Many people believe that over the counter drugs are not as harmful as prescription medications. . In my opinion, drugs are drugs and no matter which way you slice it or dice it drugs come with side effects and possibly long-term consequences.
 
The FDA, which supposedly regulates the use of prescription drugs in our society just recently began proposing putting labels on over-the-counter pain relievers, which warn patients of the potential for stomach bleeding and damage to the liver.
 
This week, Dr. Peter Lurie, Deputy Director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen questioned the length of time the FDA took to be proactive in issuing these recommendations for issuing warning labels on over-the-counter acetaminophen products.
 
Dr. Lurie sates: “Finally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to put labels on over-the-counter pain relievers warning of the potential for stomach bleeding and liver damage,” I think he was spot on when he asked: What took the agency so long?”
 
The FDA’s Advisory Review Panel recommended in 1977 that products with acetaminophen have warnings that read statements like “Do not exceed recommended dosage because severe liver damage may occur,” according to Lurie. The problem as usual, is that the FDA ignored the panel’s advice for nearly 30 years. Why? Simple. Warnings may decrease sales in these drugs which are a for-profit business with which a relationship with FDA exists, in my opinion.
 
The FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee received testimony from Lurie’s Health Research Group in 2002, which stated that more than 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths each year are linked to acetaminophen overdoses. Even though more than 50% of the overdoses were intentional (suicide attempts), a reduction in the acetaminophen content of pills and selling a smaller quantity of pills in each package could help prevent such overdoses. Plus, advising consumers of potential overdose damages could also help according to Lurie.
 
I agree with Dr. Lurie 100%. This again, is just another example of the FDA’s procrastination of educating the public in attempt to keep the pharmaceutical companies earning cash.
 
The only problem is that the cash earning process of these companies involves people’s health.

Here’s some news you may find astonishing. I personally found it downright disgraceful and just plain ludicrous.
 
On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will take steps to make experimental drugs for patients with serious diseases more accessible. That’s right, experimental drugs. That’s the a part I find to be ludicrous. All drugs have an immense amount of side effects associated with them. But at least with FDA approved drugs, people know what they are getting themselves into. They at least get to “pick their own poison”.
 
In this case, with the drugs in the experimental stages, it’s more like a game of Russian roulette. Come to think of it, it’s almost just as bad making buys from a drug dealer. Think about it, in both cases the drug is purchased with the hope it will work but if it and when doesn’t or even worse causes harm, the buyer’s left holding the bag.
 
Now for the part I find downright disgraceful. Aside from giving people in need of help access to something that will probably just make things worse for them, they will also allow pharmaceutical companies to charge patients for the unapproved medications! Which means, yet again, the conspiracy between the FDA and the “Big Pharma” is made all too clear.
 
This is nothing more than a way for the FDA to expand the market for pharmaceutical companies to capitalize on. Up until now, the FDA at least pretended to care about the well being of people by “approving” or “not approving” drugs accordingly. Now, it’s just a free for all.
 
This is nothing new actually. According to the FDA, for decades they have allowed tens of thousands of patients to get their hands on unapproved drugs to treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and heart disease. However, the guidelines for gaining access to these drugs were ambiguous and many patients were excluded.

The FDA claims they reason why they are moving forward with taking action on the above mentioned matters is to address “inequities in access” that, previously, have possibly caused people that were extremely ill to be denied experimental drugs.
 
“We expect that clearly articulating procedures and standards for expanded access will result in more patients with serious or immediately life-threatening diseases or conditions getting the earliest possible access to these therapies,” the FDA said.
 
Dr. Rachel Behrman, deputy director of the FDA’s office of medical policy, stated “We are not talking about the temporary relief of minor pain,” “We are talking about serious diseases.”
 
The FDA’s supporters of the decision to increase access to experimental drugs say the FDA hasn’t taken enough steps to help patients gain quick access to unapproved drugs. One supporter in particular, is Frank Burroughs of the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs who says his daughter died in 2001 when she was unable to obtain the experimental cancer drug Erbitux.
 
