- Magnesium associated with reduced arterial calcification
- Sarno method for treating muscle pain compared to other methods. “My surgeon who had been an NBA team physician assured me I had a 90% plus chance of returning to my life as it had been. However, eight weeks after the surgery I was WORSE.”
- Are old people in Great Britain living shorter lives because of prescribed drugs?
- Some cancers detected by mammograms apparently disappear without treatment.
Thanks to Steve Hansen.
Seth,
That magnesium study has precisely the same problems as the Willett studies that we had been discussing. Look at Table 1. Across the board, almost every indicator of health (except physical activity, but more on this below) increased monotonically across the magnesium quartiles. The folks in the highest quartile were inherently healthier than those in the lower quartiles. This inherent (i.e., unmeasured) difference cannot be adjusted for in statistical models. Incomplete adjustment for “potential confounders” (or even “known confounders”) can just as easily increase the net confounding bias as reduce it.
Regarding the physical activity measure, I’m skeptical. They measured it in hours per day, and the averages ranged between 4.5 and 4.9 (hours per day!!) across the quartiles. I’d wouldn’t put much weight on that one!
I wouldn’t use this study as a reason to start taking magnesium!
Ahoy, Seth
https://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/03/14/going_after_poor_published_research.php
The real problem isn’t the research that is done (which is easy to ignore), it is the research that isn’t done. E.g., the narrowness of research at medical schools. Ioannidis has never shown any sign of understanding that.
Ahoy Seth, Ben Goldacre seems to be admitting that his study of statin side effects is on a par with much “Climate Science” i.e. it’s twaddle based on lousy data.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/mar/14/statins-side-effects-study-placebo-ben-goldacre
Why on earth would he choose to compromise his reputation with such rubbish? There’s nowt so queer as folk.
Ben Goldacre’s misunderstanding, as revealed in that article, is epic. First, he doesn’t explain how he knows statins do cause muscle pains. I’m sure they do — but how does Goldacre, the evidence snob, know? Second, his explanation for why his study got the wrong answer makes no sense. “Incomplete data”? All studies have incomplete data.
Antibiotics cause weight gain – but why? Could childhood antibiotic use promote obesity in later life? https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/opinion/sunday/the-fat-drug.html?_r=0