Statin drugs cause liver damage, kidney failure and cataracts, says BMJ

(NaturalNews) Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs significantly increase a person’s risk of cataracts, muscle weakness, liver dysfunction and kidney failure, according to a study in the British Medical Journal . The study also confirmed that the drugs lower the risk of heart disease and esophageal cancer, but claims of other health benefits were unsupported. Researchers from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom examined data on more than 2 million patients between the ages of 30 and 84, seen at 38 different general practices, who had been prescribed the cholesterol-lowering drugs. More than 70 percent were taking simvastatin (Zocor), 22.3 percent were taking atorvastatin (Lipitor), 3.6 percent were taking pravastatin (Pravachol, Selektine), 1.9 percent were taking rosuvastatin (Crestor) and 1.4 percent were taking fluvastatin (Canef, Lescol, Lochol, Vastin). The researchers confirmed prior data suggesting that statins increase patients’ risk of cataracts, liver dysfunction, kidney failure and a form of muscle weakness known as myopathy. They found that for every 10,000 women treated with the drugs, 23 would develop acute kidney (renal) failure, 39 would develop myopathy, 74 would develop liver dysfunction and 309 would develop cataracts. Men suffered an even higher risk of myopathy, but their risks of the other three conditions were similar to those suffered by women. Putting it in different terms, the researchers found that only 434 people would need to be treated with the drugs for five years for one case of acute renal failure to develop. It would take only 136 treated for each case of liver dysfunction and 33 for each case of cataracts. Among women, 259 would need to be treated for each case of myopathy; among men, the number was only 91. The risk of developing all conditions was highest during the first year of treatment, but continued throughout the course of the study. Risk of liver and kidney problems increased proportionally with the dose of statins being taken. All drugs appeared to pose a similar risk of all conditions, with the exception of fluvastatin, which increased the risk of liver dysfunction more than its competitors. Men taking fluvastatin were twice as likely to develop liver dysfunction as those not taking statins, while women’s risk increased by 2.5 times. The researchers did find, however, that the risk of cataracts returned to normal within one year of stopping statin treatment, while the risk of liver and kidney problems returned to normal within one to three years. Additionally, they found no connection between statin use and the risk of dementia, osteoporotic fracture, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis or venous thromboembolism. Examining the purported benefits of the drugs, researchers found that they did in fact lower the risk of heart disease, averting 271 cases for every 10,000 high-risk patients treated. Put another way, 33 high-risk men or 37 high-risk women would need to be treated with the drugs to avert one case of the disease. Although advocates of the drugs have claimed that they may also reduce the risk cancer, the researchers found almost no data supporting these claims. The study “largely confirmed other studies that reported no clear association between statins and risk of cancers,” the researchers wrote. The only cancer-fighting effect uncovered in the study was a slightly lower risk of esophageal cancer, with eight cases averted for every 10,000 high-risk women treated. In other words, 1,266 high-risk women or 1,082 high-risk men would need to be treated with the drugs to prevent one case of esophageal cancer. Although sales of the blockbuster drugs are unlikely to be reduced as a result of the study, the researchers encouraged closer monitoring of patients for side effects and said their findings “would tend to support a policy of using lower doses of statins in people at high risk of the adverse event.” Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64J7B820100520; http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Atherosclerosis/20232.

After Medicare slashed payments to doctors, doctors simply "treat" more patients to make up for the shortfall of revenue

(NaturalNews) When Congress cuts Medicare reimbursements to doctors, doctors may simply respond by ordering treatments for more patients, according to study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and published in the journal Health Affairs . “Hospitals and doctors will respond to changes in how they are paid,” researcher Joseph P. Newhouse said. In 2003, Congress reduced Medicare reimbursements to doctors for certain chemotherapy drugs out of concern that excessive markups — in some cases, as much as 20 percent more than what doctors were paying for the drugs — provided a financial incentive for doctors to prescribe the drugs in cases where they were not, in fact, the best treatment. But some critics of the cuts warned that they might remove too much of the profit motivation, causing specialists to stop treating many patients. “At the time, I think we were legitimately concerned about that,” said oncologist Craig C. Earle of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. But an analysis of Medicare claims for 22,478 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer found that within a month of diagnosis, chemotherapy was prescribed for 18.9 percent of patients after the law went into effect in 2005, compared with 16.5 percent before it went into effect. “These markups were a substantial portion of [doctors'] income,” Newhouse said. In response to a loss in profit from those markups, he said, many doctors apparently responded by increasing their prescription rates. “In sum, far from limiting access,” the researchers wrote, “[the law] actually increased the likelihood that lung cancer patients received chemotherapy.” The researchers also found that after reimbursement rates were decreased, doctors became more likely to prescribe more expensive drugs, even when there was no evidence that such drugs were more effective. “The financial incentive seemed to have an effect where there’s not strong evidence or more than one equally good treatment option,” Earle said. Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/health/17drug.html.

