From: ((Steven B. Harris))
Subject: Re: Side effects of Aspartame?
Date: 21 May 1995
Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative

In <1995May20.195528@purple.mit.edu> mgold@purple.mit.edu (Mark D. Gold)
writes:

>>From: rennie@fox.nstn.ca (Rennie)
>>Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative
>>Subject: Side effects of Aspartame?
>>Date: 20 May 1995 11:40:33 -0300
>>
>>A friend of mine at work wants to find out what side effects, if
>>any, are there from the artificial sweetner Aspartame?  She has
>>heard that there can be dangerous long term side effects?
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>
>>Rennie Young
>>Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
>
>Rennie,
>
>I have enclosed three lists of side effects of aspartame.  The first
>list is from an epidemiological study of 551 aspartame *reactors*
>conducted by Dr. H.J. Roberts.  Each aspartame reactor may have
>experienced multiple symptoms and therefore the percentages add up to
>well over 100%.
>
>The second list is the lists of adverse reactions reported to the FDA
>as of 3/26/93 in order of frequency of occurence.
>
>The third is from a statement by a group of citizens in the U.S.
>trying to warn people about aspartame.

[long list of stuff omitted]


Comment: I suppose you know this is complete nonsense without being
blinded?  If you will look in your PDR, you will see long lists of nasty
side effects, along with frequencies reported, in the PLACEBO column for
every single drug that has ever been tested alongside a placebo.  Does
that tell you anything?

Opening my PDR at random, for instance, I see a study of prosom, a
sleeping pill.  The placebo group complained of headache, asthenia,
malaise, lower extremity pain, back pain, body pain, abdominal pain,
chest pain, nausea, dyspnia, somnolence (27%, surprise), hypokinesia,
nerviousness, dizziness, coordination problems, hangover, depression,
abnormal dreams and thinking, cold symptoms and pharyngitis.  I get the
impression that if the list of questions had been longer, the list of
bad side effects would have been longer.  Note also the interesting fact
that by far the biggest effect was the intended one.  People are VERY
suggestable.  Now you give us this uncontrolled crap about aspartame?
What in the world do you expect to learn from it?

And by the way-- something your last message noted that hit me after I
wrote: you suggested that methanol in tomato juice might be "bound" to
pectin.  That, my friend, is a chemically ridiculous suggestion.
Methanol is a small water soluable molecule which will not be "bound" to
anything getting washed with water.  That's why they use the stuff in
chromatography, as a solvent.  So who gave you that info, and where did
they go to school?

                                               Steve Harris, M.D.

From: Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: Study Casts Doubt on Homeopathy
Date: 28 Aug 2005 11:06:40 -0700
Message-ID: <1125252400.493442.203830@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>

Rene wrote:
> I use classical homeopathy on my dogs and it works.  I do not believe
> placebo effect is a concern when animals are involved.


COMMENT:

If the affect is assessed by a non-blinded owner, then it certainly is.
The placebo "effect" doesn't just "affect" the subject. It affects
everybody involved who *thinks* some effective remedy has been
employed. If YOU feel better about the medical care (or even about
something else entirely), you will rate your dog as feeling better.
Even if the dog doesn't (and an independent rater would say the dog
doesn't). Ask any vet how many basically healthy animals he or she has
seen, brought in by depressed or anxious or stressed-out owners. Ask
the same question of any pediatrician. LOL.

Come on--- do you want me to quote you those studies in which they
randomly picked out kids and labeled them as being gifted or mildly
developmentally delayed, and put them in classes where only the teacher
was aware of the IQ test "score"?  Guess what?  The kids' scores
amazingly rose or fell according to what they were supposed to be
capable of, even though the kids were totally unaware of their
"labels."  That's a variety of placebo effect. The general form of is:
we see what we expect to see. Yes, it happens with what we see in our
pets too.

SBH

From: Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: Study Casts Doubt on Homeopathy
Date: 28 Aug 2005 13:05:35 -0700
Message-ID: <1125259535.623785.181490@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>

C.Health wrote:
> Thank God for placebos because they are free of adverse side effects. I will
> continue to purchase my "placebo" homeopathic and other natural remedies,
> and continue in optimal health. I purchase some supplements from the Life
> Extension Foundation. Not all of these supplements have been approved in
> peer reviewed journals, but some studies indicate the efficaciousness of
> these items.


COMMENT:

Good for you, but remember you get the placebo effect just as
powerfully from the supplements as from the water, and maybe some real
chemical effect from the supplements, too. So quit wasting your money
on water!  Spend it on stuff you get a 2-fer effect from.

SBH