Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
http://www.drbriffa.com/2012/02/23/we-d ... ink-we-are
This article is about homocysteine and its impact on dementia. This doctor, Dr. Smith, thinks that two things he has discovered in his own research linked to reduced risk of dementia, light exposure and playing in an orchestra, are more evidence-based than the studies on the homocysteine-dementia connection.
Sounds like much of our experience with our GIs and GPs....doctors often talk about being ‘evidence-based’ in their practice, but the fact remains that much of what we do as doctors is not evidence-based at all.
When Dr Smith got up, he proclaimed to be ‘evidence-based’ in his work. The irony is, of course, that it seems Dr Smith does not appear to actually understand the relevance of different types of evidence at all.
Jerome [London-based health writer], during his talk, gave the impression that one of the reason the homocysteine/B-vitamin/brain atrophy research did not get the attention it deserved and has not been repeated is because, well, there’s not much commercial potential here. After all, B-vitamins are non-patentable. In comparison, millions have been spent on drugs that don’t work. While this view may appear cynical, I share it. It also occurs to me, like it does I think to Jerome, that some will ignore or deride research simply on the basis that it is perceived a ‘natural’. As Dr Smith appears to demonstrate, these opinions on not always on the firmest of scientific footings, and appear to be borne more out of bias than a quest for the truth.
