Jay, I hear what you are saying, but it does not make any sense to me personally. I am not saying that others should think this way, but if I did not trust a medical practitioner to treat me, I would have no reason to have confidence in their diagnosis. For me, going to a doctor exclusively for a diagnosis would be pointless.

I referenced the results of the niacin study specifically because it was all over the mainstream media on Friday. (See CNN.com.) I did not include it to nitpick the details of the study, although I understand that some people will have a desire to do so. Unless they are coming from strictly natural whole food or beverage sources, all vitamins, minerals, and supplements are altered of processed in some way. It would be extraordinarily difficult to eat the volume of food that would be required to equal the equivalent supplement dosage that some people take or recommend. If you are taking it out of a box, bag, vial, jar or other form of packaging, it has been processed or altered in some way. Someone somewhere is going to have a problem with a filler, binder, buffering agent, coating, capsule, etc.. The implication that a supplement is somehow better or more pure if processed by a supplement manufacturer vs a pharmaceutical manufacturer just does not hold water. Just like Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make a profit, so are Supplement companies.

** http://infoviewer.biz/infodisplay/story/imn052620111430125415.html?APP=7&CU=imn5804
The above link is to an article about the discontinuation of the niacin study. The final report has not yet been written, and the link where I first read the information is not available to the general public. However, as I said previously, this news was all over the mainstream media on Friday and Saturday. This is certainly not the only study that has shown little or no direct medical benefit from supplements. That is not to say that supplements have no benefit, just that they are not the "cure all" "side effect free" answer that some people (often supplement manufacturers or retailers) like to claim.