The Orthomolecular Medicine News Service (OMNS) has just published an article entitled "Pharmaceutical advertising biases journals against vitamin supplements".
The article brings to our attention the results of a recently published peer reviewed study: Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Florida found that "in major medical journals, more pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about dietary supplements". They also found that more pharmaceutical company advertising resulted in the journal having more articles with "negative conclusions about dietary supplement safety".
The study, described as the first of its kind, compared amounts of pharmaceutical advertising with that of journal text about dietary supplements. "The authors reviewed a year’s worth of issues from each of eleven of the largest medical journals: the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Pediatrics and Pediatric Research, and American Family Physician".
These findings are described by OMNS as "statistically significant. . . and embarrassing". The authors themselves have concluded that "the impact of advertising on publications is real", and said that "the ultimate impact of this bias on professional guidelines, health care, and health policy is a matter of great public concern".
It is no wonder that so many in the medical field remain ill-informed about important and crucial findings in nutritional and orthomolecular medicine. Those medical professionals who limit their reading only to such medical journals will never have discovered all the wealth of research, published over decades, supporting the use of dietary supplements.
The OMNS article makes the very important point that "promoting vested interests masquerading as science is wrong and it must be stopped. At the very least, accepting money carries an obligation to account for the source of that money. All medical journals should be compelled to print a full disclosure in every issue itemizing exactly how much money comes from exactly which sources".
We couldn’t agree more! Tragically, those that are the real and greatest losers here are the patients. Shame on you big pharma! Are you not able to compete on a level playing field?
Click here for the Wake Forest University study
Click here to find out more about the International Society of Orthomolecular Medicine
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