For years, everyone except perhaps the most macrobiotic dieters among us have been thinking “what could possibly be wrong with taking vitamin tablets? It can only be good for you, right?” The so called health industry has been raving about antioxidants…. Fruits and veges have lots of them, therefore the logical conclusion was made by many that these compounds compressed into a pill for you to take can only make you healthier...
Not necessarily. See linked article.
This article highlights the problem of fully private funded research, and how some companies are (likely to be) keeping certain results commercial-in-confidence whilst releasing research that is in their favour. Products are probably out there despite the fact that there may be unpublished data showing that a product is not effective or even detrimental to the circumstances it claims to improve. Disturbing when it's your health they're messing with....
This is why we can’t entirely trust the private sector to fund all of our research. But even in a society where we have both govt and privately supported research, how do we ensure that companies are acting in the interests of the health of the community, without totally removing any competitive advantage they might rightfully gain from funding their own research…??
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