The bottom line is this. There are safe, natural ways to effectively treat & prevent every illness, disease, infection or ailment. However, the FDA and the Big Pharmaceutical companies will have you believe otherwise. Why? Well, they are both in business to make money. And unfortunately, prescription drugs are the means in which they acquire money.
 
This is nothing more than a method to expand the opportunity to make more money from prescription drugs that no one even knows much about.
 
I think Mike Adams, author of “Take Back Your Health Power,” said it best when made this statement: “It effectively creates a loophole that allows drug companies to avoid the entire drug approval process and start treating large numbers of patients like experimental guinea pigs.”

A recent study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine indicates the new Avandia diabetes drug by GlaxoSmithKline’ delays the progression of type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed patients. But guess what folks? As usual, the side effects aren’t far behind. With this particular drug, heart problems, bone fractures and weight gain are some of the side effects that can plague you after ingesting this garbage.
 
Dr. Steven Kahn of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System led the study which was funded by Glaxo and recruited 4,360 newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes. He then split them into three groups. Each group was treated with a different diabetes drug. The first group was given Avandia, the second was given metformin, which is the most highly recommended diabetes drug right now and the third was treated with glyburide, a drug used to treat diabetes for decades.
 
After treating the patients for 5 years, 15 percent of patients taking Avandia needed to add a second drug to treat their diabetes. That’s not all. 21 percent of metformin patients and 34 percent of glyburide patients required a second drug.
 
Wait, it doesn’t end there. 58 patients in the metformin group and 41 in the glyburide group experienced heart problems while on the drugs. Hey, at least that’s not as bad as the 62 patients in the group taking Avandia.
 
Aside from the increased heart problems, Avandia patients also experienced twice as many bone fractures as patients in other groups. Plus, they gained an average of 10 pounds over five years while patients taking metformin lost an average of six pounds over five years and patients on glyburide gained three pounds during that time.
 
According to Dr. Om Ganda, an endocrinologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, taking Avandia to treat type 2 diabetes, which is a condition largely caused by obesity and a sedentary lifestyle “comes at a price.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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Folks, drugs are NOT the answer to slow the progression of type 2 diabetes. You can prevent and even reverse this disease by using nutritional therapies, taking part in regular physical activity (30 minutes minimum), increasing your intake of healthful fats like Omega-3 Fatty Acids and eliminating refined sugars and white flour, which promote the development of diabetes.

According to a 70 week study, which is published in the November issue of the Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, preschoolers on the generic version of the drug Ritalin, also called methylphenidate, experienced side effects that include stunted growth, irritability, weight loss, insomnia, and other side effects.

Out of 165 children, more than a dozen preschoolers dropped out of the study due to the side effects. Although there were benefits for children who had severe ADHD, the researchers said preschoolers on Ritalin are more likely than older children to develop side effects.

“You have children who are very aggressive and doing things that are unsafe, like running into the middle of the road or jumping off high pieces of playground equipment,” said Dr. James McGough of UCLA, one of the study authors. “These are kids who, if they did not get treatment, would get kicked out of preschool.”

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Folks, our children need proper nutrition to correct ADHD, not some psychotropic drug that carries side effects including stomachaches, headaches and even hallucinations. I urge you to read my column on ADHD to become aware of the major consequences of putting children on this harmful drug.

According to a study that was published in the October 18, 2006 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, grape seed extract was shown to slow the growth of colorectal tumors on both mice and cell cultures.

The anti-cancer effects of grape seed extract on other types of tumors have been demonstrated in previous studies. Within the skin and seeds of grapes are antioxidant flavonoids that remove harmful free radicals from cells called proanthocyanidins. 

