The Great Vitamin Battle

Not long ago, my mom and I were in a Vitamin Shoppe waiting for a third person (who shall remain nameless) to make a purchase. It turns out that you really can't trust the two of us in that kind of store. The longer we spent there, the noisier and more disruptive we became. It started out small with giggling about the names of protein powders and muscle builders and moved on to jokes about complexion softeners and urine conditioners (urine conditioner?!). By the time we reached the shelf of royal bee jelly (good for smelly feet, allergies, and male satisfaction!) we were practically rolling on the floor.

The United States seems to be a nation of quick fixers, people who want an easy way to get result NOW! The vitamin fascination plays into this just perfectly. Perhaps that is why, even in this economy, the vitamin business continues to thrive. However, Slate's new article on the subject douses some serious water on the efficacy of many vitamins and supplements. It seems that many compounds originally thought to be beneficial either do not have the good outcome, or, even worse, they have an unexpected downside. This is not to say that all vitamins are pointless, and they are careful to note a few well-respected examples (like pre-natal vitamins). On the whole it seems that my freshman biology teacher was right: Pills are not a shortcut to healthy diet.

The Sleep Less Gene?

It seems that scientists are on the trail of a genetic mutation that makes a person require less sleep. A major sleep study came up with two women who just naturally need only about six hours a night. The authors were quick to point out that, unlike millions of other people, these two are actually fully rested after the shorter night's sleep. I wish, wish, wish I had this gene.

Think what a jump you would have on the rest of the world if you only needed four or six hours and then woke up fully rested. You could work, read, exercise, socialize, or do any number of other things, and still be bright-eyed when it was time for the rest of the world to wake up. Now that would be a mutation to be proud of.

Happy 200 Darwin

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin, arch nemesis of creationists everywhere! It is amazing to me that, 200 years later, his theories still create such incredible drama. I believe Mr. Darwin! I believe!

Water Safety

Water, water everywhere (in WA anyway), but is there a drop that's safe to drink? Everywhere you turn it seems like there is a news story about a new way that your water might try to kill you. Dioxins, Bisphenol A, and a wide array of pharmaceuticals have recently entered a field of possible dangers that already included such a wide variety of old standbys. It's enough to make a sane person want to run screaming from the tap/Britta pitcher/Nalgene/BPA-and-led-free hip-n-cool metal drinking canister.

A big part of this dilemma is that I'm just not sure who to believe. I do not have a reliable source for clear and trustworthy water safety information. In fact, when you go looking for this kind info on the internet, you end up buried under such a huge pile of often conflicting information that you feel worse off than before. Should we or should we not be drinking out of plastic bottles? If we do drink out of plastic, are the hard Nalgene-type plastics better or worse for us? Will we grow weird bacteria by re-using either of these types of bottles? Will we drink dangerous levels of pharmaceuticals if we drink tap water? Should we care at all about any of this, or is it all a bunch of hype?

Okay science people, this is your chance to be the expert. Should the average person:
A. Hide under the bed until death by thirst?
B. Drink only filtered or bottled water from glass or metal containers?
C. Trust that the tap water is safe and use it in our Nalgenes?
D. Ignore the whole business and do whatever seems easiest?

Airborne Equals Quackery?

There has been much debate over the years about the benefits of a product called Airborne. This "vitamin immune booster" is supposed to protect you from illness in situations like airline travel, and it also claims to ease the effects of colds and flues after you get them. All sorts of people have endorsed the product, and the creator was even invited to the Oprah Show to tout its amazing powers. Many who might otherwise be skeptical of these claims were mollified by the "rigorous double-blind" testing done by a "recognized and accredited" institution.

Now it turns out that the testing never took place, the "institution" is really a sham, and the supplement itself may contain dangerously high levels of vitamin A. Once again, fake "science" has been used to fool people into buying something they would not otherwise trust. Why, oh why, is the vitamin and supplement industry not regulated like food, drugs, and just about everything else we put into our bodies? One day we may regret this on a large scale.

When "Science" is Frightening

Peer-reviewed study after peer-reviewed study has found no link between vaccines and autism. However, talk to ten yuppie or hippie parents, and, chances are, you will find one or two doubters who may even go so far as to deny these vaccines to their young children. It's hard to believe that there are actually people out there who expose their children to the risk of serious disease simply because they've "heard something" about vaccines being the cause of autism.

As it turns out, much of the misinformation out there comes from a single source. One father/son team has done more to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines than, perhaps, anyone else. Slate's Medical Examiner has a chilling article about the "work" of these two men in "getting the word out" about the "dangers" of Thimerosal, an ingredient in some older vaccines. Even more disturbing than the misinformation campaign is the "treatment" these two ghouls have dreamed up.

