Monthly Archives: April 2007

An Addendum to Yesterday’s Post

Yesterday I discussed the problems within the supplement business, today’s headlines bring more distressing news, one company, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, has had a multi-charge indictment put on it and it’s principals that reads like a description of all that is wrong with the nutritional supplement industry. This puts a nasty blanket of suspicion on all of us, regardless of the fact that most companies are stand-up citizens who produce good products and follow the law to the letter and then some.

In a well researched article on MSNBC, the reporter lays out a sordid tale of deception, illegal dealings and discussions of murder and blackmail. The company was found to have added the drug Cialis to their herbal “male-enhancement” supplement, which is something I have been privy to being done by others in the supplement industry. This is where our industry needs to be stronger, policing itself with more vigor and speed than ever before. If not, the FDA will step in and regulate nutritional supplements in a a far heavier handed way than is necessary.

Hey Supplement Industry – Get Your Act Together!!!

With all of the cry wolf alternative health fear mongers falsely claiming that CODEX is coming to America, they won’t discuss the supplement industries ugly secret which is how poorly we self-regulate our industry. In a report garnering headlines at MSNBC.com, a number of supplements which claim to contain chondroitin, either didn’t or had much less than the labels claimed. This is intolerable in our industry and almost beckons government intervention.

Instead of whining about a false impending doom called CODEX (which by the way cannot come to fruition in the US because of the DSHEA bill), start getting going after the lousy manufacturers and distributors who sell crap to consumers. If this trend of bad publicity continues, then the FDA has no choice but to step in and increase surveillance. In my opinion the biggest screamers against FDA interference are those who produce lousy products or people who use questionable practices in their clinics. There is one women, who claims to be a doctor (and is a total fraud), charges $14K to come to a clinic she works at to inject people with a protocol so lacking in science, but high in hype, that people line up to have the work done on them. Unfortunately for many, the results are disastrous. I have worked with a number of them, some physicians, who have had horrible side-effects, some lasting for years.

Maybe the time has come for intelligent regulation of this industry. Sadly, as with most regulation, it will come at a terrible price.

Another Stupid CNN Anti-Supplement Article

You would think by now, CNN would monitor its writers for accuracy but in the case of Caleb Hellerman, I guess he gets a free pass. His article posted on the CNN website today is such a load of garbage that you would have to wonder where this writer gets his paycheck from. Entitled No scientific evidence diet supplements work this pile of trash is unbelievably poorly written and so lacking in honesty, I think it should be listed under fiction instead of being on a news website.

His claim that there is no evidence that nutritional supplements would is a bold faced and unadulterated lie. There are so many studies showing efficacy that he should be ashamed to have even written this drivel. My challenge to Hellerman is that I can come up with 10 studies showing benefits to every one that shows otherwise. His bringing up the embarrassing recent Danish study which purports to show that antioxidant nutrients may shorten life spans should tell you that his prejudice regarding supplements cloud his judgement. The study was so flawed and so obviously twisted since it clearly eliminated any study showing benefits to antioxidant nutrients that no scientist with any credibility would take it seriously. I challenge Hellerman to subscribe to to an email put out by Tishcon called Vitasearch which comes out weekly with studies showing benefits of nutritional supplements from numerous peer-reviewed journals around the world.

This clearly biased writer (cannot call him a reporter as this would imply his ability to report the truth) also states, “studies have found virtually no evidence supplements improve health your health.” Is he really serious?  Can he be that dishonest? I guess so. What would motivate a writer to so blatantly write nonsense like this is beyond me unless there is something nefarious going on. Either that or he is illiterate and unable to read research papers that number in the thousands that show benefits to taking supplements.

Shame on Hellerman and even more shame on CNN for writing this person a paycheck and publishing his crap.

Overeating and Liver Damage

In an article published in the March 31-April 1 issue of New Scientist, writer James Kingsland talks about how overeating and the obesity epidemic are causing more and more people to be diagnosed with liver disease. If I asked you what the leading cause of cirrhosis of the liver was you would likely say alcohol. Guess again. Some may say hepatitis but that would be wrong also. Obesity is the leading cause of a diseased liver in most affluent nations.

Other interesting tidbits include:

  • 5-10 percent of Americans have liver disease.
  • 2/3rds of them have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
  • Four cups of coffee a day seems to reduce the risk of NAFLD!
  • Children are now being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver.

One interesting finding is that liver disease, in early stages can be reversed by changing dietary habits. The key is to eat healthy (less fat and simple carbohydrates) and exercise. I would add that taking the herb milk thistle and the amino acid glycine (1-3 grams daily) would greatly improve liver health.

The one thing that annoyed me about the article was the talk of developing drugs to fight off liver disease. I can see it being critical in late-stage disease where liver transplantation is the only option but you know that pharmaceutical industry will market the hell out of the drug instead of making people change their lifestyle. What I did like was the last quote of the article from Dr. David Jones is “I put the fear of God into them, then I send them off to buy a heart rate monitor and to exercise. I tell them it’s the best £50 they’ll ever spend. And patient after patient comes back with normalised liver function tests. They feel a lot better, the tiredness goes away. It’s quite extraordinary.”  Advice well given.

In Passing – Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom

A giant in the field of medicine, Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom, passed away this past December 31st. Few of you probably know of him but anyone who has had a conversation with me about the field of electrolytes has heard me talk of this genius. His book, Biologically Closed Electric Circuits: Clinical, Experimental and Theoretical Evidence for an Additional Circulatory System is a monumental piece of work. His work on treating cancer through the use of electrochemical treatment protocols is now the standard in many parts of the world especially China and parts of Europe.

Dr. Nordenstrom was a member of the Nobel Prize committee in Medicine and Physics and was awarded the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award by the People’s Republic of China because of his work on tumor regression. Although in poor health these past few years, his legacy will most certainly live on. My condolences to his family.

Medicare Fraud – A La Congress

If you missed last weeks Sixty Minutes broadcast on CBS TV, you probably aren’t seething as much as those of us who did. Turns out, that nice little Medicare reform bill that was supposed to make life better for senior citizens did nothing more that enrich the most profitable industry of all, the pharmaceutical (herein renamed harmaceutical).

Our Congress, led by Republican’s, passed a bill that is so one-sided for a particular industry that I believe that criminal charges of theft should be filed against every Congressman that voted for the bill. It will cost you and me, the taxpayers, an estimated 534 billion dollars. The bill disallows Medicare from negotiating with the harmaceutical companies to lower prices for drugs. This should make everyone of you completely outraged. If you want to read the story, click here to go to the CBS website.  Just be prepared to be angered.

Until Americans demand lobbyist reform, we will continue to be ripped off, our taxes stolen from us and our health will be at the mercy of profiteers. The Senate is trying to pass a bill to reverse this travesty but guess what?  The Republicans are fighting it and the President has threatened a veto if passed. Who does he work for?  You can bet it isn’t for the American people.