Philip said...

It is frustrating to see yet another study from Bjelakovic et al. receive widespread media attention, with no mention of why its conclusions are completely wrong.

They published similar articles in The Lancet (2004), and in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2006). The flaw in all three studies is the same. They used multiple linear regression, a technique that averages in people who took moderate doses of vitamins along with people who took highly toxic doses of vitamins.

The average dosage for vitamins A and E in their new study were at levels already known to be toxic; the maximum dosages were about 20 times the recommended levels. Of course there was s...

Philip said...

It is frustrating to see yet another study from Bjelakovic et al. receive widespread media attention, with no mention of why its conclusions are completely wrong.

They published similar articles in The Lancet (2004), and in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2006). The flaw in all three studies is the same. They used multiple linear regression, a technique that averages in people who took moderate doses of vitamins along with people who took highly toxic doses of vitamins.

The average dosage for vitamins A and E in their new study were at levels already known to be toxic; the maximum dosages were about 20 times the recommended levels. Of course there was some mortality - just as a study of people who took 1 to 100 tablets for a headache would show that "aspirin increases mortality".
http://christophergovanstreet.blogspot.com/2007/03/vitamin-supplements-can-increase-risk.html