Despite my first two substantive posts being about aspects of complementary medicine (and more specifically extracts and supplements) this won't be the primary focus of the blog. Later today I'll post my thoughts on television show 'The Mentalist' as well as typing up something I wrote for AUT's 'debate' magazine when I was studying for a graduate diploma in journalism.
Your view of my specific brand of skepticism should be developing so, to help you along, here's some personal background related to Gingko biloba.
Based on the opening paragraph you may have deduced I'm a journalist. Well I am, of sorts. I work on a New Zealand website updating just about everything but with a focus on sports. I also write match reports and other stories for the website as well as maintaining a sports blog.
But before I landed my dream job I was a scientist, specifically a laboratory manager. I worked in the pharmaceutical industry in my native Scotland and then briefly in New Zealand before heading to the health food and supplement industry.
Without going too much into the details (which will surely, as they say, come out in the wash at some point) my experience there only increased my growing skepticism in both the efficacy and standards of manufacture of a majority of supplements.
This wasn't solely related to the single company I worked for, but based on talking with other people at industry events and my experiences in the pharmaceutical industry.
In any case, to cut a long story short, I had had enough of science as a career. I was doing very little day-to-day science, and I got to the stage where I found myself hating the fact I was working for a company which I came to believe made unethical decisions when it suited the bottom line.
So I left. I packed up and went back to university to become a journalist - and in doing so found I wasn't too bad at writing rugby and basketball match reports and being free from the daily drudgery of 'science' actually reignited the passion I first had when I was doing experiments in the school laboratory.
That said, on to Gingko biloba...
Gingko is widely sold in New Zealand, usually as a memory aide.
But the science behind Gingko isn't exactly compelling. In fact the latest information seems to show it has little efficacy.
However, instead of writing all of the details, I'm simply going to point you in the direction of Dr Steven Novella's excellent Neurologica Blog, and specifically his entry on Gingko and it's ability to help dementia. His conclusion? You'll have to click through and read it for yourself, but don't be too surprised!
At this point, it's worth saying I'm a huge fan of Dr Novella and will surely link to him in the future. He is a shining light in the skeptical community. To be honest, I don't know how he does it. He has a family and career yet still finds the time to write for a multitude of blogs and host the world's best podcast, The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe.
I hope one day I can meet Dr Novella and the rest of the skeptical rogues and pass on my gratitude for the enlightenment they provide to a huge number of people.
Back to the subject in hand. . .
My thoughts on the majority of life is that you should be able to do what you want as long as it doesn't impinge on others. If someone wants to buy a Gingko biloba supplement because they believe it helps, then that's fine. (My interest then becomes ensuring they get what they pay for and understand exactly what they're taking.)
Hopefully a few people will read and absorb the latest information on Gingko and make an informed decision as to whether to continue to take the supplement. A man can dream, can't he?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Hoodia gum - a weight-loss wonder?
Apologies - this was supposed to have been posted yesterday, but two hours of sleep on Sunday night (Thanks Kiwis and All Blacks) put paid to a few plans.
I'm always suspicious of flyers left under the car windscreen. They're usually advertising cheap rug sales or wanting me to start a new part-time business to earn b1g D0ll4r$.
Usually the kids get them and they end up in bits on the back floor. But not on Saturday.
After a tortuous 45 minute grocery shop with the kids in tow, I was met with a folded A4 colour printed advertisement for Hoodia Gum, a 'medically proven weight-loss wonder!'.
Being a little on the large side, I'm always interested in losing weight without having to actually exercise and cut out eating of crisps and chocolate.
But, as the vast majority of us know, there's no magic bullet that's going to cause the weight to drop off. So with my skeptical-sense tingling I went for an exploration of the internet and the amazing plant that was the ingredient in the wonderous chewing gum, Hoodia gordonii.
So what did I find? Well, pretty much what I expected for a product promising the earth - lots of adverts and sites wanting to sell it to me and not a lot of information on peer-reviewed studies showing the stuff actually does what it's supposed to.
First up, the scientific studies on the traditional South African plant are sparse. Well, when I say sparse there appears to be one published study on rats, an "efficacy" study on seven people and one double-blind study undertaken by a company who manufacture Hoodia products which showed people taking the active ingredient (P57) consumed an average of 1000 calories less per day than those not taking it.
The real lack of clinical data and a single study (which may or may not have been peer reviewed as I haven't found the study online) is hardly convincing for a so-called weight-loss wonder. . .
