MK3 Healthly Living Blog

MK3|MK3Blog|Oct. 20, 2025

Shouldn’t doctors and researchers be using Evidence Based Medicine to help make their decisions about patient care?

Yes, that’s exactly what they should be doing — and when they don’t, that’s when medicine drifts from science into ritual.

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) was developed precisely to keep clinical decisions grounded in measurable, reproducible data rather than tradition, authority, or pharmaceutical marketing. In principle, EBM means doctors combine three things:

1. The best available research evidence (from well-designed studies and meta-analyses).
2. Their own clinical expertise (because not every patient fits a study).
3. The patient’s values and preferences (because medicine isn’t just physiology — it’s personal).

The problem is that what’s called “evidence-based” isn’t always real evidence-based. Much of modern research is funded by industry, and even peer-reviewed studies can be biased by selective publication, statistical manipulation, or financial conflicts. A 2009 PLoS Medicine review found that positive results are about twice as likely to be published as negative ones — meaning the literature itself can be skewed toward what sells, not what heals.

So, yes, EBM is the gold standard. But in practice, the “evidence” part often gets warped by the economics and politics of healthcare. True evidence-based medicine requires intellectual honesty — doctors questioning their own habits, reading raw data instead of headlines, and treating patients as individuals, not as entries in a billing code.

The ideal of EBM is sound. The real-world application? Often a tug-of-war between science and commerce.

Let’s lay out how EBM was meant to work versus how it’s currently being practiced — including the role of pharmaceutical trials, clinical guidelines, and patient outcomes data. It’s a revealing contrast:

1.The Original Spirit of Evidence-Based Medicine

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) was coined in the early 1990s by a group at McMaster University in Canada. Their goal was to replace “eminence-based medicine” — the old system where authority, not data, ruled. Before EBM, treatment protocols were often handed down like commandments: “We’ve always done it this way.”

The McMaster model insisted that a doctor’s decision should be guided by:

• Best external evidence: peer-reviewed studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and meta-analyses.
• Clinical expertise: the doctor’s judgment and experience in interpreting that evidence.
• Patient values and circumstances: whether a given treatment aligns with the patient’s goals and risk tolerance.

When practiced properly, EBM is the scientific method applied to human bodies — hypotheses tested in the wild, with the humility to change course when data contradicts dogma.

2. The Breakdown: When “Evidence” Becomes a Buzzword

In theory, that sounds bulletproof. In reality, the system got hijacked.

Pharmaceutical funding bias: Around 70–80% of clinical trials today are funded by the very companies that stand to profit from the results. Studies sponsored by industry are four times more likely to produce favorable outcomes. Why? Because of selective design, cherry-picked endpoints, and suppression of negative findings.

Publication bias: Journals chase citations and “impact factors.” Negative studies — “Drug X doesn’t work” — don’t get press. So, the public evidence base ends up lopsided.

Guideline capture: Once “evidence” gets filtered through committees, it hardens into official treatment guidelines — many of which are written or influenced by physicians with industry ties. Doctors then face liability if they don’t follow those guidelines, even if newer data suggests they should.

The result? A paradox: we have more data than ever, but less independent interpretation of it. Medicine becomes algorithmic — “click this, prescribe that” — while critical thinking gets sidelined.

3. The Real-World Impact

• Statins: Initially tested for high-risk patients with existing heart disease, now prescribed to millions of healthy people based on risk-model projections — not hard outcomes.
• Antidepressants: Meta-analyses show they often perform only slightly better than placebo in mild-to-moderate depression, but they remain a first-line treatment.
• Opioids: For decades, “evidence” from short-term studies was used to justify long-term prescriptions — until the body count exposed the fraud.

Every one of these cases began as “evidence-based.” Each was later revealed to have holes you could drive a truck through.

4. How to Fix It (or at Least Make It Honest)

EBM only works when the evidence is clean. That means:

• Publicly funded trials with mandatory data transparency.
• Open access databases of all outcomes, including negative and inconclusive ones.
• Independent replication of major studies.
• Patient-level data access for meta-analyses, not just industry-edited summaries.

