15 Most Dangerous Drugs Big Pharma Don't Want You to Know About

15 Most Dangerous Drugs Big Pharma Don't Want You to Know About

November 19, 2010 (Altnet.org)

In the pharmaceutical industry’s rush to get drugs to market, safety usually comes last. Long studies to truly assess a drug's risks just delay profits after all -- and if problems do emerge after medication hits the market, settlements are usually less than profits. Remember, Vioxx still made money.

The following drugs are so plagued with safety problems, it is a wonder they’re on the market at all. It's a testament to Big Pharma's greed and our poor regulatory processes that they are.


Lipitor and Crestor
Why is Lipitor the bestselling drug in the world? Because every adult with high LDL or fear of high LDL is on it. (And also 2.8 million children, says Consumer Reports.) No one is going to say statins don't prevent heart attack in high-risk patients (though diet and exercise have worked in high-risk groups too). But doctors will say statins are so over-prescribed that more patients get their side effects -- weakness, dizziness, pain and arthritis -- than heart attack prevention. Worse, they think it's old age!

"My older patients literally do without food so that they can buy these medicines that make them sicker, feel bad, and do nothing to improve life," says an ophthalmologist web poster from Tennessee. "There is no scientific basis for treating older folks with $300+/month meds that have serious side-effects and largely unknown multiple drug interactions." What kinds of side effects? All statins can cause muscle breakdown (called rhabdomyolysis) but combining them with antibiotics, protease inhibitors drugs and anti-fungals increases your risks. In fact, Crestor is so highly linked to rhabdomyolysis it is doubly criticised: Public Citizen calls it a Do Not Use and the FDA's David Graham named it one of the five most dangerous drugs before Congress.


Yaz and Yasmin
It sounded too good to be true and it was. Birth control pills that also cleared up acne, treated severe PMS (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder or PMDD) and avoided the water retention of traditional birth control pills.

But soon after Bayer launched Yaz in 2006 as going "beyond birth control," 18-year-olds were coming down with blood clots, gall bladder disease, heart attacks and even strokes. Fifteen-year-old Katie Ketner had her gallbladder removed. Susan Gallenos had a stroke and part of her skull removed. College student Michelle Pfleger, 18, collapsed and died of a pulmonary thromboemboli from taking Yaz, says her mother Joan Cummins.

While TV ads for Yaz in 2008 were so misleading that FDA ordered Bayer to run correction ads, Yaz sales are still brisk. In fact, financial analysts attribute the third quarter slump in the Yaz "franchise" of 28.1 percent to the appearance of a Yaz generic, not to the thousands of women who have been harmed.

Why is Yaz sometimes deadly? It includes a drug that was never before marketed in the U.S. -- drospirenone -- and apparently causes elevated potassium, heart problems, and a change in acid balance of the blood. Who knew? But not only is Bayer still marketing it, women do not receive "test subject" compensation for using it either.


Lyrica, Topomax and Lamictal
Why would you take an epilepsy seizure drug for pain? The same reason you'll take an antipsychotic for the blues and an antidepressant for knee pain: good consumer marketing. In August FDA ordered a warning for aseptic meningitis, or brain inflammation, on Lamictal -- but it is still the darling of military and civilian doctors for unapproved pain and migraine. Lamictal also has the distinction of looting $51 million from Medicaid last year despite a generic existing.

All seizure drugs increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors according to their mandated labels. An April article in JAMA found seizure drugs linked to 26 suicides, 801 attempted suicides, and 41 violent deaths in just five years.

All three drugs can make you lose your memory and your hair, say posters on the drug rating site askapatient.com. Topamax is referred to as "Stupamax" in the military -- though evidently not enough to ask, "Why am I taking this drug again?"


Humira, Prolia and TNF Blockers
If you think pharma is producing a lot of expensive, dangerous injectables lately, you're right. Yesterday's blockbuster pills have been supplanted with vaccines and biologics that are more lucrative and safer...from generic competition, that is. The problem is, not only are biologics like Humira and Prolia creepy and dangerous -- they're made from genetically engineered hamster cells and suppress the actual immune system -- the diseases they treat are "sold" to healthy people.

Recently, thousands of college students in Chicago found inserts in their campus newspapers hawking Humira for Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. ("Hate psoriasis? Love clearer skin," says an ad on the Humira Web site featuring a pretty woman.) And earlier this year Prolia was approved by the FDA for postmenopausal osteoporosis with a high risk of fracture. Do healthy people really want to suppress their body's tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and invite tuberculosis, serious, possibly lethal infections, melanoma, lymphoma and "unusual cancers in children and teenagers" as the Humira label warns? Nor is it clear these drugs work. The Humira label warns against developing "new or worsening" psoriasis -- a condition it is supposed to treat.


Chantix
How unsafe is the anti-smoking drug Chantix? After 397 FDA cases of possible psychosis, 227 domestic reports of suicidal acts, thoughts or behaviors and 28 suicides, the government banned pilots and air traffic controllers and interstate truck and bus drivers from taking Chantix in 2008. Four months later, some military pharmacies banned the drug, which reduces both cravings and smoking pleasure. In addition to Chantix' neuropsychiatric effects (immortalized by New Bohemians musician Carter Albrecht, who was shot to death in 2007 in Texas by a neighbor after acting aggressively), Chantix is linked to angioedema, serious skin reactions, visual impairment, accidental injury, dizziness, muscle spasms, seizures and loss of consciousness.

In defending an increasingly indefensible drug, Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation said last year, "Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States and we know these products are effective aids in helping people quit." True enough -- but if you smoke cigarettes you can still drive an interstate truck.


Ambien
Sleeping pills like Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and Rozerem only decrease get-to-sleep time by 18 minutes according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

But Ambien has additional cachet compared to its soporific brethren: it is the drug Tiger Woods reportedly used when cavorting with his consorts; and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was taking it when he crashed his Ford Mustang while driving to Capitol Hill in the middle of the night to "vote" in 2006.

In fact Ambien's legendary somnambulism side effects -- people walk, drive, make phone calls and even have sex while sleeping -- has increased traffic accidents say law enforcement officials, with some drivers not even recognizing arresting police. Thanks to bad Ambien press, Sanofi-Aventis has had to run ads telling the public to get in bed and stay there if you are going to take Ambien. (Or you'll break out in handcuffs, as the joke goes.) Ambien has also increased the national weight problem as dieters wake up amid mountains of pizza, Krispy Kreme and Häagen-Dazs cartons consumed by their evil twins.


Tamoxifen
Is it a coincidence that Tamoxifen maker AstraZenaca founded Breast Cancer Awareness Month and makes carcinogenic agrochemicals that cause breast cancer? Both the original safety studies of Tamoxifen, which causes cancer, birth defects and is a chemical cousin of organochlorine pesticides, and its original marketing were riddled with scientific error. In fact, FDA objected to AstraZeneca's marketing claim of breast cancer prevention and the casting of endometrial cancer as an "uncommon" event 10 years ago.

Yet today pharma-linked doctors still tell women to take Tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer even though an American Journal of Medicine study found the average life expectancy increase is nine days (and Public Citizen says for every case of breast cancer Tamoxifen prevents there is a life-threatening case of blood clots, stroke or endometrial cancer). A Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation study shows an example of Tamoxifen's downside: 57.2 percent of women on continuous Tamoxifen developed atrophy of the lining of the uterus, 35.7 coexisting hyperphasia and 8.1 percent uterine polyps. We won't even talk about eye and memory problems -- or the Tamoxifen cousin, Evista, that pharma is also pushing which has a "death from stroke" warning on its label.


Boniva
Why is the bisphosphonate bone drug Boniva available in a convenient, once-monthly formulation? Could patients balk at the fact that after you take it you have to avoid lying down for at least 60 minutes to "help decrease the risk of problems in the esophagus and stomach," wait at least 60 minutes before eating or drinking anything except water, never take it with mineral water, sparkling water, coffee, tea, milk, juice or other oral medicine, including calcium, antacids, or vitamins, and of course, "do not chew or suck"? Nor should you take Boniva, say the warnings, "if you have difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or continuing or severe heartburn, have low blood calcium or severe kidney disease or if severe bone, joint and/or muscle pain."

Bone drugs like Boniva, Fosamax and Actonel are a good example of FDA approving once-unapprovable drugs by transferring risk onto the public's shoulders with "we warned you" labels. The warnings are supposed to make people make their own safety decisions. Except that people just think FDA wouldn't have approved it if it weren't safe.


Prempro and Premarin
You'd think Pfizer's hormone drugs Prempro and the related Premarin and Provera would be history in light of their perks: 26 percent increase in breast cancer, 41 percent increase in strokes, 29 percent increase in heart attacks, 22 percent increase in cardiovascular disease, double the rates of blood clots and links to deafness, urinary incontinence, cataracts, gout, joint degeneration, asthma, lupus, scleroderma, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and lung, ovarian, breast, endometrial, gall bladder and melanoma cancers -- pant pant. But you'd be wrong. Even as we speak, Pfizer-linked researchers are testing the cognitive and cardiovascular "benefits" of hormone therapy, in some cases with our tax dollars, at major universities. Even though the cancer rate in the U.S. and Canada fell when women quit hormone therapy in 2002 (as did the U.S. heart attack rate in women), pharma is rolling out HT "Light" for women who suffer from the "ism" of incredibly short memory.

Source: www.alternet.org/story/148907...

