaspoons a day of its honey with added venom milked from honeybees has anti-inflammatory power to soothe joints. Keep reading →
July 3, 2009
Filed under dietitian, nutrition, patrick holford
Tags: BPSDB, cholesterol, diet, Dietitians, heart disease, nutrition, nutritionism, nuts, patrick holford, phytosterolemia, plant sterols, Registered Dietitians, shark liver oil, stanols, walnuts
June 23, 2009
Filed under Holford, home test, hometesting, homocysteine, patrick holford, supplements
Tags: patrick holford, supplements, homocysteine, CVD, BPSDB, heart disease, stroke, CHD, home tests, British Heart Foundation Statistics Report