In short, the scientific method needs its own immune system. Right now, the pathogen is money.

5. The Bottom Line

Evidence-Based Medicine should be the standard — but only if “evidence” means “truth,” not “marketing.” The slogan hasn’t failed; the system that feeds it has. Doctors who truly practice EBM don’t just follow the data — they interrogate it.

Medicine’s future depends on rediscovering that skepticism. When science bends the knee to consensus instead of proof, it stops being science. It becomes ceremony — white coats and rituals masquerading as progress.

MKitch3|Sept. 29,2025

Food labels are graveyards of cheerful-sounding promises—“natural,” “colorful,” “flavored”—all hiding industrial chemistry that ranges from harmless to downright shady. Below is the no-nonsense breakdown of which additives are actually worth worrying about, what science says, and where the regulatory fights stand.

Titanium Dioxide (E171, TiO₂)

Why it matters: Europe banned it in 2022 after re-evaluations couldn’t rule out genotoxicity (DNA damage potential). The U.S. hasn’t followed suit, though a petition is active.

Bottom line: If you see titanium dioxide on the label, skip it. The EU didn’t ban it for fun.

Caramel Color & 4-MEI

What’s the deal: Ammonia-processed caramel colors (Class III/IV) can contain 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), a known carcinogen. California set safe daily exposure at 29 µg/day; some colas historically blew past that per can.

Bottom line: “Caramel color” isn’t just burnt sugar. In sodas and sauces, it can carry unnecessary risk.

Sodium Benzoate + Vitamin C

Chemistry 101: When benzoate preservatives meet ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in heat or light, they can form benzene. Most products test low today, but the risk is real.

Bottom line: Don’t stock up on citrus sodas with both ingredients, especially if they’ve been sitting warm.

Synthetic Azo Dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Allura Red)

Behavioral signals: The “Southampton study” tied certain dyes plus sodium benzoate to hyperactivity in children. The EU slapped mandatory warning labels: “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

Emerging science: Animal studies link Allura Red to gut inflammation and heightened colitis susceptibility.

Bottom line: For kids especially, synthetic reds and yellows are expendable.

FD&C Red No. 3 (Erythrosine)

Regulatory shift: FDA finalized a ban in food use (2025), phasing it out after years of evidence.

Bottom line: Still legal now, but not for long. Avoid when possible.

Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)

Update: FDA revoked its use in 2024; companies have a year to reformulate. Already banned abroad.

Bottom line: Citrus sodas still listing BVO are lagging.

“Natural Flavors”

Reality check: A legal black box—complex mixtures approved under FEMA GRAS reviews. Critics say the system lacks transparency. Organic rules limit some solvents, but “natural” doesn’t mean pure.

Bottom line: Prefer products that specify flavoring (e.g., “vanilla extract”) instead of the mystery mix.

Allergy Risks in “Natural” Colors

• Carmine/cochineal: Can cause rare but severe anaphylaxis.

• Annatto: Documented urticaria and anaphylaxis.

Bottom line: Check labels if you’ve had unexplained reactions.

MSG & Glutamates

Signal vs noise: Regulators say MSG is safe at normal intake. Some people report transient symptoms at high doses.

Bottom line: Don’t scapegoat MSG while ignoring the junk food it rides in on.

Worker Hazard: Diacetyl

Context: Caused bronchiolitis obliterans (“popcorn lung”) in factory workers inhaling concentrated vapors. Eating popcorn isn’t the issue.

Quick Rules for Shoppers

1. Skip labels with TiO₂, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5/6, or caramel color III/IV.

2. Avoid benzoate + Vitamin C drinks left in warm storage.

3. Watch for EU vs. US formulations (the EU ones are usually cleaner).

4. Parents: trial an elimination of dyes + sodium benzoate for two weeks.

5. Allergy-prone? Rule out carmine/annatto.

6. Favor named extracts over vague “natural flavors.”

References

• EFSA on Titanium Dioxide (2021)

• FDA Q&A on benzene in soft drinks

• Prop 65 safe harbor for 4-MEI

• Southampton Study (Lancet, 2007)

• EFSA group ADI for glutamates (2017) 

MKitch3|Sept. 29,2025

Source: Max Heindel, Jan.1917

As this is the time of the year when people are apt to catch cold, it may also be in

season to consider the causes of colds, how prevented, and, in case one has already been

contracted, how it may be cured.