Thought for Food: Imagining Food Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption

Thought for Food: New CMU Research Shows
Imagining Food Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption
Landmark Discovery Reverses Decades-Old Assumption
That Thinking About Food Causes You To Eat More

PITTSBURGH—If you're looking to lose weight, it's okay to think about eating your favorite candy bar. In fact, go ahead and imagine devouring every last bite — all in the name of your diet.

A new study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, published in Science, shows that when you imagine eating a certain food, it reduces your actual consumption of that food. This landmark discovery changes the decades-old assumption that thinking about something desirable increases cravings for it and its consumption.

Drawing on research that shows that perception and mental imagery engages neural machinery in a similar fashion and similarly affect emotions, response tendencies and skilled motor behavior, the CMU research team tested the effects of repeatedly imagining the consumption of a food on its actual consumption. They found that simply imagining the consumption of a food decreases ones appetite for it.

"These findings suggest that trying to suppress one's thoughts of desired foods in order to curb cravings for those foods is a fundamentally flawed strategy," said Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor of social and decision sciences and lead author of this study. "Our studies found that instead, people who repeatedly imagined the consumption of a morsel of food — such as an M&M or cube of cheese — subsequently consumed less of that food than did people who imagined consuming the food a few times or performed a different but similarly engaging task. We think these findings will help develop future interventions to reduce cravings for things such as unhealthy food, drugs and cigarettes, and hope they will help us learn how to help people make healthier food choices."

For the study, the research team, which included Young Eun Huh, Tepper School of Business Ph.D. candidate, and Joachim Vosgerau, assistant professor of marketing, ran a series of five experiments that tested whether mentally stimulating the consumption of a food reduces its subsequent actual consumption. In the first experiment, participants imagined performing 33 repetitive actions, one at a time. A control group imagined inserting 33 quarters into a laundry machine (an action similar to eating M&M's). Another group imagined inserting 30 quarters into a laundry machine and then imagined eating 3 M&M'S, while a third group imagined inserting three quarters into a laundry machine and then imagined eating 30 M&M'S. Next, all participants ate freely from a bowl filled with M&M'S. Participants who imagined eating 30 M&M'S actually ate significantly fewer M&M'S than did participants in the other two groups.

To ensure that the results were due to imagined consumption of M&M'S rather than the control task, the next experiment manipulated the experience imagined (inserting quarters or eating M&M'S) and the number of times it was imagined. Again, the participants who imagined eating 30 M&M'S subsequently consumed fewer M&M'S than did the participants in the other groups.

The last three experiments showed that the reduction in actual consumption following imagined consumption was due to habituation — a gradual reduction in motivation to eat more of the food — rather than alternative psychological processes such as priming or a change in the perception of the food's taste. Specifically, the experiments demonstrated that only imagining the consumption of the food reduced actual consumption of the food. Merely thinking about the food repeatedly or imaging the consumption of a different food did not significantly influence the actual consumption of the food that participants were given.

"Habituation is one of the fundamental processes that determine how much we consume of a food or a product, when to stop consuming it, and when to switch to consuming another food or product," Vosgerau said. "Our findings show that habituation is not only governed by the sensory inputs of sight, smell, sound and touch, but also by how the consumption experience is mentally represented. To some extent, merely imagining an experience is a substitute for actual experience. The difference between imagining and experiencing may be smaller than previously assumed."

Other implications of this research include the discovery that mental imagery can enact habituation in the absence of pre-ingestive sensory stimulation and that repeatedly stimulating an action can trigger its behavioral consequences.

This research was funded by a grant awarded to Morewedge from the Berkman Faculty Development Fund at Carnegie Mellon.

New Calcium and Vitamin D Intake Recommendations – What You Need to Know

A letter from Dr McManus, Chairman of Medical Affairs, Health Sciences & Education

New Calcium and Vitamin D Intake Recommendations – What You Need to Know

Hello Shaklee Family,

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) just released the report "Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D" that establishes higher recommended intake levels for vitamin D. The new Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for children and adults ages 1-70 has been increased to 600 IU/day and the RDA for those aged 71+ has also been raised to 800 IU/day. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level was raised from 2,000 to 4,000 IU/day for adults. Calcium intake RDAs remained essentially the same with a range of 700 – 1,300 mg per day depending on age and sex. The full report can be accessed at http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-for-Calcium-and-Vitamin-D/Report-Brief.aspx .

We recognize that the goals of the IOM are to make broad-based recommendations for the entire population, and develop reference values that serve to guide nutrient guidelines for the US and Canada. We applaud the IOM for updating the vitamin D and calcium nutritional reference values established in 1997, for the potential far-reaching benefits to public health, but we also believe that such modest adjustments in recommended intakes may under-serve the many population groups who are at potential risk for low intakes of calcium and/or vitamin D..

We also want to take this opportunity to reiterate that Shaklee’s mission is to support optimal health for everyone, and in this case, we believe the potential benefits of calcium and vitamin D supplementation go well beyond simple nutritional adequacy and bone health. Scientific research links vitamin D inadequacy to an increased risk for certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes, and higher intakes of vitamin D may help reduce the risk of these diseases. These are precisely the reasons we conducted our own extensive review of the scientific literature and sponsored two independent vitamin D research studies. We also recently adjusted our individual vitamin D intake recommendations based on an individual’s risk factors for vitamin D insufficiency.

It has been estimated that as many as 80% of Americans may have “insufficient” blood levels of vitamin D and there are many reasons why low vitamin D levels seem to be commonplace today. The season or calendar month is a major risk factor for vitamin D insufficiency because sunlight is less efficient during winter months at triggering vitamin D production in the skin. The risk for vitamin D insufficiency rises as sunscreen use and time spent indoors increases. The latitude of your residence is another determinant of sun exposure and those with darker skin are less efficient at converting sunlight to vitamin D. Other factors that can increase risk for vitamin D inadequacy include increasing age, increasing body mass index, lack of exercise, and low intake of fish and other vitamin D rich foods in the diet.

While we support the IOM for the long-awaited adjustments to the calcium RDAs, increases to the vitamin D RDAs, and the increased Safe Upper Levels of Intake (UL) for vitamin D, we also remain committed to individualized and potentially higher vitamin D intake recommendations based on an individual’s unique vitamin D risk factor profile.

For more information about calcium, vitamin D, and your health, talk with your doctor or healthcare professional to discuss the steps you should take to achieve optimal calcium and vitamin D intakes. To obtain an individual vitamin D intake recommendation from Shaklee Health Sciences, based on your own risk factor profile, take the Vitamin D-Ology questionnaire at http://www.shaklee.net/members/articles/top_news/VitaminD_quiz

Give Your Immune System a Natural Super-Boost - Vitamin D, Colds the Flu and You


Would you rather choose the natural solution to Immune Heath, or do you prefer the government flu shot?


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Vitamin D is essential to the modern indoor lifestyle

Vitamin D is essential to the modern indoor lifestyle

By Michael Holick

Every cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor protein. It's estimated that upwards of 2,000 genes are directly or indirectly regulated by vitamin D.It’s known that vitamin D is necessary for proper bone formation and maintenance. But recent decades have seen a torrent of studies suggesting that vitamin D can also affect many other aspects of health; some scientists have come to consider the daily recommended intake of 400 international units of vitamin D far too low. Michael Holick is a biochemist and endocrinologist at Boston University who has spent a career researching the effects of vitamin D (which is actually not a vitamin but a hormone precursor). His new book is The Vitamin D Solution (Hudson Street Press, 2010). Holick recently spoke with Science News biomedicine writer Nathan Seppa.

How much vitamin D do we need?

Children should be taking at least 400 to 1,000 international units of vitamin D as a supplement every day, and adults should take 1,500 to 2,000 IU.

What about pregnant or breast-feeding women?

We tested pregnant women who were taking a prenatal vitamin containing 400 IU of vitamin D each day and drinking two glasses of fortified milk, and found that 76 percent of them — and 81 percent of their newborns — were still vitamin D deficient at the time of giving birth. We also estimate that most breast-feeding women are vitamin D deficient, and they pass along deficient milk to their infants.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to increased risks of infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cognitive decline, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, mood disorders and even diabetes. Is there biological evidence to show how vitamin D could influence so many conditions?

Sure. For example, we know that immune cells called macrophages activate vitamin D, which causes cells to make defensin proteins that specifically kill infective agents like tuberculosis bacteria. A Japanese study recently found that children receiving 1,200 IU of vitamin D each day reduced their risk of getting the flu by almost 50 percent. Every tissue and every cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor protein. It’s estimated that upwards of 2,000 genes are directly or indirectly regulated by vitamin D.

Have there been clinical trials showing the utility of vitamin D?

Absolutely. For instance, a trial of postmenopausal women showed that taking vitamin D over four years reduced their risk of cancer by 60 percent.

Since we make vitamin D from sun exposure, don’t our levels fluctuate with the seasons?

Only to a small degree, because most people avoid the sun. And sunblock reduces your ability to make vitamin D through your skin. The average levels we found ranged from 22 nanograms per milliliter of blood at the end of winter to about 28 ng/ml by the end of summer, unless you’re a tennis player. Blacks start out at 13 to 15 ng/ml during the winter and go up to 22 ng/ml. Less than 30 ng/ml is insufficient vitamin D, and less than 20 ng/ml is considered a deficiency.

But don’t dermatologists counsel people to limit their sun exposure?

Moderation in all things. Humans evolved in sunlight. Our hunter-gatherer forebears were making thousands of units of vitamin D every day, and our body has adapted to that need. That’s why we think vitamin D research will have sustainability and won’t go up in flames like vitamins C and E.

