DECEMBER 2020 NEWS

Featured topic: coronavirus

On Science-Based Medicine, Jann Bellamy posted:

  • “COVID-19 vaccine rollout creates new scamming opportunities for crooks.”

Scott Gavura wrote:

  • “Deciding between a vaccine and…an infection?”

David Gorski posted:

  • “It was inevitable that antivaxxers would claim that COVID-19 vaccines make females infertile.” “Their assertion is based on a highly speculative and incredibly unlikely immunologic mechanism.”

  • “Syncope and Bell’s palsy: Distinguishing correlation from causation for adverse events observed after COVID-19 vaccination.”

  • “2020 and the pandemic: A year of (some) physicians behaving badly.” “Unfortunately, the character of too many physicians has been found wanting, as they spent 2020 denying the pandemic, peddling quack cures, or spreading misinformation in the service of defying public health interventions.”

On Respectful Insolence, “Orac” posted:

  • “The antivaccine disinformation war against COVID-19 vaccines continues apace.”

  • “A Senate committee calls science denialist crank Dr. Jane Orient testify on COVID-19 vaccines.” “Dr. Jane Orient is Executive Director of the antivax, COVID-19 minimizing, conspiracy mongering fake medical professional association Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.”

  • “Scientists and physicians versus the central conspiracy theory of science denial.”

  • “Quacks misuse Koch's postulates to deny that SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19.” “I love to note how germ theory denying quacks just love to cite 19th century understandings of infectious disease as the be-all and end-all of the science of infectious disease, as if science hasn’t advanced in 120 years!”

  • “Antivaxxers, COVID-19 vaccines, and 'fetal cells': Everything old is new again.” “…the Vatican has long recognized that the extreme good of protecting children’s lives from deadly diseases far outweighs the distant evil (in the view of the Catholic Church) that created the cell lines. In the case of RNA vaccines, that connection is even more tenuous. The bottom line is that the ranting about ‘fetal parts’ and ‘fetal cells’ in COVID-19 vaccines is, at least right now, even more disconnected from reality than previous ranting.”

Edzard Ernst posted:

  • “Does a dietary supplement (quercetin, vitamin C, bromelain) reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections?” “I would be very sceptical about the validity of the results. The paper…is too flimsy for words. Despite these warnings, it is likely that many consumers will fall for the claim that QCB was protective for healthcare workers.”

  • “COVID-19 and ‘the tyranny predicted by Rudolf Steiner as early s 1909’.” The post concerned anthroposophic remedies.

  • “Eight new products aimed at mitigating COVID-19. But do they really work?” “I see the potential for considerable harm from all the useless SCAMs [so-called alternative medicines] that are being promoted left right and centre for protecting the public against COVID-19. Firstly, there is the financial harm of paying for products that are useless. Secondly, ineffective effords [sic] might distract from finding and adhering to efforts that are effective. Thirdly, believing in a SCAM that does not work will create a sense of false security which, in turn, renders consumers more vulnerable to catch the virus.”

  • “Snake oil salesmen are out in force and view COVID-19 as an ‘opportunity’.” Hundreds of papers have been published concerning alternative medicine for coronavirus. “There is simply no form of SCAM [so-called alternative medicine] that would not have joined the bandwagon of snake-oil salesmen trying to make a quick buck or satisfying their dangerous delusion of a panacea.”

Other topics

Best of the blogs, December – on Science-Based Medicine, Jann Bellamy:

  • Wrote “Federal appeals court strikes down conversion therapy bans.” Conversion therapy, which “has the goal of changing a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” has been banned in “20 states and dozens of localities.” “A recent federal Court of Appeals decision struck down local governments’ conversion therapy bans on First Amendment grounds, characterizing licensed mental health therapists’ advice as a ‘viewpoint’ and regulation thereof subject to strict scrutiny by the courts…This decision carries disturbing implications for the regulation of the practice of medicine as well as the government’s ability to prevent quack medical advice.”

David Gorski:

  • Posted “The Oregon Medical Board suspends the medical license of antivax pediatrician Dr. Paul Thomas.”

