My last post  Nutritional Supplements – Going Going GONE  contained a article by Byron Richards which sums up perfectly the shocking plans of the FDA to destroy the supplement industry.

I hope all Americans who read it let their voices be heard by using the link at the end of that article to visit the ‘Take Action’ page on the wellness resources site and follow the instruction there.

It’s important to keep all American supplement consumers informed and up to date with this story and keep encouraging more and more people to contact both the FDA and their senators and voice their strong disapproval.

Today I’m reprinting an article from the Mercola.com website which discusses this story in further detail and also contains a link to another ‘Take Action’ site put up by the Alliance for Natural Health

FDA Set To Ban Your Supplements

Tuesday, September 13, 2011  -  Dr. Mercola

The FDA has issued a proposed mandate that represents the greatest threat to dietary supplements since 1994. Back in the early 1990s, consumers were so alarmed by FDA bullying that they staged a massive revolt. The result was that Congress passed a law prohibiting the FDA from banning popular nutrients (as the agency had threatened to do).

There was, however, a loophole in the 1994 law. The FDA was given authority to regulate ingredients introduced after October 15, 1994.

It has been 17 years, but the FDA just issued draconian proposals as to how it intends to regulate what it now calls “new dietary ingredients”. You can find the FDA Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients (NDI’s) here. If implemented, some of the most effective nutrients you are taking will be removed from the market. This includes many fish oil formulas and natural plant extracts. A detailed analysis of the FDA Draft Guidance is available here.

These oppressive rules are exactly what the 1994 law (DSHEA) sought to prevent. The FDA is using its authority in direct violation of Congressional intent.

In order for these ingredients you are using today to return to the market, the FDA will require manufacturers to conduct outrageously expensive studies using absurdly high doses, in some situations multiplied by a “safety factor” up to 2,000-times the recommended dosage on a per product basis.

The FDA defines dietary supplements as being “new” if they were introduced after October 15, 1994. That means that even certain nutrients that have been safely used over the course of three decades will be subject to the FDA’s oppressive policies that mandate costly animal testing.

The FDA Views Supplements in Same Light as Synthetic Food Preservatives

According to the new guidelines, the FDA believes that “new dietary supplements” must be regulated similarly to synthetic food preservatives. The FDA guidelines have modeled the outrageous safety thresholds after those in place for food additives. This appears to be in direct violation of DSHEA, the law enacted in 1994 to protect consumer access to dietary supplements, which classifies dietary supplements as foods, not food additives.

The FDA proposes that new dietary supplement ingredients should adhere to aggressive safety margins, which are typically reserved for chemical compounds known to be dangerous in all but the most miniscule concentrations.

Since food additives or preservatives such as aspartame, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrate are known to cause cancer or other severe health problems, the FDA has implemented safety guidelines which limit allowable concentrations of these food additives to levels that are supposed to be physiologically inert.

The fact that the FDA is trying to impose the same limits upon dietary supplements seems to be arbitrary and completely unfounded. In fact, when someone takes a dietary supplement, their intent is to positively affect the structure or function of their bodies in some way – limiting dosages of dietary supplements to physiologically inert levels defeats the entire purpose of supplementation with health-sustaining nutrients.

The FDA’s new guidelines are so flawed that even nutrients shown to be completely safe in hundreds of human clinical studies would fail to accommodate the unreasonable safety margins.

To give you an example, each manufacturer of certain fish oils would have to conduct a one year study where animals would have to consume the human equivalent of 240,000 milligrams each day of fish oil.

Another option under the FDA’s proposed mandates is to conduct a 90-day, 1,000 – fold safety margin study in which two species of animals, one being non-rodent – likely young beagle dogs, will theoretically consume the equivalent of 2.4 million milligrams of fish oil daily. We know of virtually no species can tolerate this high dose, so by default, FDA guidelines will make it impossible for certain omega-3 supplements to be sold. (Note typical dose of EPA/DHA people take each day is around 2,400 mg—100 times less than what the FDA proposes must be tested.)

Since these are not patented drugs, no supplement maker will be able to afford these “safety” studies, which means that many of the nutrients you now purchase at low prices will convert into high-priced drugs.

Pharmaceutical Industry Profit Threatened By Low Cost Supplements

It appears that the FDA is claiming that dietary supplements are unsafe, and in order to “protect consumers” the agency must place a stranglehold on the dietary supplement industry by requesting exorbitant safety testing. These ludicrous safety thresholds are in excess of those required by pharmaceutical drugs despite studies showing supplements are far safer than drugs.

According to the 2001 report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), of the substances implicated in fatal poisonings in 2001, 84.6 percent were pharmaceutical drugs, with analgesics being implicated as the primary cause of death in 32 percent of fatalities or 341 deaths. This compares with 0.8 percent for all dietary supplements combined, even including substances such as dinitrophenol, a dangerous (and illegal) substance banned in 1938, as well as the central nervous system stimulant Ma Huang (Ephedra). Interestingly, the anti-asthma drug theophylline alone was responsible for 15 deaths, 66 percent more than all the available dietary supplements combined.

There is, however, a massive economic benefit for the drug industry if the proposed guidelines are enforced by the FDA. Health conscious Americans who properly supplement slash their risk of degenerative disease. The FDA’s new rules, if enacted, will force the price of many supplements to surge upwards, while removing many effective ones altogether. That means that more aging people will have to rely on side effect laden prescription drugs to treat the degenerative diseases they will contract because they will be denied access to health-promoting nutrients.

What You Can Do to Stop this Impending Carnage!

No one can sit on the sidelines with an emergency of this magnitude about to befall everyone who depends on dietary supplements. As citizens, we have the constitutional right to petition the government to redress our grievances. In this case, the FDA proposals pose a direct threat to our health and longevity.

We therefore have to take extraordinary measures to defend our right to continue using supplements that our very lives depend on, and to gain access to new natural ingredients that demonstrate efficacy in scientific studies.

I ask each one of you contact your representatives by following this link:

Contact your local representative now!  (Please use this link)

Recall how Consumers revolted back in 1994 and the result was a glorious victory over FDA tyranny!

Let your voice be heard by exercising your right to petition the government against these serious violations of the law and scientific principle.   Please be sure to call, fax, or send a certified letter to your representative – emails can be easily dismissed.

Here is a set of talking points for your consideration:

• My name is [Name] and I am a constituent of [Congress Member’s name].

• I am very concerned about the new FDA draft guidance on dietary supplements and new dietary ingredients.

• I request that Congress hold hearings and take action to review the FDA’s draft guidance and stop their overreach of power.

