Beta-Carotene: Why Most of Your Vitamins Should Come From Food, Not Supplements

'One mantra we often hear from the natural health industry is "take your supplements." While a high quality supplement may provide you with some vitamins and minerals that you may be deficient in, it will never replace a well balanced diet and the delivery system that nature intended. A perfect example is the dark side of beta carotene intake.

 Consumption of high amounts of beta-carotene could pose a health risk to people by blocking the action of vitamin A rather than enhancing it, according to new research.

"The kind of dosages of beta-carotene we see in health supplements could be harmful, especially since most people believe that more is better," said nutritionist Albert Meades. "However, even natural foods containing high-amounts of beta-carotene can also cause harm if consumed in excess, for example juicing carrots multiple times per day...everyday," he added.'

Read more... 

Read more »

Anecdotal Evidence: The Basis of All Knowledge

TCM and ALL Traditional Medicine is based on Anecdotal Clinical Evidence!

Clinical: Of or relating to the observation and treatment of patients rather than laboratory studies.

'Whenever someone expresses an opinion based on personal experience, especially in the field of medicine—and that opinion varies from the view held by the listener—the usual response nowadays is, “Well, that’s just anecdotal. The science doesn’t agree with you.” 

That statement sounds so convincing. After all, we can and do make mistakes in our observations. We make connections that aren’t there.

But, does that make anecdotal evidence invalid? And are science-based answers necessarily correct? In a word, No.

Doctors effectively and necessarily use anecdotal evidence every day. These bastions of evidence-based medicine actually base most of their practices on anecdotes. Sound crazy? Consider:'

Read more...

Read more »