Harriet Hall:

  • Wrote about “Blue light.” “The claims for blue light glasses and other products that reduce exposure to blue light are not based on credible evidence. They are good salesmanship, not good science.” (See also Sept. 7 item.)

  • Discussed melatonin. “Caution is advisable, since quality control is a documented problem. 71% of products did not contain within 10% of the labelled amount of melatonin, with variations ranging from -83% to +478%, lot-to-lot variability was as high as 465%, and the discrepancies were not correlated to any manufacturer or product type. To make matters worse, 8 out of 31 products were contaminated with the neurotransmitter serotonin…The evidence is mixed and weak. There is some positive evidence for melatonin, and side effects are mild. I wouldn’t discourage anyone who wants to give it a try, but I think good sleep hygiene measures would be a better first step for treating insomnia.”

Clay Jones:

  • Wrote “The Guardian and the ‘cult’ of online chiropractic,” discussing videos of dramatic (and dangerous) adjustments of the neck.

Steven Novella:

  • Posted “Exploitation of mammals for traditional remedies.” Concerning efforts to reduce the use of pangolins, he wrote: “this is not a matter of having to sacrifice a legitimate use that is just unsustainable. Products made from pangolin scales for alleged medicinal use are complete pseudoscience. Pangolin scales are made from keratin. They are essentially fingernails. Belief that they have any healing properties is pure magic. Therefore the people who buy such products in the belief that they will help their ailment are also being exploited. Purging medicine of pseudoscience will take care of the problem of endangering species for fake medicine as a bonus. Pangolins, of course, are only one example. Tigers, rhinos, sun bears, and Asiatic bears are also exploited for body parts based upon purely pseudoscientific claims (for tiger bones, rhino horns, and bear bile) – along with over 500 other mammalian species.”

  • Criticized Dr. Vinjay Prasad, who feels that skeptics of alternative medicine should be spending their time on efforts he feels are more worthy.

On Respectful Insolence, “Orac”:

Edzard Ernst:

  • Discussed a study of cinnamon for overactive bladder, as well as other potential uses.

  • Posted concerning an animal study of treatment of sepsis with vitamin C.

  • Described “How to mislead the public with seemingly solid research.” “…sadly, not all research is reliable and much of SCAM research is misleading. Therefore, it is always necessary to be on the alert and apply all the skills of critical evaluation we can muster.”

  • Discussed a review of acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced leukopenia. “I think it is high time that we stop tolerating that the medical literature gets polluted with such nonsense (helped, of course, by journals that are beyond the pale) – someone might actually believe it, in which case it would surely hasten the death of vulnerable patients.”

  • Wrote “Acupuncture for spinal pain: findings from a new meta-analysis.” “I would have phrased the conclusion differently: compared to no treatment, sham acupuncture, or conventional therapies, acupuncture seems to have a significantly superior effect on pain and function. Due to the lack rigour of most studies, these effects are less certain than one would have wished. Many trials fail to report adverse effects which reflects poorly on their quality and ethics and prevents conclusions about the safety of acupuncture. In essence, this means that the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture as a treatment of chronic spinal pain remains uncertain.”

  • Posted “The German medical profession is finally realizing that homeopathy is treatment with placebos.” “This means that in most German counties (there is hope that, sooner or later, the other 6 will follow suit), doctors will no longer be able to train in homeopathy and use the title ‘homeopath’.” Steven Novella also commented on Science-Based Medicine.

  • Discussed adverse effects of homeopathy.

  • Proposed steps to take if you are not sure about the validity of a reported research finding in alternative medicine.

  • Wrote “Post hoc ergo homeopathy – the sad story of homeopathically mistreated penguins.” “I think that the researchers who wrote the article, the journal editor who accepted it for publication, and the referees who reviewed the paper should all bow their heads in shame and go on a basic science course (perhaps a course in medical ethics as well) before they are let anywhere near research again.”

  • Posted “Aromatherapy for Post-Dural Puncture Headache: a seemingly rigorous study turns out to be useless.”