I'm not going to go into too much further detail here (because as good skeptics you should do your own digging and reading on this) - but some other things I found disturbing about the product was the sheer amount of competing information the different manufacturers/sellers provided (like how quickly the product was effective, how much to take, how their product was the best because it contained certified Hoodia gordonii).
Here are a selection of the sites I visited (but obviously not all):
Slimfast Hoodia
Hoodia diet-pills
Hoodia Advice
Hoodia gordonii's Wikipedia entry
These are provided for illustrative effect and all (and many more dealing with Hoodia) are available through Google.
The fact that so many of the sites I visited were keen to point out the huge number of forgeries available on the internet also set alarm bells ringing - apparently there's just not enough Hoodia gordonii available to provide for the amount of products on the market.
Most also referenced a handful of media 'appearances' of Hoodia - mainly CBS's 60 minutes, the story of a BBC reporter (who ate a banana-sized piece of the plant, not a supplement) and an appearance in Oprah Winfrey's 'O' magazine. Wikipedia has a few more references, but those three tend to be the most popularly cited and all are a number of years old.
(Were this plant truly the answer to the world's obesity problem, is it too much to expect to see some recent information?)
While all of these may be interesting, again there is very little science there. When the majority of the advertising is centred on personal testimonials, you have to question whether the science supports what's been stated.
Now let's look at the Hoodia gum in the advert I received. The website I was directed to says the gum contains 120mg of 'pure Hoodia'. First up, that doesn't fill me with confidence especially as most products on the internet seem to indicate they contain more than this.
The flyer also claims that 'its benefits have been proven through the strict testing methods of western medicine'. For thit to be true I'd need to see some peer-reviewed double-blind studies showing some statistical significance - and as I wrote above, this just isn't the case.
So the conclusion? Hoodia gordonii, or to be precise it's active ingredient, may have some appetite suppression affect.
Exactly how much of the active ingredient this gum supplies is unknown and can't be deduced based on the information supplied. And with the lack of clinical study information freely available, a direct comparison of amount required to show any appetite suppresant effect versus amount supplied is impossible.
That, alongside the exaggerated claims, the warnings of fake Hoodia proliferation and the lack of reputable brands means I'll be avoiding Hoodia gordonii in any of its forms in my quest for the perfect body. I recommend you do too.
Note: I spent approximately 3 hours visiting and reading websites on Hoodia based on internet searches. I just don't have time to review all the information provided so I zeroed on the commonalities and differences I could find.
It goes without saying that, like all good skeptics, I would be prepared to re-evaluate my position based on scientific evidence if someone can point me in the right direction.
I'm always suspicious of flyers left under the car windscreen. They're usually advertising cheap rug sales or wanting me to start a new part-time business to earn b1g D0ll4r$.
Usually the kids get them and they end up in bits on the back floor. But not on Saturday.
After a tortuous 45 minute grocery shop with the kids in tow, I was met with a folded A4 colour printed advertisement for Hoodia Gum, a 'medically proven weight-loss wonder!'.
Being a little on the large side, I'm always interested in losing weight without having to actually exercise and cut out eating of crisps and chocolate.
But, as the vast majority of us know, there's no magic bullet that's going to cause the weight to drop off. So with my skeptical-sense tingling I went for an exploration of the internet and the amazing plant that was the ingredient in the wonderous chewing gum, Hoodia gordonii.
So what did I find? Well, pretty much what I expected for a product promising the earth - lots of adverts and sites wanting to sell it to me and not a lot of information on peer-reviewed studies showing the stuff actually does what it's supposed to.
First up, the scientific studies on the traditional South African plant are sparse. Well, when I say sparse there appears to be one published study on rats, an "efficacy" study on seven people and one double-blind study undertaken by a company who manufacture Hoodia products which showed people taking the active ingredient (P57) consumed an average of 1000 calories less per day than those not taking it.
The real lack of clinical data and a single study (which may or may not have been peer reviewed as I haven't found the study online) is hardly convincing for a so-called weight-loss wonder. . .
I'm not going to go into too much further detail here (because as good skeptics you should do your own digging and reading on this) - but some other things I found disturbing about the product was the sheer amount of competing information the different manufacturers/sellers provided (like how quickly the product was effective, how much to take, how their product was the best because it contained certified Hoodia gordonii).
Here are a selection of the sites I visited (but obviously not all):
Slimfast Hoodia
Hoodia diet-pills
Hoodia Advice
Hoodia gordonii's Wikipedia entry
These are provided for illustrative effect and all (and many more dealing with Hoodia) are available through Google.