How do you see vitamin D use changing in the future?

It’s likely that the [National Academies’] Institute of Medicine will come out with recommendations of at least 800 to 1,000 IU a day for adults and also substantially increase the tolerable upper limits. That’s what influences what manufacturers can put in foods. Right now the upper limit is 2,000 IU a day. I would predict that within a couple of years many more foods [besides milk] such as pasta and bread will be fortified with vitamin D. I’ve estimated that across the board you could reduce health care costs by 25 percent by food fortification. Supplements are great, but nobody remembers to take them every day. As for sun exposure, a little bit is great for you, but you can only do it spring, summer and fall. So you really need vitamin D in a place where everyone would be able to get it, and that’s the diet.

To what extent does the medical community agree with you on vitamin D?

I recently gave a talk in Toronto to internal medicine doctors and asked how many of them were “believers,” like it was a religious revival. And 90 percent raised their hands. The test for vitamin D levels is now the most ordered assay by doctors in the United States.
________________________
http://bestself.myshaklee.com/us/en/pop_VitaminD_Quiz.s.html

Free nutritional counseling - Sam and Bunny Sewell - 239/591-4565
bunnysam@bestselfusa.com

CFL Light Bulbs are Dangerous for People with Asthma and Diabetes

Give Your Immune System a Natural Super-Boost

Give Your Immune System a Natural Super-Boost

Vitamin D, Colds the Flu and You

Relief from Allergies & Asthma, and

How to Stay Healthy During Cold & Flu Season


Monday, October 18th 7 PM

PLEASE RSVP 591-4565 Seating limited!

10202 Vanderbilt Dr (NE Corner at 102nd Ave) Naples, Fl 34108



Open to the public. MENSA membership not required





We will discuss the research and shed some light on such questions as:

What is the difference between a cold & the flu?

Bronchitis?

What about flu shots?

What about Asthma & Allergies?

Is stress a factor in my health? (What can I do to reduce my stress?)

What role to household cleaners play in compromising my immune system?

What is the difference between cell cleaners, cell builders & cell protectors?

What can I do to stay strong & avoid getting sick (again) this season?

Already feeling good? Learn how to stay that way longer!

Bring your friends to this Health Sciences Seminar.
We will get down to the scientific truth about how we can live a longer, richer life!

http://thenaturaladvocate.blogspot.com/2009/12/give-your-immune-system-super-boost.html

Make the Dream Happen - This Young Widow Did!

Bzuzsztzezmznztze @ Yahoo! Video

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The most significant advance in health science in your lifetime.

News Release

Health Sciences Seminar
The most significant advance in health science in your lifetime.

Media Contact:sams@bestselfusa.com
 239/591-4565 

Monday Health Sciences Seminar

Monday, October 4th 7 PM

PLEASE RSVP 591-4565 Seating limited!

10202 Vanderbilt Dr (NE Corner at 102nd Ave) Naples, Fl 34108

This is an educational meeting,
not a sales meeting.

Open to the public. MENSA membership not required

The science behind this breakthrough:

Unlocking the secrets of biological aging is perhaps the ultimate scientific quest—and significant progress has occurred in the last decade in the understanding of the aging process. Scientists and the general public have become aware of the compelling research on a compound found in red wine called resveratrol, and its ability to extend lifespan in many different laboratory studies.

• Help protect and repair cellularDNA

• Positively impact genetic regulators

• Promote mitochondrial biogenesis

• Slow AGE protein formation

___________________________________

ALSO: Learn about Nutrition’s 20 year Landmark Study!

Recently the University of California at Berkley did a long term (20 year) study of the effectiveness of supplements. The scientists who conducted this research are leaders in their field.
The study was published in a peer reviewed scientific journal:

Gladys Block, Christopher D Jensen, Edward P Norkus, Tapashi B Dalvi, Les G Wong, Jamie F McManus and Mark L Hudes.
Nutrition Journal , 6:30doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-30


Want to live longer and feel better?

Learn about Nutrition’s 20 year Landmark Study

We will reveal and discuss this research and shed some light on such questions as:
* What supplements can I use that have the highest safety & effectiveness?
* Is there a significant difference between the health of high quality supplement users & non users?
* Are there certain kinds of vitamins that can actually damage my health?
* How can I get started on a simple, easy-to-manage, scientifically validated supplement regimen?
Already Feeling Good? Here’s how to stay that way!
Bring your friends to our Health Sciences Seminar!

Our meeting will get down to the scientific truth about the effectiveness of nutritional supplementation.



New Study Shows Post-Exercise Protein Increases Muscle Mass and Strength

New Study Shows Post-Exercise Protein Increases Muscle Mass and Strength
A new research study showing the benefits of ingesting protein after a workout for increasing muscle mass and strength was published in the May 2008 issue of Fitness Management, (www.fitnessmanagement.com) a publication for the fitness industry.

Study authors Wayne L. Westcott, PhD, William F Martin, PhD, Rita La Rosa Loud, and Susan Stoddard conducted the research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA. The following is a study summary and the published manuscript will be available shortly on the Shaklee MD Resources website.

Background of the Study

In the last decade, significant research has been published relative to protein supplementation, recovery from exercise, and muscle development. Clinical research demonstrated that a protein-carbohydrate complex consumed immediately after exercise enhanced recovery from exercise when compared to consuming carbohydrate alone. More recent work has shown significantly greater gains in muscle mass and strength when protein is ingested immediately following resistance exercise.

After age 35, adults may lose 3-8 percent of their muscle mass per decade. Evidence suggests that an average muscle loss of 5 pounds per decade is associated with a 3-percent per decade reduction in resting metabolism which can predispose individuals to a dramatic increase in body fat. So it makes sense that strength training programs might be an important factor in weight management. In fact, Dr. Westcott’s previous research has demonstrated the ability of previously sedentary adults to gain muscle and elevate resting metabolic rate which could result in the ability to expend an additional 100 calories per day in a 175 lb individual!
Study Design

This study was undertaken to examine the effects of a 23-week moderate strength training program, with and without the supplemental protein, on body composition in a group of 68 adults. Average age was 59 years and exercise frequency was 2 to 3 days per week. The exercise protocol was adapted from the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines and included standard use of 11 weight training machines with appropriate increases in exercise resistance and post-exercise stretches. Subjects also performed 20 minutes of endurance exercise.
All participants performed the same exercise program in the research facility under close supervision. Forty-six subjects completed the 23-week program; Twenty-four participants consumed the protein drink (Cinch™ Shake, Shaklee Corp., Pleasanton, CA) following their training session and 22 did not consume the drink, nor did they receive a placebo control. The drink was prepared by mixing 1.5 servings in water and provided approximately 270 calories, 4.5g fat, 35g carbohydrate, and 24g protein. No reasons were reported for the 22 subjects that dropped out of the study.
Study Results

After 23 weeks of moderate training, all 46 subjects showed significant improvements in body composition, including a 4.7 pound gain in lean muscle weight and 7.0 pound loss in fat weight Subjects ingesting the post-exercise Shake increased lean weight by 5.5 pounds and decreased fat weight by 9.0 pounds; a 14.5-pound improvement in body composition. Those not receiving the supplemental Shake increased lean weight by 3.9 pounds and decreased fat weight by 4.9 pounds; an 8.8-pound improvement in body composition. As shown in Figure 1, participants consuming the post-exercise protein shake added 1.6 pounds more lean weight and lost 4.1 pounds more fat weight than the no-supplement subjects.

Discussion

This study confirms the impact of a fitness program for improving body composition and anthropometric measurements. Therefore, it appears that previously sedentary adults can attain significant and consistent muscle gains and fat losses over the first 6 months of a standard exercise program.


Another finding was the greater body composition improvement seen in the participants who consumed the protein drink immediately after their workout. Subjects who consumed the post-exercise shake gained about 25 percent more lean weight and lost 50 percent more body fat. This observation reconfirms the finding that supplying the body with extra protein and carbohydrate following a combined strength/endurance exercise session promotes addition of lean tissue and loss of body fat. At present, it’s thought that protein ingestion post-exercise increases the rate of muscle proteins synthesis, which increases the amount of muscle over time.
Practical Application

This study confirms that a standard exercise program is effective for increasing lean mass and decreasing fat mass. But it’s even more interesting that consuming a post-exercise protein drink promoted favorable body composition changes (increased lean weight and decreased fat weight) associated with the standard strength/endurance exercise program.
Make strength and endurance exercise part of your regular routine, and enjoy a protein-carbohydrate shake immediately after exercise for faster recovery, to help build and maintain muscle mass, and to decrease fat mass.
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Re: Shaklee Physique and the Elderly


As you know, the nutritional needs of mature individuals are unique. Digestion, muscle mass and hormonal regulation tends to decrease. Body fat and blood cholesterol levels tend to increase. Cardiovascular efficiency, blood sugar regulation and energy levels tend to decrease. This observation seems to be related to the aging process and made us ask the question "Mat factor seems to have the greatest effect on aging?"

After several years of recommending Physique to 210 elderly patients (men and women between 65 and 84) at this clinic we noticed some amazing results that we would like to share with you.

*1) 72% of people over 65 years of age who began using Physique daily had an increase in energy and * more muscle mass after 6 months.

*2) Sugar regulation in those who had been hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic returned to normal in 56% * of the cases within 3 months after starting daily use of Physique.