Tea consumption slows cognitive decline in older adults

(NaturalNews) Older adults who drink tea regularly experience significantly less cognitive decline than adults of the same age who do not drink tea, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Washington and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease 2010. “In recent years, a body of scientific evidence has shown that regular tea drinking may have an important role in health and wellness,” says Douglas Balentine of the Lipton Institute of Tea, which funded the study. “This new study provides further support that regular tea drinking may be an important actionable change a consumer can make as part of a healthy lifestyle.” The researchers followed more 4,800 U.S. residents over the age of 64 for up to 14 years, regularly assessing tea consumption and coffee consumption using food frequency questionnaires and assessing cognitive performance with the Mini-Mental State Examination. After adjusting for potential confounding factors such as age, education, medical history and smoking status, the researchers found that tea drinking was associated with 17 to 37 percent less cognitive decline over time. Compared with participants who never drank tea, those who drank tea only five to 10 times per year experienced 17 percent less cognitive decline. Cognitive decline was 26 percent lower in those who drank tea five or more times per week, 32 percent lower in those who drank it one to three times per month, and 37 percent lower in those who drank it one to four times per week. Coffee consumption, in contrast, had no effect on cognitive decline except among those who drank it five or more times per week; in this group, cognitive decline was decreased by 20 percent. A full 25 percent of participants reported drinking tea daily, while 43 percent drank coffee every day. “This study suggests a potential neuroprotective effect of tea consumption against cognitive decline,” lead researcher Lenore Arab said. “This neuroprotective effect of tea is unlikely related to caffeine since coffee, which has two to three times more caffeine than tea, did not have the same effect.” Sources for this story include: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-data-suggest-regular-tea-drinking-may-protect-against-cognitive-decline-98227754.html.

Chocolate compounds fight high cholesterol

(NaturalNews) Chocolate has received a lot of attention for being a treasure trove of nutritional goodness. Polyphenols in cacao beans are linked to promoting heart, brain, and liver health, which has sparked renewed interest in chocolate as a medicinal food. And a new study adds to the growing list of benefits, showing that chocolate polyphenols also help to lower bad cholesterol. Published in the journal Diabetic Medicine , the study tested the effects of polyphenol-rich chocolate in a group of 12 volunteers with type-2 diabetes. After 16 weeks, the researchers from Hull University in the U.K. discovered that the polyphenols helped lower participants’ bad cholesterol levels while raising good cholesterol levels. “Chocolate with a high cocoa content should be included in the diet of individuals with type-2 diabetes as part of a sensible, balanced approach to diet and lifestyle,” said professor Steve Akin, author of the study. Back in August, NaturalNews covered a Swedish study that found similar results (http://www.naturalnews.com/029559_cocoa_cardiovascular.html). It also showed that high-flavanol chocolate that has been minimally processed is much different than the highly-processed chocolate candy sold in most grocery stores. Actual cacao beans are rich in vital nutrients, including alkaloid bitters like theobromine (a different substance than the harmful bromine chemical), which stimulates the heart muscle and dilates blood vessels. This compound and others provide demonstrable benefits in lowering high blood pressure and maintaining healthy arteries. Processed chocolate, however, has been stripped of most or all of these nutrients. Add in the bad fats and refined sugars and you are left with a chocolate product that is actually bad for your health. So when consuming chocolate, be sure to look for unprocessed, superfood varieties like those made by Transition Nutrition (www.TransitionNutrition.com), Empowered Chocolate (www.EmpoweredFoods.com), Sacred Chocolate (http://www.sacredchocolate.com/raw-chocolate-sacred-chocolate.html), and WildBar (www.WildBar.info). Sources for this story include: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11554951

