Carole Caplin Is Persuading Us of The Merits of Biocare’s Supplements?

Back in April you may recall an onslaught of celebrities who gave their spectacularly uninformed assessment of the Cochrane Antioxidants Review with an astonishing retread of former Visiting Professor Patrick Holford’s borrowed criticisms. That star-studded spectacle of misinformed jackdaws was enlivened by Dr Aust’s intervention and his musings on the nature of expertise. We speculated as to what had prompted Carole Caplin’s extraordinarily through-the-looking-glass stance on the issue of sponsorship and conflicts of interest. We highlighted Caplin’s comment that, “It must be obvious to everyone who hasn’t got a vested interest in supplements that [the Cochrane antioxidant] review is absolute rubbish, it contains fundamental flaws” as so strange that it deserves special note. We pointed out that the Cochrane Collaboration has a commendably strong policy on sponsorship and “sponsorship of a Cochrane review by any commercial source or sources (as defined above) is prohibited”. On the other hand, Caplin was speaking for a HFMA press release and one of HFMA’s stated goals is to “effectively to represent the interests of the specialist health product sector”: it is a body to represent industry interests.

Caplin is maintaining admirable consistency because she has just shown up in the Mail, telling readers about Supplements that can sharpen your growing child’s brain power. It’s a little confusing because they start off talking about improving a child’s immune system but then they snap into the familar, evidence-light assertions with which we are so familiar.

Research into children’s mental ability shows that their performance can improve when they are given a good balanced multivitamin and mineral supplement. Important nutrients for the growing years include calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamins C and D and iron.

The second part is motherhood and apple pie but the first part: No. We have been through this several times: there is evidence of improvement in non-verbal scores rather than more generally and the scale of the improvement tends to favour those children who were nutritionally deficient rather than augmenting the performance of those who are already well-nourished. Researchers repeatedly make the caveats that Benton^[1] described so well.

Many parents will readily believe that diet can both cause and solve complex and worrying problems. In most cases this is an unreasonable expectation. There is no reason to expect a supplement to produce dramatic change in a child’s functioning, even if they have a low intake of micro-nutrients…Assuming that your child would in fact benefit from supplementation all that you can expect to improve is intellectual potential…Improved nutritional status of itself will bring no intellectual gain unless it takes place in a stimulating, emotionally secure environment. Even then the changes will take place gradually over a long period.

Eysenck and Schoenthaler^[2] concluded, “with a certain degree of confidence”, that “inadequate levels of vitamins and minerals in the blood reduce a child’s IQ” and “supplementation by vitamin and mineral pills can raise the child’s non-verbal IQ significantly”, although it “has no effect on children with an adequate level of vitamins and mineral”. The only non-controversial aspect of this summary is the final part. Nobody has suggested that those with an adequate vitamin status will respond to supplementation, it is not a way of achieving a level of supra-normal functioning. [Emphasis added.]

We wouldn’t object to Caplin’s claims if she were just offering her opinion and not trying to pretend that there is sound science to support her and the companies whose products she is promoting. There is no mention of any real or apparent conflict of interest such as Caplin’s assocation with HFMA or other bodies, but, to be fair, if she is doing this from personal altruism and conviction, they don’t mention that, either.

Quality counts – choose reputable manufacturers with sound product ingredients backed by scientific research. …

Nature’s Plus Animal Parade supplements tick all the boxes, especially for children who don’t eat vegetables and salads.

…BioCare’s Kid’s Complete Complex which is suitable from six months of age.

During adolescence, nutritional requirements change…

BioCare Vita Guard multivitamin and mineral capsules are specially designed to support the nutritional needs of growing teenagers.

There has been a huge amount of media attention surrounding fish oils and their potential benefits for children…

I recommend the fish-oil product ‘morEPA‘…BioCare‘s OmegaBerry or LipoCell combine high quality omega-3 from fish oils with concentrated fruit extracts for extra antioxidant support. [Emphasis added.]

Now, Caplin made some completely misguided statements about the conflict of interest of Cochrane reviewers while implying that she was merely a disinterested onlooker without a “vested interest in supplements”. It must be personal conviction that has led her to write what would otherwise look like a promotional piece for particular supplement manufacturers.

However, even if Caplin is doing this promotional work pro bono, it does not mean that she can mention the need for strong scientific evidence but fail to provide any.

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) found in omega-3 fish oil are essential for brain function, eye and nerve health, learning and IQ, co-ordination and mood. Supplementation with omega-3 fish oils is vital, since overwhelming evidence in this field has hailed them as imperative to overall health.

Well, in the absence of clinical need, supplementation is not “vital” if somebody is eating oily fish on a regular basis and is otherwise healthy and able to eat a well-balanced diet – we’re just saying. Plus, it may be difficult for Caplin to grasp this given her implied lack of a vested interest in supplements, but there are vegetarian populations throughout the world who have nonetheless managed to raise healthy children who are not displaying marked cognitive deficits. It is possible to sustain life and health in the absence of supplements.

We have previously noted that former Visiting Professor Patrick Holford has been Head of Science and Education at Biocare since 2007. Given Holford’s documented errors in his claims and interpretation of research, the fact that Biocare consider him appropriate for such a senior appointment might give the wary some food for thought if they should decide that they need an evidence-based supplement or lifestyle advice and are wondering whether Biocare is an adequate source for either/both. Biocare claims to have a team of “qualified nutritionists and scientists” (my emphasis) working for them yet they don’t seem to have noticed Holford’s lack of relevant credentials nor the threadbare nature of Caplin’s credibility as a disinterested educator for their products (and those of other manufacturers).

This rather makes a nonsense of Biocare’s undertaking to provide science-based information:

We recognize the importance of education in order for the customer, whether a healthcare professional or a member of the public, to make informed choices about what natural substances may be of benefit to them or their patients as part of a healthy lifestyle. BioCare will be launching www.biocarescience.co.uk to provide in-depth scientific information on the natural ingredients that make up our unique formulations.

To cap it all off, Carole Caplin is endorsing Biocare in the Mail, acting as a educator for supplements: does Biocare really believe that it is treating the British Public with respect when it offers such experts and advocates who presume to lecture us on the need for research and scientific evidence but neglect to provide any? Patrick Holford and now Carole Caplin. Biocare – insulting our intelligence since 2007.

References

[1] Benton D, Micro-nutrient supplementation and the intelligence of children. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2001 Jun;25(4):297-309.
[2] Eysenck HJ and Schoenthaler SJ. Raising IQ level by vitamin and mineral supplementation. In: Sternberg RJ and Grigorenko EL, (Eds), Intelligence heredity and environment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997), pp. 363–392.

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