Featured topic: coronavirus
On Science-Based Medicine,
Scott Gavura posted:
“Ivermectin is the new hydroxychloroquine.” “The pharmaceutical company that has the most to gain from the sale of ivermectin is actively discouraging its use to treat COVID-19…Similar to hydroxychloroquine, there is no convincing evidence that demonstrates ivermectin has any meaningful clinical effects in the treatment of COVID-19.”
David Gorski posted:
“Antivaxxers, COVID-19 vaccines, and 'hacking the software of life'.” “Antivaxxers and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists were always going to spin conspiracies about COVID-19 vaccines. Unfortunately, some scientists have made it so much easier for them by having likened mRNA vaccines to ‘hacking the software of life’ and being unclear on what gene therapy is.”
“COVID-19 vaccines versus 'purity of essence'.” “Antivaxxers frequently make the false claim that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines ‘permanently alter your DNA.’ These claims are really a concern about ‘impurifying’ their ‘purity of essence’.”
“Christian Elliot's ‘18 Reasons I Won’t Be Getting a Covid Vaccine’: Viral antivaccine misinformation.” “Christian Elliot is a self-proclaimed ‘natural health nerd’ and entrepreneur who recently published 18 reasons why he wouldn’t take the COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, it’s viral disinformation based on conspiracy theories, bad science, pseudoscience, and nonsense.”
“To unblind or not to unblind? That is the question about clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines.” “Antivaccine alternative health tycoon Joe Mercola claims that the unblinding of participants in the clinical trials of Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines was intended to ‘blow up the trials’ and undermine the science, making it impossible ever to identify long term adverse events. What he’s really doing is deceptively oversimplifying complex ethical and scientific issues surrounding these trials in the middle of a deadly pandemic, all in the service of his grift.”
Ariel Karlinsky posted:
“Deaths and excess deaths in Brazil.” “By misinterpreting excess mortality statistics, Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt minimizes the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil (and also America).”
Steven Novella posted:
“Update on the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots.”
“Johnson & Johnson vaccine and blood clots.” “Orac” also wrote on Respectful Insolence. “Again, I’m not sure what the right answer is, to do what the FDA and CDC have done and pause the J&J vaccine or to have continued to administer it with a black box warning. What I do know from this is that vaccine safety monitoring is very effective and that antivaxxers will capitalize no matter what the FDA and CDC do.”
On Respectful Insolence, “Orac” posted:
“COVID Light Therapy: Old quackery repurposed.”
“'Real world evidence' vs. COVID-19?” “Joel Hirschhorn argues that the feds should have used ‘real world evidence’ per the 21st Century Cures Act to approve the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. It’s the same argument acupuncturists use to promote their quackery.”
“Paul Thacker amplifies antivaccine messaging by attacking science communicators.” “By attacking skeptics discussing COVID-19 vaccine safety issues without actually being able to refute them factually other than at the margins, he is, either intentionally or inadvertently, amplifying antivaccine misinformation.”
“Medical Hypotheses is back, and it’s pushing antimask disinformation.” “Medical Hypotheses is a fringe journal published by Elsevier that’s long been known for publishing pseudoscience, such as antivax and HIV/AIDS denial. In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s now back with antimask nonsense.”
“Shedding: An antivax trope resurrected for COVID-19 vaccines.” “Antivax pediatrician Dr. Larry Palevsky recently demonized COVID-19 vaccines by resurrecting the old antivaccine trope of vaccinated people ‘shedding’ and causing illness in the unvaccinated. This time, he claims, the shedding of spike protein causes illness and menstrual problems in the unvaccinated. It’s utter nonsense.”
“No, there’s no good evidence that spike protein from COVID-19 vaccines causes pulmonary hypertension.” “Basically, at its heart, the hypothesis that the spike protein from COVID-19 vaccines is toxic and will lead to pulmonary hypertension is implausible and has no good evidence to support it—and barely any evidence even to suggest it. It’s no wonder that antivaxxers find it very appealing, though. It very much appeals to their love of viewing vaccines as irredeemably toxic and dangerous.”