We live in an age of germs and serums.  Every disease is supposed to have its

microorganism and an antidote is given either as a preventative or a curative.  One may

even be inoculated for a cold and it is claimed that if the operation is successful, one is

henceforth immune.  Perhaps someday all the different antidotes may be compounded

into elixir vitae, which will make us immune from the whole horde of dreaded germs.

Seriously, what an anomaly this condition is.  Man has conquered the whole world and

stricken terror into the hearts of all the creatures which he can reach by the various

devices he has made for their destruction.  Even the largest of creatures fly before him in

fear.  But he himself is afraid of creatures so minute that he can only see them by the help

of the most powerful microscope.  And these little microbes are so dreaded that some of

the ablest men of the world spend their whole lives in efforts to restrain the ravages of the

minute foe.

It is true that the microorganisms exist, but it is also true that they cannot obtain a

foothold in any organism that is in a state of normal health.  It is only when from other

causes our bodies have become debilitated that disease germs are able to get a foothold at

all and commence their destructive processes.  Those who are in radiant health, and we

use this word literally, may go without fear into any plague camp, even if there are more

germs on a square inch of the patient’s bodies than there are people in all the world, so

long as the man is in radiant health they cannot affect him.

To make our meaning clear concerning this phrase, “radiant health,” we must reiterate

the fact so often insisted upon, a fact which science is beginning to discover, that our

bodies are interpenetrated by the ether in such a volume that under most conditions it

radiates from the body.  One who is endowed with spiritual sight sees within the dense

physical body another vehicle resembling it exactly, organ for organ, and formed of ether.

He sees also that through the spleen there is a continued influx of etheric life force which

undergoes a chemical change in the solar plexus and is then circulated through the whole

body as a pale rose-colored fluid that radiates from the whole periphery of the body

through every pore in the skin, carrying with it an enormous amount of the poisonous

gases which are generated by the food we take into our systems, selected usually because

it pleases either the eyes or the palate, rather than for the nutritional value which it

contains.  So long as this vital radiation of the etheric life force is sufficiently strong, it

not only carries away the poisons from the body, but keeps deleterious organisms from

entering, on the same principle which makes it impossible for flies or other insects to find

entrance into a building through an aperture where an exhaust fan is sending a current

outward.  But the moment the exhaust fan is stopped, the way is opened for the various

classes of insects which infest our buildings.  Similarly, if for any reason the human

organism becomes unable to assimilate a sufficient amount of vital force to keep up this

radiating emanation, it is also possible for the dreaded microorganisms to enter and

obtain a foothold in the body, where they then commence their ravages, to the further

detriment of health.  In view of these facts, the prevention of disease narrows itself down

to the problem of how to keep the system from becoming clogged so that the radiant life-

force may have an unimpeded flow; and when diseased conditions have set in, the

curative process must have the effect of opening the clogged channels to be successful.

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, former Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry at Washington, is

reported as having said that the best way to cure a cold is to take a bottle of cough

medicine, set it on the table in the patient’s room, open all the windows and throw the

bottle of medicine through one of them.  In other words, instead of taking cough and cold

remedies, use plenty of pure, fresh air, and without doubt there is much wisdom in this

advice.

But it does not go far enough.  If he had said, “Bring in also a good dinner, breakfast,

and supper for the patient and throw them after the bottle of medicine,” he would have

come much closer to a cure of the cold.  For it may be said, without fear of successful

contradiction, that the greatest number of the diseases to which the flesh is said to be heir

come from taking too much food and not the right kind, also from lack of mastication.

This latter perhaps is the greatest of our sins.  Baron Munchausen, the celebrated

champion prevaricator, relates how when he visited the Moon he found that the people

cooked their food there as we do, but instead of sitting down to the table and eating it bit

by bit, they simply opened a door in their left side and put the food into their stomachs.