• The FDA’s draft guidance flies in the face of the original congressional intent of the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act: The guidance turns what was meant to be a simple notification system for new dietary ingredients into a preapproval scheme that Congress did not intend to create.

• Congress recognized that dietary supplements are natural ingredients and therefore inherently safer than drugs and chemical food ingredients. It did not intend that the FDA would have the power to approve or reject dietary supplements.

• The FDA’s draft guidance creates unnecessary regulations that limit my access to dietary supplements I rely on. The expensive and burdensome process will force between 20,000 and 42,000 dietary supplements to be removed from the market and will increase the cost of those supplements that remain.

• The draft guidance hurts our economy. Expert analyses show that this guidance will cause a total economic loss of $21.2 billion to $39.8 billion annually.

• Thank you for your time.

Tips:

• Be courteous and respectful.

• Keep your comments brief and focused on the facts.

• Always thank the staff member for their time taking your call.

SAMPLE LETTER TO CONGRESS:

The Honorable _________________________  Washington, DC

In direct violation of the law, the FDA is threatening to ban my access to new dietary supplements.

The FDA defines dietary supplements as being “new” if they were introduced after October 15, 1994. That means that nutrients that I have been safely using over the course of three decades will be subject to FDA’s oppressive policies that mandate costly animal testing, which translates into forced withdrawal from the market, and higher prices for me if the supplement is ever allowed to be sold again.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 states that:

“The Federal Government should not take any actions to impose unreasonable regulatory barriers limiting or slowing the flow of safe products and accurate information to consumers.”

It says that Congress finds that:

“dietary supplements are safe within a broad range of intake, and safety problems with the supplements are relatively rare.”

And it says that:

“legislative action that protects the right of access of consumers to safe dietary supplements is necessary in order to promote wellness.”

 

This draft guidance does the exact opposite of what Congress intended. It imposes unreasonable barriers that limit and slow the flow of safe products and accurate information to consumers. I call upon Congress to:

1. Uphold the landmark legislation it passed seventeen years ago, and to direct the FDA to revise its New Dietary Ingredient draft guidelines to reflect DSHEA’s (and Congress’s) stated values and goals.

2. Vote against the newly introduced Dietary Supplement Labeling Act as this would give the FDA even greater arbitrary powers to remove safe dietary supplements from the market, and will profoundly impact this nation’s health in a negative way.

All of these proposals result in wasteful federal spending, while at the same time impose a massive new “regulatory tax” on consumers and the vitamin industry.

Kindly let me know what actions you are taking in response to the urgent issues raised in this letter.

Sincerely,
Name________________________________________
Address______________________________________
City______________________ST____ Zip___________

If you’re an avid consumer of nutritional supplements  then you’ve probably already heard at least something about the FDA’s  ongoing  quest to take over and essentially hand control of the entire nutritional supplements industry to the pharmaceutical companies.

In a nutshell the FDA is attempting to take away OUR RIGHT to choose and buy nutritional supplements and give complete control of the health of the population to Big Pharma.

Seven weeks ago the US  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a long awaited draft set of guidelines for  New Dietary Ingredient Notifications (NDI’s).  This 35 page document is called  “Draft Guidance for Industry: Dietary Supplements: New Dietary Ingredient Notifications and Related Issues.”

Although this has been expected for some time now, the industry is up in arms and literally shell shocked by the scope of these changes which are being called a complete ‘game changer’  due to the effects they will have on supplement ingredients, products and companies.

Many, many. if not a large majority, of supplement companies will be forced out of business, an obvious follow on effect which many are calling the next step of the FDA to destroy the nutritional supplement industry and allow Big Pharma to step in and take control of vitamins, minerals herbs and all other natural substances.

Experts are predicting that the pharmaceutical companies will design synthetic versions of natural ingredients which,  of course, just happen to be exempt from these new proposed NDI regulations.

When this happens the prices of supplements produced by the pharmaceutical companies will sky-rocket as you will see from the example in the article below.

There is also a move by pharmaceutical companies to take effective natural ingredients that have been proven in the dietary supplement industry and start developing drugs from them.  If they do this then the FDA can deny any NDI application for that ingredient from a dietary supplement manufacturer even if that ingredient has been used for decades.

The ONLY WAY to thwart the FDA’s plans and retain our health freedom is to complain to lawmakers. If you sit back and do nothing we will all be at the mercy of the evil pharmaceutical companies who place corporate greed and profit far above human rights and our health.

I have included below an article by Byron Richards which discusses this topic in depth. He has included a link at the end where you can access a site to take action against this invasion of our health freedom.

If you value your right to choose and access nutritional supplements please use the link and exercise your rights

The FDA’s Scheme to Reclassify Nutrients as Drugs

Tuesday, August 02, 2011  -  Byron Richards, CCN

The FDA and Senator Durbin’s latest attack against the dietary supplement industry should leave consumers for natural health options at affordable prices up in arms. This attack will target some of the most popular and effective dietary supplements, removing them from the free market and placing them under control of large pharmaceutical companies. This move will drastically drive up the price of dietary supplements while severely limiting access to extremely safe and effective nutrients. For example, the GlaxoSmithKline prescription drug version of DHA fish oil (at a therapeutic dose) sells for $189 a month, whereas the equivalent, therapeutic amount of molecularly-distilled DHA sells for $35 a month in the dietary supplement marketplace. Proven to lower triglyceride levels at therapeutic amounts, it is not surprising that DHA is one of the first nutrients the FDA plans to go after. Other powerful nutrients, such as curcumin and resveratrol, are soon to follow.

This is the second article in what will be a series of articles on this critical topic. In my first article, “Senator Durbin & the FDA Viciously Attack Dietary Supplements,” I outlined the scope and nature of the attack and called readers to take action. And it is still critically important that you do take action, so please visit our new TAKE ACTION page immediately following reading this article.

The newly-proposed FDA regulations are complicated. We are just beginning to understand the full scope of their ploy. The FDA is hoping that the complexity of their regulations will confuse consumers so they do not understand the coming changes and resulting repercussions. It is my job to give you some concrete examples of how this will affect you.

It is not just DHA, curcumin and resveratrol that are slated for pharmaceutical industry takeover, hundreds of other nutrients and herbs are at risk. The unfortunate reality is if the FDA is allowed to carry out their illegal strategy then thousands of products currently on the market are likely to be deemed “misbranded drugs” and forced off the market under the FDA’s criminal campaign to wipe out an industry, and ultimately gain even greater power and profit.

The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Perfect Storm of Economic Collapse

Mapping the human genome was supposed to usher in the next generation of pharmaceutical “wonder” drugs. Scientists would identify a gene or set of genes causing each and every disease. New biotech drugs operating at the genetic level would fix the problems or compensate for them, ushering in “The Golden Age of Cures” and reaping huge 21st century profits for the pharmaceutical conglomerate.

