FW: WDDTY e-News Service - 09 October 2003

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WDDTY e-News Service - 09 October 2003

WHAT DOCTORS DON’T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No.54 - 09 October 03

Please feel free to email this broadcast to any friends you feel would

appreciate receiving it.

HODGKIN DISEASE: Treating one cancer might just start another

The old medical joke that 'the treatment was a success, but the patient

died' warrants a hollow laugh at best; it's too often near the truth.

Take, as an example, the treatment of Hodgkin disease (HD), considered

to be one of the great medical successes of the 20th century. Fifty

years ago the patient survived only for a couple of years but today, the

five-year survival rate has risen to 85 per cent.

Aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy can successfully treat the

cancer if caught early enough-but too many women who are treated go on

to develop breast cancer.

One study discovered that, of the 3,817 women aged 30 or younger who had

survived their HD therapy for a year or more, 105 had developed breast

cancer.

Not surprisingly, researchers from the American National Cancer

Institute discovered that the risk increased with the intensity of the

radiation to treat HD. A dose of 4 Gy increased breast cancer risk by

over three times, and a 40 Gy level raised that eight-fold. Those who

were treated solely with chemotherapy had an increased risk of just 0.6

times, and this rose to 1.4 times if there was a mixed treatment of

chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 290:

465-75).

IT'S THE DIET, STUPID: It's just as good as drugs for reducing

cholesterol

When it comes to diet and nutrition, medicine is a little like the aged

relative who's always the last to get the joke.

Medicine has always maintained that dietary changes can reduce

cholesterol levels only by a modest 4%; if you want to get tough with

cholesterol, you have to take a statin drug, which some trials have

suggested can reduce levels by up to 32%.

Then it occurred to the various health authorities in the USA that some

food groups might actually reduce cholesterol levels. Yes, we know

nutritionists have been saying this for the last 15 years or more, but

it finally dawned on the National Cholesterol Education program in 2001,

and on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. Foods such as

plant sterols, found in oils, soy protein, viscous fibres such as oats

and barley, and almonds could all actively reduce cholesterol, and the

diet should be a low-fat one, they said in official announcements.

So when researchers from a hospital in Toronto tested the food groups

and diets against the statin, lovastatin, guess what happened? Yes, the

diet was as effective as the drug, and reduced cholesterol levels by

28%.

As they say, he who laughs last just didn't get the joke.

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 290:

501-10).

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GOTCHA: The drug regulators pounce yet again

Drug regulators are our caped crusaders. They stand on guard, ever

vigilant, for any problems with prescription drugs, and then they swoop,

without fear and favour, on our behalf. The miscreant is removed, and

we can again sleep safely in our beds.

We like to champion the deeds of these heroes in our humble e-mail

missives, and we've come across yet another example of our boys in

action against the pharmaceutical oligarchy.

Our story concerns a drug called Serevent (salmeterol xinafoate), a

beta-agonist inhaler to treat asthma. Sudden, unexpected, deaths were

soon associated with the drug, and so the manufacturer, GlaxoKline,

decided to mount a major trial to found out the truth. The Salmeterol

Milti-center Asthma Rsearch Trial (SMART) recruited 13,174 asthmatics

into the trial, which ran for seven months until December 1996. Then

silence-for six years. Finally, at the end of last year, the results

were published. The drug is indeed linked to life-threatening asthma

attacks and death, especially among African Americans, the findings

announced.

The American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),

said it was taking the matter very seriously, and immediately entered

into discussions with the manufacturer.

Now, after another seven months' deliberations, the FDA has decided to.

.. .change the wording on the label. This type of draconian reaction

will doubtless send a shock wave through the pharmaceutical industry.

If anyone in future produces a drug that can kill people, then they

might have to reword the label.

Not that the FDA feels anyone should stop taking the drug. They should

just know it might kill them. A GlaxoKline spokeswoman explained:

" Abruptly stopping medication may result in acutely deteriorating asthma

control, which may be life-threatening. " This is opposed to continuing

with a drug that may be, er, life-threatening.

HRT: Modesty forbids, but we told you so

We at What Doctors Don't Tell You are never great 'we told you so'

merchants. It's boastful, unnecessary and nobody likes a clever dick.

Still, we couldn't help noting the remarks of Prof Bruno

Muller-Oerlinghausen about hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Prof

Muller-Oerlinghausen, chairman of the German Commission on the Safety of

Medicines, has described HRT as a " national and international tragedy " ,

and he likened it to the thalidomide scandal. Reports suggest that it

has already killed thousands of women who just wanted a better

menopause.

It has been estimated that HRT has caused 20,000 cases of breast cancer

in Britain alone, and is known to double the risk of breast cancer, and

increase the risk of blood clots, strokes and heart attack.

Now, this is something we've been saying for 10 years. As a result,

many of our readers stopped their HRT therapy, or never started it, and

sought out safer options instead.

All of which proves the benefits of subscribing to What Doctors, dear

reader. So if you haven't yet subscribed, isn't it time you did? To

join, and claim £28 of books and reports, AND claim major discounts off

quality supplements and organic foods and goods, follow this link:

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READERS CORNER

More on HRT: A very timely communication from one reader who resisted

the urgings of her family doctor to go onto HRT and scrap her approach

of diet and exercise. After she refused, his parting shot was: " Don't

go around rubbishing HRT " .

She went to see him again the other day.

He: " I wouldn't recommend HRT " .

She: " But you told me I was irresponsible for not taking it. "

He: " Ah well, things change. "

Marvellous stuff, but it raises the concern that many women may have

been bullied into taking what has proved to be a deadly therapy. Things

may indeed change, as the doctor suggested, but there's one constant-we

have just one life.

Lice: Still your suggestions come in for treating lice. Use a good

quality aloe vera gel on the hair, leave on overnight, and wash out in

the morning before spraying the hair with lavender, says one

correspondent.

Amalgam fillings: We were taken to task by one reader who believes that

mercury fillings should always be removed, irrespective of the mercury

levels in the body. She is a dowser, and she notices that people with

mercury fillings always dowse low, which suggests their energy levels

are poor.

Listen to Lynne

On the radio: Hear Lynne McTaggart on Passion the new DAB Digital Radio

Station focusing on your health and your environment - HYPERLINK

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main.asp

On demand: Select and listen to any of Lynne's archived broadcasts on

Passion, there's a new one each week - HYPERLINK

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on_archive.asp

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