Yeah. Just a conspiracy theory. Nothing to it. Nothing at all. The pharmaceutical industry has no influence whatsoever.
Some people might say that doctors make far more money from doing traditional medicine, than they would from offering dietary advice, but this too has absolutely nothing to do with it. Just another conspiracy theory.
If alternate medicine worked, it'd just be medicine.
Just multi-vitamins is a billion dollar industry and apart from pregnancy or perhaps vitamin D most of the claims are bogus.
http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/15/fish-now-by-prescriptio...
So the companies selling common herbs are doing so at a loss?
Just publishing a scientifically sound paper in ARXIV isn't enough.
AFAIK Tom Harkin is the main guy who pushed through the creation of the agency and in the past has expressed disappointment (around 2009/2010?) that they haven't been able to demonstrate alternative medicine modalities as being effective. That hasn't led to any defunding of the agency though. It keeps trucking along, spending over $120 million dollars annually demonstrating that things we already have a good idea don't work...still don't work.
> involves years, millions of dollars, and an insane amount of bureaucracy. Think about it--20 years, over $2 billion dollars. That's a lot of time and money. They should have results to show for it.
Alternative medicine has this image of being "the little guy," and given it is less than 1% of dollars spent on healthcare in the US, it kind of is. However, that small percent is a small percent of a giant, giant, pool of money. While alternative medicine is small compared to medicine, that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of money put towards it.
Exercise, proper diet and losing weight helps with a lot of conditions (high blood pressure, blood sugar levels, sleep apnea, etc)
But of course it's easier to prescribe the latest (and non-generic available pills).
If you want to avoid getting cancer, then leading a healthy lifestyle is an excellent idea.
If you actually have cancer, whether because you don't lead a healthy lifestyle or you did but just got unlucky anyway, then it's too late for diet and exercise. They might still help, but what you need at this point is treatment.
Pharmaceutical companies may not do prevention so well, but this article is about what happens after prevention fails, at which point you need cures, and every pharma company out there is trying to be the next one to produce a big (and probably expensive) cure.
Pharma companies are a lot bigger on treatments than cures (how much of this is that treatments are easier to find than cures, and how much of it is that cures eliminate their own market and thus make less business sense is a matter of debate.)
Only in the sense that things aren't very easy to find when you aren't looking for them. Otherwise there really isn't much debate. Nothing brings home the bacon like chronic disease.
This is by far the number one complaint from doctors about patients: they only want drugs, not health.
Note also that if your theory were true, chemotherapy would always be the treatment of choice over radiation. Maybe you have another theory about Big Isotope you'd like to share?
It's not true to say they have no influence. Pharmaceutical companies constantly try to entice doctors to prescribe specific medicines.
But most mainstream medicine is backed by hard science. You can go out there and read the evidence. Trials are conducted and we know that, for example, chemotherapy can be effective in treating certain types of cancers, while, for example, Traditional Chinese Medicine is not. We know this because we've studied it, not because we've been bribed.
The pharmaceutical industry lobby's power is worrying, it's true. But that doesn't mean that pharmaceuticals are full of shit.
> Some people might say that doctors make far more money from doing traditional medicine, than they would from offering dietary advice
Actually, "alternative medicine" is incredibly profitable. There's a number of large companies which make massive profits off this stuff. It's incredibly profitable because there's no research involved, no expensive ingredients to source, no testing necessary. You can stick anything you want in a pamphlet or a bottle, and sell it at any price, and people will buy it if you have good enough marketing.
You were specifically talking about dietary advice, though. That's also profitable: many people make a very good living off quack dietary advice. People are willing to pay almost anything to get non-"traditional" medicine.
Heck, it might be more profitable than prescribing medication, because the pharma company isn't taking a cut!
We know the pharmaceutical industry has some influence on what treatments a doctor recommends. I don't think anybody is going to deny that.
The part where it gets ridiculous is when people think the pharmaceutical industry has puppet master like control over the entire field of oncology, from research to individual doctors. Somehow, they've managed to manipulate our brightest minds from asking simple questions like, "Can sodium bicarbonate cure cancer?"
I have family members who have refused cancer treatments based on these beliefs. One took cinnamon for his cancer and died last year. Another is convinced he's cured his own cancer taking sodium bicarbonate in lieu of early outpatient treatment.
> Some people might say that doctors make far more money from doing traditional medicine, than they would from offering dietary advice, but this too has absolutely nothing to do with it. Just another conspiracy theory.
This idea is utter shit. Every doctor I've ever gone to has emphasized good diet and exercise as the key to good health. No doctor omits dietary advice so you'll eat like shit and live a sedentary life for the sake of future profits.
You could argue that they could/should do more to promote diet/exercise and I'd argue you're wasting your doctor's valuable time. You don't need someone with medical school to dispense advice on diet and exercise on a personal level. See a nutritionist for dietary advice or a physical therapist for an exercise regiment.
If you really think diet is a key then you should lobby your representative to subsidize healthy foods and food programs rather than corn based products. If you think exercise is important, than bully your representative to push athletic incentives. For example, mandatory insurance discounts for people who can demonstrate a athletic proficiency on some type of scale. (Remember the athletic tests you took as a kid?)
It constantly amazed me that the same people who insinuate hand wavy conspiracies that doctors have sold their integrity and your health and for a modest boost in salary don't even question the ethics of companies that make billions of dollars selling untested "alternative medicines" and "herbal supplements" even after they're caught lacing their products with natural amphetamines so their customers can legitimately claim they feel better.