wedrifid comments on Announcing the Quantified Health Prize - Less Wrong

50 Post author: Zvi 02 December 2011 06:01AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (140)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: PhilosophyTutor 05 December 2011 05:30:02AM 1 point [-]

The wikipedia link you provided makes it clear that micronutrient deficiency is a serious problem in the developing world but I could not see any factual support in that link for the claim that micronutrients in general have an interesting dose/response curve, or that micronutrient deficiency in the developed world is any kind of problem for the majority of people. You might want to edit that link to reflect the fact that it does not support the claim "actually being true".

There is some expert support for your view but there is also excellent reason for caution with regard to any claims you might hear about micronutrient supplementation. This is a very popular area with scammers, cranks and the deluded.

I'd be interested in seeing any properly blinded and controlled studies that show that micronutrient intake over the daily requirements has meaningful benefits - if I can gain a few IQ points by eating more fruit and vegies I'll take that deal.

Comment author: wedrifid 05 December 2011 07:10:33AM *  2 points [-]

This is a very popular area with scammers, cranks and the deluded.

On both sides.

but there is also excellent reason for caution with regard to any claims you might hear about micronutrient supplementation.

I'll note that the caution here, as is so often the case, is with respect to people given (or who themselves decide to take) toxic levels of vitamins A and E. Yes, overdosing on most fat soluble vitamins is a terrible idea. Also, don't drink mercury.

I'd be interested in seeing any properly blinded and controlled studies that show that micronutrient intake over the daily requirements has meaningful benefits

What are these "daily requirements" that you speak of? The numbers you read on the back of the cereal packet? ... But before I get distracted by that can of worms I'll remind myself that the matter discussed was not regarding higher-than-RDA level vitamin consumption. The claim that Solvent made (then wisely recanted) was that we shouldn't consume any minerals from supplements. Your breakfast cereal and meat sandwich diet claim was along these lines too.

While I do happen to assert that for certain vitamins (most notably D and much of the B group) the RDI is poorly calibrated the potential for improvement there is comparatively small. The low hanging fruit (so to speak) is in correcting the all too common chronic but mild deficiencies that even the RDI can tell you are way off.