Anderson GL, Hammar S, Balmes J, Cherniack M. Statistical design and monitoring of the Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET). Control Clin Trials (1993); 14: 308–24; Omenn GS, Goodman GE, Thornquist MD, Balmes J, Cullen MR, Glass A,
106 ‘The most up-to-date’: Vivekananthan DP
107 ‘The Cochrane review’: Caraballoso M, Sacristan M, Serra C, Bonfill X. Drugs for preventing lung cancer in healthy people. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2003); 2
107 ‘a Cochrane review’: Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2008); 2
108 ‘Dr Benjamin Spock’: Chalmers I. Invalid health information is potentially lethal. BMJ (2001); 322 (7292): 998
109 ‘price-fixing cartel’: John M. Connor Kluwer,
109 ‘Doubt is our product’: David Michaels (ed.)
Chapter 7: Dr Gillian McKeith PhD
114 ‘Dudley J. LeBlanc’: Ann Anderson,
121 ‘During the war’: Commencement Speech from Caltech 1974, also in Richard Feynman.
123 Clayton College of Natural Health website: http://www.ccnh.edu/about/programs/tuition. aspx
Chapter 8: ‘Pill Solves Complex Social Problem’
136 ‘a large, well-conducted’: Hutchings J, Bywater T, Daley D, Gardner F, Whitaker C, Jones K, Eames C, Edwards RT. Parenting intervention in Sure Start services for children at risk of developing conduct disorder: pragmatic randomised controlled trial. BMJ (2007); 334: 678
136 ‘cost-effectiveness analysis’: Edwards RT, O Ceilleachair A, Bywater T, Hughes DA, Hutchings J. Parenting programme for parents of children at risk of developing conduct disorder: cost effectiveness analysis. BMJ (2007); 334: 682
146 ‘one study by a researcher’: Richardson AJ, Montgomery P. The Oxford-Durham study: a randomized, controlled trial of dietary supplementation with fatty acids in children with developmental coordination disorder. Pediatrics (2005); 115 (5): 1360–6
153 ‘disease-mongering’: Moynihan R, Doran E, Henry D Disease mongering is now part of the global health debate. PLoS Med (2008); 5 (5): e106. doi:10.1371/journal. pmed.0050106 A good place to start your reading on disease-mongering
159 ‘Professor Hywel Williams’: Williams HC. Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis. BMJ (2003); 327: 1358–9
160 ‘the most popular food supplement product in the UK’: ‘The four markets dominating EU supplements’ http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp? n=85087; “Galenica assumes control of Equazen Nutraceuticals based in the UK”. Press release. http://www.galenica.com/Galenica/en/ archive/media/releases/2006_12_04_21398644_meldung.php
Chapter 9: Professor Patrick Holford
164 ‘He has claimed that he has corrected his book’: Professor Holford did not change the main text in the book chapter. He added some text to the note at the back, in a small font, referencing some other papers where people did actually, at least, tip both AZT and vitamin C onto cells in a dish (this changes nothing), and a demand for more research, none of which, I note, he has offered to fund from his own extensive corporate involvement in this $50 billion sector. He is, after all, Head of Science and Education at the food supplement pill company BioCare, which sells a vitamin C pill in tubs with his face on. To be fair, he did however once deliver my favourite line from five years of writing in this area: ‘Perhaps Goldacre, who purports to be the campaigner for evidence-based medicine, could provide some evidence that high-dose vitamin C has no effect against HIV AIDS.’
166 ‘systematic review from Cochrane’: Douglas RM, Hemila H, Chalker E, Treacy B. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (1998); 1. Date of last update: 14 May 2007 (Cochrane reviews are constantly updated, and all previous versions are available, so you can see what they said at various times in the past too)
167 ‘Dr Richard Smith’: Smith R. Investigating the previous studies of a fraudulent author. BMJ (2005); 331: 288–291; Hamblin T. The Secret Life of Dr Chandra. BMJ (2006); 332: 369
167 ‘three-part investigative documentary series’: The documentary on Dr Chandra can be watched online at: http://www.cbc.ca/national/ news/chandra/
167 ‘a retrospective re-analysis’: Hemila H, Herman ZS. Vitamin C and the common cold: a retrospective analysis of Chalmers’ review. J Am Coll Nutr (April 1995); 14 (2): 116–23.
169 ‘a systematic review and metaanalysis’: Vivekananthan DP
178 ‘the QAA’s report’: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/reports/institutional/Luton1105/ RG162UniLuton. pdf
Chapter 10: Is Mainstream Medicine Evil?
182 ‘From the state of current knowledge’: http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge. jsp
182 ‘These real-world studies’: The classic general medicine reference for this is Ellis J, Mulligan I, Rowe J, Sackett DL. Inpatient general medicine is evidence based. A-Team, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. Lancet (12 August 1995); 346 (8972): 407–10. There have been numerous copycat studies in various specialities, and rather than list them here, an excellent review of them is maintained at http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/percent. html
183 ‘all of those studies’: Mayor S. Audit identifies the most read BMJ research papers. BMJ (2007); 334: 554–5; Hippisley-Cox J, Coupland C. Risk of myocardial infarction in patients taking cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors or conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs: population based nested case-control analysis. BMJ (2005); 330: 1366; Gunnell J, Saperia J, Ashby D. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and suicide in adults: metaanalysis of drug company data from placebo controlled, randomised controlled trials submitted to the MHRA’s safety review. BMJ (2005); 330: 385; Fergusson D
187 ‘whole areas can be orphaned’: Iribarne A. Orphan diseases and adoptive initiatives. JAMA (2003); 290: 116; Francisco A. Drug development for neglected diseases. Lancet (2002); 360: 1102
190 ‘If you follow the references’: Safer DJ. Design and reporting modifications in industry-sponsored comparative psychopharmacology trials. J Nerv Ment Dis (2002); 190: 583–92
190 ‘various studies have shown’: Modell
193 ‘If the difference’: Pocock SJ. When (not) to stop a clinical trial for benefit. JAMA (2005); 294: 2228– 30