*3) 60% of all elderly patients following our recommended exercises had less muscle and joint ** symptoms within 3 months after daily use of Physique.

These findings can only suggest that Shaklee Physique is a very useful addition to the nutritional program of the elderly population who are physically active and taking positive steps to maintain their health. When maximizing the diet and regularly supplementing, significant benefits can be gained by the elderly using Physique.

We are very excited about these findings and hope that mature people and not just young people will take advantage of this outstanding product.

Richard Brouse, M.A., D. C, DACBN, CCN

* Ph. 503-654-3225 • 8800 SE Sunnyside Road, Suite 111 * Clackamas, Oregon 97015 USA •

Simplifying the complexities of vitamin "D" dosages

Hi Sam,




There is a lot of confusion today about how much

vitamin D we should be getting in our diet.



The official DRIs (the new term for RDAs) established

by the Food & Nutrition Board of the National Academies

of Science is around 400 IU for most adults. And the UL

(upper limit for safe use) for almost everyone has been

set at 2,000 IU for years.



Almost all experts agree that those levels are too low.



Some doctors (including some that are popular on TV or

the internet) have advised that everyone should be

taking 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D/day.



However, that's probably too much. Many experts warn

that some people are likely to develop vitamin D

toxicity at that level of intake.



Yet, we are hearing that anywhere from 40% to 60% of

Americans are deficient in vitamin D.



No one wants to be deficient in vitamin D, but most

people are confused. They just don't know how much

vitamin D they should be getting in their diet.



This is where Shaklee research has really led the way.



Shaklee has done three clinical studies to determine

what vitamin D intake should be and how to get the

vitamin D that you need.



In the Landmark study (Nutrition Journal, 6:30, 2007)

they demonstrated that people consuming a variety of

Shaklee supplements for 20 years or more generally had

optimal levels of vitamin D in their blood.



They followed that with a study (submitted for

publication) comparing Shaklee supplement users and

non-Shaklee supplement users and showed that 1,000 IU

of vitamin D from Shaklee supplements was associated

with optimal blood levels of vitamin D for most people.



And they have just completed a study with non-Shaklee

users showing that supplementation with 1,000 IU of

vitamin D from Shaklee supplements was sufficient to

bring their blood levels of vitamin D from inadequate

to adequate.



So you might be tempted to think that all you need to

do is get 1,000 IU of vitamin D from Shaklee

supplements and you will be fine.



It's not quite that simple.



You will notice I said that 1,000 IU of vitamin D from

Shaklee supplements resulted in an optimal blood level

of vitamin D for MOST people.



But that doesn't mean that everyone in the study had

optimal blood levels. There were some people who took

1,000 IU of vitamin D, but still had low blood levels.



That's because there is tremendous individual variation

in our need for vitamin D.



Our dietary vitamin D requirements are influenced by a

number of factors such as the time of year, our age,

our skin color, our weight, our exposure to sunlight

and where we live.



Because of that Shaklee has lead the way again with a

simple on-line quiz http://bestself.myshaklee.com/us/en/pop_VitaminD_Quiz.s.html

that anyone can take to determine

their personal vitamin D requirements and a vitamin D3

supplement to help people customize their intake to

match those requirements.



Finally, someone has taken the confusion out of vitamin

D supplementation!



However, I do have one final note of caution. There are

some genetic differences that also influence vitamin D

requirements, so I do recommend that you have your

blood levels of vitamin D3 determined at your next

doctor's visit.


To Your Health!

Dr. Stephen G Chaney

Natural health advocates speak out about best medicine

Natural health advocates speak out about best medicine
By Dayna Harpster • dharpster@news-press.com • August 24, 2010


It’s not a term that flows trippingly off the tongue: orthomolecular pharmacology. But its meaning has had tongues wagging for years. It has fed an entrenched disagreement about the best way to prevent illness and treat disease.



On one side of the table is the traditional medical establishment, where the muscle and money is behind prescription drugs.



On the other are the herbalists and natural health practitioners, where less money and muscle are behind vitamin supplements and organic foods.



The latter’s position is clear in the documentary “Food Matters,” shown recently by Sam and Bunny Sewell, directors of Best Self USA, a holistic health company in North Naples.

For more on Sam Sewell’s story, go to http://ifiredmydoctors.blogspot.com/



Its premise is a statement by Hippocrates, considered the founding father of modern medicine: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”



The film contends that reliable studies show large doses of vitamin C have cured cancer, that megadoses of niacin have cured depression — in Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson, among others — and that two handfuls of cashews are as mood-elevating as a standard dose of Prozac.



But the problem starts well before a person shows symptoms of illness. Charlotte Gerson, the daughter of Max Gerson, the German doctor who claimed an ability to cure cancer through diet, founded an institute in his name. It advocates a diet grown in nutrient-rich soil, which Gerson said is nearly nonexistent at most farms.



“Soil requires 52 minerals to grow (nutritious food),” Gerson says in the film. But many of those substances are missing. “So farmers turn to chemical compounds for solutions, like pesticides and growth stimulants.” Then we cook the food, which kills the beneficial enzymes.



The result is chronic malnutrition. And malnutrition leaves us susceptible to disease. Film experts wonder aloud why serious diseases are treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but not nutrition.



The problem is that doctors’ main source of information about drugs comes from the highly profitable pharmaceutical companies, said Fort Myers herbalist and natural health practitioner Jim Occhiogrosso. They’re the first to point out that the Food & Drug Administration does not regulate vitamin supplements, so the amounts of substances in the supplements can vary widely.



That’s true, said Occhiogrosso, and taking supplements from an unknown or unresearched source can be dangerous. But reputable health practitioners and supplement manufacturers do exist.



He uses sites such as consumerlab.com and supplementwatch.com to stay on top of any negative reports. He passes those along on his Web site, www.healthnaturallytoday.com



Sam Sewell publicizes similar findings in his blog, thenaturaladvocate.blogspot.com .

Both have noticed a growing interest in non-pharmaceutical approaches to health and healing in the past few years.



“But the generation that grew up with the M.D. as a god, oh my gosh are their minds closed,” Sewell said



Middle-age and younger people are beginning to realize the value of supplements, said Occhiogrosso. They’re generally cheaper and have fewer side effects, he said.

“People will watch TV and see an ad for a new drug that says ‘Run to your doctor and ask about it.’ And then the next says, ‘If you were harmed by it, call 1-800-BAD-DRUG.”



NOT TO SUPPLEMENT



Consumer Reports’ September issue contains a cautionary article about dietary supplements, which Americans reportedly paid $26.7 billion for in 2009. The magazine identifies a “dirty dozen” to avoid due to recent or ongoing reports of adverse effects.



• Aconite, also called aconite tuber, aconitum and radix aconite. • Bitter orange, also aurantii fructus, Citrus aurantium & zhi shi.



• Chaparral, also Larrea divaricata and larreastat.



• Colloidal silver, also ionic silver, native silver, silver in suspending agent.



• Coltsfoot, also coughwort, farfarae folium leaf and foalswort.



• Comfrey, also blackwort, common comfrey and slippery root. Has been linked to liver damage and cancer.



• Country mallow, also heartleaf, Sida cordifolia and silky white mallow.



• Germanium, also Ge, Ge-132 and germanium-132.



• Greater celandine, also celandine, chelidonii herba and Chelidonium majus.



• Kava, also awa, Piper methysticum and kava-kava.



• Lobelia, also asthma weed, Lobelia inflata, pokeweed and vomit wort.



• Yohimbe, also yohimbine, Corynanthe yohimbi and Corynanthe johimbi.







TO SUPPLEMENT



Among arguments in the documentary “Food Matters” are these reasons to take vitamins and eat raw, organic food:



• Most food we buy is at least a week old and therefore has lost considerable nutritional value, said Dr. Victor Zeines, a holistic dentist and nutritionist in New York.



• The food we eat is full of “pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and larvacides,” said David Wolfe, an expert on raw foods and superfoods.



• The body reacts to cooked food as if it is a toxin, and reacts by attacking it with white blood cells, said Wolfe.



• 26 percent of hospitalized patients are more malnourished when they go home than when they arrived, said Dr. Ian Brighthope, President of the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine.



• Although statistics from the government and advocacy groups might seem to show that the cancer death rate has declined over the past few decades, the difference is merely in the definition of survival. Counting survivors as those who live for five years after diagnosis does not take into account those who die from cancer more than five years later. That seems to suggest that the $200-billion-a-year cancer treatment industry isn’t doing much good, said Charlotte Gerson of the Gerson Institute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See Video Here:
http://bestself.myshaklee.com/us/en/whyshaklee.html#/unique

Do Cholesterol Drugs Kill More than they Help? Monday Aug 23rd 7 PM - Health Sciences Seminar

News Release

Do Cholesterol Drugs Kill More than they Help?

Contact:
sams@bestselfusa.com 239/591-4565

Monday Health Sciences Seminar –

This is an extremely important issue, relevant to 80 million Americans!
Please share this with anyone who has, or cares about, people dealing with heart concerns.

Mensa membership is not required; this seminar is open to the public.
On Monday August 23rd from 7PM to 8:30 PM Sam and Bunny Sewell are hosting:

DANGEROUS PRESCRIPTION – A PBS Frontline Special
A look inside the FDA, its recent record, and the debate over whether our nation’s drug safety system is broken.