This wishful thinking is not the case. Their first biotech drugs have caused more death and injury than benefit. At the same time, rapid advancements in tools to analyze gene function made it obvious that Mother Nature already provided a treasure trove of potential golden cures—natural, safe and effective substances already widely utilized in the dietary supplement industry.

Multiple circumstances threaten hundreds of billions in drug company profits. Their pipeline of new drugs with widespread consumer application is scant, as they gamble their future on dangerous biotech drugs with limited use.  Hundreds of their top-selling drugs are losing patent protection in the next few years, exposing them to generic competitors and massively driving down inflated profits. Widely-publicized adverse side effects and unnecessary deaths caused by many commonly-used pharmaceutical drugs have cast suspicion over their entire industry.

On the political front, Congress is looking for ways to control health care costs, even suggesting incentives for making people well—a far different tune than paying for lifetime drug prescriptions that seldom improve health. In fact, the gene science is actually proving that Western Medicine’s drugs are damaging the human genome and are a significant cause in the onset of many of the diseases of aging—the very diseases they are pretending to treat.

Pharmaceutical companies define their primary assets as patent-protected drugs, giving the drug 15 to 20 years of product sales with no competition. It is vital for them to figure out a strategy to turn dietary supplement ingredients, especially those that could be used for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, Alzheimer’s, and cancer treatment into drug company “assets,” eliminating from the free market many of the most helpful dietary supplement ingredients while drastically driving up prices for consumers.

The Poison-Dispensing Era of Western Medicine

Until the advent of the new gene-regulating drugs, virtually all medications worked on the principle of poisoning the function of a cell or enzyme system to hopefully produce a change that the doctor thinks “beneficial.” If taking a drug results in a better-looking blood sugar, blood pressure, or cholesterol number, then doctors automatically assume the person is healthier. Rather, health has nothing to do with it.  It is in the financial interests of drug companies to dispense more and more drugs, on an ongoing basis.

There is a night-and-day difference in quality of health between a person who has good numbers because they are healthy and a person who has reasonably-looking numbers because they are poisoned with drugs. Studies using high doses of metabolic and cardiovascular drugs to attempt to drive numbers down to the levels of healthy people invariably injure and even kill the participants—clearly failing to improve health quality and extend lifespan.

To make matters worse, the pharmaceutical industry fraudulently hides the actual risks of the drugs from both patients and doctors. This includes slanting, to blatantly falsifying, studies routinely published in medical journals and used for marketing, illegally promoting off-label use of drugs, using funding to bribe research universities to publish only favorable results and blacklisting researchers who refuse to accept, and paying influential doctors to present their data as independent research at medical meetings.

The scope and magnitude of the drug safety issue is a nightmare. In 2006 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted interviews with FDA management and hundreds of FDA employees to ascertain issues leading to drug safety problems. Widespread conflict of interest and many other issues led IOM investigators to label FDA management as dysfunctional. Little has changed.

The Gene-Experimentation Era of Western Medicine

The human body is no slouch when it comes to elaborate complexity. It is often the case that the same exact gene signal is “good” or “bad” depending on the context in which it is activated. In fact, the same genes often behave differently in different areas of the body. Unlike earlier toxic drugs that force cell and enzyme behavior at a rather crude level, biotech drugs turn gene signals “on” or “off” at a powerfully fundamental level of cell function. Unfortunately for consumers, our understanding of genes is in its infancy.  There is daunting complexity in gene regulation, making use of any gene-regulating drug highly questionable.

One example of this problem involves diabetes drugs Avandia and Actos, which turn on the gene PPAR gamma. This gene signal helps to break down triglycerides. These drugs also stimulate the formation of new fat cells, which are more metabolically fit and therefore produce more adiponectin that stops insulin resistance. Thus, in theory, they are potentially great drugs for lowering triglycerides and benefiting people with type 2 diabetes. As these drugs became blockbusters it was soon observed that the patients taking them were experiencing devastating side effects. These drugs have no way to know the context in which they should be operating. They activate PPAR gamma in the wrong places, such as the heart, leading to a 40 percent increased risk for heart failure or heart attack. Additionally, inappropriate PPAR gamma activation in bones causes them to break more easily.

The FDA rushed these drugs to market despite the objections of its own safety supervisor who wanted to employ a black box warning for heart failure. In other words, the FDA knew about the risks but prevented the public from understanding them, and still allowed the drugs to go to market. This was a major scandal at the FDA. The FDA has finally restricted Avandia, but Actos remains available in full swing. Actos has recently been highly restricted in Europe, but in America, the FDA continues to drag its feet. This is likely because the FDA has mud on its face for approving these biotech nightmares in the first place and would rather consumers suffer injury and even die than look bad. The mainstream media fails to aggressively report on or investigate this tragic issue as they are large recipients of drug company advertising dollars.  Even when one of their own, Tim Russert, was likely killed by Avandia or Actos, they turned a blind eye.

 

DHA is a Superior and Intelligent Gene-Regulating Nutrient

The plot thickens. Nature’s nutrient DHA, typically in fish oil, is a powerful activator of PPAR gamma, helping to break down triglycerides as well as make new metabolically-fit fat cells that boost adiponectin and help fight type 2 diabetes—the exact objectives of Big Pharma’s Avandia and Actos. DHA is a near-miracle nutrient for the heart and overall cardiovascular health and also supports strong bones. It has all of the benefits of Avandia and Actos and none of the side effects.

And this is why Big Pharma is so interested in taking over many dietary supplement ingredients. The nutrients know how to work in harmony with gene function in the human body, since nutrition was a key part of human evolution. These nutrients appear to have inherent intelligence that no drug could possibly have. They understand the context of the gene signal and thus support the beneficial gene activity. They know how to behave differently in different areas of the body to promote healthy function at every turn.

Under the FDA’s new draft guidance that redefines the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the FDA targets many nutrients for elimination from the market, and DHA is one of them. DHA is a component of fish oil, which is a pre-DSHEA nutrient. This means that it should be grandfathered in and not subjected to the newly-published New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) guidelines.

Various companies have been able to concentrate the DHA as well as remove toxins from the oil, enabling consumers to take higher amounts of the most important ingredient in fish oil. Consumers can now easily and safely reach doses of DHA that are consistent with studies showing extreme health benefit. Such doses of DHA are known to be safe, have been tested in clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and are consistent with the amounts consumed by people who regularly eat fish.