Researchers discovered an inhibition of cell growth that was dose and time dependent after the grape seed extract was exposed to two different kinds of human carcinoma cells. For live cancer cells that were exposed for the longest time -which was about two days – a 92 percent decrease was evident when given the highest dose.

Studies on mice were then conducted which showed a reduction of advanced colorectal tumors by 44 percent. The method by which grape seed extract inhibits cancer growth was also demonstrated for the first time during this study. Apparently, a critical protein called Cip1/p21 – which effectively freezes the tumor cell cycle, and can initiate the self destruction of a cancer cell – becomes increased with grape seed extract.

In fact, after 12 hours of treatment, the amount of Cip1/p21 protein within the cells increased 150 times. The longer the treatment time, the more cancer cells were frozen before they had a chance to divide.

Next on the agenda for the researchers is to figure out the lowest effective dose, and the highest non-toxic doses for grape seed extract used on mice.

Frank Mangano’s commentary:

Grape seed extract in my opinion, is one of the best cancer fighting anti-oxidants money can buy. It’s jam packed with disease fighting compounds like resveratrol, which has been sited in many studies to provide a number of different benefits to the body.

This is a promising study and I’m not surprised to read about yet another benefit of grape seed extract. Grape skin and seeds are a rich source of antioxidant flavonoids called proanthocyanidins.

I’m an advocate of Grape seed as it improves the stability of collagen and elastin, two substances that are crucial for healthy skin, joints, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels. Grape seed is also used to improve microcirculation throughout the body.

Grape seed extract may also help to prevent and treat heart diseases such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to human case reports and results from some laboratory and animal studies. 

You can find grape seed extract in capsule form at your local health food store but remember, to truly shield your body from cancer most effectively, it’s essential that you control your insulin levels, get sufficient amounts of omega-3 fats, get safe amounts of natural sunlight to normalize your vitamin D levels and make exercise a part of your regimen 3 to 4 times a week.

Artificial trans fats are the cause of thousands of pre-mature deaths every year. To put things mildly, consuming trans fats are just as good as consuming poison. As a matter of fact, if you want to see how terrible trans fats truly are, the next time you are in your local supermarket, take a good look around. You will now see tons of products with the words “NO TRANS FATS” or “ZERO Trans Fats” plastered across the front of them as a part of a marketing strategy to gain business by assuring the customer that the product does not contain trans fats so therefore, it can’t be that unhealthy.  It makes you stop and think “wow, this stuff must be bad for you”. And bad it is my friends.

Trans fat, which is actually trans fatty acid, is the worst kind of fat. It is even worse than saturated fat.

Partial hydrogenation is a process used by food manufacturers to make oil more solid and to provide longer shelf life in certain products among other things. The downside to this process is that partially hydrogenated oil is laden with lethal trans fat.

Trans fats are extremely effective at lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol and raising LDL (bad) cholesterol. Aside from that, they have been shown to harden and clog the arteries, cause insulin resistance as well as cause or contribute to type 2 diabetes as well as many other serious health problems.

The good news is that the City of New York has finally decided to try to do something about it. Right now, health officials are in talks about prohibiting artificial trans fatty acids.

On Tuesday September 26th, the city health department issued a proposal that would bar cooks at any of the NYC’s 24,600 food service establishments from using ingredients that contain hazardous substance which is typically listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil.

Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden acknowledged that the ban would cause some problems for restaurants, but he feels that the cooks can simply replace the trans fats with substitute oils that taste the same or better and are far less dangerous.

I for one, am all for the proposal and hope that it becomes a national law. This stuff is truly toxic and when some of the most prestigious restaurants in New York City are poisoning people with it, the public can take for granted the risks associated with it. A few years ago, I remember people saying that bars and restaurants would go bankrupt as a result of the public smoking ban. The reality is that everyone overcame it, the restaurants and bars are still in business and NYC is a healthier place to enjoy life.

A proposal similar to this in Chicago is still under consideration. However, it would only apply to companies with annual revenues that exceed $20 million. This provision is specifically targeting fast-food giants.