As anyone working in a school will tell you, Autism is a very real, yet mysterious problem. Little is known about its real causes, and this lack of knowledge can lead to all sorts of wild speculation. However, people with Autism spectrum disorders have a hard enough time coping with life without some yahoos coming along to muddy the scientific waters and provide false hope in the form of fake treatments.

Government Should Abstain from Abstinence

You know that old line from the song "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it." Well, surprise, surprise, teenagers also do it. In fact, they do it even if they've been through a federally funded abstinence program. They do it just as much, they have just as many partners, and they start doing it at the same age as those who never had any training. In short, abstinence training does, to borrow from the late, grate Mr. Vonnegut, DIDDLY SQUAT. All this information comes from a congressionally ordered study on the effects of abstinence programs. The Monkey Butt administration reminds us not make any "sweeping generalizations" about these findings because the program delivery, not the message, is probably at fault. Yeah right, and I'm the queen of the Amazons. Now perhaps we could look into a similar study on the efficacy of the DARE program.

Ethics Panels Run Wild

The ethics of ethics appear to be out of hand at American colleges and Universities. Yesterday, the New York Times has an interesting article about the way college ethics panels are expanding their powers over an ever-greater sphere of academic study. The power and questionable value of ethics panels was a common discussion in my graduate classes, so my interest was peaked by this article.

Ever since the horrors of Tuskegee colleges and universities have made an attempt to provide protection for people participating in research. Panels were formed to review proposed research projects, and to vet them for any possible danger or abuse to participants. Originally, these protections were intended to cover biomedical research with human subjects only. However, as the years go by it seems that the scope of these panels has increased dramatically. For example, virtually all psychology, sociology, and anthropology research has been subjected to oversight for some time. One could certainly make the case that these schools work in areas where harm could come to study participants in the form of mental distress or exploitation.

However, when these panels begin to encroach on fields such as history and art, people begin to think twice. There are hundreds of stories about stupid requirements or even research completely denied because of panel decisions. The article has several of these stories, but my favorite is about the anthropologist who wanted to study a pre-literate tribe. The panel required that he have them read and sign a consent form first. Do you think the members of the panel even noticed the irony?

Tasting Words

The New York Times had a fascinating article a few days ago about people who suffer from a rare form of synaesthesia. Synaethesia itself is a condition wherein a person's senses become sort of cross-wired due to injury or birth defect. For example a person may see certain letters as tinged with an associated color, or they may hear certain words as musical notes. In this even rarer form, people actually experience sensations of flavor when they see certain words. One man they quoted hates to drive because certain words (presumably those on road signs?) make him taste earwax and pistachio ice-cream. Granted this could have a positive effect if you were able to discover words that created pleasant tastes. However, can you imagine what flavor words like unctuous, platitude, or outrageous might have?

Autism and TV?

Anyone who has ever seen a truly autistic kid in action cannot help but be struck by the impact it can have on nearly every part of normal life. Even moderately autistic kids often have very unusual behaviors because they are hyper-sensitive to one or more sensory inputs. This means that some kids can't stand any more than dim light, while others are driven mad by the feel of their own clothing against their skin. Still others are unable to modulate emotions to the point where every minor mishap or sorrow is a major event. In short, living with autism is no picnic.

Unfortunately diagnosis and treatment are not easy for this condition because no one is exactly certain what physical problem exists or what might have caused the problem in the first place. There are a million and one guesses but few good answers. For many kids the "treatment" is to try and learn to cope with a brain that is very differently wired than most.

As it turns out, Washington State has one of the highest rates of Autism in the country (about one in 167 children). Some believe this is due to better diagnostic screening our state. Others claim it has to do with the high tech industry which may attract mildly autistic (and therefore highly focused) workers. Whatever the reason, autism is a very real issue for our state school system.

Recently Slate carried a fascinating article about one autism study. Number crunchers and doctors have long suspected that TV viewing in the earliest years of life may have some impact on the development of the brain. However, it has always been very tough to prove this theory since you're generally not allowed to use human toddlers as lab rats. However, one scientist had a brilliant idea. Knowing that TV viewing goes up when the weather gets cold, what if he looked at a few very cold years in a given area to see if rates of Autism increased? His results are pretty striking.

Tracking one group of kids who went through the cold spells as toddlers he found dramatically increased rates of autism. Other kids, who did not experience very cold weather, were much less likely to develop autistic symptoms. Of course, none of this counts as "conclusive" evidence that TV can lead to autism, but it certainly does make you stop and think about all those two year olds out there watching hour after hour of Tellitubbies (designed specifically for the under two set) and cartoons.