The FDA’s point man on NDI guidance issues, Daniel Fabricant, has been telling the supplement industry what to expect. In a recent webinar  he was asked, “Should it be necessary to submit an NDI notification over a small change in the ratios of the long chain omega-3 fatty acids EPAto DHA in one fish oil supplement versus another? Is this really a big safety issue?”  Shockingly, Fabricant responded “If it is a different ingredient, a different chemical entity, then it should trigger an NDI notification.”

Fabricant is saying that any modification of basic fish oil should trigger an NDI notification. This is utter nonsense, but it is exactly what the FDA is attempting to do. What Fabricant did not bother to say to the supplement industry webinar audience was that an NDI application for modified fish oil would be denied, since GlaxoSmithKline already has a fish oil prescription drug on the market called Lovaza. Again, shocking.

Yes, the new guidance document makes it clear that if an existing drug contains any form of the nutrient DHA, a NDI will not be allowed (section IV.C.8-11). In other words, if modified DHA did not require an NDI notification, it qualified as a grandfathered nutrient, an obvious part of fish oil. But if the FDA decides that the newly manufactured form of the nutrient, in this case DHA, is different than its typical concentration in food, it can require that nutrient to have an NDI notification. By retroactively applying this definition to nutrients that compete with drug applications, that nutrient will automatically be denied NDI status. As of now, this is the intended fate of DHA. It is gravely unfortunate, as DHA is one of the most beneficial and effective nutrients offered by the dietary supplement industry.

This is a blatant power play to hand the entire high-grade DHA market to GlaxoSmithKline, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Lovaza already costs five to seven times what a similar amount of high-grade DHA costs—imagine how high their price will go up when there is no competition.

The Rise of Epigenetics

The new frontier of science is the field of epigenetics. A true genetic change means there is a change in the DNA sequence. Epigenetics explains factors that are not such DNA changes. Rather, epigenetic changes relate to how genes are expressed. Some are set in response to early environmental influences such as prenatal malnutrition or nutrient deficiency.  As cells split and divide, however, epigenetic factors play a large role in determining life-long human health and are strongly linked to poor health and the onset of disease. Epigenetic weaknesses magnify during aging and are major factors in the cause of cancer, heart disease, neurological and cognitive disorders, obesity, diabetes, infertility and sexual dysfunction.

This new science is finding that when toxins interfere with the human genome, they can cause lasting damage in the form of adverse epigenetic changes which can occur at any point in one’s life. This is not simply an issue of pollution. Researchers are now demonstrating that regular use of many drugs can cause adverse toxic epigenetic changes, a finding that has alarming implications for today’s medical practices. Up to this point in time, drug safety has not involved studying the impact of any drug on epigenetics.  Science now has the ability to see what is going on in this realm. The pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, unsurprisingly, have no interest in understanding and considering this new, ground-breaking information as the public would significantly reduce their intake of drugs.

On the hand, research on dietary ingredients is showing them to be powerful regulators of epigenetics and some show extreme promise for helping to treat metabolic disease and even cancer. Nutrients are showing that they possess “intelligence” and are able to tell the difference between a stressed and struggling cell (one with epigenetic weaknesses) and a cell with cancer. In the case of the stressed cell, the nutrients can fix it. In the case of the cancerous cell, the exact same nutrient can actually help kill the cancer without any adverse side effects—even overcoming mechanisms that make cancer resistant to drug treatments. Two of the very best nutrients in this category are curcumin and resveratrol, making them potential prizes for the pharmaceutical industry.

As I reported in my recent article,  “Curcumin Helps Change Gene Function to Combat Cancer,”  curcumin and resveratrol are under extensive genetic study at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Regarding cancer, these researchers are at the forefront of all things drug and biotech. The last commissioner of the FDA, Andrew von Eschenbach, was in charge at the MD Anderson Cancer Center before joining the FDA.  Researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center are practically drooling over the virtues of curcumin and resveratrol. Some quotes from their recent study include the following:

Recently, natural compounds, such as curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and resveratrol, have been shown to alter epigenetic mechanisms, which may lead to increased sensitivity of cancer cells to conventional agents and thus inhibition of tumor growth. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a yellow spice and the active component of the perennial herb Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric, is one of the most powerful and promising chemo-preventive and anticancer agents, and epidemiological evidence demonstrates that people who incorporate high doses of this spice in their diets have a lower incidence of cancer. Furthermore, epidemiological evidence exists indicating that there is a correlation between increased dietary intake of antioxidants and a lower incidence of morbidity and mortality…. How curcumin exerts its powerful anticancer activities has been thoroughly investigated, and several mechanisms of action have been discovered…. curcumin exerts its biological activities through epigenetic modulation.

Extensive research over the past five decades has indicated that curcumin reduces blood cholesterol levels; prevents low-density lipoprotein oxidation; inhibits platelet aggregation; suppresses thrombosis and myocardial infarction; suppresses symptoms associated with type II diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer disease; inhibits HIV replication; suppresses tumor formation; enhances wound healing; protects against liver injury; increases bile secretion; protects against cataract formation; and protects against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis. These divergent effects of curcumin seem to depend on its pleiotropic molecular effects, including the regulation of signal transduction pathways, and direct modulation of several enzymatic activities. Most of these signaling cascades lead to the activation of transcription factors.

Interest in the effects of dietary compounds such as resveratrol which activate class III HDACs (sirtuins) is growing rapidly because of their demonstrable role in extending lifespan and in reducing, or delaying, age-related diseases including cancers…. Resveratrol, a natural compound found in the skin of red grapes and a constituent of red wine, is believed to play a significant role in the reduction of cardiovascular events.  Multiple studies have shown that resveratrol can activate sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a histone deacetylase, and inhibit p300. Sirtuins, the class III HDACs, are widely distributed and have been shown to regulate a variety of physiopathologic processes, such as inflammation, cellular senescence and aging, cellular apoptosis and proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, stem cell pluri-potency, and cell cycle regulation.

Experimental evidence accumulated in the recent years clearly supports the idea that dietary nutraceuticals such as curcumin have great potential as epigenetic agents.

These researchers go on to cite all of the human safety and efficacy trials with curcumin, resveratrol and many other natural substances.

This is not dietary supplement companies extolling the virtues of these powerful nutrients. These are mainstream drug development researchers, stunned by the ability of nutrients to regulate epigenetics to support health and at the same time combat diseases that plague large numbers of people. The inherent capacity of these nutrients outshines that of any drug.

There should be no question in anyone’s mind as to why the pharmaceutical industry wants to claim these powerful nutrients as patent-protected drug assets. The question is more about how they plan to pull off this major scheme, this heist, from the dietary supplement industry.

