Journal: 4-6

Nutrition

     Last week I asked if there were any true benefits for kids who believed in Santa as opposed to those who didn't. Although I was unable to find any studies that were conducted about this question, I did find alot of debate on the internet between parents about the effects believing in Santa had for their kids. Most of the parents said that telling their children that Santa exists gives the children incentives to be well behaved and also increases their happiness especially around the holidays. Also, alot of parents said that allowing children to believe in Santa helps create wonder in their children and a good adept sense of imagination.

     This past week in ethics class we watched a documentary about the satus of nutrition in America. The documentary discussed how there is a trend in America for people to seek out alternative sources of medical treatment such as aroma therapy, mind and body health and multivitamins people can find at the grocery store. The documentary preseted both sides of the aruguement of whether the new trend in alternative treatment is beneficial to the public or harmful. It was really eye opening and posed many interesting questions which allowed me to think more in depth.

     In my opinion, alternative medical treatment is not necessarily a good idea. Why wouldn't someone want to follow the regular course of medical treatment which has been proven to work? Not to mention many of those multivitamins and pills which are sold as alternative treatment in most grocery stores are not aproved by the FDA and may be unknowingly harmful to you when mixed with other mdeicines you are taking or your current medical condition. All people should use drugs which have already been tested for effectiveness and ensured for safety, otherwise, they risk their own lives. Also, alternative therapy only inspires hope and most of the time does not actually work and may have a placebo affect on it's user.

     This is much like how certain people attribute longevity to rediculous things such as eating lots of butter or applying lots of lotion. This is simply a placebo affect which allows people to believe that there is a certain reason for their longevity when really they probably lived long because of good genes and good nutrition throughout their lives. Alternative treatments have provided a route for people to explore ways to find the "fountain of youth" which will allow them to stay young forever.

     I end today with a question, is there any true scientific benefit to alternative treatment?

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/adconseq.html

http://www.eworldpost.com/multivitamin-have-no-effect-on-colon-cancer-14960.html

http://www.crossfitenergy.com/diet-and-nutrition