When it comes to healthcare, is newer necessarily better? The idea that newer drugs are better than those that have been on the market for years has recently come under scrutiny. The higher costs of newer drugs, together along with their unknown side effects and contraindications, have led to the suggestion that one should never […]
The Supreme Court will hear the case of Wyeth v. Levine the week of November 3. The case involves Diana Levine, a guitarist and musician, who lost her arm (and her livelihood) due to gangrene from an improperly administered nausea drug made by Wyeth. She was awarded $6.7 million in damages in a Vermont court, […]
A 1999 peer-reviewed report in the Journal of Natural Products published by the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, concluded that tart cherries may relieve pain better than aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs. The consumption of about twenty cherries reduces inflammation in a manner similar to that of aspirin or the cox-2 inhibiting […]
The old “normals” for total cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and LDL are coming under new scrutiny. We may not live longer or better with lower cholesterol readings, lower blood pressure numbers, and lower blood sugar levels.
The Truth about Supplement Use among the Armed Forces In 1997, the National Defense Council Foundation found that the federal government could save up to $6.3 billion annually by increasing the health of active and retired military personnel through an anti-aging program—one that includes the use of vitamin supplementation. That report clashed with a recent […]
In 2006, AAHF took a stand against the proposed Dietary Supplement and Non-Prescription Drug Consumer Protection legislation, now law, because we felt the bill was not in the public’s best interest. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act had already been amended to require reporting of serious adverse events for both over-the-counter and dietary supplements to […]
Strokes are on the rise in this country; each year there are 700,000 reported strokes in the U.S. Too frequently, they occur in people under the age of 30. The Wall Street Journal has published a number of front page articles devoted to stroke in the U.S. (1) (2) (3) (4) They show that medical […]
A recent Wall Street Journal article about a prescription form of folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 to treat diabetic neuropathy makes us wonder about another attempt to make supplements available only by prescription. According to the article, the prescription supplement boosts the production of nitric oxide which in turn relieves neuropathy.
Every radio and television station regularly airs public service announcements that cite you can catch cancer in time with early screening. The “catch it in time” mentality has become pervasive in mainstream medical circles, as well as among consumers, public health experts, and politicians.
Research published in the October 2008 issue of Pediatrics says that some of free prescription drug samples being distributed to pediatric patients may be unsafe. The researchers found that one in twenty American children received free drug samples in 2004—and that the most frequently distributed samples were unsafe to children. Four of the 15 most […]