The only balance these things improve is the marketer’s bank balance.

I noted this phrase:

“We have evolved very robust mechanisms to ensure optimal delivery of oxygen to our tissues. There is no simple way to “improve” this in a healthy person.”

I was wondering, given the ongoing saga of “Lance-gate” (Armstrong), how would you describe the practice of “doping” (e.g. use of blood boosting products such as EPO, or reinjecting one’s own blood products) specifically designed to enable a significantly greater O2 utilisation by athletes and hence improve sustainable aerobic power output, especially as often used in aerobic endurance sports such as cycling, running, rowing, swimming etc?

I suppose such a practice is not “simple”, and certainly not ethical, can be potentially harmful if not done carefully, nor is it permitted under world anti-doping code!

As for the bands, seems like another tax on stupidity. Mind you, as is typical with these things, I’m sure some high profile sports people will be spotted wearing them in an effort to round up the remaining gullible crowd. Kinda sad really.

This i think is the most powerful reason for why aliens haven’t contacted us yet. We don’t yet count as an “intelligent” species.

Was the guy at home sitting in a chair, wringing his hands together and cackling maniacally at all of the ignorance that would flood his bank account with money?

Or did they hire a kid, hand-waving-ly explain the science, and tell him to write up a paragraph of how he best understood it? That sort of allows them to avoid taking responsibility for the false science–they could tell themselves they “got the gist” of it but didn’t really know the details.

At some point, someone sat at a computer and typed that up. Who did it, and what was going through his/her mind?

Off topic but possibly of interest: Homeopathy believer Jeremy Hunt was just appointed Health Minister in the U.K. Ouch.