Can't Prescribe This

The latest health news:a study found that calcium pills and Vitamin D don't help to prevent broken bones in women over 50, nor do they help prevent cancers. This study, released by the federal Women's Initiative, the same outfit that earlier announced that low fat diets don't do anything to prevent colon cancer or heart disease.

In between there was yet another study saying that saw palmetto doesn't help prevent older men from needing to relieve themselves so often in the middle of the night.

So what gives? Are we entering the era when Woody Allen's Sleeper future comes true, and the road to health is paved with chunks of fat and heavy smoking?

Well, as usual the studies don't entirely support the conclusions in the headlines, and some nitpickers maintain they are flawed. But there is another possibility, which one might intuit by quoting one of the doctors quoted by the Times in their story on calcium:

As a therapy to protect against osteoporosis, Dr. Finkelstein said, supplements are "pretty weak." Women who have the condition should consider taking one of the seven prescription drugs on the market that have been shown in rigorous clinical trials and approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent fractures, he advised. Six of the drugs inhibit bone breakdown and one spurs the growth of new bone.

While calcium supplements and saw palmetto are part of a multi-billion dollar business supported by advertsing, they're nothing compared to the profits possible with prescription drugs, particular patented ones. You can't patent calcium.

Does this have anything to do with this assault on cheaper and more natural contributions to health, especially for those over 50, an age group which now includes the leading edge of the enormous baby boom generation? Perish the thought.