The particular focus of this program is “statin” drugs, like:
· Lipitor (atorvastatin)
· Lescol (fluvastatin)
· Mevacor (lovastatin)
· Pravachol (pravastatin)
· Zocor (simvastatin)
· Crestor (rosuvastatin)
Scientifically substantiated natural cholesterol reduction supplements will also be discussed.
As medications assume ever-larger roles in health care, the importance of FDA approval mounts. But what do average Americans know about the FDA process? What happens when a drug product harms consumers, and what role do drug companies play in approving and monitoring drugs?

DANGEROUS PRESCRIPTION offers a FRONTLINE investigation into the FDA and drug safety, showing how effective the FDA is at identifying drugs that don't work or cause harm.

Always good discussions afterward. Feel free to bring friends!

Sam & Bunny Sewell
10202 Vanderbilt Dr
(NE corner, @ 102nd Ave)
Naples, Fl 34108

Because of limited space, please let us know ASAP if would like to attend
RSVP: 239/591-4565 bunnysam@bestselfusa.com

Sam's Personal Experience With Lipitor
http://thenaturaladvocate.blogspot.com/2010/08/sams-personal-experience-with-lipitor.html

Sam's Personal Experience With Lipitor

My Personal Experience with Lipitor
Excerpt from: “I FIRED MY DOCTORS AND SAVED MY LIFE” by Sam and Bunny Sewell

Sinister Science
The day after our visit with Dr. Star, we had an appointment with Dr. George Babbitt (whose code-name alas, won’t make sense without a background in American Literature).

As it happened, this first appointment with a physician did absolutely nothing to ease my growing suspicion of modern cardiac medicine. He reiterated the message from Dr. Ghoul: my medical needs could not be met in Naples and I was being referred to a surgeon in Tampa for a heart transplant.

I asked Dr. Babbitt about the Lipitor dose he had prescribed me. By then, I had already found for myself the safety and efficacy FDA studies that originally approved Lipitor. These studies had used doses of 2.5 mg and 5 mg daily. Yet interestingly, the lowest available dose of Lipitor manufactured by the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, was 10mg – double the highest dose used in the FDA studies for safety and effectiveness!

If that wasn’t enough to raise my eyebrows, Dr. Babbitt prescribed 80 mg daily doses of Lipitor – 16 to 32 times the doses used in the FDA studies. I told my doctor about my research on the FDA studies.

“You shouldn’t worry about those FDA reports – I have studies showing that 80 milligrams per day are safe, and more effective than those lower doses.”

I asked him who had done his studies.
“Pfizer.”

I didn’t tell him that I was already aware of the Pfizer sponsored studies.

I suspect that Dr. Babbitt never saw the actual Pfizer studies, but had simply taken the word of a “detail man,” a representative of a drug manufacturer who calls on doctors to promote the products from that company. I wondered if he would be so enthusiastic about high-dose Lipitor had he actually read the study.

In 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report funded by Pfizer that described the efficacy of high-dose Lipitor in cardiovascular disease. The authors concluded that high-dose Lipitor (80 mg) was superior to a ‘standard dose’ (10 mg) in reducing negative cardiovascular events in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. Ten thousand CHD patients participated in the five-year study. Half of them received a daily dose of 80 mg of Lipitor, while the other half received a control, ‘standard’ dose of 10 mg/day.

The Pfizer study observed a reduction in major cardiovascular events in the high-dose Lipitor group (heart attack and/or stroke) over the course of the experiment. In the 80 mg group, 8.7% (or 434 patients) suffered a major cardiovascular event, compared to 10.9% (or 548 patients) of patients in the standard 10 mg group. When you do the math, that’s a difference of 2.2% – or 104 fewer cardiovascular incidences in the high-dose Lipitor group – a statistically significant improvement over standard treatment. Furthermore, only 126 patients in the 80 mg/day Lipitor group died from cardiovascular problems during the study, as compared to 155 in the 10 mg/day group.

I was surprised to discover that treatments were tested and put into practice with such small efficacy ratings. But, 2.2% is better than nothing, right?

Not when you take into account that in this same study, 158 deaths due to non-cardiovascular events occurred in the 80 mg/day group (3.2%), versus only 127 (2.5%) in the lower dose condition. Cancer, particularly lung and gastrointestinal, was responsible for more than half of these deaths. Hemorrhagic stroke and other, non-traumatic causes contributed to the remainder of non-cardiovascular deaths in both treatment conditions. However, this difference of 31 more deaths from non-cardiac related causes in the high-dose group brings the total deaths to 282 in the 10 mg Lipitor group, and 284 in the 80 mg group – statistically, that means there was no difference at all. Your chances of survival were actually 1 in 5000 lower if you took a high dose rather than a standard dose of Lipitor.

Between the actual statistics revealing the serious side effects associated with Lipitor and other statin drugs, and the failure to improve overall survival rate by using higher doses of Lipitor, I suspected that my doctor, had he actually been up on the facts, could have made a wiser choice. However, the professional to whom I was entrusting my life didn’t seem to be as well informed on the subject as I was. Later I was to discover that this isn’t unusual; it doesn’t take much research to be better informed than some doctors.

However, it was easy to understand why the drug salesmen from Pfizer only talked about the (tiny) advantage in reducing cardiac events and failed to mention the fact that there was no overall advantage in reducing death.

So why were the patients in the high-dose Lipitor study dying more frequently from non-cardiovascular causes? At this point, the mechanisms underlying this effect are unclear – we just can’t tell. But as one expert in the field wrote, “we need further reassurance as to the safety of this approach before making this higher dose a standard practice in CHD pharmacological therapy.” Despite their prevalence, the statins are not the only available method that can be used to lower LDL-C levels. Hybrid therapies with other drugs, natural therapies, and nutrition can all be effectively used for this purpose. But my highly paid doctor didn’t know that, either.

Muscle Pain and Weakness
Shortly after I left the hospital, I began experiencing significant pain in my arms and shoulders. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but the pain was incessant, a relentless twenty-four hours a day, every long day. On a severity scale from 1 to 10 (10 being excruciating, 1 being a hangnail), my pain fluctuated between 6 and 8. I struggled to dress myself, to the point that I stopped wearing T-shirts because of the sheer pain it caused to pull them on over my head. I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t get comfortable, and even when I did slip into unconsciousness, pain shook me awake again. The upper body exercises I needed to do in preparation for surgery were impossible.

We hired two massage therapists to try to help me cope with the pain. They each came to our home once a week. On Thursdays came Frau Athena, so named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, arts, industry, justice and skill. Frau Athena was a German woman, as beautiful, strong, highly skilled, intelligent, and kind as the goddess. She knew that pain was part of the process of healing through massage, and showed no qualms about inflicting pain on me. Once, I muttered a weak joke (through clenched teeth) as she kneaded my aching muscles, “I told you, I don’t know where the diamonds are.”

“Dustin Hoffman from Marathon Man,” she quickly responded, amused by the attempt.

Frau Athena always ended my sessions by simply being gentle and kind; more than once did I fall asleep during the soothing massage & foot rub during the last few minutes of her therapy sessions.

On Saturdays came my other massage therapist – code name Bruce Lee – the Buddhist who practices massage therapy as if it were a martial art. A long-time friend of the family, he has a kind heart, but his technique is more competent than kind – he all but beat me up for my own good, a sort of ‘tough love’ massage therapy. Bruce Lee knows more about physiology and human chemistry than most of the doctors I’d been working with. He’s worked several years with Dr. Nobel; together, the two of them probably make the best alternative medicine team in the world. What’s more, Bruce Lee is not just a massage therapist: he also owns a successful Pilates studio and acts as a health consultant to some of the most wealthy and successful people in the nation. I joked that he could always moonlight for the CIA because he could get terrorists to talk by administering therapy, and no one could call it torture because he is licensed to do it.

But in addition to my constant pain, I was rapidly growing weaker and my muscle mass was noticeably deteriorating. I was horrified to see my usually well-muscled upper arms begin to wrinkle and shrink. After only a month of drug treatment, Bunny and I compared photos taken of me in the hospital to my appearance at that current point.

The difference in muscle size and tone was painfully obvious. On the first anniversary of my heart attack, as I finish this manuscript, I am still experiencing pain in my arms and shoulders. After less than six weeks on the medications, I had already researched the effects of Lipitor, and realized that the pain and weakness was not a side effect of the heart attack – but a side effect of the drug being used to treat the heart.

When that realization sank in, I actually got frightened. See, some of the side effects from statin drugs have killed people, and those same side effects were characterized by muscle pain and weakness. I knew that just because I had the symptoms, it didn’t necessarily guarantee that my medicine was going to prove fatal. However, my irrational self began to think, “The heart attack didn’t kill me but now the doctors and drug companies are going to kill me in a slow and agonizing way. Better to have died quickly, if I have to die anyway. If I am going to die someday let’s just get it over with”

Say “GOODBYE” to Lipitor (and other statin drugs) Natural Cholesterol Reduction Complex (click image for full view)

Click for Full View

Shaklee Natural Cholesterol Reduction Complex has FDA approval to claim our product does reduce Cholesterol.

Say “GOODBYE” to Lipitor (and other statin drugs)!
Please see video at above link.

Natural Cholesterol Reduction Complex†

Shaklee Cholesterol Reduction Complex is a proprietary formulation with clinically proven ingredients that help prevent the absorption of cholesterol and lower LDL
(“bad”) cholesterol.