Edzard Ernst posted:
“Homeopathy, COVID, India and Prince Charles: not a good mixture!” “Charles’ life-long promotion of homeopathy combined with his quick recovery motivated Indian officials, even more, to ignore the evidence and decide to heavily rely on homeopathy. This decision has cost uncounted lives and will cause many more in the near future. I submit that the seemingly harmless promotion of unproven or disproven treatments such as homeopathy can be a deadly dangerous game indeed.”
Other topics
Best of the blogs, April – on Science-Based Medicine,
Jann Bellamy:
Posted “'Quack Protection Acts' proposed in state legislatures.” “Laws protecting ‘complementary and alternative’ health care providers from state regulation have been proposed in several state legislatures under the rubric of ‘health freedom.’ These ‘Quack Protection Acts’ harm consumers…The irony in all of these bills is that licensed health care providers, like physicians, who have far more education and training…are held to a much higher standard than providers with little or no education and training, which, if it exists, is likely in quackery…To sell this as ‘health freedom’ is absurd. What we really need is more stringent regulation of quacks, not a state-sanctioned business model for them to bamboozle consumers.”
Discussed “Catgut acupuncture.” “Catgut acupuncture is but one example of how acupuncture’s basis in pseudoscience provides an infinitely malleable template for fabricated mechanisms of action and feigned health benefits.”
Harriet Hall:
Wrote “Lose weight without diet or exercise? Where’s the proof?”
Posted “Update on energy medicine patches: Jovi and its targeted marketing strategy.”
Wrote “Another In a Pattern of Really Stupid Marketing Videos, This One Claiming Tinnitus Has Nothing to Do with the Ear and Is 100% Curable.”
Edzard Ernst:
Discussed a review of therapeutic touch (Garrett B, Riou M. Nurs Open. 2021 Mar 20. Epub ahead of print Paper). The conclusions of the authors: “After 45 years of study, scientific evidence of the value of TT as a complimentary intervention in the management of any condition still remains immature and inconclusive: Given the mixed result, lack of replication, overall research quality and significant issues of bias identified, there currently exists no good quality evidence that supports the implementation of TT as an evidence‐based clinical intervention in any context. Research over the past decade exhibits the same issues as earlier work, with highly diverse poor quality unreplicated studies mainly published in alternative health media. As the nature of human biofield energy remains undemonstrated, and that no quality scientific work has established any clinically significant effect, more plausible explanations of the reported benefits are from wishful thinking and use of an elaborate theatrical placebo.”
Posted a pair of articles: “What does a holistic doctor do that a traditional [conventional] doctor doesn’t?” and “What does a proper doctor do that a holistic healer doesn’t?”
Posted three times concerning osteopathic manipulation. One post discussed an animal study on the topic of osteopathic cranial manipulation for Alzheimer's. “I am at a complete loss to see how the findings of this bizarre animal experiment might help physicians promote OCMM [osteopathic cranial manipulative medicine] as an evidence-based adjunctive treatment for patients with AD.” A second discussed a study showing no benefit for improving breastfeeding. “The researchers need to be congratulated on publishing this trial and expressing the results so clearly despite the fact that the findings were not what the osteopaths had hoped for. Three questions come to my mind: Is any of the many therapeutic recommendations of osteopaths valid? Why was it ever assumed that OMT [osteopathic manipulative treatment] would be effective? Do we really have to test every weird assumption before we can dismiss it?” The third was on a paper showing no benefit for fibromyalgia. “The French team should be congratulated on this excellent piece of research. This is a very well conducted and reported study…The results are clear and not unexpected: osteopathy is little more than a theatrical placebo.”
Discussed a study indicating that “Herbal treatments may shorten breast cancer survival.” “This is only a small and not very rigorous case-control study. In itself, it would be far from conclusive. What renders it relevant, however, is the fact that its findings do by no means stand alone…The mechanisms of such detrimental effects are not difficult to imagine. They might include direct effects on the cancer, interactions with prescribed drugs, delay of cancer diagnosis, or less strict adherence to the anti-cancer treatments.”