We have not reached that point at present but we are very close to it.  The way in which

the average American bolts his food is deplorable to say the least.  The quick lunchrooms

with their uncomfortable stools where it is impossible to rest and relax while partaking of

the so-called food are a national menace.  Everyone who sits down at one of these places

seems intent upon setting a record for swallowing the greatest amount of food in the

shortest possible time.  And the abominable methods of preserving everything on ice for

many months in order that certain middle men and large wholesalers may make prices

soar for their personal profits is adding in no small measure to the dangers of ill health,

which threaten every community in the so-called civilized world where these

questionable modern methods are in vogue.  From these pure foods (God save the mark!)

surcharged with poisons we endeavor to build our bodies, and this, as is well known, is

accomplished by transforming as much thereof as possible to blood while the rest is to be

eliminated as waste.  It is the custom of the medical profession to see that the proper

elimination of waste takes place, no matter what the nature of the disease may be, and

anyone who attempts to break up a cold must necessarily imitate this wise method and

see that the proper excretory function is stimulated to the highest possible degree, for that

is one important method of freeing the system and enabling the life-force to again flow

through it.  The other part of the food, which is transformed into blood, does not remain

in the fluid state but is evaporated or even etherealized, according to the development of

the Ego in whose body it flows.  It surges through the whole body as steam through a

boiler and when it comes in contact with the cold air through pores clogged by a surplus

amount of food poison and partly anesthetized so as to be unresponsive to the nervous

impulse which otherwise closes them partially against the chill, the blood is liquefied or

partly liquefied and becomes a burden and a clog to that part of the blood stream which is

not affected.  As a result, microorganisms are generated which form the pus we sense as a

cold.

A person who is injured and loses a quantity of blood feels weak.  So does the person

whose blood has been chilled within him, and for the same reason; but who has a cold

must further expend effort to get rid of the deleterious waste before he can be cured.

Gluttony, bad food, and faulty mastication are not the only causes of colds.  It is a fact

well known to every occultist that all that is in the visible world is a manifestation of

something that was pre-existent in the invisible realms of nature, and cold is no

exception.  When we know that there is an immutable law of cause and effect and that

there can be no effect without an underlying and adequate cause, we may easily realize

the truth of this statement.  It is also certain that nothing can come to us which we have

not in some way deserved and therefore if we are to look for causes in the invisible realm

we shall find that they must naturally have to do with ourselves.  The cold that we sense

here and which is a disagreeable manifestation to us is an outcome of something that

existed within ourselves previously, but what?  To this question it may be confidently

affirmed that our own attitude of mind is an all-important factor in the state of health.

This also is well known to medical science and all observing persons.  A man who is

habitually optimistic, whose mouth has an upward turn at the corners, always on the

verge of expanding into a broad smile, will be found to be singularly immune from colds

as well as all other diseases, whereas the person with the drooping mouth and the drawn

face, who is always worrying about things that never materialize, who sees an enemy in

every human being and persistently holds an attitude of anger and malice toward his

fancied or real enemies, by that very attitude of mind shrinks into a shell and prevents

assimilation of the radiant etheric life forces and is therefore a prey to all the ills to which

the flesh is heir.  Nor can he be cured by all the medicines ever made until he learns to

abandon his dark outlook upon life.  These cases are of course extreme and there are all

gradations as well as mixtures of the two natures, but it will be found that the health of a

person varies with their view of life in almost exact ratio.

From the foregoing remarks, we may therefore draw the following deduction; viz., that

the best preservative of health is an optimistic attitude of mind, which looks upon life

fearlessly and sees a friend in everyone.

Circumspection and discrimination in the matter of food.  We must avoid excesses.  It

is better to eat too little than too much, and we should make it a point to have a

comfortable seat where we may relax the body while we leisurely masticate the meal.

Proper attention should also be paid to the matter of elimination and when it is not up

to normal, certain foods also which contain a superabundance of cellulose should be

taken to promote this perfect action.

To sum up in a sentence: be cheerful, be temperate in food.  Cheerfulness, temperance

in food, and right elimination are a compound that would cure almost all the ills to which

the flesh is heir.