Pulse Beat

Prof Dr BM Hegde 01 September 2015

Vitamin D Supplement Is Useless

We have just celebrated our Independence Day. I always say that what we got on that day is only political independence; we are still intellectual slaves of the West, more so of America. For over two decades, ever since vitamin D became a money spinner, I have been telling patients that we do not need vitamin D in India; and, even if we do, we do not get any benefit from exogenous vitamin D. The common man, and his doctor, used to laugh at me behind my back. Now comes a bombshell from the intellectuals!

“Vitamin D is no better than a placebo for boosting bone mineral density, muscle function, and muscle mass, or reducing falls in postmenopausal women,” according a study published in the 3rd August issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. “High-dose vitamin D offers no muscoloskeletal benefit and no protection against falls in postmenopausal women, a new study found.”

I hope and pray that, at least, now our wise doctors listen to the voice of sanity.

Stem Cell Deception

Right from day one, I was sceptical of the stem cell story. We have been working on endogenous stem cells produced by our own body; for example, in bone healing after a fracture. The RBC (red blood cells) inside a blood clot at the site of the bone fracture, if carefully studied, undergoes changes slowly but steadily to become a pluripotent stem cell which helps heal all parts of the fracture site. We also have been seeing powerful stem cells produced by the body when we try to use electromagnetic energy to heal large wounds where the body produces its own stem cells to heal the wound. That said, I must add that any in vitro stem cell (stem cells made in the laboratory by a human being) introduced into the patient’s system finds itself like a fish out of water. Nowhere, so far, has stem cell therapy succeeded! Occasionally, when it has done so, it has given rise another deadly disease.

What went wrong is that the stem cells injected into the system eventually die out; but before that, they should be able to give birth to daughter stem cells for doing the job. Till date, researchers have no clue about why the daughters are not born, and, if born, do not thrive! Of course, if they had used their brains, they would have known that in a holistic system, reductionist ideas like introducing a man-made stem cell from outside to direct it to do what man wants, is like asking for the sky!

Epigenetics teaches us that what the artificial stem cell does cannot be dictated by the scientist, but by its environment! The latter is basically the human mind.

Currently, there is fresh excitement in the stem cell research field. Unless stem cells perform, the funds for research will dry up: Science thrives on ‘research funds’. The latter thrive on scientific papers published. So it is a vicious cycle where most publications—even in the so-called prestigious journals—can be termed as frauds! A group of researchers has seen a new communication method between stem cells and their daughters in the form of a new nanotube from the mother cell to the daughter. The enthusiasm has been getting greater by the day when another researcher found such tubes were there in existence even earlier which were misinterpreted. So back to the square one!

So where are we in reductionist research? We keep coming back to where we started! Stem-cellers do not get excited as yet!

Granny’s Treatment for Sore Throat

When I was a child, I had to sip as much hot water as possible for my sore throat and it went away. Today’s children get antibiotics for what’s mostly a viral sore throat. Now, research shows that hot water sips, that raise the throat temperature by just a degree centigrade, are the best treatment for 90% of sore throats.

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