Genetic testing for breast cancer gene expression that recommends breast removal
Depression and mental illness memes
If treatment works why do rates continue to climb
Disease
disease as an entity as opposed to a confluence of factors
Doctors
Doctors do not research issues since that is contrary to the licensing boards standard of care?
Independence of conventional doctor practice
Economic Profit motive
Experts/Expertise
Vested interest
Generally experts base their claims on some type of given evidence, but there might be a tendency not to quote the evidence since it takes away from the mystique of the expert
Expert organization do not necessarily reach conclusions through transparent democratic processes
Nature of a hard fact In health we generally refer to well run and large double blinded placebo controlled studies
1- Any given Success rate of a substance and improving conditions or illness of some sort, will still possible be meaningless for certain subsets in the group or even all the individuals selected
Experts may also rely on statements to which the original source of the hard data is unknown For example a very well respected expert tells a colleague a supposed statement of fact without referencing its origin That is anecdotal in nature though it may indeed a type of information which has a high likelihood of actually being based on solid information
When considering the importance of background physiology, molecular biology. may be needed to drive research, but not for the common person to make informed health decisions in general
General
Striking a balance between conflicting interpretations of a particular issues may be seen more as a marketing ploy than than that of objective neutrality
Mind body duality/subjectivity
Crime/Poverty Mostly a social issue, but it also has a direct economic component
Costs and benefits of healthy lifestyle in economic terms
Cooperating and utilizing public institutions
Cooperative and Share health consumerism
Health Care
Defensive medicine too many tests and prodcedure to avoid lawsuits
Iatrogenic deaths
Standard of care
Holistic methods may be treating the symptom in some sense as well
Holistic versus conventional Controversies
What is treating symptoms and not the cause of disease
Problem of no scientific studies of alternative techniques
Candida
Trans Fats and Cholesterol
Coffee enemas
Liver cleanse
Mercury in amalgams
Lyme disease
Homeopathy
Antibiotic use
Most controversial problematic drugs
GMO
Vaccines
Theory of homeostasis
Hygiene hypothesis
Symptomatic treatment
The P.H debate and various measuring techniques
Homeostasis/Balance
Single constituents/whole compound
Natural substances may effect the body in a holistic and non side effect creating manner as compared to pharmaceuticals
Argument that single components are targeting metabolic set points as counter argument that such strategies are not reductionist
Balance as a tension from two poles pulling rope to keep line taught
Individual health initiated
Practitioner/patient
Lifestyle change
Changing diets or other unwanted lifestyle habits are perhaps not jut about execute a desired change,because it is arguably the case that relating to food and other substances is not directly about food but other emotionally based issues
Media portrayal of controversies
Memes
When it is claimed there is no evidence for efficacy of a treatment, does that mean there is any evidence one way or another?
Disproportionate response to small health risks (Almond scare) raw milk
Nutrition
Has mineral deficiencies in soils effected quality of minerals in produce
Science of treating cravings and food addictions
The meme that organic food makes people eat less fruits and vegetables overall because of cost
What is the most important shopping priorities? good meats, fats, vegetables, organic non GMO
Who sets diet standards My plate
Prescription drugs
History of prescription drugs that turned out to be dangerous
High profile drugs with serious side effects
The terminology of side effects tends to dismiss the significance of said effects. The argument is everything should just be called effects
Off label prescribing of drugs https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/05/off-label-drug-prescribing-what-does-it-mean-for-you/index.htm
Privacy/Health Records
Privacy for Individual health information
Threats to health privacy through employers and other non medical sources
Standards
Is centralized control of setting standards problematic
Statistical and methodological debates
Many cancer clinics publish results but critics often claim that many of their supposed successes cannot be documented to have had cancer
Sugar
Different effects of different types of sugars
Targeted single component supplements could be considered reductionist
Green Pharmaceuticals- Those natural supplements and herbs which are just targeted for symptom relief
Herxing and detox reactions controversy
How are official sources gathering their fundamental facts
Science- Various forms of science apply including clinical trials, population studies, and controlling for individual variation
Mindsets and Ideology- Regardless of the supposed neutral nature of scientific investigation it seems likely that mindsets and attitudes play a significant role
Science is often based on three or four determining factors; genetic predisposition, condition of the body at a given time, nutritional and lifestyle factors, and the environment