Made with a powerful blend of sterols and stanols, which are found naturally in plants, fruits, vegetables, and grains

Delivers 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily
Plant sterols and stanols have been clinically proven by more than 80 studies to lower LDL cholesterol

Delivers daily 100% of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommendation for sterols and stanols*

Lower your cholesterol naturally with Shaklee Cholesterol Reduction Complex!
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†Products providing 800 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily, consumed with two different meals as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Cholesterol Reduction Complex provides 1,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols per serving, and 2,000 mg daily when used as directed.

*NIH recommendation for lowering cholesterol: eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, exercise, lose weight, eat more soluble fiber, and consume 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily.

Cholesterol Reduction Complex†
With clinically proven ingredients to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol
Size: 120 Tablets
Retail Price: $51.75
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Have a question about Cholesterol? Click here and ask me!

My Personal Experience with Lipitor
Excerpt from: “I FIRED MY DOCTORS AND SAVED MY LIFE” by Sam and Bunny Sewell

Sinister Science
The day after our visit with Dr. Star, we had an appointment with Dr. George Babbitt (whose code-name alas, won’t make sense without a background in American Literature).

As it happened, this first appointment with a physician did absolutely nothing to ease my growing suspicion of modern cardiac medicine. He reiterated the message from Dr. Ghoul: my medical needs could not be met in Naples and I was being referred to a surgeon in Tampa for a heart transplant.

I asked Dr. Babbitt about the Lipitor dose he had prescribed me. By then, I had already found for myself the safety and efficacy FDA studies that originally approved Lipitor. These studies had used doses of 2.5 mg and 5 mg daily. Yet interestingly, the lowest available dose of Lipitor manufactured by the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, was 10mg – double the highest dose used in the FDA studies for safety and effectiveness!

If that wasn’t enough to raise my eyebrows, Dr. Babbitt prescribed 80 mg daily doses of Lipitor – 16 to 32 times the doses used in the FDA studies. I told my doctor about my research on the FDA studies.

“You shouldn’t worry about those FDA reports – I have studies showing that 80 milligrams per day are safe, and more effective than those lower doses.”

I asked him who had done his studies.
“Pfizer.”

I didn’t tell him that I was already aware of the Pfizer sponsored studies.

I suspect that Dr. Babbitt never saw the actual Pfizer studies, but had simply taken the word of a “detail man,” a representative of a drug manufacturer who calls on doctors to promote the products from that company. I wondered if he would be so enthusiastic about high-dose Lipitor had he actually read the study.

In 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report funded by Pfizer that described the efficacy of high-dose Lipitor in cardiovascular disease. The authors concluded that high-dose Lipitor (80 mg) was superior to a ‘standard dose’ (10 mg) in reducing negative cardiovascular events in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. Ten thousand CHD patients participated in the five-year study. Half of them received a daily dose of 80 mg of Lipitor, while the other half received a control, ‘standard’ dose of 10 mg/day.

The Pfizer study observed a reduction in major cardiovascular events in the high-dose Lipitor group (heart attack and/or stroke) over the course of the experiment. In the 80 mg group, 8.7% (or 434 patients) suffered a major cardiovascular event, compared to 10.9% (or 548 patients) of patients in the standard 10 mg group. When you do the math, that’s a difference of 2.2% – or 104 fewer cardiovascular incidences in the high-dose Lipitor group – a statistically significant improvement over standard treatment. Furthermore, only 126 patients in the 80 mg/day Lipitor group died from cardiovascular problems during the study, as compared to 155 in the 10 mg/day group.

I was surprised to discover that treatments were tested and put into practice with such small efficacy ratings. But, 2.2% is better than nothing, right?

Not when you take into account that in this same study, 158 deaths due to non-cardiovascular events occurred in the 80 mg/day group (3.2%), versus only 127 (2.5%) in the lower dose condition. Cancer, particularly lung and gastrointestinal, was responsible for more than half of these deaths. Hemorrhagic stroke and other, non-traumatic causes contributed to the remainder of non-cardiovascular deaths in both treatment conditions. However, this difference of 31 more deaths from non-cardiac related causes in the high-dose group brings the total deaths to 282 in the 10 mg Lipitor group, and 284 in the 80 mg group – statistically, that means there was no difference at all. Your chances of survival were actually 1 in 5000 lower if you took a high dose rather than a standard dose of Lipitor.

Between the actual statistics revealing the serious side effects associated with Lipitor and other statin drugs, and the failure to improve overall survival rate by using higher doses of Lipitor, I suspected that my doctor, had he actually been up on the facts, could have made a wiser choice. However, the professional to whom I was entrusting my life didn’t seem to be as well informed on the subject as I was. Later I was to discover that this isn’t unusual; it doesn’t take much research to be better informed than some doctors.

However, it was easy to understand why the drug salesmen from Pfizer only talked about the (tiny) advantage in reducing cardiac events and failed to mention the fact that there was no overall advantage in reducing death.

So why were the patients in the high-dose Lipitor study dying more frequently from non-cardiovascular causes? At this point, the mechanisms underlying this effect are unclear – we just can’t tell. But as one expert in the field wrote, “we need further reassurance as to the safety of this approach before making this higher dose a standard practice in CHD pharmacological therapy.” Despite their prevalence, the statins are not the only available method that can be used to lower LDL-C levels. Hybrid therapies with other drugs, natural therapies, and nutrition can all be effectively used for this purpose. But my highly paid doctor didn’t know that, either.

Muscle Pain and WeaknessShortly after I left the hospital, I began experiencing significant pain in my arms and shoulders. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but the pain was incessant, a relentless twenty-four hours a day, every long day. On a severity scale from 1 to 10 (10 being excruciating, 1 being a hangnail), my pain fluctuated between 6 and 8. I struggled to dress myself, to the point that I stopped wearing T-shirts because of the sheer pain it caused to pull them on over my head. I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t get comfortable, and even when I did slip into unconsciousness, pain shook me awake again. The upper body exercises I needed to do in preparation for surgery were impossible.

We hired two massage therapists to try to help me cope with the pain. They each came to our home once a week. On Thursdays came Frau Athena, so named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, arts, industry, justice and skill. Frau Athena was a German woman, as beautiful, strong, highly skilled, intelligent, and kind as the goddess. She knew that pain was part of the process of healing through massage, and showed no qualms about inflicting pain on me. Once, I muttered a weak joke (through clenched teeth) as she kneaded my aching muscles, “I told you, I don’t know where the diamonds are.”

“Dustin Hoffman from Marathon Man,” she quickly responded, amused by the attempt.

Frau Athena always ended my sessions by simply being gentle and kind; more than once did I fall asleep during the soothing massage & foot rub during the last few minutes of her therapy sessions.

On Saturdays came my other massage therapist – code name Bruce Lee – the Buddhist who practices massage therapy as if it were a martial art. A long-time friend of the family, he has a kind heart, but his technique is more competent than kind – he all but beat me up for my own good, a sort of ‘tough love’ massage therapy. Bruce Lee knows more about physiology and human chemistry than most of the doctors I’d been working with. He’s worked several years with Dr. Nobel; together, the two of them probably make the best alternative medicine team in the world. What’s more, Bruce Lee is not just a massage therapist: he also owns a successful Pilates studio and acts as a health consultant to some of the most wealthy and successful people in the nation. I joked that he could always moonlight for the CIA because he could get terrorists to talk by administering therapy, and no one could call it torture because he is licensed to do it.

But in addition to my constant pain, I was rapidly growing weaker and my muscle mass was noticeably deteriorating. I was horrified to see my usually well-muscled upper arms begin to wrinkle and shrink. After only a month of drug treatment, Bunny and I compared photos taken of me in the hospital to my appearance at that current point.

The difference in muscle size and tone was painfully obvious. On the first anniversary of my heart attack, as I finish this manuscript, I am still experiencing pain in my arms and shoulders. After less than six weeks on the medications, I had already researched the effects of Lipitor, and realized that the pain and weakness was not a side effect of the heart attack – but a side effect of the drug being used to treat the heart.

When that realization sank in, I actually got frightened. See, some of the side effects from statin drugs have killed people, and those same side effects were characterized by muscle pain and weakness. I knew that just because I had the symptoms, it didn’t necessarily guarantee that my medicine was going to prove fatal. However, my irrational self began to think, “The heart attack didn’t kill me but now the doctors and drug companies are going to kill me in a slow and agonizing way. Better to have died quickly, if I have to die anyway. If I am going to die someday let’s just get it over with”

Excerpt from: “I FIRED MY DOCTORS AND SAVED MY LIFE”
by Sam and Bunny Sewell
*Doctors, drugs & surgery are not always the best answer!
*Includes scientifically validated Total Life Saving Regimen!
*NOW ~ You can buy our new book:

Healthy, Natural Alternatives to Drugs and Surgery
and have it sent directly to family & friends at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1575438

$19.95 PRINT ~ only $12.50 as PDF download
For autographed copies, call 239/591-4565

View videos at: www.ifiredmydoctors.blogspot.com

Read our famous Chapter 16 on Stress Management at
http://stressmood.blogspot.com/

Monday Health Sciences Seminar Aug.2 7PM - FOOD MATTERS

Still room for a few more. If you have NOT RSVPed & would like to see this, please let us know!
Spread the word. Bring friends. Everybody needs to see this one!


We are delighted to be able to show the informative, solution-focused documentary

FOOD MATTERS
a mUST SEE if we are going to be able to create healthier lives for our selves and our posterity!

