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Bill Sardi
the vitamin supplement answer man
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Posted May 5, 2013: by Bill Sardi
Even the chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic is disturbed by the Food & Drug Administration’s late Friday night approval of a combination drug intended to reduce circulating cholesterol levels. The FDA approved Liptruzet (Zetia + generic Lipitor, chemically known as Ezetimibe and Atorvastatin) that lowers cholesterol but has not been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or death, a fact its maker does not dispute. This newly approved drug will sell for about $5.50 per pill or $2007/year. Lipitor is the historically best-selling statin cholesterol drug whose patent expired in 2011. Zetia works by reducing cholesterol absorption from foods while Lipitor interferes with the liver’s natural production of cholesterol.
This development is quite surprising given that the FDA said it is going to pay more attention to what are called “primary end points” in drug approvals, such as mortality, rather than just factors that correlate with but may not cause disease. Or in some circumstances there may be drugs that address relevant measures of disease, but over-inhibition of inflammation or blood sugar or blood pressure, for example, obviously can be problematic.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
Posted May 3, 2013: by Bill Sardi
The anticipation builds for anti-cancer drugs that target a broad array of genes that combat various types of cancer in different organs rather than a different drug for each cancer by their anatomical origin. Instead of anti-cancer drugs for each organ, such as lung, prostate, breast and colon, geneticists now say new drugs in development may address many forms of cancer.
The first examples of this new thinking are studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing uterine cancer and leukemia have similar genetic fingerprints and could be treated by the same drug. A large effort to this end is being commandeered at the Cancer Genome Atlas website.
However, the thinking is far too narrow now that geneticists know diseases are integrated via gene networks. An online map can be viewed showing genes in many diseases overlap one another (note: it takes time to load).
Posted in Cancer ; No Comments »
Posted April 24, 2013: by Bill Sardi
What a day to launch a health radio show! I’m positioning the show to be skeptical (not cynical) of modern medicine’s many self-acclaimed successes and I don’t need to make up any sensationalist headlines to make my point. Lo and behold, a number of damning reports are published on the very same day the Bill Sardi Health & Wealth Show is launched on KLAV 1230 AM (Las Vegas)!
Posted in Health Care System, Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
Posted April 21, 2013: by Bill Sardi
The data is striking. A meta-analysis (review of combined results from different studies) concludes a commonly available dietary supplement is deemed to significantly improve cardiac health after a heart attack.
The meta-analysis involved 13 studies involving 3629 patients and found L-carnitine results in a 65% relative reduction in ventricular heart rhythm abnormalities, 40% reduction in chest pain (angina), a significant reduction in the area of heart muscle damaged by a heart attack, and reduced all-causes of mortality by 27%.
In some studies drugs improve cardiac health following a heart attack but, because of side effects, do not improve the survival of the patients.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Heart ; No Comments »
Posted April 19, 2013: by Bill Sardi
Somebody is trying to spread fear again. Somebody who has a similar modus operandi as the anthrax terrorist fiasco that gripped the nation a few years back. The first part of the plan is to bomb, kill and maim in a very public place, the second is to spread the fear of terrorism beyond its original geographic location.
Somehow, with anti-terrorism forces out in full force with bomb-sniffing dogs and all, a yet unidentified terrorist successfully stashed nails and ball bearings in pressure cookers with explosives and went undetected.
Posted in Uncategorized ; No Comments »
Posted April 17, 2013: by Bill Sardi
Your doctor shows he/she cares for you by conducting preventive exams. Few patients would argue with that measure of a doctor. But what if the preventive measure is needless? What if the “care” is a test that leads to treatment that harms?
The problem in today’s world where insurance pays and the patient doesn’t is that no one, doctor or patient, cares. A billing code exists for tests such as PSA for prostate cancer among males and pap smears to detect early cervical cancer in females. But various health groups now say both tests are of near-worthless value. But the billing code still persists and reimbursement submissions continue. Who will ever put a stop to this?
Posted in Health Care System ; No Comments »
Posted : by Bill Sardi
Modern medicine’s often repeated mantra is that dietary supplements are unproven and therefore cannot make any claim they prevent, treat or cure any disease like FDA-approved drugs do. But who can believe that only synthetically made patentable molecules exclusively cure diseases? Most people know vitamin C cures scurvy, vitamin D prevents rickets, vitamin B1 reverses beri beri, vitamin B12 remedies pernicious anemia, but no dietary supplement company can make those claims on their label because their product hasn’t been tested for that purpose. And it’s not like food fortification has eliminated these vitamin deficiencies. In fact, most Americans suffer the consequences of these nutrient deficiencies over their lifetime.
And while the FDA and other health agencies chase down side effects for dietary supplements they are helping Big Pharma hide all their negative clinical trials that have never been published. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have needlessly died as even doctors cannot access information about a drug’s failures. Yet FDA-approved drugs smugly claim they are safe and effective while dietary supplements are unproven.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Heart, Modern Medicine, Vitamins ; No Comments »
Posted April 15, 2013: by Bill Sardi
Is Avandia (rosiglitazone) going to rise from the grave? Avandia is the one-time $3 billion blockbuster anti-diabetic drug that plunged into disuse in 2009 when a study published in 2007 showed, when used with other anti-diabetic agents, it increased fractures in women as well as the risk for heart failure.
Suddenly, the FDA says it is going to revisit the data on this drug. It wants to reassess safety risks. A Wall Street Journal report says: “it is too early to know what opinions the FDA will be seeking.” Is the FDA going to put Avandia back on the market without restrictions it placed earlier?
Posted in Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
Posted April 12, 2013: by Bill Sardi
British physician Ben Goldacre, said to be a specialist at picking apart the bogus claims of pharmaceutical companies, speaks out in a recent oral presentation that can be viewed here. His new book, Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients, documents the problem.
For example Dr. Goldacre points to clinical trials for 12 antidepressant medications, 38 that were positive studies and 36 that produced negative results. Of the 36 negative studies, 33 were never published (22 studies) or published in a way that conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies), compared to 37 of the 38 positive studies that were published.
Posted in Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
Posted March 28, 2013: by Bill Sardi
In this modern era when the usage of dietary supplements is popular and growing (U.S. supplement sales rose 7 percent to $11.5 billion in 2012, and are forecasted to reach $15.5 billion by 2017), and there is a strong upsurge in the use of vitamin D (up from $40 million in 2001 to $425 million in 2009), calcium ($177 million sales in 2012) and polyphenols (green tea catechins, grape seed proanthycyanidins, red wine resveratrol, curcumin from turmeric spice, silymarin from milk thistle, many others), unguided use is resulting in many avoidable side effects. (Herbal supplement sales were $5.3 billion in 2011.)
Don’t get me wrong. Dietary supplements antagonists unwaveringly pitched against dietary supplements are sure to misquote what I am saying and launch their “I told you so” reports.
Dietary supplements are safer than tap water, aspirin, vaccines and even table salt. Poison control center data confirms dietary supplements are safe.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Minerals, Resveratrol, Vitamins ; No Comments »
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