Conspiracy? What Conspiracy?

[Guest guest]

This is a section from a newsletter that I get. I hope it's alright

to post it here. I thought it would be very instructive. If this is

happening with vitamins you know what's going on with herbs.

 

Waymon

 

 

" Keep to moderation; keep the end in view; follow Nature. "

 

Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus), Roman poet

 

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER (Vol. 4, No. 14, June 20, 2004)

 

" Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A. "

 

Written and copyright 2004 by Andrew Saul, PhD, of

http://www.doctoryourself.com , which welcomes a million visitors

annually. Commercial use of the website or the contents of this

Newsletter is strictly prohibited.

 

VITAMIN THERAPY CENSORSHIP

 

Did you know that there are " good " medical journals, and that there

are " naughty " journals? No kidding. The good journals are easy to

access on the internet through a huge electronic database called

Medline (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) This

wonderful, free service is brought to you by the National Library of

Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. In other words, by

you. By your tax dollars. Generally it is money well spent, until you

go a-searching for megavitamin therapy research papers. Then you will

find that you can't find all of them. That is because of selective

indexing. Medline chooses journals to index based on criteria that

they publish but will not discuss.

 

As evidence, here is a copy of my recent letter to them:

 

<custserv

 

Listing or Indexing of a Journal

 

Dear Sir/Ma'am,

 

I have used Medline for years, and it is a truly invaluable research

tool. I have observed that the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine,

continually published since 1967, is not indexed, listed nor

otherwise cited or available on Medline. May I ask what would perhaps

disqualify this particular Journal from inclusion in the Medline

database?

 

 

Here is the reply I got back from the National Library of Medicine:

 

" Dear Dr. Saul:

 

" The Literature Selection Technical Review Committee makes decisions

about the inclusion of journals in Medline. Our Fact Sheet with FAQs

(Frequently Asked Questions) about inclusion in MEDLINE and thus in

PubMed will be found at this URL:

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/j_sel_faq.html

 

" A more specific Fact Sheet for journal selection will be found at

this different site:

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/jsel.html.

 

" Thank you for your interest in our National Library of Medicine

products. "

 

(Clerk's name, deleted by the Newsletter)

NIH Contractor

Customer Service

National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, MD 20894

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The following text was appended to the response I received:

 

" The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the largest medical

library in the world. The goal of the NLM is to collect, organize and

make available biomedical literature to advance medical science and

improve public health. "

 

 

I see. Collect. Organize. Make available. Improve public health.

 

So, AFTER 36 CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF PUBLICATION, why is the Journal of

Orthomolecular Medicine NOT indexed by Medline?

 

Although a similar leading-edge nutrition-friendly journal, Medical

Hypotheses, is indexed, the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine is

not. This decision is the work of a National Library of

Medicine " Literature Selection Technical Review Committee, " which

apparently declined to comment.

 

What are the consequences of such exclusion? In a nutshell, it stops

the public from using their computers to learn about all of the

scientific research and clinical reports demonstrating the

effectiveness of megavitamin (orthomolecular) therapy. It also

greatly hampers professionals from seeing pro-vitamin studies. Have

you ever wondered why your doctor simply does not know about vitamin

therapy? Well, wonder no longer. He or she can't read what

isn't " collected, " electronically indexed, or otherwise " made

available " to them. If the vast majority of journals indexed by

Medline are pharmaceutical-friendly, and yet nutritional research is

censored, what do you expect?

 

My website, book and this Newsletter are not called Doctor Yourself

for nothing. We have no choice. If we want to know, we have to learn

for ourselves. Your taxes should be helping you do so, and not paying

a closed-doors bureaucracy to decide what should (or should not)

be " collected " and " made available " to " improve public health. "

 

Here is a current example of vital research that Medline does in fact

choose to index:

 

PIZZA PREVENTS HEART ATTACKS

 

Gallus S, Tavani A, Vecchia CL. Pizza and risk of acute myocardial

infarction. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 May 12.

