Tag Archives: health foods

Science

Steve Jobs’ death used as example by natural health advocates

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By now most people will have read all manner of eulogies about the co-founder of Apple, but you’ve probably haven’t read anything like this ridiculous editorial. Natural health nuts all around the world who decry conventional, evidence-based medicine and claim that cancer can be cured simply using vitamins and health supplements are pointing to Jobs’ death as proof that chemotherapy and radiotherapy doesn’t work. The article also goes on to a weird tangent on how Jobs was a once in a lifetime creative talent who was sadly abused by the capitalistic forces of society.

The irony of this particular editorial is that Jobs seemed to actually favor alternative health remedies, for the all good it did him. As his bio on Wikipedia makes clear, Jobs is pretty much the living embodiment of the counterculture, pot-smoking, hippie demography. So much so that he saved money from his first job to go on a pilgrimage to India and came back as a Buddhist with a shaved head. In short, he’s exactly the type of person who would read a website like Natural News and be skeptical of evidence-based medicine. According to this Fortune article from 2008, when Jobs first learned of his cancer, he resisted treating it with conventional methods and chose instead to go on a special diet and explored alternative treatments.

It was only nine months after his cancer was first diagnosed, following pressure from his company staff and investors worried about his health and after learning that his tumor had grown despite the alternative medicine he was using, that Jobs agreed to undergo the surgical procedure his doctors had recommended. At that time the surgery was considered a complete success but even back in 2008, it was pointed out that by delaying the procedure for so long, Jobs had dramatically increased his chances of his cancer recurring. It is arguable that things might be different today if Jobs had chosen to heed his doctors advice immediately.

On a personal note, I knew a colleague while working in the Solomon Islands who was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Being a Johor native, he underwent treatment in Singapore but was eager to come back to work. A short time after he arrived back in the Solomon Islands, some symptoms recurred. Instead of flying back to Malaysia immediately, he listened to some of the local people and decided to have a local traditional medicine man treat him in a remote village. Most of the staff of the company opposed this as we were worried about him and it was difficult to stay in contact with him. According to his account, the treatment consisted of various oils and using hands to press the fluid out of his developing tumor. He stayed at the village for more than six months. Eventually, his condition deteriorated until he was forced to fly back and he was immediately hospitalized in Singapore. He died less than two months later. I remember his case keenly because he was the exact same age as me and died in his late twenties.

 

Science

The scam of beauty foods

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My wife was introduced to collagen supplements over the weekend, which rang all of my skeptical alarm bells. I’ve actually heard of this before (LYN is full of people trying to sell this kind of stuff) but I never took the time to think about them properly. Once you do however, it’s immediately obvious to me that there’s something fishy about the whole idea.

The basic concept is that collagen is the main protein that is used to construct connective tissues in animals and is hence a vital component of skin tissue. However, as the body ages, collagen production slows down and the degradation of collagen causes aging. Therefore, the idea goes, taking collagen supplements orally should replenish the body’s supply and retard the formation of wrinkles.

Except that biology doesn’t work that way. Collagen is a type of protein and your body needs to create all of its own protein for it to use. In fact, it doesn’t matter what you put into your stomach as your stomach acids will just digest it and turn it into more basic substances. This is the reason why the protein supplements that bodybuilders use to build muscle don’t contain pure protein. Instead, they contain amino acids, the basic building blocks from which all proteins, including collagen, are made.

As this New York Times article points out, it’s not as if collagen supplements don’t do anything. It’s just that the body treats them as a source of protein like any other and breaks them down into amino acids which it can then use to build proteins of its own. You might as well just eat a piece of chicken and it would work just as well but be much cheaper. If you want a megadose of collagen, you might try eating gelatin based desserts, which are almost pure collagen.

What’s sad is that this sort of misinformation is pervasive in the cosmetics and beauty foods industry. While manufacturers make all sorts of claims about the effectiveness and health benefits of their products, most people are not aware that generally such claims are not verified by independent authorities. This is unlike the situation for pharmaceutical drugs where manufacturers must be able to prove to the government that they work as claimed before being allowed to sell them.

Consumers are also either not scientifically literate enough or lack the critical thinking skills needed to evaluate the various claims made by manufacturers. In the Internet age, it is easy enough to Google for more information when you’re in doubt, but it seems that few people make it a habit. This allows companies to get away with selling products that are the modern equivalent of snake oil, but dressed up in scientific language.