Profit vs. Nonprofit: And the race is on!

This past week, I emailed two kinds of organizations about the effectiveness of molybdenum supplements to avoid vomiting from gastrointestinal viruses: 1) academic/government researchers who specialize in viral gastroenteritis, and 2) cruise ship lines. I sent them all the information in the past two posts, and told them about the 70+ gastroenteritis-infected people who have thus far experienced relief as a result of taking molybdenum, an overlooked-but-essential micronutrient. (It's now 71+ successes due to yet another friend trying it yesterday, incidentally.)

Now we will see who takes this information seriously and spends the $7/bottle to buy some molybdenum and test it, and who doesn't take it seriously. Will it be the profit-motivated cruise lines who suffer public relations nightmares every time they have a norovirus outbreak sickening hundreds on a voyage? Or will it be the government- and university-paid researchers who the public gives money to in order to find solutions to health problems? I don't know.

I lean towards thinking that the cruise line doctors/nurses will be the first to realize that molybdenum is dramatically effective because I think that, in general, profit is a more powerful motivator than altruism. (I have nothing against altruism, of course; I teach it to my children all the time, and I wish everyone were motivated regularly by it.) However, cruise line medical staff are likely hired for non-research skills more relevant to their jobs, and they probably tend to do everything by their protocols in order to avoid lawsuits. Still, they have a perfect place to look at whether consumption of molybdenum-rich foods is associated with lower nausea and vomiting from viral gastroenteritis infections because their workplace also supplies their patients with nearly all their food. There's nothing controversial about putting more lentils on the menu in a few dining rooms.

On the other hand, what academic/government researcher wouldn't want to be part of a discovery this big? Also if the CDC and Johns Hopkins don't care about a report that there is a cheap, safe way to stop vomiting from norovirus-type infections, then every US taxpayer has a reason to feel sorely let down.

So, we'll see.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)