Reported on a study showing no efficacy for treatment of pain by "battlefield acupuncture," a technique in which several semipermanent needles are placed in the ear. “I am amazed that anyone would fall for an idea as naive as BFA. That it should be the US military is simply hilarious, in my view. I am furthermore baffled that anyone recommends more study of such monumental nonsense…Acupuncture is far-fetched (to put it mildly). Ear acupuncture is positively ridiculous. BFA seems beyond ridiculous…”
Wrote “Energy healing decreases preoperative anxiety? No, not true!” A study used the “A+B vs. B” design, guaranteed to give positive results. “I need to re-write the conclusions: The placebo effect and the extra attention associated with EH therapy resulted in a decrease in patients’ pre-operative anxiety. EH itself is most likely bar any effect. Further studies in this area are not required.”
Discussed a review indicating lower risk of cancer with coffee drinking (Zhao et al. BMC Cancer. 2020 Feb 5;20(1):101 Paper).
Posted “”Homeopathy: another negative Indian study with a misleading conclusion.” “By revealing that there was no significant effect, the authors of this study demonstrate that IH [individualized homeopathy] was not effective as a treatment of AD [atopic dermatitis]. It is in my mind unethical to try to disguise this result by making it look like a small positive effect or claiming the result was inconclusive.”
Commented on a paper showing “No evidence that spinal manipulation improves immune function” (Chow et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Apr 1;4(4):e215493 Paper). “While I do appreciate that chiropractors published these negative findings prominently, I feel the conclusions could easily be put much clearer: There is no clinical evidence to support claims that SMT is efficacious or effective in changing immune system outcomes. Further studies in this area are not warranted.”
Wrote “Essential oil related seizures, a problem we know too little about.” Essential oils are used in aromatherapy. “…patients with epilepsy might be well advised to be cautious with essential oils, particularly those from eucalyptus and camphor.” Scott Gavura also discussed the findings on Science-Based Medicine.
Discussed “The risks of thread embedding acupuncture.” “So, all we can conclude from the evidence presented here is that AEs [adverse events] after TEAT do occur and do not seem to be all that rare. As the efficacy of TEAT has not been shown beyond doubt, this must inevitably lead to the conclusion that the risk-benefit balance of TEAT is not positive. In turn, that means that TEAT cannot be recommended as a treatment for any condition.”
April – Panjwani and others analyzed “Trends in Nutrient- and Non-Nutrient-Containing Dietary Supplement Use among US Children from 1999 to 2016” (J Pediatr. 2021 Apr;231:131-140.e2 Paper). They noted that “Despite increasing NVNM [non-vitamin/non-mineral dietary supplements] use, high-quality evidence supporting their use is lacking, especially in children.”
April 16 – Retraction Watch published “Palmitoleic acid paper pulled for data concerns.” “A journal has retracted the 2014 report of a clinical trial of a supplement touted as a way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease after beginning to suspect that the data were not reliable.” Palmitoleic acid is an omega-7 fatty acid. The product has been promoted by Mehmet Oz.
Additions to previous months
February, 2020 – Gomella wrote “Boosting Free Testosterone With OTC [over the counter] Natural Supplements: Be Careful What You Wish For” (Can J Urol. 2020 Feb;27(1):10067 Paper). “Free testosterone” is testosterone not bound to proteins, and is the active form of testosterone. “...several recent studies have suggested that there is a relationship in free testosterone and prostate cancer... Is it wise to be promoting a free testosterone boost without scientific data? The free testosterone impact on health and disease is just coming into focus and more studies are needed. Men should be aware that we have no data concerning these OTC testosterone supplements and how they may impact prostate cancer risk.”
March 23, 2021 – A study of online supplements found that “Weight loss and sports supplements listing deterenol as an ingredient contained 9 prohibited stimulants and 8 different mixtures of stimulants, with as many as 4 experimental stimulants per product. These cocktails of stimulants have never been tested in humans and their safety is unknown” (Cohen et al. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2021 Mar 23:1-7 Paper).