Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog...

In our quest for beauty or health, we're often willing to believe anything. Slimming teas, slimming massages, wraps, vitamins, birds' drool.

And for some reason I'm not able to comprehend, the public has this belief that 'if it's herbal and not a medicine, it's gotta be better...'
Don't quite understand why something's better if it's not properly FDA approved, and hence has never been studied to see if it works, or more importantly, if it harms. After all, that herbal slimming product that actress took did have one small side effect. And that's why she has a new liver now.
But anyway. It started with this. Fad about vitamin C injections and how it improves beauty. Something not sanctioned by the Malaysian Medical Association (and all other medical bodies I'm aware of).
So, a colleague of mine wrote about this in a blog in which I sometimes write. Which led to the stream of messages below.

jessy garcia Says: September 28th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
saya ingin bertanya, ape effect suntikan vitamin C??adakah ia
membawa kepada kesan yang tidak elok di masa akan dtg?saya terasa ingin mencuba
suntikan tersebut kerana ada kawan kawan yang telah mencubanye menceritakan
tentang kesan baik mengenai suntikan vitamin C..contohnye kulit mereka semakin
cantik, halus mulus, dan berseri..parut jerawat juga hilang disebabkan suntikan
vitamin C..adakah semua ini benar hanya kerana pengambilan suntikan vitamin
C?dan adakan doktor mengesyorkan untuk saya mencuba suntikan tersebut?adakah
suntikan vitamin C sudah mendapat kelulusan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia?

September 28th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
anyone..plz answer me..

Palmdoc Says: September 28th, 2005 at 3:00 pm
The answers are in the posting and comments above. Pls read.

jessy garcia Says: September 28th, 2005 at 3:22 pm
x fahamlaa…

jessy garcia Says: September 28th, 2005 at 3:24 pm
so, do u recommend me to take the injection???

Palmdoc Says: September 28th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
No.

gabby natasha Says: September 29th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
to me this is all about you and your body…every girl in this world
want to look beautiful..that is why we are willing to pay..but the real fact is
vit c jab is the most easy,effective and affordable choices that we have. i
don’t know about these bad effects and all that i can see is the better
complexion. beaty is pain afterall……

Vagus Says: September 30th, 2005 at 11:54 am
“…but the real fact is vit c jab is the most
easy,effective and affordable choices that we have…”????Omigosh. How gullible
can one be? What is the evidence for this ‘fact’?

fitri Says: September 30th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
i have inject the vit c and i think it’s good..i only
take it for about 15 dose..so..what u wanna say palmdoc?

Besides the obvious (poor quality of English), the thing that saddens me as a Malaysian, is how behind we sometimes still are, willing to believe every hearsay, rumour or chainmail.
Granted, when people are desperate, they'd believe anything. I remember when dad had his cancer; besides his monthly 5-fluorouracil, we also fed him bottles and bottles of 'herbal cancer-fighting' pills. God only knows what was in them. But that also reflects on how gullible, or naive we can be.

Call me an old-fashioned doc. Or new-age, whatever. But if I don't see a good study proving it works, then I don't believe it.

"I rubbed lhama dung onto my and after 3 months, it's so much larger!"