בס''ד
Hoshanna Raba
21 Tishrei, 5772
October 18th,
2011
The University
of Minnesota just put out
a groundbreaking study, massive in both size and scope – 39,000 women over nearly
20 years. What it revealed was that taking vitamin supplements did not help
these women live any longer. In fact, those who took supplements died three to
10% earlier.*
But what I know for certain about this study is that it will not change
anything. Belief in the power of multivitamins will prevail. The vitamin industry
will stay strong. All this is because, in this country, health is religion, not
science.
If well-off Americans have one true religion, it is our health and the
health of our children. We treat received knowledge about health and illness as
articles of faith: once we’ve accepted a health factoid as true (anti-oxidants prevent
cancer*, vaccines cause autism*) no amount of evidence to the contrary can
shake our belief in it.
Sartre writes, “How can one choose to reason falsely? It is because of a
longing for impenetrability. The rational man groans as he gropes for the
truth; he knows that his reasoning is no more than tentative, that other
considerations may supervene to cast doubt on it…But there are other people who
are attracted by the durability of the stone…What frightens them is not the
content of the truth…but the form itself of truth, that thing of indefinite
approximation.”
Part of the honest life, even in the face of disease, is acknowledging that
there are few givens and little surety when it comes to our health. The truth
of our bodies, as Sartre says, is indefinite – stated in probabilities, not
absolutes. Honesty means giving up certainty and living well and boldly nonetheless.
It is strange for a rabbi to say, but we could do with being a little less
religious.
* Just
to be clear, there is no claim that supplements negatively impact one’s health.
Three to 10% is in the realm of statistical variance. The study simply
indicates that multivitamins have no positive effect on longevity.
* http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/antioxidants.
From the National Cancer Institute: “However,
information from recent clinical trials is less clear. In recent years,
large-scale, randomized clinical trials reached
inconsistent conclusions.”
* http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/health/research/03lancet.html.
The study suggesting that autism and the MMR vaccine were linked was retracted
by The Lancet, the British medical journal which originally printed it.
Significantly, the NYT article reported these comments: “’It builds on the overwhelming body of research by the
world’s leading scientists that concludes there is no link between M.M.R.
vaccine and autism,’ Mr. Skinner wrote in an e-mail message. A British medical
panel concluded last week that Dr. Wakefield (the author of the study) had been
dishonest, violated basic research ethics rules and showed a “callous
disregard” for the suffering of children involved in his research.”
No comments:
Post a Comment