Calcium and vitamin supplements reduce breast cancer risk

(NaturalNews) Taking vitamin and calcium supplements may reduce women’s risk of breast cancer by as much as 40 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, and presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. “It is not an immediate effect. You don’t take a vitamin today and your breast cancer risk is reduced tomorrow,” researcher Jaime Matta said. “However, we did see a long-term effect in terms of breast cancer reduction.” The researchers conducted the study on 457 healthy women and 268 with breast cancer, all of whom had been taking vitamin and mineral supplements for the past five years. The women filled out a questionnaire about which vitamins and minerals they were taking, how regularly they took them, and if they were still taking them. They then took samples of each woman’s blood and measured her DNA’s ability to repair itself of damage. “This process involves at least five separate pathways and is critical for maintaining genomic stability,” Matta said. “When the DNA is not repaired, it leads to mutation that leads to cancer.” The researchers found that calcium supplements significantly increased a woman’s DNA repair capacity. Taking calcium supplements also decreased a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 40 percent, while vitamin supplements decreased it by 40 percent. Women who had a low DNA repair capacity, a family history of breast cancer, and no history of breast feeding were all more likely to suffer from breast cancer. When the researchers adjusted for calcium’s effect on DNA repair capacity, they found little remaining effect on breast cancer risk. This suggests that calcium helps prevent cancers by boosting DNA’s ability to regenerate from damage. The mechanisms by which vitamin supplements protect the body from cancer were not determined. “The importance of the study is that it’s addressing normal doses, the recommended amount of vitamins, not high-dose supplements,” said Victoria Seewaldt of Duke University. Sources for this story include: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/aafc-vac041210.php; http://www.themedguru.com/20100421/newsfeature/calcium-multivitamins-may-lower-breast-cancer-risk-study-86134300.html.

Urban pollution found to raise blood pressure

(NaturalNews) Exposure to urban pollution may be a cause of high blood pressure, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Dusiburg-Essen in Germany and presented at a meeting of the American Thoracic Society. “Our results show that living in areas with higher levels of particle air pollution is associated with higher blood pressure,” lead researcher Barbara Hoffman said. “This finding points out that air pollution does not only trigger life-threatening events like heart attacks and strokes, but that it may also influence the underlying processes, which lead to chronic cardiovascular diseases,” she said. “It is therefore necessary to further our attempts to prevent chronic exposure to high air pollution as much as possible.” Prior studies have shown that short-term spikes in the levels of air pollutants lead to equivalent increases in blood pressure, but little research had been done on the effects of longer-term exposure. In the current study, the researchers recorded air pollution levels over the course of a year, and compared this with blood-pressure readings among 5,000 residents of those areas over the course of four years. The researchers found that after adjusting for potential confounding factors such as age, gender, smoking and weight, increased exposure to fine particulate matter was significantly correlated with higher blood pressure. The effect was stronger in women than in men. Fine particulate matter is produced primarily by automobiles, power plants, heating and industry. Although blood pressure is known to increase the risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), the current study could not prove that exposure to air pollution would actually produce heart disease. In their next study, the researchers plan to look for that connection directly. “There is extensive ongoing research into the link between air pollution and heart disease,” said Judy O’Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation. “This will help us understand what needs to be done to minimize harm to heart health and protect people most at risk from pollution.” Sources for this story include: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8682137.stm.

Scientists discover way to recharge laptops and cell phones with soda pop and vegetable oil

(NaturalNews) Researchers looking for new, cheap energy sources might want to look in the food pantry and junk food aisle at the grocery story. Sugary drinks as well as vegetable oils and plain old table sugar could one day be used to recharge cell phones, laptops and other portable electronics. Sound crazy? Not according to scientists who recently reported a remarkable “first” at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). They’ve created the first fuel cell that produces electricity with technology borrowed from natural biological powerhouses. These innovative biofuel cells, the researchers believe, can transform sugar and fats into energy for running a host of machines and devices. “This is the first demonstration of a new class of biofuel cells,” Saint Louis University chemist Shelley Minteer, Ph.D., who presented the report, said in a press statement. “When further developed, these devices have the potential for replacing disposable and rechargeable batteries in a wide variety of consumer electronics and other products. It is the first such device based on one of the microscopic parts of the billions upon billions of cells that make up the body.” She explained the human body has internal structures termed organelles (“little organs”) — and some of the most important organelles are the membrane-enclosed mitochondria. Sometimes referred to as the powerhouses behind cells, mitochondria transform calories from food into chemical energy that the body needs to sustain life. Specifically, the mitochondria use a chemical called pyruvate, formed when sugar and fats are digested, to make another biological substance called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP stores energy until the body needs it. Every day, the mitochondria in a normal human produce and recycle an amount of ATP approximately the equivalent of a person’s body weight. What does this have to do with recharging electronic devices? Dr. Minteer explained that understanding this energy-producing biological system opened the possibility of using this knowledge to develop the first mitochondria-type fuel cell. And that’s just what she and her team did. The device is made of a thin layer of mitochondria sandwiched between two electrodes, including a gas-permeable electrode. So far, Dr. Minteer has run biofuel batteries on glucose, flat sodas, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap — ordinary table sugar (sucrose) dissolved in water seems to work the best. One of the first applications for this new kind of biofuel energy cell could be a portable cell phone charger, similar to the quick chargers already on the market that allow users to instantly charge their cell phones while on the go. Ideally, Dr. Minteer said, these chargers will contain special cartridges that are pre-filled with a sugar solution. In addition to revving up electronic devices, the scientists also think mitochondria fuel cells could be used as power sources in wireless sensors for temperature monitoring, motion detection, and for monitoring the location of vehicles in a fleet. The new biofuel cells also could work well as a power source for stamp-sized sensors designed to detect hidden explosives, the researchers noted. For more information: http://www.slu.edu/x14605.xml http://www.naturalnews.com/renewable_energy.html