Curcumin (tumeric) has been around for thousands of years and is consumed in very large amounts in Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures. This means the basic spice is protected by DSHEA. Unfortunately, curcumin has relatively poor bioavailability and raw material companies have sought to produce purified extracts with advanced production technology and combine curcumin with other nutrients such as piperine, which can elevate the biological activity up to 2,000 percent. Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center have conducted cancer research specifically with one such curcumin product, made by Sabinsa, and found it very promising.

Under the proposed FDA guidelines for NDIs, such curcumin extracts would retroactively become NDIs as they were not available prior to 1994. The immediate impact would be the removal of curcumin from the dietary supplement market while submitting an NDI application. Sabinsa, however, has already been granted several investigational new drug applications for their curcumin complex as they work with researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Under the new FDA guidelines the net result would be eliminating all high grade curcumin extracts from the dietary supplement market, as no NDI will be granted for any ingredient that is under investigation as a new drug. Sabinsa, a dietary supplement raw material supplier, will be able to sell its rights to its curcumin compound to the highest pharmaceutical bidder while all other competing curcumin extracts, including Sabinsa’s product, will be forced off the dietary supplement market.

It is a similar story for resveratrol, which is also under investigation as a new drug. In fact, numerous highly-effective and therapeutic extracts will be targeted in this way by the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA has a glaring conflict of interest and can easily approve investigational new drug applications for any nutrient of interest to the pharmaceutical cartel, automatically blocking them from entry or existence in a competitive dietary supplement marketplace. Dietary supplement companies could spend millions trying to get the FDA to pass a NDI application. The FDA just sits on the NDI application, to ultimately approve the nutrient as an investigational new drug and deny the dietary supplement company’s NDI application.

Consumer options for therapeutic nutrition will rapidly dwindle. What is left on the market will be far more expensive and many nutrients will no longer be available without prescription. Once the pharmaceutical industry gains control of the nutrient, the new price will be ten to fifty times what consumers pay now.

A Call for Consumer Action

The most important force capable of preventing skyrocketing prices and the elimination of therapeutic nutrition from the dietary supplement marketplace is you, the consumer.  If you wait to act until the products actually begin to disappear, it could be too late. Act now and help preserve your right to a wide range of these powerful and valuable dietary supplement ingredients and products at affordable prices. Say NO to the FDA’s illegal strategy to help drug companies take over the dietary supplement industry.

Go to our  TAKE ACTION  page and, please, let your voice be heard.

Take Action!

I’m new to your site and trying to examine a product I purchased for my fibromyalgia. It is Source Natural’s ‘Fibro-Response’ with Malic Acid and MSM.

I usually never buy before researching but guess I had a “stupid” moment and did so—-but I want to know more about its contents before I start taking it.

It is so difficult to ascertain whether a vitamin/herb/supplement is a quality product.

I have used vitamins/supplements for many of my 62 years and I sure do need a product for my fibromyalgia and my arthritis.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Hello Maggie,

Thanks for contacting me with your question. With respect to your Fibromyalgia firstly let me congratulate you on your desire to include an all natural (non-pharmaceutical) approach to your treatment. I’m assuming from this that chronic pain/tender points are not a major symptom for you and I certainly hope that this is the case.

Since you haven’t supplied any details about the exact nature and severity of your symptoms, my initial advice would be to take a more comprehensive multi faceted approach aimed at addressing the (suspected) root causes rather than just trying to suppress/manage the symptoms. Fibromyalgia, as you would know, is a complex chronic syndrome for which the exact causes are simply not known or understood at this point. Medical researchers however tend to have a general ‘genetic’ predisposition that it is likely caused and triggered (made worse) by several factors acting together rather than one isolated underlying factor.

Non pharmaceutical treatment options for FM encompass nutrition, relaxation techniques, and exercise. Looking at your nutritional intake is a great place to start and this is where the nutritional health supplements come in. It is always recommended that FM patients have an optimal dietary regime, fluid intake, and whatever exercise is within their means. Also, to strictly limit the amount of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol they use (as these have been shown to irritate muscles and stress body systems).

You asked about the ‘supplement quality issue’ and I can tell you that although Source Naturals Supplements are of very high quality, I would not recommend their ‘Fibro-Response’ supplement you bought , very simply because the formula is nowhere near comprehensive enough. In order to address the root causes of FM (whatever they may be) you need a much broader spectrum of general and specialized nutrients on a daily basis which overall target every single organ and system in your body including your brain.

The supplement which I do want to recommend to you is called ‘Total Balance’ (in your case the Women’s ‘Premium’ version). This supplement formula contains 91 ingredients, many of which are highly specialized nutrients not found in any other health/vitamin supplements (due to their cost and need to be protected by an enteric coating on the tablet to bypass the stomach and release them in the upper intestine). SAMe (S-Adenosylmethionine), L -Carnosine and L-Glutathione (low molecular weight) are good examples of these highly specialized/highly effective nutrients.

Maggie, this Total Balance supplement I’m recommending to you is an elite grade specialty supplement for very health conscious people who want superior nutritional support to protect the health of their DNA, normalize their aging process and avoid all those 21st century influenced (and preventable) degenerative diseases which are effecting people at younger and younger ages these days. Most Importantly this formula contains ingredients from ALL the various nutrients classes (which is important in your case). It covers these nutrients categories:-

If you can afford a full daily dose of the Total Balance Women’s Premium version then this is what I recommend. If not then use whatever your budget allows.

Now, because FM affects the nervous system, I recommend that in conjunction with the Total Balance you also use another supplement called ‘Neuro Natural’. The ‘General’ version is the one to get (unless you’re having severe bouts in which case the Neuro Natural ‘Memory’ version would be better).

Omega 3 fish oil is also a key part of a highly efficious nutritional intake so if your budget allows please add in 1000mg of Omega 3 oil each day.
Maggie – just to let you know, Total Balance is the only supplement I trust for my own health and I have been using it as the foundation of my own personal supplement regime for the past 10 years. My entire family, including my mother and father, use it.

You also mentioned having Arthritis (unfortunately, a common condition with FM patients). So I’d like to tell you about a supplement called ‘Arthrit-Eze’ (also from the Xtend-Life company in New Zealand). It is, in my opinion, the most advanced all natural arthritis formula in the market (31 ingredients). This supplement was formulated to specifically treat the ROOT CAUSES of Arthritis and this is why I recommend to people with Arthritis.

The truth is that virtually all Arthritis formulas in the supplement industry only aim at suppressing symptoms, simply because they do not have enough specialized ingredients to go after the root causes of the condition.

My father had arthritis in his fingers and so I got him onto Arthrit-Eze. After 3 months he was able to stop using it as his pain and stiffness had gone. This was a fast and excellent result for him.