  • Wrote “So-called alternative medicine (SCAM) does not improve the natural history of cancer.” “Collectively, these studies do not demonstrate that SCAM use leads to a better prognosis of cancer patients. On the contrary, several investigations have suggested the opposite effect.”

December – Wang and others reviewed “The influence of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on fasting plasma glucose, insulin levels and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index” (Complement Ther Med. 2020 Dec;55:102583 Abstract). “This systematic review evaluated the association between FPG and DHEA, revealing that the administration of DHEA reduces FPG levels. However, we found no association between DHEA administration and IN levels or insulin resistance.”

December – Jamali et al. reviewed “The effect of cinnamon supplementation on lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes” (Complement Ther Med. 2020 Dec;55:102571 Abstract). They concluded that “Cinnamon supplementation significantly decreased serum TG [triglycerides], TC [total cholesterol], and LDL-C [low-density lipoprotein cholesterol] concentrations, but did not change HDL-C [high-density lipoprotein cholesterol] levels, in patients with type 2 diabetes.”

December 1 – “FTC Returns Almost $775,000 to Consumers Who Purchased Deceptively Advertised Arthritis and Joint Pain Relief Supplement Synovia from A.S. Research, LLC” Press release. “According to the FTC’s complaint, A.S. Research made misleading health claims and used phony testimonials, including one in which a user said he ‘gave away his walker’ after using the supplement.”

December – Felton wrote “The FDA went after black salve, an unproven cancer 'cure.' It failed to finish the job” for Consumer Reports. “The agency has serious concerns about the product but it remains readily available for consumers.”

December 10 – Truth in Advertising discussed “B17.” “B17 isn’t a vitamin…B17 hasn’t been proven to be effective ‘for cancer’…Moreover, the substance – which is found in the pits or seeds of many fruits, raw nuts and plants, and is also known as laetrile or amygdalin – could actually kill you due to its link to cyanide poisoning. Yet Amazon is steering consumers toward these unproven and potentially dangerous products: Searching ‘b17 vitamin for cancer’ yields no less than 232 results.” [Update: after publication of this article, “’b17 vitamin for cancer’ no longer appeared as a suggested search after typing ‘B17’ into the search bar on Amazon.com.”]

December 11 – Stea wrote “Pseudoscientific treatments for addiction are everywhere” for Psychology Today.

December 11 – A Cochrane review of acupuncture for chronic nonspecific low back pain (Mu et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Dec 11;12:CD013814 Abstract) concluded that “We found that acupuncture may not play a more clinically meaningful role than sham in relieving pain immediately after treatment or in improving quality of life in the short term, and acupuncture possibly did not improve back function compared to sham in the immediate term. However, acupuncture was more effective than no treatment in improving pain and function in the immediate term.”

December 17 – “FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptively Marketed CBD Products” Press release. “Companies made unsupported claims that their oils, balms, gummies, coffee, and other goods could treat serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes.”

December 17 – “FDA Warns Consumers to Avoid Certain Male Enhancement and Weight Loss Products Sold Through Amazon, eBay and Other Retailers Due to Hidden, Potentially Dangerous Drug Ingredients” News release. “Many of the products the agency purchased from Amazon and eBay have names that are the same as, or similar to, tainted products that have been the subject of previous FDA consumer warnings. Several of the Amazon products are designated as an ‘Amazon Choice’ or ‘#1 Best Seller’.”

Additions to previous months

July 16 – A review by Kocsis and others (Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 16;10(1):11787 Paper) found that “probiotics could be a supplementary therapeutic approach in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients to improve dyslipidemia and to promote better metabolic control.”

November – Lee and others reviewed “Fennel for Reducing Pain in Primary Dysmenorrhea” (Nutrients. 2020 Nov 10;12(11):3438 Paper). They concluded “Although the risk of bias for all the included studies was moderate, potential publication bias was observed due to the presence of a greater number of small studies with favorable effects. This systematic review concludes that fennel is as effective as conventional drug therapies in alleviating pain in primary dysmenorrhea. More studies that include more diverse populations and robust evidence of fennel’s effects will be needed in future research endeavors.”