re is msg sensitivity superstition in article dpc uxa cso uiuc edu daniel paul checkman writes bruce data io com bruce reynolds writes anecedotal evidence is worthless even doctors who have been using a drug or treatment for years and who swear it is effective are often suprised at the results of clinical trials whether or not msg causes describable reportable documentable symptoms should be pretty simple to discover but it is quite a leap in logic to observe one situation where anecdotal evidence led nowhere and therefore conclude that anecdotal evidence will never lead anywhere i m sure somebody here can provide an example where anecdotal evidence and the interpretation of it was upheld verified by follow on rigorous clinical trials i tend to disagree i think anecdotal evidence provided there is a lot of it and it is fairly consistent will is very important first it points to the necessity of doing a study and second it at least says that the effects are all psychological or possibly allergy in this case as i ve pointed out person s make believe can easily be another person s reality good point there has been a tendency by some on this newsgroup to circle the wagons to the viewpoint that anecdotal medical evidence is worthless maybe to counter the claims of those who are presenting anecdotal evidence to support controversial subjects such as the yeast hypothesis but evidence is evidence it requires a jury or a process to sort it out and determine the truth from the junk medicine must continue to strive to better understand the workings of the body mind for the purpose of alleviating illness anecdotal evidence is just one piece of the puzzle it is not worthless rather it can help focus limited resources in the right direction jon noring charter member infj club if you re dying to know what infj means be brave e mail me i ll send info jon noring noring netcom com jkn international ip fred s gourmet chocolate carlton place phone chips world s best livermore ca v mail who are you read alt psychology personality that s where the action is