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MAGGIE, I’ve prepared these links for you and they will take you to the product pages for the supplements I’ve recommended (and to some pages on my website where more product info can be found):

Total Balance product info

Detailed Review of Total Balance

Neuro Natural “General’ version

Omega 3 DHA Fish Oil

Omega 3 DHA Fish Oil – what to look for in the best oils

Arthrit-Eze Product Info

I have been reading with interest your information on Olive Leaf Extract.

My interest stems from recovery from minor heart surgery for 2 stents to be implanted.

The doctors are treating me with aspirin 300mg, Plavix and 10 mg Crestor. I am about to be given medication to lower blood pressure.

As your article mentioned some conflict with antibiotics, will Olive Leaf Extract interfere with the above medication?

In addition my wife has an under performing Thyroid for which she has medication. You mention great results when taken for the immune system how will it play in this situation?

I look forward to your response

Cheers

Hello Tony

Tony, there are no direct interactions with Olive leaf and Plavix, Crestor or Aspirin (You didn’t mention the names of the hypertensive drugs, the doctors were planning to give you so I cannot answer on that).

If you are taking a multi ingredient health/vitamin supplement containing Olive Leaf Extract, then providing you are taking it in correct dosage (as prescribed by the manufacturer) and away from any pharmaceutical medication, there should be no problems. (This should be the protocol for any natural supplement).

If used on its own, Olive leaf extract is only a temporary aid, not a long-term aid.

Therefore, for your condition, the best benefits over the longer term will come from a specific natural supplement regime (rather than purely pharmaceutical).

Firstly, I would recommend Cardio-Klenz - a sophisticated supplement for the heart and arteries. The formula directly targets the circulatory system (arteries and veins). It was formulated to specifically:

>> Break down the plaque in arteries gradually and dispose of it
>> Reduce aggregation of platelets in the blood
>> Smooth the interior of the arteries to improve blood flow
>> Stabilize blood pressure
>> Increase antioxidant protection (to inhibit free radical damage)
>> Reduce calcium build up
>> Decrease homocysteine toxicity
>> Balance LDL and triglyceride levels
>> Increase circulatory strength and heart muscle function

My mother has hypertension and has been using this Cardio-Klenz supplement for the past year with very good results. She has been able to significantly reduce her blood pressure medication as a result. I personally use it myself once a year for about 5-6 months straight as an annual spring clean for my arteries.

This link will take you to the product page where you can read more about it:

Cardio-Klenz product info

Secondly, for general good health I recommend a highly advanced multi nutrient supplement called: Total Balance – it’s formula targets all organs and systems in the body. This supplement is the cornerstone of my own supplement regime (and that of my whole family).

My mother (who has just turned 80) has been on Total Balance for 3 years now and during that time she has been able to drop all her pharmaceutical medications except for a small dose of blood pressure meds.

I have used Total Balance myself for going on 8 years and I have no health problems whatsoever nor have I been sick for even one day in those 8 years. The immunity benefits I receive from it are fantastic!

Tony, if you have already read through a number of the pages in my website you would have seen the great extent I have gone to to explain the Total Balance formula to mu readers  and the reasons why it out-performs all other supplements out there.

Did you see any of the health/vitamin supplement comparisons on my site? They show the industry’s (so-called) best multi nutrient health and vitamin supplements pitted side by side with Total Balance in easy to understand and completely transparent terms – along with separate detailed reviews.

Best vitamin supplement comparisons

The premium versions of Total Balance have 97 ingredients. I recommend you take the Men’s premium version  if financially you can, (take a half or three quarter dose if you need to reduce the expense- that’s what my mother does).  Both the mens and womens versions contain 50 mg of (standardized) Olive Leaf Extract (for general health purposes).

Here’s a link to the Total Balance product pages if you would like to read up on it and I’ve included some links so that you can compare the benefits, costs and ingredients between the Premium and Standard versions:

Mens Premium Version (The one I use)

Women’s Premium Version

Men’s Standard Version

Women’s Standard Version

Compare benefits and costs

Compare Ingredients

Thirdly Tony, I recommend you take the Omega 3/DHA supplement – a supplement every health conscious person should be taking for good general health but in your case the emphasis is on the heart benefits derived from the fish oil.

There are many omega 3/fish oil products available but this one is far more advanced. Use the link just below to open the Omega 3/DHA Buyers guide (a pdf format file) which explains why the Omega3 Premium Fish Oil supplement from the Xtend-life Company in New Zealand is exceptionally more beneficial than the other Omega/Fish oil supplements in the market.

This is a functional Premium Grade completely PURE oil which is manufactured in a sophisticated way to give far greater anti-inflammatory benefits than other oils as well as containing two very powerful specialty nutrients – Lyc-O-Mato® (a complex lycopene extract from tomato oil) and Natural Astaxanthin which allow the oil to also target your skin from the inside (as in ‘de-aging’ your skin). Since I use this oil myself I can vouch for it potency and ability to do what it promises

Omega 3 Premium Oil- Product Info

Omega 3/ DHA  Buyers Guide

These three supplements represent a very good regime for the purpose of helping with general and specifically in your case, cardio health.

Tony, if you wish to start such a longer-term (helpful) natural supplement protocol, using the supplements I have recommended, you would need to begin at a low dose, away from your meds, and build up gradually to a full dose, (again away from your meds at each dose), and monitored by your doctor as you discuss potentially weaning yourself slowly and gradually down on your pharmaceutical medications.

In addition I want to stress the need for an optimal dietary regime, fluid intake, and whatever exercise is within your means, (supervised where applicable).

If you want any further help with this, especially where the drugs are concerned and the transition to a natural supplement protocol/approach to your health-care, I would need to get more info from you: Blood pressure medication, current condition severity and status, any blood results you currently have, for example, would all be helpful.

I have spoken with the Medical Nutritionist at the Xtend-Life company (the manufacturer of the above supplements) and she would be happy to advise you further if you would like to supply more information. She is based in the UK and I would put you in-touch with her via email.

With regard to your wife, I would recommend Total Balance (Womens Premium) and Omega 3 Premium Fish Oil rather than just taking Olive Leaf Extract in isolation, as these s2 supplements in combination are helpful for the thyroid – they help to balance the body systems, including hormonal. (Again take the supplements away from any pharmaceutical medication, preferably by 2-3 hours, or as near as to this time line as possible).

With more info (blood results, symptoms, severity of condition, etc) I may be able to offer further advice for your wife’s condition.

To Good Health Tony

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Of course you know as well as I do that there is a literal mountain of products out there, all of which supposedly give you the anti aging wrinkle results you so desperately desire. If you’re well read however then you know all too well that most anti aging products barely do anything!