Monday, August 2, 7-8:30PM
RSVP 591-4565 Seating limited! 10202 Vanderbilt Dr (NE Corner at 102nd Ave) Naples, Fl 34108

FOOD MATTERS is a VERY IMPORTANT feature length documentary film informing you on the best choices you can make for you and your family's health. In a collection of interviews with leading Nutritionists, Naturopaths, Scientists, M.D.s and Medical Journalists you will discover...

…WATCH THE TRAILER http://www.foodmatters.tv/

"Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food" - Hippocrates. That is the message from the founding father of modern medicine echoed in the controversial new documentary film Food Matters from Producer-Directors James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch.With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what's wrong with our malnourished bodies, it's no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide 'sickness industry' and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for overcoming illness naturally.
"With access to better information people invariably make better choices for their health..."
In what promises to be the most contentious idea put forward, the filmmakers have interviewed several leading experts in nutrition and natural healing who claim that not only are we harming our bodies with improper nutrition, but that the right kind of foods, supplements and detoxification can be used to treat chronic illnesses as fatal as terminally diagnosed cancer.The focus of the film is in helping us rethink the belief systems fed to us by our modern medical and health care establishments. The interviewees point out that not every problem requires costly, major medical attention and reveal many alternative therapies that can be more effective, more economical, less harmful and less invasive than conventional medical treatments.The ‘Food Matters' duo have independently funded the film from start to finish in order to remain as unbiased as possible, delivering a clear, concise message to the world. FOOD MATTERS!! Monday, August 2nd, 7PM. RSVP: 239/591-4565

It is way past time to slay the beast.

Pt 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSpkLk0vYmk
Pt 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9MeO3SRxU&NR=1

Monday’s Health Sciences Seminar - 7 PM Monday July 26th – 10202 Vanderbilt Drive – Please call to reserve your seat!

In today’s world it is very important that we educate ourselves about healthy living!

Below are some resources to prepare you for Monday’s Health Sciences Seminar

7 PM Monday July 26th – 10202 Vanderbilt Drive – Please call to reserve your seat!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
· Shaklee has a new water filtrations system that out performs all competition, and we have the independent laboratory research to prove it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We will explore the exacting science behind the Shaklee Difference that ensures that Shaklee products are ALWAYS GREEN – ALWAYS SAFE – ALWAYS WORK

Here is a video hint: http://bestself.myshaklee.com/us/en/whyshaklee.html#/unique
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We have the results of the “Product Review: Fish Oil/Omega-3 Supplements and EPA/DHA” study from a third party research lab.:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Why quality control testing is so necessary for Omega-3 Supplements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1sACgv-EA


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http://www.bestself.myshaklee.com/ 239/591-4565

Products in harmony with nature! Sam & Bunny Sewell
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Facts about B-Complex

Facts about B-Complex

B vitamins are referred to as the "happy vitamins" – the "cope-ability vitamins."

The most important thing to remember is that ALL 8 Essential B VITAMINS should be

taken together in "COMPLEX" form and in the proper ratio. (You can throw your metabolism off by taking an isolated B vitamin…or ones that are out of balance.)

Research has shown that Folic Acid (a B Vitamin VERY important to health) is hard to break away from the tableting material….Shaklee developed a patented process to coat B Complex with Folic Acid so that it is the 1st to be released.

If a person is tired, irritable, nervous, depressed, or even suicidal expect a vitamin B deficiency.

B vitamins are destroyed by intense heat, slow cooking, light, baking soda and baking powder.

Extremely effective in alleviating PMS and Menopausal symptoms. (Calcium Magnesium will help with chocolate cravings during PMS, also relieves muscle cramps; abdominal, leg, etc.)

SUGAR, ALCOHOL, CAFFEINE and STRESS all destroy B vitamins.

People deficient in B vitamins quickly become anemic, are nervous, do not sleep well (insomnia), crave sweets, and have high cholesterol levels. A slight deficiency can cause abnormal heart action, constipation, and mental depression.

~Acne or other skin problems indicate a lack of B vitamins.

~B vitamins are necessary for normal functioning of the nervous system.

~B-Complex is essential in calming hyperactivity in children with none of the side effects that medications produce.

~B vitamins convert fats into energy.

~Infection and stress increase need for B-Complex. Sulfa drugs, sleeping pills, and estrogen destroy B Vitamins.

~B vitamins help boost the immune system.

~Adequate amounts of B-Complex have been found to control migraine headaches and attacks of Meniere's Syndrome.

~Massive dosages have been used to improve polio, cases of shingles, and postoperative nausea and vomiting (resulting from anesthesia).

B vitamins help with fatigue, skin disorders, cracks at the corner of the mouth and cracks in your cuticles, ridges in your nails, anemia, tender gums, hair loss, constipation, burning feet, burning and dry eyes.

~B-Complex aids in digestion.

~B-Complex is chiefly responsible for the health of the digestive tract, the skin, mouth, tongue, eyes, nerves, arteries, and liver.

~B vitamins are water-soluble; thus, need to be taken through the day.

And of course the Folic Acid in the Balanced Shaklee B Complex decreases the risk in pregnancy of neurotube defects in the baby…that’s why prenatal vitamins are “prenatal”…so that the baby can have the Folic Acid very early in the pregnancy. Shaklee’s Vitalizer and added B Complex, along with daily Cinch protein Shakes have been an excellent choice of prenatal vitamins for mothers for years!

B Complex Vitamins

In Summary...

B Vitamins are needed by the:

· Brain and Nervous System

· Immune System

· Skin

· Hormones


B Vitamins are used up:

· whenever we evoke the stress response

· anytime we eat...

1. white flour

2. sugar

3. caffeine

4. alcohol

Just to metabolize these foods, we burn up B's

B Vitamins are normalizers:

if you are fatigued, they help to give you energy

if you are hyperactive, they help to calm you down

Most B Vitamins are used or lost in 2-4 hours & need to be replaced to keep the blood levels up. Shaklee’s Sustained Release Formula, found in the Vitalizer Strips, provides a constant source of nutrients throughout the day.

Most of us who take enough B's can tell the difference in our mood, energy and patience; and may add 2 Shaklee B Complex, two-to three times a day during stressful times, as needed. The evening dose seems to help in keeping blood sugar from being so low in the morning.

There are 8 essential B’s in Shaklee’s B Complex, balanced and complete.

20186 B Complex 120 tablets $21.70 Member Net

20194 B Complex 240 tablets $40.75 Member Net (save $2.65)

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http://www.bestself.myshaklee.com/ 239/591-4565

Products in harmony with nature! Sam & Bunny Sewell

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Get Fishy. Be Happy! - Miracle "Fatty Acid"

Eat fish, be happy
By JUDY FOREMAN, Health and Fitness News Service
April 19, 2005

Feeling depressed?
Ask not what your parents did or didn't do when you were a child. Ask yourself what you had for dinner last night, and the night before, and the night before that.
For a half-dozen years, the evidence has been growing that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish like salmon, sardines and tuna can help prevent and treat depression.
Rich in EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), these are among the "good" oils that have long been known to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. They are also the oils that, in recent decades, in tandem with rising depression rates, Americans have not been getting enough of.

Omega-3s combat autoimmune diseases, reduce cardiac arrhythmias and are crucial to the development of the spinal cord, brain and retina in infants and to healthy brain functioning in adults. The case for linking low omega-3 levels to depression is strong, though not yet a slam-dunk.

But there is little risk and significant benefit to following the American Heart Association recommendation to eat fish at least twice a week and, if you already have heart disease, to take at least 1 gram a day of supplements containing EPA and DHA.

The latest evidence for the role of omega-3 fatty acids and depression was revealed in February when researchers from McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., reported that omega-3 fatty acids, plus uridine, a substance found commonly in protein-rich foods, prevented depression in rats just as well as antidepressant drugs.

The effect of uridine was immediate, said Bill Carlezon, director of the behavioral genetics lab at McLean. It took 30 days for omega-3 to kick in. But combining the two made omega-3 effective three times faster.

"There is something to this story," said Dr. Andrew Leuchter, vice chairman of psychiatry at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. "I have seen enough patients who treat themselves with omega-3 fatty acids to think these substances may have, at least in some individuals, potent effects on mood."

No one knows exactly why omega-3s might protect against depression, but theories abound. One is that depression may, in part, be an inflammatory problem, which omega-3s can dampen, said Dr. Andrew Stoll, director of psychopharmacology at McLean. Another is that the oils keep cell membranes more fluid, making it easier for receptors to respond to neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is often deficient in depression. Another is that omega-3s may boost levels of serotonin.

Whatever the underlying mechanism, "the epidemiological evidence is huge," Stoll said, that omega-3s can protect against depression.

Overall, major depression is 60 times more prevalent in countries where little fish is eaten, said Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Md.

In 1998, Hibbeln and others showed that high fish-eating countries like Japan and Taiwan have very low rates of depression, while low fish-eating countries like Germany and the United States have high rates. "When you compare rates of depression across populations," he said, "there is a consistent finding of strikingly lower rates of major depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder and postpartum depression in countries where people eat more seafood."
Small clinical trials also support the association, though not uniformly.

A 2002 double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 20 people in Israel, for instance, showed that adding EPA to standard antidepressants significantly decreased depression after three weeks. A 2002 Scottish study of 60 people came to similar conclusions when patients added a 1-gram daily supplement of EPA to their standard treatment. (Interestingly, higher doses did not work as well.) A 2002 Taiwanese study of 28 people using both EPA and DHA also found significant improvement in depression scores, compared with a placebo.

