Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Beware of Fosamax

Cases of Jaw Bone Death Caused by Fosamax often Unreported



According to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (the surgical sector of dentistry), there may be "serious underreporting" of Bisphosphonate-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (BRONJ) from Merck, the manufacturer of Fosamax.

Fosamax is supposed to help increase bone density and it is mostly prescribed to menopausal women suffering from osteoporosis. But in the jawbone, this drug does the reverse and actually destroys bone.

Although jaw bone death is uncommon, it is a terrifying side effect and difficult to treat. Many patients taking Fosmax have no idea that problems with their jaw could be linked to this drug.

From drug manufacturer Merck, which made the banned anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx, comes Fosamax, a drug so toxic they actually had to rewrite the recommended dose from "daily" to "weekly" for "your convenience." Of course, like all drugs, Fosamax has side effects, and one of its side effects is osteonecrosis of the jaw, of death of the jaw bone, a condition that is hard to treat.

Instead of taking Fosamax, why not take Bone Formula, our newest Pharmanex product that contains all known nutrients that are beneficial to the bones at the right dosage with no side effects.

  • Pharmanex's Bone Formula is a well-developed blend of vitamins, minerals, and other potent ingredients which helps maintain proper bone structure and function.
  • Bone Formula provides 500 mg of calcium and 100 IU of vitamin D per daily dosage. Both ingredients are important factors in maintaining proper structure and function of healthy bones.

  • Unlike other products, Bone Formula has the following benefits: easy to swallow capsules, trace elements boron and silicon which have important roles in bone metabolism, provides vitamin C for normal collagen structure and function.

    Wednesday, July 18, 2007

    A free way to boost your health

    Just walk. Click here for details.

    These days, it's easy for people to get confused about exercise -- how many minutes a day should they spend working out, for how long and at what exertion level? Conflicting facts and opinions abound, but one Mayo Clinic physician says the bottom line is this: walking is good, whether the outcome measurement is blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, joint problems or mental health.

    Unlike a health club membership or personal trainer, walking "is there for everyone," Dr. Levine says. "Walking doesn't cost you anything, you can do it barefoot and you can do it now, this minute."

    I personally prefer walking to riding a vehicle especially if the trip is just a short distance away. I use shoes that are comfortable to walk with. And I do brisk walking whenever possible.

    Walking is an easy exercise that one can do daily. Unfortunately, things that are easy to do are also easy not to do, so better take the initiative to make a habit of walking.

    Walking is good for you, people. Best of all, it's free.

    Monday, July 16, 2007

    China's former drug safety head executed

    Click here.

    BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday hailed the swift execution of the nation's former drug safety chief as a warning to corrupt officials while detailing a web of graft that thrived for years without punishment.

    Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), dominated television and print news a day after he was executed for taking some 6.5 million yuan ($850,000) in bribes to let medicine companies slip past his regulatory net.


    Unfortunately, we are not in China. So we are unlikely to witness the same punishment for those corrupt officials.

    Mike Adams of Newstarget made this cartoon pertaining to the ludicrous situation.

    A.K.A Monosodium Glutamate

    If you're like me who would rather avoid food that contains MSG, then this is a great guide for you since MSG is known in a an amazing number of names, probably to confuse and fool consumers.

    Click here.

    However they name it, MSG is still a toxin that is used to enhance taste.

    Friday, July 13, 2007

    Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients

    If you haven't read this book, you must do so with alacrity. This book, one of my favorites, describes how the pharmaceutical industry works.

    People tend to think those companies as saviors of humanity: developing drugs for every ill. But that is far from the real story. You see, you'll learn in the book how, decades ago a Merck chief executive named henry Gadsden wanted to sell drugs to everyone. And if you people have observed, his dream has come true today: we have pills for just about everything, from emotional woes to physical vanities.

    The book examines the events that lead to the development of drugs for cholesterol, high blood, osteoporosis -- and how drug makers are profiting and continually pushing the drugs to your doctors and to you. The book is easy to read (nothing too technical), well researched and after reading it, you would wonder if the drug you are taking, if any, has any benefit to you and more likely, you'll think of how it benefits a big industry.

    I don't recommend people to suddenly throw away their pills. Rather, I suggest that they examine the evidence themselves and see if what they are taking is worth it, for there are drugs that can benefit people with certain conditions. You might want to urge your doctor to read the book (purchase it and lend it to your doctor if you must) and discuss if there are alternative solutions to your existing problems.

    This book is a real eye opener and I regularly lend it to my peers who I think might benefit from the knowledge that swallowing pills doesn't always mean you are on the way to becoming healthy. Quite on the contrary, it may be leading them to a deadly spiral of side effects that would mean more medication and even more side effects until death or debt overtakes them.