Multivitamin use doesn’t impact colon cancer outcomes, study finds

Patients with colon cancer who used multivitamins during and after being treated with post-surgical chemotherapy did not reduce the risk of the cancer returning or their dying from it, according to researchers. In a study of 1,038 patients with stage III colon cancer, the researchers found that while multivitamin use had no beneficial effect on patients’ outcomes, it also did not have a detrimental effect.

Mainstream media slants cancer articles toward unrealistically positive outcomes

(NaturalNews) Mainstream media coverage of cancer treatments disproportionately covers positive outcomes and aggressive treatments while underreporting on palliative care and death, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine . “Very few news reports about cancer discuss death and dying, and even those that do generally do not mention palliative and hospice care,” the researchers wrote. Palliative care is medical care designed to reduce suffering and improve quality of life but not to cure a disease. It is a major component of care for terminal or hard-to-cure cancers. The researchers reviewed 436 articles that had appeared in the magazines Newsweek , Parade , People , Redbook and Time , as well as eight daily newspapers in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. They found that while 32.1 percent of the articles focused on successful treatment of at least one patient, only 7.6 percent covered patients who died or were expected to. Only 2.2 percent addressed both positive and negative outcomes. Of 216 people mentioned by name in the articles reviewed, 78.7 percent were survivors and only 21.3 percent died. Yet 50 percent of U.S. residents diagnosed with cancer do not survive the disease. In addition, the researchers found that although many cancer treatments can have serious and even dangerous side effects, only 30 percent of the articles reviewed mentioned the possibility of adverse effects. Fifty-seven percent of the articles covered only aggressive forms of cancer treatment, yet only 13.1 percent acknowledged that such treatments do not always result in improved survival. Only two of the articles (0.5 percent) mentioned end-of-life care, while only 11 (2.5 percent) mentioned both aggressive treatment and palliative care. Such skewed coverage gives people a distorted image of their treatment options, the researchers warned. “Unrealistic information may mislead the public about the trade-offs between attempts at heroic cures and hospice care,” they wrote. Sources for this story include: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/19040.

World’s top firms cause $2.2 trillion in environmental damage

(NaturalNews) The world’s 3,000 biggest public companies do more than $2.2 trillion worth of damage to the environment every year, amounting to one-third of their total profits, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program and the Principles for Responsible Investment initiative. The study was carried out by researchers from the London-based consulting firm Trucost. Later this year, another U.N. study is expected to recommend ways to stop this damage, such as by taxing or otherwise penalizing polluters and eliminating massive public subsidies to destructive industries. “What we’re talking about is a completely new paradigm,” lead researcher Richard Mattison said. “Externalities of this scale and nature pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them.” “Externalities” refer to costs of production borne by someone other than the producer or consumer. Under the current economic system, nearly all environmental destruction is an externality. Well over half the $2.2 trillion figure in the Trucost report comes from current and anticipated effects of global warming. The remainder comes from effects such as air and water pollution. The true cost of these companies’ operations is actually much higher, however. In calculating cost, the researchers did not take into account destructive effects from the consumption of the companies’ goods and services, long-term damage other than global warming, or effects not easily put into economic terms, such as social disruption or loss of biodiversity. The study warns companies that if they do not take action to reduce their environmental footprints, governments may force them to do so with new taxes or regulations. “It’s going to be a significant proportion of a lot of companies’ profit margins,” Mattison said. “Whether they actually have to pay for these costs will be determined by the appetite for policy makers to enforce the ‘polluter pays’ principle. We should be seeking ways to fix the system, rather than waiting for the economy to adapt.” Sources for this story include: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/18/worlds-top-firms-environmental-damage.

« Previous Page — Next Page »