A few companies have become somewhat proactive and have already started making changed to their ingredients such as Wendy’s, Crisco, Frito-Lay, and Kraft. McDonald’s has eliminated using trans fats in Denmark following a countrywide ban but has yet to do in the US.

Under the New York proposal, restaurants have until July 1, 2007 to remove any artificial trans fats from of cooking oils, margarine and shortening. They will have until July 1, 2008 to remove it from everything else. This law would not affect grocery stores and would not be applicable to trans fats that occur naturally like the ones found in some meats and dairy.

This proposal has not yet been approved by the Board of Health and will not be until at least December. This isn’t news to me because the health dangers of Trans Fats have been known for decades folks, yet the food companies have continued to use this poison! In my opinion, the ban can’t come soon enough.

Recently, while doing some online research for new developments in alternative medicine, I came across an ad published on the homepage of Amazon.com that had me pretty irate to say the least. This ad was promoting Adderall, which is a prescription medication that supposedly treats a disorder called attention deficit hyperactivity. The more and more I think about the ridiculous lengths that some of these poison distributing drug companies go to in order to capitalize on unsuspecting victims, the more infuriated I get. This particular attempt to bamboozle the public had celebrity TV Pennington’s face prominently displayed and was inviting visitors to take an “Amazon.com survey” which then led them to a direct link to Shire Pharmaceuticals’ ADHD question page. After seeing this ad, which promotes an amphetamine drug to children, I for one, am beginning to question the ethics of Amazon.com.

Typically diagnosed in children who are hyperactive, have difficulty focusing, and as well as making social interactions, the condition known as ADHD affects many people world-wide. But I believe this condition can be treated naturally, without chemicals or drugs. I personally find Amazon.com to be one of my favorite places to shop on the web, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when I saw this. I just can’t comprehend how they can take a position such as this that would basically expose our society’s children who are already bombarded with enough drugs to something like Adderall.

I then decided to write to the staff at Amazon.com and ask them to remove the ad. Below, is a copy of the e-mail that I sent:

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To whom it may concern,

My name is Frank Mangano and I am writing to you with regard to the recent ad that was posted on the homepage promoting Adderall. I visit your site rather frequently and purchase products from Amazon.com quite often. I find the site to be a great resource for online shopping and consider myself a valued customer. I also consider myself a public health advocate. The primary focus of my life is researching ways for people to treat health conditions and ailments naturally without the risk and side effects associated with prescription drugs.

When I saw the ad for Adderall, I must say I was greatly disappointed.  This drug has a slew of side effects including but not limited to decreased appetite, difficulty sleeping, stomachache, weight and dependency. I urge you to please remove the ad and consider using the site as a catalyst to promote products that don’t include harmful side-effects. I too make my living on the Internet and many times I am presented with offers from different companies asking me to promote their products and/or services on my site(s) for substantial amounts of money. I realize however, what a powerful tool the Internet can be. Where else can you reach millions of people simultaneously in just a matter of seconds? Please realize that with great power, comes great responsibility. And as reputable online business owners, it is our responsibility to bring the public quality products and services without exposing them to or promoting harmful things such as prescription drugs that can cause harmful side effects.

If you truly care about the people that visit your site, please remove the ad.

I thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Frank Mangano,
Consumer Health Advocate

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Please join me in reaching out to the people at Amazon.com and ask that this ad be removed! Should I receive a reply, I’ll post an update.

A study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has found that the cancer drug Herceptin, sometimes called Trastuzumab causes heart damage in 28 percent of its users.

Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center studied 173 patients with advanced breast cancer who had been taking the cancer drug for a year. All patients in the study received an initial cardiac assessment and were followed for 32 months.

The researchers concluded that 49 of the patients suffered some form of heart damage while taking Herceptin and most patients experienced damage that could lead to heart failure. One woman had a cardiac-related death. Also, 31 of those patients suffered heart damage while taking only Herceptin, while the other 18 were taking the drug combined with chemotherapy.

