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When scientists report on the obvious

 
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3MB



Joined: 26 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 10:11 pm    Post subject: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/toomuchcolacancausemuscleproblems.html

Quote:
One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.


The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.


Wow, has science solved the real problems and all thats left is to do studies on things that are painfully obvious? Do we need scientists to tell us tyhat drink 7 liters of cola A DAY is not healthy? Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?
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Rusty Shackleford



Joined: 08 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 10:46 pm    Post subject: Re: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

3MB wrote:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/toomuchcolacancausemuscleproblems.html

Quote:
One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.


The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.


Wow, has science solved the real problems and all thats left is to do studies on things that are painfully obvious? Do we need scientists to tell us tyhat drink 7 liters of cola A DAY is not healthy? Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?


What are you talking about? They were patients who showed up to clinics exhibiting symptoms. It isn't a given that cola was the cause, they had to rule out other causes therefore they ran diagnostic tests.

The Doctors just happened to publish the results of their diagnosis and the brain dead media picked it up and wrote a brain dead story for brain dead people to make brain dead comments about.
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3MB



Joined: 26 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

right, when a person drinks 7 liters of the rap a day it isnt clear that the cola is the culprit. What;s next, studies on how eating 10 big macs a day lead to heart disease?
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Rusty Shackleford



Joined: 08 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

3MB wrote:
right, when a person drinks 7 liters of the rap a day it isnt clear that the cola is the culprit. What;s next, studies on how eating 10 big macs a day lead to heart disease?


Not necessarily. Maybe something else was causing it and the Dr was just making sure. Besides, it doesn't say whether the patient mentioned she drinks that much cola before or after the diagnosis.
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Cheonmunka



Joined: 04 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate that elimination bs. I got an industrial disease when I was younger. I showed the doctors all the literature pertaining to it - an allergy to resin that got thru safety sleeves and into my skin - yet they wouldn't accept it, yet I had to wait six months for a specialist to do tests (on the big puss-filled boils on my skin) that the doctors couldn't do. One doctor says, we'll do a bacteria test this week. Well, it wasn't bacteria I said. We have to do it. Okay, two weeks gone before another inane test. So, I couldn't claim any expenses that the disease was causing me. I couldn't get some sort of relief pay/sick pay from the company because it was caused by their shitty products. I couldn't get some sort of sickness thing from the govt. I was a student on the bones of my arse man, working my thru, and no services would help me financially in the treatment of it.

By the time my doctor's appointment came around I was on scholarship in Korea. I wasn't going to miss coming to Korea when OB lager, bless their souls, helped me out by giving me the fare and accomodation to stay over winter.

So, I still carry the poison and skin breaks out in a rash now every summer. But, less so as years go by, thankfully. In the literature it also explains that it is cancerous.
(I drink some beer (OB) and forget it.)

So, I reckon the Op's right. Things that are completely obvious don't need to have the wheel reinvented around them to prove again that a product is shit. Heck, isn't it common knowledge? Heaps of people tell me not to drink cola, and I believe they have a point.
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Rusty Shackleford



Joined: 08 May 2008

PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^

The Drs are just covering their asses so you don't sue them when they make a hasty diagnosis that later turns out to be wrong. Your situation sucks but it only superficially relates to the OP and his post. He was claiming that they some how wasted money or time by doing an extra test on the patient. He also claimed they did "studies", which isn't true, it was simply a patient showing up to a clinic complaining of symptoms.

Plus, the article is pretty light on info. Did the Dr know she drank that much cola? Were there other factors?
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Sergio Stefanuto



Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 1:56 am    Post subject: Re: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

3MB wrote:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/toomuchcolacancausemuscleproblems.html

Quote:
One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.


The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.


Wow, has science solved the real problems and all thats left is to do studies on things that are painfully obvious? Do we need scientists to tell us tyhat drink 7 liters of cola A DAY is not healthy? Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?


