Health
In reply to the discussion: Science has lost its way, at a big cost to humanity [View all]hedgehog
(36,286 posts)For example, IIRC, it wasn't until dosages of Vitamin D were raised from 400IU to 2000IU that significant results were found. The level of 400IU was sufficient to prevent rickets, but at 2000IU dozens of other healthful benefits were observed. So any research based on a dosage of 400 IU would have found no benefit from Vitamin D for that particular factor.
Again, there is a study commonly used to prove that glucosamine is not effective for joint pain from osteoarthritis
http://www.arthritistoday.org/news/glucosamine-chondroitin-ineffective.php
But, if you read the actual results, there are hints that glucosomine is effective for people with higher pain levels.
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait
It's possible that glucosmine is effective, but not in the dosages used in the NIH studies.
Offhand, I can't recall any specific study, but I have seen studies that clearly failed to take into account specific variables- stuff along the lines of some people with condition A have low levels of hormone Z, so let's see what happens when people with condition A receive supplements of Hormone Z. The problem is, while everyone in the study meets criteria for condition A, no measurements are made to determine how many in the study, if any, have a deficit of hormone Z. All that is reported is that each person was given so much Hormone Z, and the results were variable!