Science might suggest that these factors exist in fixed ratios, or cumulative totals. At some point we have perhaps heard something like health is 50 percent genetic and 50 percent environmental
Jennifer Daniels makes the point that some nutrients such as Ashwaganda are second level nutrients that need a certain amount of fundamental nutrients in order to work
Others, who may still suggest they are following sound science, might instead suggest that health is a multi factorial dynamic relationship that defies certain forms of classic reductionist science that applies so well to the hard sciences. One example might be that true good health can only come from a series of lifestyle, dietary, and psychological changes which as a whole allow for a positive change by trying to measure them in an independent manner may be useless since they are contingent upon one another for measurable positive effects
The measuring or deciding what is scientific when it comes to food related health outcomes are open to different type of interpretations based on various statistical correlations of health outcomes, views of experts, understood existing working science based biological principles, and popular opinion
Current law states that produce growers, such as the cherry producer's who actually went to trial on these issues, cannot quote any studies on the foods they produce. The idea roughly stated is that if a food producer makes a health claim regarding a food is equivalent to saying that food is a drug according the FDA. Therefore any food producer who wants to quote clinical studies regarding the food they produce must first go through the FDA drug application process to make their food become a drug. In other words a food must be seen first as a drug before health claims can be made about it
Thus it may be the case that we at least consider that the individual try various diets and see what works for them. One again however the mufti factorial natural of existence gets in the way since an individual may have a changing environment, both physically and socially, during any given period which will serve as co-factors in the overall health picture. Diagnostic tests from laboratories could be utilized by individuals looking to make their own journey towards greater health through lifestyle and diet changes. Of course once again which tests and what they mean may be fairly complex, yet some tests such as blood sugar levels may have less controversy than others.
Standard of Care
Who sets professional standards
What is preventive health and
Profit motives interfering with fact based science
Supplement memes
Has profit motive actually skewered the effectiveness of natural inexpensive treatments such as castor oil for the skin or other examples where people tend to believe that those products cannot be as effective as consumer products otherwise we would see then in the marketplace
A few bad actors, especially either low quality body building products and very cheap generic brands, may be responsible for most of the problems invoked with purity and/or unwanted impurities beyond what is listed or required by law
The technique used by NY Attorney General Schneidermen included DNA bar coding which is a technique that identifies the animal or plant species said to be contained in the supplement. But there is reason to believe some supplements might not, or should not, contain the DNA of the original plant DNA but rather the intended final product is constituent derived from a deliberate process to refine the original product. an example would fish oil, the finished product EPA and DHA does not contain fish DNA,
False meme that FDA has no power to regulate supplements.
Supplement manufacturers and those who directly profit from them cannot make health claims
The idea that only deficiency of vitamins and minerals, and perhaps other nutrients makes supplementation valuable Or, to put it another way, a healthy person will not become healthier with supplements A related idea here is of body wisdom where it will only take the amount of vitamins and minerals it needs from the food it digests
In terms of absorption of supplements in the gut, do we assume the body tends to just unwittingly absorbs and then excrete that which is not necessary? Or is gut absorption already tied to a feedback system which is establish how much of a given substance needs to be absorbed at that time
If a person is not absorbing nutrients from foods, that may also mean they will not absorb supplements and are now spending even more money on something that is not effective
The idea that vitamins are often made from the same commercially made products and tainted products
The mode of supplements enteric coatings etc there are many ways to target the adsorption This includes sub lingual, Iv
Technology Memes
The claim that individualized health care, especially in terms of genetic testing, will be a boon to the health industry and health care in general. One offset is of course it will take more technology to accomplish and calls into question whether at least some of the lower tech basics of healthcare would be just as effective in terms of resource dollars in comparison to the dollar to benefit ratio of genetic individualized treatment on a large scale
Hoffman we may not always need to cone up with new molecules but re purpose old with new purposes