I'm just talking "out-text" here. I am not on the level of information consumption or contemplation you folks seem to be, so this is opinion writing that follows.

This stuff is way over my head, and I suspect its over the heads of many, including those that write articles on "stuff". At what point do we stop pinballing from study to study? How controlled do we really know the subjects of the study are? I'm referring to the humans of course...rats and worms are even more dubious to me as in relation to humans.

I'm not saying all studies are wrong, but with so much information, often contradictory, how does the average non scientist or doctor really know the answer in the end? I do believe a doctor who has been practicing 30 years and has told patients to do or take "X" and see's THOSE patients over that 30 years and sees real world results. What we actually see in media and medical publications...is what has reached our eyes. We have a medical community that is insistent that serum cholesterol is what causes plaque and heart disease, yet other studies, one massive one in Europe contradicts that "known fact" that has Americans taking poison statins for instance (I mention this a lot because I'm one of those people that, thankfully, cant tolerate statins, so I dont take them). While a lot of doctors talk down supplements, in the case of statins they admit these drugs strip us of natural CoQ10 and recommend a supplement! Supplements that other "experts" tell us are not nearly absorbing as well as we need and not nearly as cardiac protective as the coQ10 our bodies naturally produce...the CoQ10 we are intentionally stripping from us with drugs supposedly to protect our heart! It seems nonsensical on its face to me...but maybe I'm just weird and skeptical.

But why does my skepticism seem less with supplements? I think its because I have at least as much trust in homeopathic stuff that is not driven by corporations as much. I dont take supplements because the supplement manufacturer has ads on TV or elsewhere...the more a supplement is pushed in media or by anyone making money on it (ever hear of Monavie? A pyramid scheme, yet the stuff probably has some good things in it...that I will NOT pay that kind of money for), the less apt I am to buy it. Every supplement I take is based more on either doctors advice, who doesn't make money on the supplements like they might pushing a scrip; and my own research reading what nutritionists, herbal health folks, and end users who report at least psychosomatic results, which the placebo effect is proven to actually work in some cases! The power of the mind...it cant be measured in a blood test all the time. Positivity itself is a healing power.

One of those linked articles refers to pomegranate. Yea, hard to believe the stuff is bad for you...and a pomegranate is not bad for most people...yet POM juice, loaded with sugar, we all know here...its the sugar that's bad! I love pomegranate juice, but I refuse to be fleeced by the price of the stuff and now that I'm paying attention to sugar, I'm clear on this. Plus I'd rather have natural sour cherry juice if given a choice.

Green tea. Asians. I believe them. So I drink it, especially around flu season...but I also get the flu shot. We also have local herbal hippies and natural farms and communes nearby we buy the natural stuff from....including vegetable seeds specifically bred for our region. They sell wonderful tea blends for wellness that cant hurt. I wont delve in to all the herbals...there are so many. Again, I have as much trust in herbals as I do big pharma.

Turmeric. Again, an Asian thing. The case study is part of a continent. But I'm not paying through the nose for the stuff to take capsules. I buy it in bulk from a spice retailer, it lasts forever. I use it in the winter when I'm drinking cups of broth or bouillon...that I add capsicum sauce to...because I believe capsicum is really good for you. I add turmeric and hot sauce to my drinking broth, and try to have that after my two cups of coffee and cup of green tea every day (now that I work from home most of the time, this is easier to do).

My biggest skepticism with supplements is there is no way, short of hiring the local university to analyze them, to know if what they claim is in the supplement is true. Kind of like we "trust" that nutrition label on foods. But who is verifying these? Each batch?

I take both Niacin and 1000mg of vitamin C every day. Both suggested by doctors who rarely seem to promote supplements. Many doctors will tell you if you are eating a balanced diet, you dont need supplements, including omega 3's. But other doctor's who see me say either the supplements I take Which include much more than those two, are either "good stuff" or simply, "not going to hurt".

What I dont do, is assume that the expensive supplements are the best or most pure. Just because you bought them in a store with employees that seem to be in that "world" and the products they sell are outrageously expensive, is no guarantee of purity or quality. Gilded packaging does not make the supplement better.

Many in here are far more well read on this stuff, cancer survivors...and suffer many more ailments than I ever have...you all actually make me feel so fortunate. As I write in my booze thread, it seems unfair that I have drank all my life and smoked much of it...still do smoke here and there if the weather is nice outside...I've done many illicit drugs in my youth...enough that one might wonder why I'm alive today. I worked hard and partied/drank-smoked hard for decades...and so many people out there have so many ailments and never did any of that. My blood numbers are fairly decent, I've had x-rays, MRI, CT scans and C-protein tests, etc....and no matter how much I worry I have that "tumor" from all my unhealthy behavior, the medical field keeps telling me I'm fine and should cut back on the drinking and just lose some weight!...and take a poison statin because the cholesterol levels that were good 15 years ago are no longer good enough. What's next...the LDL needs to be in negative numbers? How much pharmaceuticals will it take? Yea, not this guy, but I will take plant sterols and red yeast rice!

Go figure.