Well, 3MB, thanks for dispensing some truly priceless utterances that both surprise and overturn received wisdom. You are so far ahead of the curve that the rest of us are left eating your intellectual dust. Your views would see lesser men and women labor for years to produce.
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Koveras



Joined: 09 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 2:13 am    Post subject: Re: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

Sergio Stefanuto wrote:
3MB wrote:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/toomuchcolacancausemuscleproblems.html

Quote:
One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.


The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.


Wow, has science solved the real problems and all thats left is to do studies on things that are painfully obvious? Do we need scientists to tell us tyhat drink 7 liters of cola A DAY is not healthy? Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?


Well, 3MB, thanks for dispensing some truly priceless utterances that both surprise and overturn received wisdom. You are so far ahead of the curve that the rest of us are left eating your intellectual dust. Your views would see lesser men and women labor for years to produce.


Thank you, Sergio, for that dosage of verbose sarcasm. It is obvious that you possess both a dueler's wit and the mental clarity of a god, as well as the modest chastity of a star trek nerd with a superiority complex.
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Thiuda



Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 7:52 am    Post subject: Re: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

3MB wrote:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/toomuchcolacancausemuscleproblems.html

Quote:
One was a 21-year-old woman who drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting. An electrocardiogram revealed she had a heart blockage, and blood tests showed she had low potassium levels, the researchers explained in a news release.


The second pregnant patient, who'd consumed up to seven liters of cola a day for 10 months, had low potassium levels and was suffering from increasing muscular weakness, the researchers noted.


Wow, has science solved the real problems and all thats left is to do studies on things that are painfully obvious? Do we need scientists to tell us tyhat drink 7 liters of cola A DAY is not healthy? Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?


Science is not about solving problems per se, it is about collecting data and analysing it. One method of gathering data is through experimentation, this method, however, is not always available to scientists because of ethical considerations. It would, for example, be unethical to gather data on brain function by removing parts of the brain from human subjects and observing the effects. A way around these ethical constraints is to look for instances in which people have sustained injuries that have destroyed certain regions of the brain and gather data from these individuals. A well known textbook case of such an accident was that of Phineas Gage.

It's the same in this case; you can't do an experiment to determine what effects an extreme intake of a soft drink would have on humans because of the deleterious effects this would have on subjects. Nevertheless, data coming from sources such as the two women above provides valuable information on the effects of a substance that we consider relatively benign; i.e. in high doses cola may cause low potassium levels, heart blockage and muscular degeneration. In the future this kind of data can, for example, be used to counter claims by soft drink manufacturers that their product is safe by providing a factual basis for claims to the contrary.
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ED209



Joined: 17 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 8:06 pm    Post subject: Re: When scientists report on the obvious Reply with quote

3MB wrote:
Who is payng these swindlers to do these studies anyway?


Where's the swindle? You go to a doctor, you pay a doctor's fee or it's covered some other way. Do we need doctors to tell us to stop stupid? These women apparently did.
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DorkothyParker



Joined: 11 Apr 2009
Location: Jeju

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is "common knowledge" which is based upon conjecture and word of mouth. Then there is actual knowledge based upon observation, study, and the elimination of alternative solutions.
The first one is good for the average person to have. The latter is what counts when it comes time to create laws (or FDA warning labels) and to provide actual PROOF that a product is harmful.

I've met people who don't drink water. They subsist on diet cola and they think it's just as good. A study such as this forces people to really scrutinize what they are putting in their bodies. Honestly, I know soda's not good for my health. Nonetheless, I had no idea that it could cause temporary paralysis! Knowledge is power.
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cangel



Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My favorite purveyor of stupidity is that Mens Health magazine editor who contributes those worthless articles found on Yahoo: Don't eat this, eat that. He always ticks me off with, "Eating the jumbo chili cheese fries has X amount of calories and X amount of sodium so it's badddd. Eat the small garden salad with fat-free dressing on the side..." It's unbelievable that A: people are so stupid that this type of dribble is warranted And/Or B: he is actually paid to dispense this fecal matter!
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