The fancy marketing presentations (aka ‘lies’ and ‘mis-truths’) that manufacturers come up with to ‘spin’ their products are designed to mis-lead you and tell you what you want to hear. They also cleverly hide any and all weaknesses that each product contains. But, their days of basking in the vast profits that amass from consumers lack of knowledge are fast coming to an end!

Over the past 10 years researchers have been hard at work learning what actually works and why. So, let’s just cut to the chase!

When it comes to anti aging wrinkle cures what works and what doesn’t work? And just how many ‘PROVEN” anti aging wrinkle substances actually exist?

Well, according to a recent review in The Archives of Dermatology, there are THREE treatments out there waiting for you which are “proven clinically effective”!

1. The topical application of retinol


2. Carbon dioxide laser resurfacing


3. An injection of hyaluronic acid

WOW – only three!

Each of these treatments work with the same mechanism of action- the interaction of connective tissue cells (called ‘fibroblasts’) with the collagen they produce.

David Leffell, a professor of dermatology and surgery at Yale, said in response to the study “This is an area where there’s a lot of hype and not much substance”

Of course any of us who have spent a small fortune on anti aging wrinkle creams and serums over the years already know this.

Leffell went on to say that this particular study is “good science”.

What researchers have come to gradually recognize is that the cause of wrinkles lies with damage to the mechanical properties of collagen outside your skin cells, and not necessarily genetic damage to the cells themselves. This discovery sits along side an improved understanding of ‘dermal collagen’ which is your skin’s connective tissue.

So, here’s an easy breakdown.

Fibroblasts create collagen. So, in a perfect world they could go on their merry way unimpeded throughout our lives busily making collagen to keep us looking young. But…..

…of course there’s always a ‘but’ and here it is. Exposure to sunlight diminishes fibroblasts ability to produce collagen!

Which body parts receive the greatest sun exposure? That’s right, your face, neck, hands and upper chest. All the areas where we wrinkle the most (and don’t want to). This connection is clearly demonstrated in fair skinned people whose light-pigmented skin wrinkles more readily than darker skinned people.

You know that your skin naturally deteriorates with age. This is in part because certain enzymes degrade your collagen. But ultraviolet radiation from sunlight sets of the production of these same enzymes. Double whammy! Sun damage to your collagen and its production essentially creates a situation representing accelerated natural chronological aging.

So, with age and exposure to ultraviolet radiation, your collagen fibers deteriorate and fragment. This inhibits the fibroblasts collagen producing ability. As the fragmented collagen accumulates, new collagen production declines, the connections between the fibroblasts and the collagen weaken, and the skin, now lacking support, begins to wrinkle!

Anti Aging Wrinkle Magic

Enter our three proven treatments from above. Each one is able to tackle this destructive process.

Retinol ( a form of vitamin A) when applied topically on your skin causes the production of new collagen in both naturally aged skin and skin damaged by ultraviolet radiation.

How does it do that? Well no-one is really sure, The molecular pathways involved are not very well understood as yet. But as long as we know it works then who really wants to know how it performs its anti aging wrinkle magic.

The next logical question is what concentration of retinol is enough to have an effect?

According to Dr, Gary J. Fisher, a professor of dermatology and the lead author of the review, you should look for concentrations of 0.2% to 0.6%

Strangely enough MANY of the retinol containing skin creams which are available over the counter do not list the concentration of the retinol. Only a company with something to hide would resort to such measures so steer clear of these kind of dubious products.

A totally ineffective concentration of say 0.005% still qualifies a manufacturer to market their retinol wonder product in big bold letters! These incredibly tiny concentrations barely qualify the retinol as the active ingredient! They are simply a waste of money.

And don’t be sucked in by useless products that do state the concentration of retinol on the label. Take careful note of that number!

Now, with over the counter retinol products there is a fine line between effectiveness and side effects! Anti aging wrinkle preparations with retinol concentrations strong enough (as above) to produce results can cause a ‘retinoid dermatitis’. In such cases you must stop using the product. A gradual build-up in concentration has proven effective for some in avoiding this problem.

Retinol also makes your skin more prone to ultraviolet light damage. Strict sun protection measures such as umbrellas or avoiding the sun altogether are absolutely crucial while using retinol.

If you take your anti aging wrinkle strategy very seriously then the best bet is to go for a prescription strength retinol preparation rather than risking an over the counter product.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Strategy – Zap Them

Now we come to the second treatment from our ‘effectiveness proven’ list – carbon dioxide laser resurfacing.

This CO2 laser has been around for quite a while now and it’s effectiveness has been well tested. I definitely know this treatment works because I’ve had it done on my face twice in the past 12 years and my results were nothing short of fantastic. For most people though one treatment in a space of this many years would normally be enough. (When it comes to my anti aging wrinkle program I’m a bit on the ‘intense’ side!)

If you’re not familiar with the CO2 laser, what it does is to burn away very fine layers of skin without damaging surrounding tissue. New collagen is produced as the wound heals.

The healing time takes on average 2-3 weeks. This rather long recovery period is what turns many people away from this treatment option. You need to completely avoid the sun while your skin is healing.

There are several alternative lasers available now which have virtually no recovery downtime but the results are way less noticeable than with the carbon dioxide laser, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried one of these lasers (around my eyes) roughly 1 year ago and frankly I felt that that the financial outlay was just not worth it for the minimal results achieved. Particularly because I had experienced the results of the CO2 laser earlier so it was easy to assess the comparative effectiveness of both treatments.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Injections

Injections of a form of hyaluronic acid, similar to a substance the skin normally produces, into the dermis that underlies the wrinkles is the third and last of our three effective anti wrinkle treatments.

The interesting thing with hyaluronic acid is that it was originally used as a space filler to ‘fill in’ wrinkles. There was no intended physiological outcome.

In time researchers discovered that as the injection stretches the dermis, fibroblasts react by increasing their collagen production levels. The authors of the Archives of Dermatology review cite studies that have demonstrated that increased collagen production is visible within a month after the injection. The benefit lasts about six months, Dr. Fisher said.

You’ll find topical creams containing “Hyaluronic Acid” for sale but this form is not the same as the effective injectable form. It is not possible to stimulate new collagen with these topical skin preparations so please don’t waste your money on any of them.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Cures – Specialized Nutrients

We’ve seen that these three treatments effectively address the reduction of wrinkles and are backed by solid research. But there’s more we can add to create a much more potent anti aging wrinkle program!

You can address your wrinkles from the inside out!

What I mean by this is using cutting edge nutritional science to address the primary causes of chronological aging. This involves sophisticated supplementation with specialized nutrients that can tackle the four fundamental causes of aging.

Do you know what these four ‘aging components’ are?

