DRUGS vs. NATURAL REMEDIES

[Guest guest]

(I've heard of the FDA blocking certain substances from the market

because they were natural and so-called unproven, and started my own

research, and found this interesting article. A MUST READ!! Because

there are NATURAL, non-FDA approved products that can do the SAME as

prescription products!!!!)

Drugs Vs. Natural Remedies

In the 1930's researchers discovered small granules within

foodstuffs called vitamins were responsible for how well animals

thrived, grew, replaced worn-out cells and remained disease-free. In

the 1940's and 50's research began on how to apply this knowledge to

human health. Then antibiotics were developed and patented. The race

was on to develop patentable molecules to cure disease. Vitamins and

nutritional supplements were buried and forgotten.

We have been living under a cloud for decades now. How long are we

going to assume that man-made patentable molecules rearrange into

what are called analogues, are safer, more effective and more

economical than naturally occurring, non-patentable molecules?

Wall Street continues to support pharmaceutical stocks. A recent

front-page article in the Wall Street Journal assailed on $100-

million-a-year nutritional supplement company, which is growing at

the rate of 20% per year, for having a one-man R & D department while

pharmaceutical companies require huge outlays for R & D as well as FDA

clinical studies. The WSJ reporter felt it was unfair for

nutritional supplement companies to be able to make health claims on

their products while drug manufacturers have to undergo extensive

studies for the same right.

A fact hidden from the American public:the biological action of

every prescription drug can essentially be duplicated with

nutritional supplements.

Some examples:

Seldane, the most popular selling anti-allergy drug can be replaced

by quercetin and vitamin C.

Ginger is more effective than the common drug used to overcome

motion sickness.

Garlic and chromium supplements help to reduce cholesterol without

the side effects and cost of Mevacor. Many cholesterol-lowering

drugs block the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E

and K, which in turn leads to health problems.

Tagament, Zantac and Pepcid, three multi-billion dollar anti-ulcer

drugs, two of which were recently released for over-the-counter

sales, are being widely touted on TV advertisements. These anti-

ulcer agents can be replaced with DGL, a licorice root extract. The

whole approach to treating ulcers with acid-blockers should be

called into question since low hydrochloric acid

secretion " decreases the bioavailability of important minerals such

as iron, zinc and calcium.

Antidepressant drugs can be replaced with an herbal preparation

called St. 's wort. A European psychiatric journal dedicated a

whole issue to reports showing St. 's wort is safer and more

effective than Elavil, a commonly prescribed antidepressant.

Coleus, a mint-plant extract, can reduce fluid pressure in the eye

without the side effects caused by beta-blocker eye drops.

Magnesium appears to be able to do what calcium-blocking drugs do,

at 1/10 to 1/100 of the cost.

Melatonin, a non-Rx hormone, appears to be a safer sleep aid than

Halcion. Other examples abound.

The 1993 front-cover story on TIME magazine announcing

nutraceuticals as agents against disease heralded a new age in

medical care. We are in a period of change from prescription to

nonprescription natural remedies. The proprietary drug industry

isn't going to step aside easily though. Some are already in the

nutritional supplement business-like Hoffman-LaRoche. Some of the

pharmaceutical companies are trying to ban nutrients, like the amino

acid ban in Canada promoted by Sigma Tau, a pharmaceutical company

that manufactures a prescription version (Carnitor) of the amino

acid L-carnitine. The pharmaceutical industry, in its downhill life

cycle, will likely use their clout to issue confusing reports and

delay scientific consensus. The entire nutritional supplement and

natural food industry is less than $4 billion in annual sales,

1/50th the size of the pharmaceutical industry. The largest reported

US vitamin manufacturer, Leiner Health Products, with sales

exceeding $350 million annually, is nowhere near the size of Merck &

Co. at $3.38 billion in annual US sales and over $9 billion in

worldwide sales.

The pharmaceutical industry apparently has connections in high

places. An NIH study which errantly reported beta carotene and

vitamin E increased the risk of lung cancer was suspiciously

released to the news media to coincide with the deliberation of

legislation in Congress that would liberalize health claims on

nutritional supplements. Headlines left the impression that these

vitamins were potentially hazardous. In fact, the data showed the

dosages used in the study were insufficient to stop lung cancer

among cigarettes. There was no statistical difference between

placebo and vitamins (the vitamins caused no harm). This is just an

example of confusion tactics that will be used by those who oppose

the use of nutritional supplements.

