Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Women's Health: State of Confusion
As noted in my recent posts, most of the news reports on the recent Women's Health Initiative studies have been misleading.
I wrote a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times noting this, which was published 2/26 (after some abridgement), and is captioned below.
A more balanced article, In Study of Women's Health,Design Flaws Raise Questions, by Tara Parker-Pope, appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 2/28.
The question for women, of course, is what to do. Some answers relating to calcium and bones are in my recent post, How to Protect Your Bones -- Calcium is Not the Entire Solution. Tune in for my future comments on other aspects of the study.
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New York Times
Published: February 26, 2006
To the Editor:
The editorial published with the calcium study notes that ''several aspects of the study may have reduced the chances of detecting a benefit.''
Many women in both treatment and control groups were already taking calcium and vitamin D supplements, and a hip-fracture benefit was found for those who had not been taking calcium and vitamin D.
Also, on average, both groups were clinically deficient in vitamin D at a level unlikely to be corrected by the amounts of vitamin D used in the study. Adequate magnesium, also vital for bone metabolism, was not addressed at all.
Dana Reed New York, Feb. 19, 2006
The writer is a nutritionist.
I wrote a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times noting this, which was published 2/26 (after some abridgement), and is captioned below.
A more balanced article, In Study of Women's Health,Design Flaws Raise Questions, by Tara Parker-Pope, appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 2/28.
The question for women, of course, is what to do. Some answers relating to calcium and bones are in my recent post, How to Protect Your Bones -- Calcium is Not the Entire Solution. Tune in for my future comments on other aspects of the study.
---------------------
New York Times
Published: February 26, 2006
To the Editor:
The editorial published with the calcium study notes that ''several aspects of the study may have reduced the chances of detecting a benefit.''
Many women in both treatment and control groups were already taking calcium and vitamin D supplements, and a hip-fracture benefit was found for those who had not been taking calcium and vitamin D.
Also, on average, both groups were clinically deficient in vitamin D at a level unlikely to be corrected by the amounts of vitamin D used in the study. Adequate magnesium, also vital for bone metabolism, was not addressed at all.
Dana Reed New York, Feb. 19, 2006
The writer is a nutritionist.
