Hardy09

Though it happened about 15 months ago, here is a great example of media bias in the reporting of health news. This story from the Associated Press was reported on February 22, 2006, about glucosamine. It's a beaut:

Big Headlines:

Popular supplements fail to ease arthritis pain

Major study questions benefits of top-selling joint remedies

In the story itself, we have this:

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Note the bias toward glucosamine not working for mild pain, and the grudging acceptance of it working for severe pain, "although more research is needed." How about more research on mild pain? Isn't that needed too?

The actual facts are that the study showed that glucosamine works as well as Celebrex for moderate to severe pain of arthritis.

So the first headline tells you that the supplements don't work at all for pain, and its a lie!

The second headline is also a lie, but is misleading in another way because it assumes that pain relief could be the only possible benefit from taking glucosamine.

There are two issues with osteo-arthritis: Pain and the progression of the disease. Of the two, the progression of the disease over time is vastly the most important, as mild pain leads to further and increased pain, and ultimately to nasty health conditions like hip surgery, fractures, immobility, and premature death from complications.

If you are taking glucosamine, don't stop. Without it, over time, your knees will continue to deteriorate; but if you take glucosamine, it may likely slow or halt the further decline of your joints. That was the problem with the study, it only addressed pain. Why on earth did it ignore the issue of the progression of the disease????

About five years ago, a study was conducted in England where 300 people with knee arthritis were divided into two groups. One took glucosamine and the other did not. After three years, doctors x-rayed everyone's knees. The group that did not take glucosamine showed marked deterioration of their knees. The group that took glucosamine, showed almost no deterioration after three years. If you don't take glucosamine, your pain will get worse, and you will have to have knee surgery. Glucosamine will likely delay that for some time, unless it is already too late. Another thing, the doctors in the UK study reported that pain was not a good indicator of how well the glucosamine was working to halt the disease. Some people complained that they still felt pain, but their joints had hardly changed. Also, of course, if you don't take it, the pain will get worse, not just stay the same.

So there you have it. Our famous media and medical profession got together and delivered you a muddled story at best. It is an outrage!!! We are talking about disease here, and people suffering, but the reporting is so misleading!