Campaign against dietary supplements

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Knowledge of Health, Inc.

457 West Avenue #117 San Dimas, Ca. 91773 USA

Telephone: 909 596-9507 Facsimile: 909 596-9189 Email: bsardi@...

For Immediate Release 1/18/2005

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AGAINST DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

At a time when the Food and Drug Administration is under criticism for

approving unsafe drugs, and when pharmaceutical companies are being called to

task

for not disclosing negative studies of their products, a concerted effort is

being launched against dietary supplements. The obvious reason --- don't let

the public discover dietary supplements as alternative to prescription drugs

that can duplicate the biological action of most prescription medicines with

far lower costs and side effects.

Harvard Medical School in a joint effort with the FDA and the Institute of

Medicine, has released a report that says: " Unlike drugs, which must be proven

safe before they can be sold, the current law allows sale of supplements

unless the Food and Drug Administration can prove them harmful. " The assumption

is that prescription drugs are safer than supplements because they have

undergone an FDA approval process. But a review of data from the US Poison

Control

Centers indicates vitamin and mineral supplements are linked with few if any

deaths over the past few years and deaths linked to use of herbal products,

except for ephedra, are few. For comparison, just the use of non-steroidal

pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen cause an estimated 16,000 deaths

annually. Side effects from properly used prescription drugs, administered by

nurses in hospitals, result in over 100,000 deaths annually. The FDA approval

process does not guarantee safety.

Public Citizen, the Ralph Nader group, indicates 181 FDA-approved drugs

should be recalled because they are not as safe as other drugs or are

ineffective. An FDA drug reviewer, Dr. Graham, had to publish his report

on the

hidden dangers of Vioxx outside of the country in the British Medical Journal.

His job was later threatened for not following FDA protocol even though an

estimated 139,000 Americans died prematurely from the use of Vioxx.

Many drug side effects are the result of nutritional deficiencies caused by

the medications themselves. But the FDA is stubbornly resistant to warn the

public how to avoid drug side effects by taking companion supplements. For

example, statin cholesterol-lowering drugs deplete the body of coenzyme Q10

which can result in a mortal condition called rhabdomyolysis. Acetaminophen

(Tylenol) is toxic to the liver and acetaminophen use is the leading cause for

liver transplants. The antidote for acetaminophen poisoning is N-acetyl

cysteine, a sulfur-based dietary supplement. The FDA has resisted appeals to

combine

these nutrients into the drugs or mandate that supplements be prescribed as

companions.

Another mistaken complaint is that dietary supplement manufacturers don't

have to report adverse reactions as do drug companies. Yet the FDA is obviously

working in league with the drug companies to hide negative reports that

could trigger the recall of many drugs.

Another false assumption in the report is that dietary supplements interfere

with prescription medications. Tindle, MD, a research fellow at

Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the report, says: " This is

especially

critical as more becomes known about the adverse effects associated with

individual dietary supplements as well as their interactions with prescription

drugs. " But vitamins and minerals are essential for life and it is the drugs

that interfere with the nutrients, not the other way around.

There is a concerted effort to regulate dietary supplements, which is in

reality a smoke screen to limit dosages of vitamins and minerals that can

replace many prescription drugs. For example, high-dose vitamin B6 and vitamin

C

reduce blood pressure equally as well as prescription medications. High-dose

folic acid is a safe anti-depressant. High-dose vitamin D is as effective as

many blood pressure pills. High-dose vitamin C can prevent a form of unstable

plaque that causes most sudden-death heart attacks. Pharmaceutical companies

are attempting to patent altered vitamin D molecules to treat cancer when

high-dose vitamin D is inexpensive and has the same biological action.

Later in the year, CODEX, a trade organization linked with the World Health

Organization, hopes to limit dosages of vitamins and minerals under the

presumption high doses cause significant side effects. The Institute of

Medicine

report appears to be softening up the public for these limitations.

The report discloses the real reason for restrictions against dietary

supplements - in their own words: " In the past five years the biggest change

was an

increase in use of herbal supplements. " The pharmaceuticals companies see

herbal remedies advancing while their problematic nostrums are being

discredited.

The dietary supplement industry is continually characterized as some giant

behemoth that must be curbed. The industry was responsible for $18.7 billion

in sales in 2002. For comparison, the sales of just one class of drugs,

statins for cholesterol, nearly equal the entire annual sales of dietary

supplements.

Both the Harvard and Institutes of Medicine reports advised users of dietary

supplements to disclose their supplement regimens to their doctors. But

doctors are poorly educated in the use of vitamins, minerals and herbal

products

and would offer little help to consumers. ####

Jeff el

10360 Pine Lakes Blvd

North Fort Myers, Fl 33903

http://www.msprotocols.com/