Natural Holistic Health Blog

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent – http://www.independent.co.uk/

A new health scare erupted over soft drinks amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem – more usually associated with aging and alcohol abuse – can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.

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Filed under: Health & Vitality, In The News by Dee
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From the WSJ – http://online.wsj.com/public/us?

HONG KONG — Chinese doctors have long experimented with combinations of herbs to cure disease. If a plant extract helped to fight an infection, why bother trying to figure out which molecule did the trick? It worked, and that’s what counted.

By contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, one of the world’s most stringent drug watchdogs, for decades has looked askance at most herbal medicines. The focus in Western pharmacology is finding the single molecule that cures a disease. Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merck spend billions of dollars combing through huge libraries of compounds to find the elusive blockbuster therapy.

The two approaches boil down to a simple question: Is it better to attack disease, as the Western world does, with a silver bullet — the one substance whose potency has been pinpointed? Or should treatments be administered, as the Chinese method dictates, by aiming a group of agents at the problem — the shotgun approach?

The FDA has long held botanical drugs to the same standard as other therapies: Companies applying for regulatory approval had to find the part that works and prove it. That requirement has relegated most Chinese medicines and other plant-based, or botanical, therapies, such as ginkgo and Echinacea, to the dietary-supplement shelves at supermarkets and kept them out of U.S. pharmacies.

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Filed under: Alternative Therapies, In The News by Dee
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More than 31 million prescriptions for drugs such as Prozac were issued in 2006 – a 6% rise on the year before.

The figures come as two studies showed “startling” benefits of country walks in people with depression.

Mind, the charity that reported the findings, said GPs should consider “ecotherapy” as a valid alternative.

The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence issued guidance in 2004 recommending that antidepressants should not be used as first-line therapy for mild to moderate depression.

Instead patients should be offered guided self-help and psychological therapies in the first instance.

But figures from the Information Centre indicate the number of prescriptions for antidepressants are still on the rise.

In particular prescriptions for a group of drugs known as SSRIs, which include Prozac, rose by 10% last year from 14.7m to 16.2m.

There have been fears that the drugs are linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm in some cases.

In 2003, experts said SSRI antidepressants should not be given to teenagers after experts’ concerns they made some patients suicidal.

However, Prozac is still recommended for under-18s, as it is thought that the benefits of taking this particular drug outweigh any potential risk, but only for those with severe depression.

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Filed under: Anxiety and Depression, In The News by Dee
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by Warren Matthews of Xtend-Life

A major health alert has been issued on a class of drugs that treats anemia. The drugs, known as erythropoiesis stimulating agents, cause fatal cancers and heart problems.

In an earlier study that involved 1,432 patients, 222 suffered heart problems, some of which were fatal.

America’s drugs watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, has issued a federal alert about the drugs, and will review their continued availability at a meeting next month. In the meantime, the FDA is advising doctors to keep dosages low.

These drugs are big business. In 2002, the latest year when figures are available, global sales had reached $8.1bn (£4.2bn), an increase of 18 per cent on the previous year.

The drugs are routinely given to patients who are anemic following chronic renal failure, cancer, chemotherapy treatment, or HIV and AIDS.

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by Warren Matthews of Xtend-Life

One of our customers sent me an interesting news item on Vitamin D which talks about the link which Vitamin D has with Cancer prevention. I was pretty happy to get it because it strongly reinforces what I have been saying about how dangerous it is to avoid the sun like the authorities would have you do.

Part of the article focuses on the difficulty of getting enough sun if you live in the upper latitudes. There is no doubt that this can be a problem for those folk living in the extreme northern latitudes. However, don’t underestimate just how much benefit even a small amount of direct exposure to the sun can have on your production of Vitamin D!

You would have to take mega doses of Vitamin D to come even close as to what you get when you expose yourself to the sun…and mega doses of any Vitamin is not healthy.

However, having said that…if you live in the high latitudes and you don’t spend much time outdoors then you would be advised to take an additional Vitamin D supplement in moderate amounts.

Here is the article:

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Filed under: Health & Vitality, In The News, Nutrition by Dee
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Young adults beginning treatment with any antidepressant should be warned about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior associated with the drugs, health officials said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed labeling changes that would expand a so-called “black box” warning now on all antidepressants. It would broaden the severe warning’s current language, which applies only to children and adolescents, to include adults 18-24 during the first month or two of treatment with the drugs, the FDA said.

Eli Lilly and Co., the maker of Prozac, Zoloft manufacturer Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies said they would comply with the FDA’s request.

“We believe this step will help ensure that the millions of people with depression who are young adults age 24 and under and their families can make informed treatment decisions while minimizing the fear and stigma associated with depression,” Eli Lilly said in a statement.

Pfizer spokeswoman Shreya Prudlo said the company would update its label, which she said already calls for close monitoring of patients when they begin taking Zoloft. She added, however, “There is no established causal link between Zoloft and suicide in adults, young adults or children.”

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Filed under: Anxiety and Depression, In The News by Dee
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