The fact that so many of the sites I visited were keen to point out the huge number of forgeries available on the internet also set alarm bells ringing - apparently there's just not enough Hoodia gordonii available to provide for the amount of products on the market.
Most also referenced a handful of media 'appearances' of Hoodia - mainly CBS's 60 minutes, the story of a BBC reporter (who ate a banana-sized piece of the plant, not a supplement) and an appearance in Oprah Winfrey's 'O' magazine. Wikipedia has a few more references, but those three tend to be the most popularly cited and all are a number of years old.
(Were this plant truly the answer to the world's obesity problem, is it too much to expect to see some recent information?)
While all of these may be interesting, again there is very little science there. When the majority of the advertising is centred on personal testimonials, you have to question whether the science supports what's been stated.
Now let's look at the Hoodia gum in the advert I received. The website I was directed to says the gum contains 120mg of 'pure Hoodia'. First up, that doesn't fill me with confidence especially as most products on the internet seem to indicate they contain more than this.
The flyer also claims that 'its benefits have been proven through the strict testing methods of western medicine'. For thit to be true I'd need to see some peer-reviewed double-blind studies showing some statistical significance - and as I wrote above, this just isn't the case.
So the conclusion? Hoodia gordonii, or to be precise it's active ingredient, may have some appetite suppression affect.
Exactly how much of the active ingredient this gum supplies is unknown and can't be deduced based on the information supplied. And with the lack of clinical study information freely available, a direct comparison of amount required to show any appetite suppresant effect versus amount supplied is impossible.
That, alongside the exaggerated claims, the warnings of fake Hoodia proliferation and the lack of reputable brands means I'll be avoiding Hoodia gordonii in any of its forms in my quest for the perfect body. I recommend you do too.
Note: I spent approximately 3 hours visiting and reading websites on Hoodia based on internet searches. I just don't have time to review all the information provided so I zeroed on the commonalities and differences I could find.
It goes without saying that, like all good skeptics, I would be prepared to re-evaluate my position based on scientific evidence if someone can point me in the right direction.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
nz skeptic open for business
This blog has been a long time in preparation.
It started as being part of a personal blog, but I quickly realised the subject was too important to deal with as a small part of that kind of blog and it died quickly.
But every time I read a story about the phony psychics of 'Sensing Murder' (or 'Sensing Bullshit' as the wonderful Jeremy Wells calls it), the latest cancer-curing vitamin product or how wonderful homeopathy is in the New Zealand press I cringe because I'm just letting it go by without comment.
So as well as picking up on international skeptical news (courtesy of my favourite skeptical outlets, The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe, The James Randi Educational Foundation, Skepchick, Science Based Medicine, Pharyngula, Bad Astronomy, NeuroLogica Blog, Skepticblog, The Skeptic Zone) I'll be looking at what's happening in Aotearoa and what's being reported in our press.
My desire isn't necessarily to convert anyone to my way of thinking - all I want to do is ensure people have as much information as possible so they can make well-informed decisions.
Throughout this blog's lifetime I'll be sharing more personal information about myself as and when it pertains to the skeptical subject at hand, but if you do a Google search on me you'll be able to find out more about me should you wish.
My first post of substance will be up tomorrow and I'll be having a look at the so-called 'weight-loss wonder' Hoodia gordonii.
It started as being part of a personal blog, but I quickly realised the subject was too important to deal with as a small part of that kind of blog and it died quickly.
But every time I read a story about the phony psychics of 'Sensing Murder' (or 'Sensing Bullshit' as the wonderful Jeremy Wells calls it), the latest cancer-curing vitamin product or how wonderful homeopathy is in the New Zealand press I cringe because I'm just letting it go by without comment.
So as well as picking up on international skeptical news (courtesy of my favourite skeptical outlets, The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe, The James Randi Educational Foundation, Skepchick, Science Based Medicine, Pharyngula, Bad Astronomy, NeuroLogica Blog, Skepticblog, The Skeptic Zone) I'll be looking at what's happening in Aotearoa and what's being reported in our press.
My desire isn't necessarily to convert anyone to my way of thinking - all I want to do is ensure people have as much information as possible so they can make well-informed decisions.
Throughout this blog's lifetime I'll be sharing more personal information about myself as and when it pertains to the skeptical subject at hand, but if you do a Google search on me you'll be able to find out more about me should you wish.
My first post of substance will be up tomorrow and I'll be having a look at the so-called 'weight-loss wonder' Hoodia gordonii.
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