Healthy Bytes

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As reported by Reuters, the cost of treating diabetes may increase by as much as 68% through 2009…

In their Drug Trend Report, Medco Health Solutions, Inc, reports the number of diabetes prescriptions trails only cholesterol prescriptions. Diabetes scripts are predicted to take first place in year over year growth.

Spending on diabetes drugs is rising 10-20% annually with a number of new drugs soon to come onto market. And of course diabetes is rising in epidemic numbers…
More diabetics + more drugs = many more bucks for big pharma.

Oh yea, I did promise good news…

Medco Chief Medical Officer Robert Epstein:

“While prevention of type 2 diabetes needs to be a national priority, drug treatments can help prevent the onset of complications from diabetes that lead to hospitalizations, more complex treatment and dramatically higher costs.”

You see, it could cost even more.

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It would be interesting to see a study that compares the level of fear people experience when shown the word cancer and when shown the word terrorist.

Both words are pretty charged to the point that people REact – perhaps irrationally so – to them.

An interesting point – at least with cancer is – it’s at least partially a lifestyle disease. Yet people won’t change their lifestyle choices.

Enough rambling…

There’s an article in SF Gate today with regards to an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine about Gardasil.
A couple of UCSF doctors are warning against widespread use. Reason: there’s simply not enough data. Data to prove it’s safe. Data to prove it works.

Dr Karen McCune, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCSF:

“At this stage, the vaccination can still be considered experimental. To be discussing mandatory vaccination when the main clinical trials are still ongoing seems extremely premature. We’re feeling like the enthusiasm is driving policy rather than data.”

Also at issue is the fact that Gardasil acts on 2 strains of HPV that are associated with cervical cancer. There are 13 additional strains.

Dr McCune is concerned about the possibility that some or all of the additional 13 strains “may fill a ‘niche’ left if the two more common strains are wiped out entirely”

I know cancer is a scary word.
If you’re standing on a train track with a train hurling at you, it’s wise to REact.
If you’re considering a pharmaceutical product, it’s wise to consider the RISKS as well as the credibility of the promise… and ACT accordingly.

The article concludes with:

“But while many doctors agree that there are still questions about the vaccine, they note that there is no question that Gardasil is effective at stopping the most common cancer-causing HPV strains. And because the vaccine is most effective before a woman has had sex, it’s important that girls get vaccinated as soon as possible, even if some doubts remain, some doctors say.”

(emphasis added)

I don’t understand. Shouldn’t the DOUBT be resolved first? After all, the results will be yours to keep whether you like them or not. Merck won’t take them back. Ask the families of people who died from the “results” of Vioxx.

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I was watching CNN House Call this morning. One of the stories was about prescribing Adderall to overweight kids.
Adderall is an amphetamine approved for ADHD prescribing.

According to Wikipedia, the active ingredients are:
1/4 Dextroamphetamine Saccharate
1/4 Dextroamphetamine Sulfate
1/4 dl-amphetamine Aspartate (racemic amphetamine)
1/4 dl-amphetamin Sulfate (racemic amphetamine)

One of the side effects of Adderall is decreased appetite. Thus some docs are prescribing it for the “side effect” rather than the “effect”. This is what they call “off label” prescribing.
(other side effects include: sleep difficulty, headaches, aggression, abnormal thoughts/behaviors, mania, growth suppression).

So they featured one kid and his family – a “success story”. It was a dinner table scene and what was the kid drinking… diet Dr. Pepper.
Now, what’s in diet soda… primarily Aspartame (some brands are switching to Splenda).
What is Aspartame (Nutra Sweet)? L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine.
(Some of the side effects are: headaches, brain tumors, brain lesions, and lymphoma)

Aspartic acid – which is an amino acid – is also known as aspartate.
Now I’m not a chemistry whiz. And I haven’t dug deep. But I was tickled by the dl-amphetamine Aspartate ingredient in Adderall and the L-aspartic acid in aspartame.
I’m not sure if there is a functional difference between the two.

What I do know is that aspartame is an excitotoxin. To put it simply – it’s not good for your brain.
If you notice the side effects of both Aspartame and Adderall, you’ll see there are brain issues.

Additionally, artificial sweeteners tend to make you crave more sweet stuff and mess with your brains ability to signal satiety. (I’ve posted on this a few times).

Just a thought… rather than putting the overweight kid on a strong drug, clean up his diet.

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Novartis drug Zelnorm has been withdrawn from the market per the request of the FDA.
Zelnorm is for relieving constipation. Apparently the FDA thinks the higher risk of chest pain, heart attack and stroke as a result of relieving constipation with Zelnorm is not a good trade off.

What do I think…
Fe-Fi-Fo-FIBER
Enough with the toilet paper conservation. Eat fiber, don’t get constipated.

Our fine ancestors ate about 100 grams of fiber a day.
Us?… 8 grams. Yup, that would be 92% LESS.

And where do you get fiber…
Veggies, fruit, veggies, legumes, veggies, flax seed, nuts, whole grains.

Not only will be spared constipation, but you’ll get some other massive benefits…

• Fiber slows the rate food and nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream – this keeps
  blood sugar and cholesterol in ideal balance and prevents blood sugar spikes. In fact fiber can lower blood sugar (which reduces insulin) as well as diabetes drugs.
• Fiber speeds the rate food passes through the digestive track – this quickly eliminates toxins.
• Fiber promotes weight loss by signaling the brain you’re full, stop eating.
• Fiber has bulk with far less calories than “empty calorie” foods.
• Fiber has been shown to reduce colon cancer by as much as a third and breast cancer by nearly 40%.

Soluble fiber is better than insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber gets digested; insoluble fiber does not.

Oh and if you really need extra help with constipation, there’s Glucomannan – a fiber product made from the root of elephant yams. It’s soluable and one of the most viscous fibers known (absorbs up to 50 times its weight in water). So it will bulk up food in your stomach… you feel full more quickly, you eat fewer calories.

Now go eat your veggies.

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One of the side effects of ADHD drugs is suppressed appetite and weight loss.
Not wanting a let side effect to go to waste, some Docs are prescribing the drugs to teens for weight loss. And here I thought they didn’t really pay attention to side effects.

That would be known as an “off label” use meaning, that’s not what the drug was approved for, there are no studies using the drug for this purpose and such uses are not monitored.

Interesting how parents* have been arrested and their child literally taken away from them and subjected to court ordered harsh medical treatment they did not want and yet it’s ok to give an overweight kid ADHD drugs and a can of soda to gulp em down with.

* Three cases in the news last year:
1. Virginia 16 year old boy with Hodkins who didn’t want another round of chemo
2. Texas 13 year old girl with Hodkins who didn’t want to do radiation after she did chemo
3. Washington mother who didn’t want her 9 month old son to have kidney surgery