Researchers, who receive a large part of their funding by the

National Institutes of Health, may be in league with the

pharmaceutical companies who also provide research dollars and whose

careers may come to an end with the resolution of certain diseases.

Given that a report in the Journal of the American Medical

Association indicates oxidation is involved in every disease

process, there is reason to use antioxidant supplements such as

vitamins C, E and beta carotene to combat virtually every medical

malady. Other reports also confirm that the destructive process of

oxidation is involved in every disease. The opportunity for the

widespread use of economical nutritional supplements to replace

drugs and reduce the incidence of all disease in the population at

large is at hand.

Opponents will attempt to claim that nutritional supplements are

unproven and unsafe. Yet a recent report by Citizens for Health

reveals that deaths caused by prescription drugs in a 10-year period

amounted to 90,000-110,000 deaths, versus only 3 deaths from all

dietary supplements and herbs during the same period. A compilation

of the number of fatalities reported by the American Association of

Poison Control Centers for an 8-year period between 1983 and 1990

reveals 2556 deaths from prescription drugs and only one unconfirmed

death from vitamin supplements.

The Harvard Health Letter indicates 58% of people over age 65 have

problems paying for their prescriptions. Nutritional supplements

can significantly reduce the cost of medical care, not just by

replacing expensive drugs with vitamins, but by making the nation

healthier. In an era when Medicare is going bankrupt, with a surplus

of only $4 billion in a total $175 billion Medicare annual budget,

and a growth in health care costs that doubles every seven years, it

is mandatory that more cost-effective remedies for health problems

be pursued without delay.

There appears to be a considerable education gap by the medical

profession in how to use nutritional supplements to fight disease.

Despite evidence to the contrary, many physicians falsely believe

one gets all the nutrition they need out of the calorie-rich, sugar-

rich, fat-laden American diet. Breakthroughs in the past decade

prove that granules of nutrients are more effective against disease

than current prescription remedies. Still many physicians pedal the

idea that America has the most expensive urine in the world,

alluding to all the excess water soluble vitamins that are excreted

daily by vitamin takers. Many prescription drugs are water-soluble

too, but the same reasoning is not applied against their usage.

Physicians are reported to have received less than 10 hours of

training in medical school on nutrition. Curriculums at medical

schools, continuing education programs for physicians and

advertising support of medical journals appears to be dominated by

pharmaceutical companies. Prompted by a recent report which showed

that 100 units of vitamin E (more than available in the daily diet)

reduces the risk of heart attack by 45%, 24 cardiologists attending

a recent conference were asked how many were taking vitamin E. Most

of the cardiologists in attendance raised their hands. Then it was

asked how many of these physicians recommended vitamin E for their

patients. Few hands remained. It is unlikely that the medical

profession will quickly depart from their habits of prescribing

prescription drugs without some financial incentives.

Possibly primary-care physicians can begin the revolution toward

nonprescription alternatives, before patients get referred to

surgical specialists. There is already ample evidence that

glutathione-boosting supplements (N-acetyl cysteine, bilberry,

turmeric, milk thistle, pine bark and grape seed extract, vitamins C

and E and selenium) can prevent and even reverse cataracts; 25 that

vitamin E combined with magnesium, L-carnitine, coenzyme Q10 and

other supplements can avoid coronary bypass operations and relieve

angina; 26 and that herbal remedies (saw palmetto berry) can

alleviate discomfort and frequent urination caused by enlarged

prostate, thus avoiding surgery. These would be good places to start.

Addendum: Recent Headlines Involving the Prescription Drug Industry

FDA Condemns Maker of Most Popular Sleeping Pill

A September 12, 1994 Dallas Morning News story indicates Upjohn, the

maker of the world's most widely-prescribed sleeping pill, Halcion,

had suppressed information about the sometimes fatal reactions posed

by this drug. Upjohn, who makes hundreds of millions of dollars on

Halcion, was cited by the FDA for " an ongoing pattern of

misconduct, " but actions against Upjohn stopped short of being

forwarded to the Justice Department. Upjohn shareholders even filed

a class-action suit against the company for racketeering and

conspiracy. Norway, Argentina and Brazil have all banned Halcion.

