My kids know that I enjoy a spirited argument. During the days when the dinner table was
our public forum, I tried hard to offer a responsible voice of dissent on the
issues before us. I admit now that the
view I espoused was not always my own, but one that I felt merited inclusion in
the discussion. I still do this with
them and to others in my life who are willing to succumb to probing of the
mind. I willingly subject my own mind to
the same process.
Because I am a gastroenterologist, folks assume that I have
special expertise in nutrition. I
should, but I don’t. Perhaps, medical
education has evolved since I was in medical training, but in my day, a soft
subject like nutrition was bypassed. I
am hopeful that I can remedy this knowledge vacuum in the years ahead.
These days, nutrition is part of the burgeoning tsunami of
wellness medicine, a discipline that races beyond known science as it seeps
into the marketplace.
Several times a week, I am queried on my view of probiotics,
which are bacteria that confer health benefits on the human who ingests
them. If you were to survey the public, I suspect
that a majority would express that probiotics promote health and are effective
in treating or preventing various maladies.
These products are included in the billion dollar enterprise
of alternative medicine that is not subjected to any Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) oversight. Their
claims are very difficult to study and there is no standardization in the
industry of what constitutes probiotic treatment. This a different universe that
conventional drugs inhabit. These
medicines, prescribed by physicians, are subjected to rigorous oversight by the
FDA and must demonstrate safety and efficacy.
Alternative product purveyors, free from these constraints, can appeal
to our New Age beliefs with promises that are seductive but unproven. They promise better health but don’t have to
prove anything.
If you were in the business of selling medicine, would you
choose to spend gazillions dollars and several years praying your drug gets
through the FDA, or promote a probiotic that a public is ready to swallow on
faith? If you’re stuck on this question, then
consider my alternative blog MDWhistleblower for Dummies for remediation.
Do probiotics treat or prevent disease? Are these companies overpromising? Clearly,
the marketing claims are a light year or
two beyond verifiable and supportive science.
I know that many of us want probiotics to be the panacea for
what ails us. I know that wellness and
preventive medicine have become a religion for many of us. I suggest that we need some Old Fashioned wisdom
to restrain New Age converts.
Don’t misunderstand me.
I’m not dissing Alternative Medicine acolytes. Does their stuff really work or is belief
of efficacy sufficient? Why aren’t
these companies utilizing the scientific method to determine if their potions
are just placebos? Kick this issue around your own dinner table
and make sure that dissent is on the menu.