 

" OBJECTIVES: Pizza eating has been favourably related to the risk of

cardiovascular disease, but the data are limited. To evaluate the

potential role of pizza consumption on the risk of acute myocardial

infarction (AMI), we considered data from an Italian study. DESIGN:

We conducted a hospital-based case-control study on 507 cases of

nonfatal AMI and 478 controls in Milan, Italy, between 1995 and 1999.

 

RESULTS:

The multivariate odds ratios were 0.78 for occasional, 0.62 for

regular and 0.44 for frequent eaters. The estimates were similar

across strata of age, sex, smoking and other major covariates.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

Some of the ingredients of pizza have been shown to have a favourable

influence on the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, there is no

single explanation for the present findings. Pizza may in fact

represent a general indicator of Italian diet, that has been shown to

have potential cardiovascular benefits. "

 

If that impressed you, you will also surely want to know about this:

 

PIZZA PREVENTS CANCER

 

Gallus S, Bosetti C, Negri E, Talamini R, Montella M, Conti E,

Franceschi S,La Vecchia C. Does pizza protect against cancer?

Int J Cancer. 2003 Nov

1;107(2):283-4.

 

" We analyzed the potential role of pizza on cancer risk, using data

from an integrated network of case-control studies conducted in Italy

between 1991 and 2000. Cancer sites were: oral cavity and pharynx

(598 cases), esophagus (304 cases), larynx (460 cases),

colon (1,225 cases) and rectum (728 cases). Controls were 4,999

patients admitted for acute, non-neoplastic conditions to the same

hospital network as cases. Odds ratios for regular pizza consumers

were 0.66 (95% confidence interval, CI = 0.47-0.93) for oral and

pharyngeal cancer, 0.41 (95% CI = 0.25-0.69) for oesophageal, 0.82

(95% CI = 0.56-1.19) for laryngeal, 0.74 (95% CI = 0.61-0.89) for

colon and 0.93 (95%CI = 0.75-1.17) for rectal cancer. Pizza appears

therefore to be a favorable indicator of risk for digestive tract

neoplasms in this population. "

 

But be careful of that olive oil, mate! Of course, this particular

Medline-approved entry is not from Italy:

 

Wong GA, King CM. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from olive

oil in pizza making. Contact Dermatitis. 2004 Feb;50(2):102-3.

(Department of Dermatology, Royal Liverpool University Hospital,

Liverpool, UK.)

 

MORE PIZZA

 

 

Here is my all-time favorite: yet another article that Medline

actually is indexing. It is not even from a medical journal. I am not

making its mile-long title up, either. It is there at Medline, right

now, just a few clicks away from you:

 

Simon HB. My husband s to Harvard Men's Health Watch, but I

read it even more than he does. I hope you can help us resolve a

disagreement. He wants to have pizza two to three times a week for

his prostate, but I don't think it's a healthy food. Who is right?

(Harvard Men's Health Watch. 2003 Jun;7(11):8.)

 

In fact, when I did a search at Medline for " pizza, " I got 435

responses. Man, there is scientific argument over literally anything.

 

I am proud (as well as relieved) to be the first to tell you that the

Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine has not published a single article

on pizza. At least so far. Maybe if it did, it would make the cut at

Medline.

 

Medline also indexes an item entitled: " I am a 71-year-old diabetic,

and I've had trouble with my erections for seven or eight years. At

first the problem was mild, but it's been getting worse. My doctor

gave me a prescription for Viagra, but it didn't help. I tried two

pills at once without any luck, but I did get a mild headache. Can I

use three pills? "

 

(Harvard Men's Health Watch. 2003 Sep;8(2):8.)

 

Surely the very name " Harvard " is enough to get your foot inside the

Medline door. That, or " everything but anchovies. "

 

The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine has a review board of medical

doctors and university- and hospital-based researchers. Since 1967,

it has published over 600 papers by renowned authors including Roger

J. Williams, Emanuel Cheraskin, Carl C. Pfeiffer and Nobel prize

winner Linus Pauling.

 

(http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_JOM.html) You should be able to

access abstracts (concise summaries) of these papers, instantly and

for free, via Medline. Well, you can't.

 

Perhaps you'd like to write to Medline and tell them what you think:

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