I’ll be the first to admit I can be overly cynical at times. But maybe it’s gotten a little out of hand when I’m finding things the media doesn’t and going to bat for natural medicine before anyone has made a specific case against it.

For example, I recently read an article on how omega-3s, fiber, and vitamin E can significantly reduce the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The news was great until I got to the line that said “some micronutrients were associated with an increased NHL risk…[The researchers] found that consuming calcium and retinal was associated with higher risk.”

Of course, my own internal alarm bells started ringing like crazy, and I immediately started drumming up a counterpoint to their point.

Then I got to the next line: “[They] hypothesize that the finding may be because calcium and retinal block the formation of biologically active, hormonal vitamin D in the body and we previously found that exposure to sunlight — which is the primary source of vitamin D for many people — was associated with lower NHL risk.”

Needless to say, I felt a little sheepish for having assumed the worst. Not that my cynicism is unjustified: There have been plenty of instances where a sentence like the one above world have been pulled out of context and plastered across national headlines, unnecessarily tarnishing natural medicine’s reputation.

But perhaps there’s hope: The media didn’t glom onto this one (knock on wood), and a whole slew of nutrients — omega 3s, vitamin E, fiber, vitamin D — came out on top for once. And sometimes small victories like these are what win the war.

Nutrition & Healing Source:

“Omega-3, fibre, vitamin E linked to lower Lymphoma risk,” NutraIngredients.com Europe, 7/12/06

“Nutrient intake and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma,” American Journal of Epidemiology 2006; 164(12): 1,222-1,232