    Selling Sickness's blog can be found here.

    Wednesday, July 11, 2007

    When Science and Common Sense Collide, Part 2

    This really defies common sense. Nutritious foods will get banned unless proven to be nutritious? Read on.

    Products claiming to be superfoods will be banned under new EU rules coming into effect on Sunday - unless the claim can be proved.

    Blueberries, salmon, spinach and soy have all been hailed as so-called superfoods - foods rich in nutrients.

    Some say superfoods can protect against cancer and heart disease, but others say there is no evidence for this.

    The new laws will apply to all food or drink products made or sold for human consumption within EU nations.

    Almost 100 products have been described as superfood, and sales of products like blueberries and spinach have soared.

    But some nutritionists claim there are no proven benefits of "superfoods" and say marketing is misleading.


    I think the problem lies on how the regulatory body will decide which claim is acceptable or not. Surely they will depend on studies, but how strongly they feel that the evidence is solid may be in question. It took a LONG while for the American Heart Association to admit that omega-3 has heart benefits, and even then it has watered-down the claims.

    I am not a conspiracy junkie, but I think the worst thing that can happen is that the members of the board are connected with drug companies -- companies that care nothing about prevention and thrive on disease. Thus, what will happen is that there is a slim chance a superfood's claims of prevention or even treatment may not be approved because of conflict of interest.

    How Food Companies Fool You

    From one of my favorite authors, Mike Adams, comes this article on how food companies fool us with deceptive practices which are completely acceptable for the food industry, but downright wrong for us.

    Read on by clicking here
    .
    One of the most common tricks is to distribute sugars among many ingredients so that sugars don't appear in the top three.

    Another trick is to pad the list with miniscule amounts of great-sounding ingredients.

    A third trick involves hiding dangerous ingredients behind innocent-sounding names that fool consumers into thinking they're safe.


    Aside from those I quoted above, there a LOT more tricks food companies use to fool us. Actually even I have been fooled. I though all food that is brown is good (brown sugar, brown rice, etc), but apparently, food manufacturers have found a way to yet again use this belief to sell more of their unhealthy products. This article really made me a smarter buyer.

    I recommend that we pass around this article for the benefit of everyone we know.

    Monday, July 9, 2007

    When Science and Common Sense Collide, Part 1

    Sorry for the long vacation, folks. I had to take care of some personal matters. For now, let me open your eyes to a world -- our world -- where commons sense collides with science.

    First up: it is common knowledge (at least among the more well-informed crowd -- not counting "experts" being paid or "educated" by drug companies) that vitamins act as anti-oxidants that can scavenge harmful free radicals. It is also well-known that people with diabetes suffer from continuous production of free radicals, endangering them so several degenerative diseases like heart and eye problems so common among diabetics.

    Most people also would rather take natural or essential nutrients to help ease disease (sorry, I cannot say "cure" disease -- it's the drug-company-influenced law) primarily because nutrients are far safer than drugs.


    So why is it that researchers prefer a drug to help scavenge free radicals than good old Vitamin C? Personally, I don't know the answer, but I think the researchers are very much giving the public disservice by not recommending the safer alternative: Vitamin C.

    Read all about it here.

    Vitamin C could help reduce some of the complications associated with diabetes, research suggests.

    However, a University of Warwick team found the blood pressure-lowering drug Telmisarten had the same effect - and might be a safer alternative.

    Both help "mop-up" tissue-damaging molecules called free radicals which are over-produced in diabetes patients.

    Experts warned the work, published in two diabetes journals, was no reason to start taking vitamin C supplements.

    That is very strange, to say the least. But to be fair, let's compare the "preferred" drug,
    Telmisarten and Vitamin C.

    Telmisarten's side effects include dizziness and upper respiratory tract infections such as colds and sore throat.

    On the other hand, while Vitamin C does have reported side effects, none has been confirmed conclusively. And probably those side effects are experienced at a very high dosage. Linus Pauling Institute recommends
    "a vitamin C intake of at least 400 mg daily—the amount that has been found to fully saturate plasma and circulating cells with vitamin C in young, healthy nonsmokers."

    Telmisarten's side effects, by the way, can probably be prevented by Vitamin C.

    According to LPI, you would need at least 5 servings or 2 and a half cups of fruits to get half of the recommended intake so you would probably need to supplement if you cannot eat 5 cups of fruits a day.

    My take is for people to continue taking high quality Vitamin C, especially those who suffer diabetes. And ignore research that undermines common sense.

    My Bioscanner

    BioScanner in CNBC