MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIE TY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
PUBLISHER Elizabeth Marincola
EDITOR IN CHIEF Tom Siegfried
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Eva Emerson
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DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, FEATURES Elizabeth Quill
DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR Erika Engelhaupt
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Alexandra Witze
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Bruce Bower
BIOMEDICINE Nathan Seppa
CHEMISTRY/INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES Rachel Ehrenberg
LIFE SCIENCES Susan Milius
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Tina Hesman Saey
NEUROSCIENCE Laura Sanders
PHYSICAL SCIENCES Devin Powell
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Jury still out on vitamin D,
without court to report to
Vitamin D is the drug the doctor ordered.
As Nathan Seppa reports in this issue
(see Page 22), vitamin D has shown signs
of counteracting cancer, heart disease,
the flu, high blood pressure and Parkinson’s disease (not to mention its well-known ability to build strong bones). Yet
despite the vitamin’s stellar reputation,
most people don’t get enough of it. Most diets don’t provide
vitamin D in substantial quantities. You need to expose your
body to sunshine’s ultraviolet rays, which trigger chemical
reactions that manufacture vitamin D inside your body.
Historically, humans spent lots of time in the sun. But
nowadays many people work and play in places the sun never
shines, like office buildings and domed stadiums.
Consequently, many experts believe, daily doses of vitamin
D ought to be vastly increased. And last fall a panel convened
by the U. S. Institute of Medicine adopted higher recommendations for vitamin D intake — 600 international units for
most people, substantially higher than the old advice of 200
units. But not, some observers say, substantially enough.
In fact, the panel’s report has been ridiculed by some leading vitamin D researchers for ignoring much of the evidence of
the multiple benefits the vitamin could confer at higher doses.
Panel members argue that such evidence is circumstantial,
lacks demonstration of cause and effect, and might be wrong.
Debates of this nature revive an old idea that never goes
anywhere — the establishment of a science court.
Various government agencies, scientific societies and
independent research bodies issue edicts from time to time
on scientific questions and their policy implications. Indi-
viduals or groups who don’t like the edicts dispute them and
try to spin the evidence in a different direction. But there is
no body to adjudicate the controversy on scientific grounds.
When lawmakers eventually enact policies, the science is
always diluted by politics. A science court — composed of dis-
tinguished and accomplished researchers — could render a
range of verdicts, from “one side is all wet” to “evidence leans
one way, but more research is needed.”
Probably such a court is a bad idea, or there would already
be one. But maybe it could be formulated in a way that would
be useful to a society paralyzed by controversies. All things
considered, having a science court should be no more con-
troversial than the best recommendation for daily intake of
vitamin D. — Tom Siegfried, Editor in Chief
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