Heart function improved in 46 of the 49 patients with heart damage when Herceptin treatment was stopped and ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers were started.

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Folks, this is 28 percent too many if you ask me. This is how the vicious drug cycle goes. One drug is stopped and another is started to treat the nasty and sometimes deadly side effects of the previous drug.

Breast cancer is a potentially fatal disease that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, lifestyle changes are ESSENTIAL to extend your life span.  You MUST completely remove red meats and dairy products from your diet and also avoid alcohol, tobacco and sugar. I also cannot stress the importance of exercise, which oxygenates the body. Walk a MINIMUM of four times a week. Also talk with your healthcare practitioner about supplementing with Coenzyme Q10, which can help stop tumor growth.

The ingredient Diethanolamine (DEA), which is commonly used in personal care products such as shampoos, hand soaps, hairsprays and sunscreens has been proven to affect brain development in mice.

The experiment was performed at the University of North Carolina by Dr. Steven Zeisel. It consisted of applying DEA on the head of pregnant mice and the results concluded that the ingredient DEA interferes with the normal brain development of the offspring.

“When we apply DEA to the skin of pregnant mice we find the memory center the hippocampus doesn’t develop as well in her fetuses.”

DEA is used for the thickening and wetting of personal care products like shampoos, hairsprays, sunscreens and soaps. DEA interferes with the absorption of the essential nutrient choline, which is needed for brain development. Choline is required in large quantities during pregnancy so that the mother can pass it on to the fetus. “You need choline to build a baby,” said Dr. Zeisel.

The study was published in the August issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s FASEB Journal and is the first to look at DEA’s affect on the brain.

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Folks, here’s a great reason (and not the only reason) to avoid popular commercial personal care products. You should also stop using popular deodorants and antiperspirants as many contain aluminum and this promotes dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. I’m sure right now the question you have for me is, “Frank, what soap and shampoo should I use now?”

Here’s what to do. STOP using soap loaded with chemicals and START using organic soap from Dr. Bronner’s. I also recommend Tom’s of Maine, which doesn’t contain any artificial fragrances, colors or preservatives. I’m currently evaluating natural shampoo and will post my recommendation soon. You can find these natural care products by searching online and through the Vitamin Shoppe.

This is just another small and simple step you can take to improve your health in a BIG way. As always, I invite you to post your comments and feedback. If you know of other natural brands please post them.

If you love your bacon and sausage for breakfast, salami, ham, and smoked or cured meats for lunch and lots of hot dogs for dinner, then you should be aware of a recent study that concluded the risk of developing stomach cancer increases by between 15 and 38 per cent when you consume 30 grams of processed meat per day.

The study was published in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute by Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and her colleagues. They reviewed 15 studies on stomach cancer and processed meats including bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami, ham, and smoked or cured meat.

“Findings were most consistent for bacon consumption,” the team stated.

“Nobody had carried out this type of analysis into processed meats and stomach cancer,” Larsson said in a release.

“Our results … show very clearly that there is an association between increased consumption of processed meat products and stomach cancer.”

No surprise here folks. Processed meats are salted, smoked or contain nitrites which are added to extend shelf-life. Nitrites can be converted in the stomach to carcinogenic nitrosamines, which may increase the risk of stomach cancer. As if this isn’t enough, nitrites or nitrates are also responsible for the growing number of diabetes cases in New Zealand, where in the last 20 years incidence of type 1 diabetes has doubled.

Auckland University scientist Dr Shiva Reddy said his research on mice strongly supported the theory that nitrates caused some type 1 diabetes.

I highly recommend a diet which consists of huge quantities of fruits and vegetables and completely free of processed meats. If you do decide to indulge in processed meats at times, be sure to consume adaquate amounts of vitamin C and phytochemicals, which reduce the conversion of nitrites to nitrosamines.