= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
jimrandomh comments on Even if you have a nail, not all hammers are the same - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (125)
Here is what is bothering me:
The only causal hypothesis I've heard for the supplements leading to an higher rate of death is Phil's claim that the doses are too high and are resulting in vitamin toxicity. If we accept Robin's claim that "vitamins kill" (that is that the causal claim is true and the results aren't just the result of uncontrolled-for correlations) one of three things has to be true: vitamins kill no matter how the body obtains them; there is something involved in taking 'supplements' that kills; or Phil is right and vitamin toxicity is the cause. (Is there an option I'm missing?) It seems extremely clear to me that absent any hypothesis for the second of these, vitamin toxicity is by far the most likely explanation. And the best part about this hypothesis is that is also the easiest to test. All you have to do is look for hockeysticks!
Why refuse to test the one explanation for the results we have?
One more explanation: some supplements might come from untrustworthy manufacturers and be contaminated with an unidentified toxin. That's a tough one to test, since it's unlikely that any of the studies saved samples of the pills they used or even documented where they came from.