Bernie, <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Regarding the information you found on the web: You said regarding Balch & Balch: one is a CNC or certified nutritionist, the other is an MD, but also a nutritionist. Neither works no where in the field of immunities or auto immune disorders..... and it might help to better understand them and their purpose if you read about where they are under investigation and possible indictments for claiming their vitamins can heal major diseases.... My goodness, Bernie, I didnt know that being a nutritionist was grounds for being discredited! (I happen to be one, myself - University of Hawaii, 1999 - so I guess that takes care of my credibility!) J But I can understand your concerns after reading the article you pointed out. Im sure there are nutritionists - just like people in any other business - that will make false claims about their product in an effort to sell it. Every once in awhile someone suggests that I work at home selling such and such vitamins, etc, and this is exactly why I would never do it, because everyone would suspect that everything I said was only to sell something. But in truth, most nutritionists - even doctors that have become educated in nutrition - are only trying to help people in areas where medicine has either failed, or is unnecessarily expensive! Theres a place for medicine and theres a place for nutrition. Perhaps youre not familiar enough with the field of nutrition to realize that often the reason that these types of investigations are held is because someone believes strongly that something will help someone and dares to say so, based on their field of experience with patients (as a nutritionist or as a doctor) rather than on major scientific studies that 'prove it'. (And consider on top of that, the competition that inexpensive nutritional therapies offer to the ultra-expensive drugs they might replace - and who might be a force behind trying to discredit them.) Why might there be fewer extensive scientific studies to support nutritional therapies? Do you know who funds the extremely expensive studies that document drug therapies? The PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES who stand to make GROSS PROFITS, in spite of the expense involved in such studies. But how much does a bottle of vitamins - or a cart full of fresh vegetables - cost? Sorry, but theres just not the same margin of profit involved, so youre not going to see farmers or nutraceutical companies funding such studies. Nor is there any company or individual who can claim the rights to patenting such natural products as vitamins and foods - compared to drug companies who can hold the rights on the drugs they formulate - and thus make such profits. You might even look at some of the top medical journals and see who the advertisers are - Pharmaceutical Companies. So who controls the media that reaches out to doctors, in terms of trying to sell their product? Not likely to be farmers or nutritionists or nutaceutical companies. Yes, you brought up some legitimate concerns, but please be aware that there are 2 sides to the story. Sally