Associated Press, Report says company knew of Halcion dangers,

Dallas Morning News, September 12, 1994.

Over-Medicated Elderly

By July of 1994 the Journal of the American Medical Association was

reporting on a Harvard study that found almost one-quarter of US

senior citizens are overmedicated, accounting for more than 650,000

needless hospitalizations annually. Aggressive marketing by drug

companies, which spend an estimated $10 billion annually to

advertise and promote new drugs, was blamed for the problem in a

report appearing in the Los Angeles Times. Stolberg, S., Many

elderly too medicated, survey finds, Los Angeles Times, July 27,

1994, p.A12.

Drug Industry Launches Compliance Program

The drug industry's response to warnings of over-medication has been

to launch a " compliance " program, to remind patients to take their

pills. Each year physicaina write a hundred million prescritptions

that are never filled, a loss of $1.2 billion in retail revenues.

Half of hypertensive patients discontinue their medications during

the first yar of therapy. One company is conducting a telephone

campaign to remind patients to take their blood pressure medication.

The pharmaceutical industry claims that noncompliance results in

125,000 deaths a year among heart and vascular disease patients,

accounting for $8.5 billion of additional health costs. But do the

purported benefits of prescription drugs outweigh the reported side

effects? Tanouye E., Drug firms start compliance programs reminding

patients to take their pills, Wall Street Journal, April 15, 1994.

Germany Questions Safety of Two US Drugs

The equivalent of the U.S. FDA in Germany, the Federal Institute for

Drugs and Medical Products in Berlin, announced that two synthetic

sex hormone drugs made by Schering, used to treat acne and enlarged

prostate, may actually increase the risk of liver cancer. Schering

stock fell 4.4% upon the announcement. These two drugs account for

$257 million of annual sales. Choi A., S.D., Schering's shares

skid as regulators heed cancer tests, Wall Street Journal, August

17, 1994.

Benefits of Anti-Cancer Drug Questioned

Tamoxifen, and anticancer drug undergoing trials for breast cancer,

has been assailed as increasing the risk of cancer rather than

reducing it. Nesmith J., Cancer experiment may do more harm than

good, New York Times New Service, February 2, 1994.

Migraine Drug Called a Killer

In early 1993 Glaxo released a burst of promotional programs for its

newly approved injectable anti-migraine medication called Imitrex

(sumatriptan). In an exclusive article in Mother ,

investigative reporter Regush tells the horrific stories of

people who have suffered strokes and even death from taking Imitrex.

The FDA has received over 3,526 voluntary reports of possible side

effects about Imitrex, including 83 deaths and 273 life-threatening

complications. Glaxo reports $365 million in annual sales for

Imitrex. Regush's article documents how Glaxo bought off Canadian

officials to gain approval for its drug in that country. Glaxo has

been forced to change the labeling on Imitrex, warning those with

unrecognized coronary artery disease to avoid the drug. How would

anyone with undetected vascular disease know this? Note: any

nutritional supplement that resulted in this many reported side

effects would have been recalled by the FDA and banned from further

production. Why a double standard by the FDA for drugs and

nutritional supplements? Regush, N., Migraine Killer, Mother ,

September-October 1995, pp.24-30 & 70.

Side Effects of Rx Drugs

An alarming report in US News & World Report indicates side effects

of prescription drugs cause over 2 million patients to be

hospitalized annually and 140,000 to die. The FDA placed 30 drugs on

its monitoring list because of these problems. In June of 1994

calcium-channel blocking drugs were reported to cause epidermal skin

necrosis (death of skin tissue) and a fatal disease called s-

syndrome. Drug Alert, US News & World Report, January 9,

1995, pp. 48-57.

In August of 1995 FDA commissioner Kessler, MD, reported that

prescription drugs cause $20 billion in side effects and avoidable

hospitalizations.

http://www.zenmedonline.com/articles/2003/drugs.htm