Month: July 2007

The FDA is in the pocket of the drug industry, that much is clear. But the newly approved “diet drug” called “Alli” (pronounced like the friendly term “ally” of all things) has a decade of documentation that it can lead to pre-cancerous lesions!

Doctors Outraged–FDA Ignored Cancer Risk When Approving Alli

“In February 2007, the FDA approved Alli–an over-the-counter version of the diet drug Orlistat (Xenical). The Public Citizen’s Health Research Group has voiced concerns about Orlistat’s safety and efficacy for the past 10 years, as it’s been shown to cause pre-cancerous lesions of the colon. In April of 2006, a group of doctors with Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to ban Orlistat and deny OTC status to the lower dosage version Alli, offering testimony that Orlistat raises the risk of both colon cancer and gallstones. Public Citizen cited unpublished studies on Orlistat, showing:

* Orlistat increases the precursor markers to colon cancer by 60 percent in rats.
* When eating a high fat diet and taking Orlistat, the cancer risk increased 2.4 fold.
* Fat soluble vitamin E depletion, due to Orlistat’s fat blocking action, raises the risk of colon cancer even further.
* Recorded adverse reactions to Orlistat include: 39 cases of increased abnormal blood thinning; several cases of bleeding episodes; 10 hospitalizations, four with life threatening reactions, and one death.
* Dangerous thinning of the blood can occur in people taking drugs like Warfarin (an anti-coagulant), or who suffer from vitamin K deficiency.

In addition, the FDA itself found 37 cases of gallstones in patients of all ages, between 1999 and 2006, prior to releasing Alli for over-the-counter sale. The safety analysis from the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group is that Alli ‘has marginal weight loss benefits, common and bothersome G-I tract reactions, significant decrease in absorption of fat soluble vitamins, and problematic use in the millions of people using Warfarin or Cyclosporine.’ The FDA denied Public Citizen’s petition on the same day they approved Alli as an OTC.”

We knew that Omega-3 Fish Oil is very powerful and effective in helping maintain health, but now new research is demonstrating just how beneficial it can be!

More Research Highlights the Broad Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fish Oils and Fatty Fish

“Research on omega-3 fish oils keeps looking better and better: new studies have found that omega-3s fish oils can help with three catastrophic diseases — Alzheimer’s, heart failure, and cancer. Ernst J. Schaefer, MD, of the USDA’s nutrition research center at Tufts University, Boston, analyzed levels of omega-3s and the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. He and his colleagues measured blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, one of the principal omega-3s in fish) in 899 elderly men and women. More than half of the subjects also completed dietary questionnaires, which were used to assess intake of DHA and fish. Over nine years, 99 of the subjects developed dementia. Schaefer determined that people with the highest blood levels of DHA were about half as likely to develop dementia, compared with people who consumed little DHA. They were also 39 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. People with the highest DHA levels consumed about three servings of fish each week, which provided the equivalent of 180 mg of DHA daily. Fats form about 50 percent of the brain’s nonwater weight, and DHA is the predominant fat found in cell membranes of the brain’s gray matter.”

On July 11th, the U.S. House of Representatives sold out our interests by granting the FDA even MORE oversight and authority WITHOUT excluding vitamins and supplements. There are possible dark days ahead for our access to these beneficial items. For details, read the link below!

FDA tyranny to become law: HR.2900 analysis by Richards and Adams

“On July 11, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2900, blocking debate on the law and preventing the introduction of any amendments that might have provided meaningful drug safety protections for consumers. This action demonstrates that the House of Representatives, much like the Senate, is utterly controlled by Big Pharma and has abandoned any responsibility to defend the interests of the voters. Drug companies now have complete control over the U.S. Congress, and through a campaign of intense lobbying and financial influence, they have managed to easily water down a law that once proposed to end the American monopoly on pharmaceuticals and ban advertising on new drugs. Instead of placing new restrictions on Big Pharma and the increasingly dangerous power of the FDA, this new law (a combination of HR.2900 and S.1082, when it is hammered out in conference) grants more power to the FDA while deepening the financial ties between the agency and drug companies. The law effectively surrenders America to a system of medical tyranny under which a criminally-operated FDA will continue to promote pharmaceuticals, censor nutritional education and discredit alternatives that threaten drug company profits. Nothing in the new law protects consumers’ access to dietary supplements or natural medicine.”

Something we have known for a long time, but that science is finally coming around to demonstrating is true… organic food is healthier for you. And, I would add that if you can get LOCALLY grown organic food, it is even better for you.

Organic food ‘better’ for heart

“Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests. A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids – a type of antioxidant. Flavonoids have been shown to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke. Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key. Dr Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist at the University of California, and colleagues measured the amount of two flavonoids – quercetin and kaempferol – in dried tomato samples that had been collected as part of a long-term study on agricultural methods. They found that on average they were 79% and 97% higher respectively in the organic tomatoes than in the conventionally grown fruit. New Scientist magazine reported that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are probably due to the absence of fertilizers in organic farming. Flavonoids are produced as a defense mechanism that can be triggered by nutrient deficiency, such as a lack of nitrogen in the soil. The inorganic nitrogen in conventional fertilizer is easily available to plants and so, the researchers suggests, the lower levels of flavonoids are probably caused by over-fertilization.”

The human papilloma virus by pharmaceutical firm Merck has gotten a lot of press from states that want to require that young girls take the vaccine, and the sad assumption by most of our governmental leaders that all young girls simply WILL be having sex before marriage. However, the HPV vaccine has, as do most others drugs, side effects. The side effects for some have included death and hospitalization!

Three Girls Died, Others Hospitalized, After HPV Vaccine

“Amid controversy over state legislatures in the U.S. requiring young girls to take Gardasil, Merck’s new vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), severe side effects are being reported. 1,637 adverse reactions have been reported by Judicial Watch, a public interest watchdog, including three girls who died shortly after receiving the immunization. Judicial Watch obtained the reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration using the Freedom of Information Act. In Australia, 25 girls who had just received their first injection of the vaccine experienced headache, nausea, and dizziness. In some cases, the problems were so severe that they were hospitalized. Shares of the vaccine’s Australian developer, CSL, fell after the incident was reported in the news.”

Remember that Merck, the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine, is the same company that made Vioxx, that has allegedly been instrumental in the deaths of 60,000 people. And now, they want young girls to take this possibly harmful vaccine? I don’t think so!