But not all studies support this. Research from New Zealand, Finland and Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, Texas) found no evidence that consuming omega-3s improved mood.
In the plus column, bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, also seems to be helped by omega-3 fatty acids. A study comparing 10 countries showed that higher fish consumption correlated with lower rates of bipolar disorder. A 1999 study by Stoll of McLean showed that giving fish-oil supplements to people with bipolar disorder reduced episodes of depression and mania.

Omega-3 fatty acids also appear to reduce hostility and homicide. Several studies have found that low intake of fish and omega-3s correlates with higher rates of hostility, which is often associated with depression in males.

And postpartum depression also appears linked to omega-3 levels. A study of women in 23 countries showed that women who ate less seafood and had lower rates of DHA in their breast milk were more likely to have postpartum depression. Pilot studies by Dr. Marlene Freeman, director of the Women's Mental Health Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson, suggest taking DHA and EPA can reduce postpartum depression by 50 percent.

(Many pregnant women and nursing mothers, added Freeman, have been frightened about eating any kind of fish because of government warnings of particularly high mercury levels in a few species: king mackerel, shark, swordfish and tilefish. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, said sardines and salmon contain little mercury; women of reproductive age should probably limit their consumption of canned tuna to 1 can of white or 2 cans of light tuna per week.)

Even borderline personality disorder, characterized by volatile interpersonal relationships and impulsivity, seems to respond to omega-3 treatment. Yet another McLean study of 30 patients found that EPA, without any other medication, improved symptoms of borderline personality.
That's more than enough evidence for me. Given the longstanding overall health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and the newly emerging psychiatric benefits, the conclusion is a no-brainer. Eat fish twice a week. And if you hate fish (as I do), take at least 1 gram a day of a supplement with EPA and DHA.
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Choosing a high quality Omega supplement can give you the advantages of fish oil without the risks of eating contaminated fish.

None of the Shaklee products were found to contain detectable levels of mercury.

By comparison, mercury levels in fish generally range from 10 ppb to 1,000 ppb, depending on the fish. In addition, none of the Shaklee products contained unsafe levels of lead or PCBs.

PCBs have been found in several fish including farm-raised salmon. There were no PCBs in Shaklee OmegaGuard

Shaklee OmegaGuard was also tested for dioxins, which can be found in some fish. However, no OmegaGuard supplements contained unsafe levels of dioxins.

http://www.bestself.myshaklee.com/ Product Info Sheet Bunny<>Sam Sewell 239/591-4565 Always Safe, Always Green, Always Works Products in harmony With Nature!

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Product Review: Fish Oil/Omega-3 Supplements and EPA/DHA

What It Is:
EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are the two principal fatty acids found in fish. They belong to a family of essential nutrients known a s omega-3 fatty acids. DHA can also be obtained from other marine sources, such as algae (algal oil). EPA and DHA are polyunsaturated fats ("good" fats, as opposed to saturated fats which are thought to increase the risk of heart disease). The body can manufacture both EPA and DHA from another essential fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) -- found in flaxseed oil, canola oil, soy oil and walnut oil -- but only to a limited extent. For more information about ALA see the separate review covering ALA and GLA products.

What It Does:

Cardiovascular Disease:
Omega-3 fatty acids have been most widely studied regarding their effects on cardiovascular health. Increased consumption of fish oil may help slow the progression of atherosclerosis, thereby preventing heart attacks, and reduce the risk of sudden death due to cardiac arrhythmias. The omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA have a number of
heart-healthy effects, including reducing triglyceride levels, raising levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol and, possibly, "thinning" the blood, reducing levels of homocysteine and reducing blood pressure. Fish oils also appear to enhance the effectiveness of statin drugs used to improve cholesterol profile. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids to state: "Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease."

Arthritis and Other Inflammatory Diseases:
Increased intake of the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil alter the body's production of substances known as prostaglandins, and, consequently, reduce some forms of inflammation. On the basis of this, EPA and DHA have been tried in the treatment of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis with considerable success (especially in early stages of the disease). Unlike "disease modifying" drugs, however, fish oil probably doesn't slow the progression of the disease.

The anti-inflammatory effects of EPA and DHA have also caused researchers to investigate possible benefits of fish oil for the treatment of menstrual cramps, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease), lupus, and IgA nephropathy. For each of these conditions, at least one double-blind study has found positive results. However, in Crohn's disease, a trial of four grams per day of omega-3 fatty acids (50-60% EPA and 15-25% DHA) was ineffective at preventing relapses.

Psychiatric and Mental Disorders:
For reasons that are less clear, omega-3s seem to help depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia according to a limited number of double-blind trials. The combination of EPA plus the prescription drug fluoxetine (Prozac) was better than either EPA or fluoxetine alone for treating major depression in a short-term (8-week) study of 60 people.
Fish oil has also been proposed for attention deficit disorder, borderline personality disorder, dyslexia and cognitive impairment, but as yet the supporting evidence for these uses remains preliminary.

Other Diseases:
Other proposed uses of fish oils with some support include asthma, Raynaud's phenomenon (abnormal sensitivity of hands and feet to cold), chronic fatigue syndrome, cystic fibrosis, osteoporosis, reducing the risk of prostate and colorectal cancer and preventing weight loss during cancer chemotherapy.

DHA is important for normal development and functioning of the brain and retina in the fetus and in infants. For this reason, it is thought that pregnant or nursing mothers may benefit from supplementation. DHA is also often added to formula for premature infants and some regular infant formulas and foods. Omega-3's may also reduce the risk of
premature delivery in pregnant women.

The balance of current evidence suggests that fish oil is not effective for migraine headaches, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, male infertility and enhancing immunity in people with HIV.

Pet Use:
Fish oil supplements are commonly given to pets to help maintain their coats and skin. [Reviews of other pet supplements by ConsumerLab.com include ALA and GLA, Joint Supplements and Multivitamins/ Multiminerals.]

Quality Concerns and What CL Tested for:
Because omega-3 fatty acids are obtained from natural sources, levels in supplements can vary, depending on the source and method of processing. Contamination has also been an issue, because fish can accumulate toxins such as mercury, dioxins, and PCBs. Mercury can damage the nervous system -- particularly in a fetus. Dioxins and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) may be carcinogens at low levels of exposure over time and may have other deleterious effects. The freshness of the oil is also an important consideration because rancid fish oils have an extremely unpleasant odor and may not be as effective. Additionally, some capsules are enteric-coated and are expected to release the oil after the stomach to theoretically reduce fishy breath odor. If they release too soon they lose that potential benefit. If they release too late, the oil may not get absorbed.
Neither the FDA nor any other federal or state agency routinely tests fish or marine oil supplements for quality prior to sale.
OMEGAGUARD Size: 90 Softgels PROMOTES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
OmegaGuard supplies full-spectrum potency of ultrapure, pharmaceutical grade omega-3 fatty acids. Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.† Research also shows that high levels of omega-3 fatty acids promote cardiovascular health and help retain normal blood pressure and triglyceride levels. Omega-3s also support healthy brain, vision, and joint function.*
Ultra-pure OmegaGuard, the world’s finest fish oil that delivers a full spectrum of seven omega-3s including EPA, DHA, ALA, and more.
• Research shows that high levels of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may:
- Help reduce the risk of heart disease†3
- Help retain healthy triglyceride levels*5
- Help retain normal blood pressure*4
- Support brain2, visual1, and joint function*6
• Over 4,500 research studies on omega-3 fatty acids' effects on overall health have been conducted in the last 25 years.
• The average American intake of EPA and DHA is only 0.1 to 0.2 g/day, even though the American Heart Association recommends at least two fish meals per week to provide an intake of about 0.3 to 0.5 g/day of EPA and DHA.
• Most American diets provide more than ten times as much omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids, even though there is general scientific agreement that individuals should consume more omega-3 and less omega-6 fatty acids to promote good health.
Research shows that high levels of omega-3 fatty acids promote cardiovascular health and help retain normal blood pressure and triglyceride levels.*
† Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA fatty acids may reduce the risk of heart disease.
OmegaGuard™
Dietary Supplement Ultra-pure, full-spectrum potency of seven omega-3s

THE CHALLENGE According to the Centers for Disease Control and the American Heart Association (AHA),heart disease — specifically coronary artery disease — is still the number one cause of death of men and women in the United States. And while it was once considered a man's disease, today more women than men die from heart disease. And unfortunately, at least 100 million Americans have one or more risk factors for heart disease.

To reduce the risk of heart disease, the AHA recommends eating two servings of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids each week. But most Americans eat fish only three times per month or less. Moreover, there are growing concerns about unsafe levels of contaminants such as mercury and lead that are now commonly found in many fish.

OMEGAGUARD THE SHAKLEE DIFFERENCE

THE NEW STANDARD IN PURITY AND FULL-SPECTRUM POTENCY
• Purity
- Ultra-pure, pharmaceutical-grade fish oil made with a proprietary triple molecular distillation process. Concentrates beneficial omega-3s while helping remove contaminants such as lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, dioxins, and PCBs
- Suppresses formation of dangerous trans fats for a healthier fish oil
- Minimizes odor and fishy aftertaste
- Uses no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
• Potency
- A full spectrum of seven naturally occurring omega-3 fatty acids including EPA, DHA, ALA and more
- Contains higher levels of EPA and DHA than leading brands

For more info, contact Sam & Bunny Sewell 239/591-4565 http://www.bestself.myshaklee.com/