Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse:Other Updates [Ghostwriters;Acidacids cause Aci

[Guest guest]

Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse: Other Updates

_http://www.anh-usa.org/natural-health-updates/_

(http://www.anh-usa.org/natural-health-updates/)

Posted By ANH-USA On September 28, 2010

Ghosts in the Machine

Unsealed court documents reveal that between 1997 and 2003, drug giant

Wyeth used a marketing firm to produce ghostwritten articles and place them

into medical journals. The firm wrote the articles, which were then signed by

doctors who were paid for the use of their names. These articles

downplayed the risk of breast cancer associated with Prempro, and promoted

unsubstantiated claims that Prempro prevented dementia, was good for the heart,

helped Parkinson’s disease, prevented vision problems, and warded off

wrinkles.

_As we reported last year_

(../../../../../the-light-of-day-shines-on-the-practice-of-ghostwriting-articles\

-in-medical-journals/) [1], the original

story broke when the New York Times and PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed

open-access journal that does not rely on drug advertising, gained access to

these documents. Now PLoS Medicine has published _an in-depth analysis of these

documents_

(http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000335)

[2], revealing the details of how Wyeth swayed public and

professional opinion of Prempro in specific ways using these ghostwritten

articles. PLoS is published by the Public Library of Science.

New Drug-Resistant Superbugs Found in Three States

We recently told you about _how cholesterol drugs have been shown to

weaken our immunity_

(../../../../../statin-drugs-open-us-up-to-foodborne-illnesses/) [3] (gut

immunity in particular) and leave us vulnerable to

foodborne illnesses. We thought of this when news came in of what the

Associated

Press calls “an infectious-disease nightmareâ€: more bacteria resistant to

nearly all antibiotics have sickened people in three states and are popping

up all over the world.

_It’s caused by a very adaptable gene found in bacteria that cause gut or

urinary infections_

(http://news./s/ap/20100913/ap_on_he_me/us_med_superbug_gene;_ylt=AokpK\

wAU8gZOKNQixM75IESs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNvYTFjdGo0BGFzc2V0

A2FwLzIwMTAwOTEzL3VzX21lZF9zdXBlcmJ1Z19nZW5lBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MD

OARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5) .[4]. It hitches onto

many types of common germs and confers broad drug resistance, creating

dangerous “superbugs.†Three types of bacteria were involved, and three

different

mechanisms let the gene become part of them.

Lab tests showed these germs were not killed by the types of drugs

normally used to treat drug-resistant infections, including **the last-resort

class of antibiotics that physicians go to,** according to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

One culprit is certainly the _overuse of antibiotics_

(../../../../../antibiotics-for-farm-animals—is-the-fda-serious/) . [5].

Another is the

widespread use of statin drugs, which deplete good bacteria in the gut and

weaken one

’s immunity in general. And a third is too little acid in the stomach—

which is caused by the use of antacids and acid blockers. (See below for more

information.)

Antacids Cause Acid Reflux—New Evidence!

Last September we discussed _the surprising evidence that antacids and

acid blockers are the cause, not the cure_

(../../../../../stomach-trouble-too-little-acid/) , [6], of stomach troubles

like GERD and acid reflux

disease. Now there is research, which finds acid blockers actually creating

acid

reflux!

_The study_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=101718) [7], which

appeared in the July issue of the journal Gastroenterology,

recruited 120 healthy adults with no history of acid reflux disease. Half

were given Nexium for eight weeks, followed by four weeks on a placebo. The

rest took a placebo pill throughout the 12-week trial. Of those on the

Nexium, 44% had acid reflux symptoms for several weeks after stopping the acid

blockers—with some still experiencing symptoms for three months—even

though none of them had acid reflux before beginning the study!

It should be noted that all sorts of people without reflux are given these

drugs, often for obscure reasons, especially in hospitals. Katz,

MD, director of the San Francisco Department of Health, has said, **_Sixty

to seventy percent of persons taking proton pump inhibitors don’t need

these medications._

(http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-10/health/heartburn.medicine.infections_1_heart\

burn-drugs-proton-acid-suppressing/2?_s=PM:HEALTH) **

What Katz may not realize is that the 30 to 40% who supposedly *need them*

are actually made worse by the drugs. (To understand why this happens,

please see _Your Stomach: What is Really Making You Miserable and What to Do

About It_ (http://www.praktikosbooks.com/catalog_viewitem_39.html) by

V. , MD.)

While this new study is based on a small sampling of patients, and no

measurement was done of the amount of stomach acid that was produced, the

undeniable bottom line is that acid blockers created more reflux, not less. And

don’t forget that acid blockers have been shown to cause many, many other

health problems (pneumonia, bone loss, etc.)—as a quick glance at _a recent

issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine_

(http://archinte.ama-assn.org/content/vol170/issue9/index.dtl) [10] will

attest: there were no

fewer than six new articles on the subject.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Article printed from Alliance for Natural Health – USA:

_http://www.anh-usa.org_ (http://www.anh-usa.org)

URLs in this post:

[1] As we reported last year:

_http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../the-light-of-day-shines-on-the-practice-of\

-ghostwriting-articles-in-medical-journals

/_

(http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../the-light-of-day-shines-on-the-practice-of\

-ghostwriting-articles-in-medical-journals/)

[2] an in-depth analysis of these documents:

_http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000335\

_

(http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000335)

[3] how cholesterol drugs have been shown to weaken our immunity:

_http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../statin-drugs-open-us-up-to-foodborne-illne\

sses/

_

(http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../statin-drugs-open-us-up-to-foodborne-illne\

sses/)

[4] It’s caused by a very adaptable gene found in bacteria that cause gut

or urinary infections:

_http://news./s/ap/20100913/ap_on_he_me/us_med_superbug_gene;_ylt=AokpK\

wAU8gZOKNQixM75IESs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNvYTFjdGo0BGFzc

2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwOTEzL3VzX21lZF9zdXBlcmJ1Z19nZW5lBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb

3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5_

(http://news./s/ap/20100913/ap_on_he_me/us_med_superbug_gene;_ylt=AokpK\

wAU8gZOKNQixM75IESs0

NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNvYTFjdGo0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwOTEzL3VzX21lZF9zdXBlcmJ1Z19nZW5

lBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWR

saW5)

[5] overuse of antibiotics:

_http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../antibiotics-for-farm-animals%E2%80%94i

s-the-fda-serious/_

(http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../antibiotics-for-farm-animals—is-the-fda-\

serious/)

[6] the surprising evidence that antacids and acid blockers are the cause,

not the cure:

_http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../stomach-trouble-too-little-acid/_

(http://www.anh-usa.org../../../../../stomach-trouble-too-little-acid/)

[7] The study:

_http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=101718_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=101718)

[8] Sixty to seventy percent of persons taking proton pump inhibitors don’

t need these medications.:

_http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-10/health/heartburn.medicine.infections_1_h

eartburn-drugs-proton-acid-suppressing/2?_s=PM:HEALTH_

(http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-10/health/heartburn.medicine.infections_1_heart\

burn-drugs-proton

-acid-suppressing/2?_s=PM:HEALTH)

[9] Your Stomach: What is Really Making You Miserable and What to Do About

It: _http://www.praktikosbooks.com/catalog_viewitem_39.html_

(http://www.praktikosbooks.com/catalog_viewitem_39.html)

[10] a recent issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine:

_http://archinte.ama-assn.org/content/vol170/issue9/index.dtl_

(http://archinte.ama-assn.org/content/vol170/issue9/index.dtl)