1. Free Radical Production


2. Glycation


3. Methylation


4. Inflammation

Each of these is a traumatic and highly destructive situation for your health. But all four together represent a colossal tidal wave of health issues and degenerative disease. You see they are all interrelated so you must tackle all four at the same time.

Living in the civilized world of the 21 st century is the chief cause of these four health busting conditions. Their net effect on your health is PREMATURE AGING. This means the greatest majority of people living in the modern civilized world are aging far faster than what mother nature intended.

Besides the onset of degenerative disease, premature aging leads to the degradation of your collagen. Remember I mentioned earlier how your skin naturally deteriorates with age? Well, premature aging speeds that process up tremendously. Basically your collagen begins to collapse and those youth destroying wrinkles appear more and more.

So, as far as your anti aging wrinkle program is concerned, for more powerful results you need a 2 pronged approach. The first is addressing wrinkles at the skin level with the one of the proven treatments from above. The second is to address premature aging by using supplements containing proven nutrients which can take on and deal with free radicals, glycation, methylation and chronic inflammation.

Perhaps you may like to read my anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series There are four parts and each part covers one of these four aging components and reveals the names of the specialized nutrients needed to tackle it. Parts 1-3 are available now and the final article will be out next week. Just use the link above to pop over to Part 1.

Some of these special ingredients are extremely rare in the nutritional supplement industry. In fact, there is only one multi ingredient health/vitamin supplement in the entire market that contains ALL of them to successfully address premature aging by slowing down and normalizing your chronological aging process.

How do I know?

I used to work in the supplement industry and I’ve reviewed hundreds of supplements including the markets leaders. I can tell you that almost all nutritional health supplements (or nutritional vitamin supplements as they’re more commonly called) address free radical production through the use of antioxidants. But as for the other three primary causes of aging, manufacturers simply cannot afford to include the specialized ingredients that can get the job done. That’s because almost all of them set out to manufacture their supplements to a price!

This approach guarantees that they will NOT include all the necessary key ingredients that the latest nutritional science has identified as the most potent and effective!

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Click on this link if you would like to know more about the only nutritional supplement that includes all the specialized ingredients to tackle free radicals, glycation , methylation and inflammation. There’s separate versions for males and females.

And if you would like to read my review of this supplement (it’s called Total Balance) use this link here: Total balance review

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Related Sites And Interesting Posts

• Anti Aging – The Top Ten Tips – If you liked these ten anti aging strategies, be sure to visit Jim’s online resource for more anti aging articles and anti aging tips….
• Anti Aging Tips for Your Face – Although more and more anti-aging creams and serums are coming into the market, many of these really actually contribute a great deal to keeping wrinkles and sagging at bay. These anti-aging face products do have advantages and benefits …
• Prostate Health – What You Need To Know – Anti aging isn’t all about women – this article is for men. If you are a woman – Pass it along to the man in your life….
• The Easiest Way To The Best Anti Aging Skin Products – It’s important to learn all you can about anti aging so you prevent or delay the aging process for a very long time. If you are ninety, no one will worry that you are aged, but to be in your fifties or forties and start aging is not …
• Top 10 Anti-aging tips – Let’s face it, we’re not getting any younger. But we can do something so we can look younger and stays healthy at the same time. I came across these top ten anti-aging tips that I would like to share….
• Laser Wrinkle Removal – There are many wrinkle treatments such as wrinkle serums, anti aging wrinkle creams, anti wrinkle eye creams, wrinkle reducers, wrinkle removers, and wrinkle products on the market. They all claim to be great at wrinkle reduction. …

Last week I posted an entry about the negative [tag-tec]supplement[/tag-tec] report released last month in the Harvard Men’s Health Watch newsletter.

In that post I made mention of the fact that over the years there has been research and studies released which have “been ‘sponsored’ by those with ‘anti-supplement vested interests’, such as Big Pharma, where the final conclusion has been pre-determined before the study even begins!”

So today I thought I would tell you about another NASTY behavior of pharmaceutical drug companies – HIDING NEGATIVE DRUG STUDIES!

In January this year researchers reported that almost a third of antidepressant studies are never published (anywhere) and almost all these hidden studies show that the drug being tested did not work!

This behavior is known as the “file drawer effect” and it is believed to have been going on for years.

A research team of the Oregon Health and Science University reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that unfavorable results have also been altered in some studies to make it appear that the drug is more effective than it really is.

This of course has serious and potentially deadly consequences for the public because doctors rely on published studies to help guide them in which medicines they prescribe to patients.

The researchers found 74 studies that were started for the 12 antidepressants and that 38 produced positive results for the drug they dealt with. It’s no surprise that 37 of these were subsequently published.

BUT…

The remaining 36 studies showed negative or questionable results (as assessed by the FDA.) Of these only 3 were published and 11 more were written up and published in a way that conveyed the outcome that the drug had worked!

See what we’re up against when it comes to the power and influence of greedy pharmaceutical companies!

As an example:

Antidepressant and Company Name

Paxil GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

7 negatives studies. 5 never published

Wellbutrin GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

3 studies found. 2 were negative. Both never published

Zoloft Pfizer

5 studies found. 3 were negative. All 3 never published.

The FDA concluded that a fourth study was ‘questionable’ and this was written up to make it seem that the drug worked.

So, what did the companies say when they were contacted in reference to this?

GSK said they post the data from ALL studies on the Internet!

Pfizer responded that ALL its drug studies are disclosed within a year.

Do you believe them?

Let me know your opinion in the comment section below.

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Are you using an upmarket multi ingredient vitamin supplement? The types of supplements promoted as super supplements? Do these higher prices give you SUPER ingredients, SUPER efficiency and SUPERIOR value for money? Let’s find out!

Just how super are super supplements – find out here

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I’m sure you’ve already heard the stories!

Drug companies authorizing and training their sales reps to ‘take care’ of doctors and nurture the relationship so that in return the doctors will gratefully prescribe the companies drugs to their patients.

This is a MAJOR part of why we are living in an age where 6,000,000 CHILDREN ARE TAKING PSYCH DRUGS!

It’s shocking and immoral but it’s far from a perfect world we live in – especially when it comes to YOUR health care. As you probably know it all comes down to the mighty dollar!

That’s why the major drug companies are ripping in unheard of profits!

And the drug companies are going to keep doing whatever it takes to push their drugs onto the end-user because Americans love popping pills.

Why?

Because they want it ALL! A lazy lifestyle, dreadful diets AND [tag-ice]LONGEVITY[/tag-ice]! (Americans maintain the longest life expectancy of all developed nations!)

You know the really frustrating part of this is that the most profitable pharmaceutical drugs in the market are those that treat PREVENTABLE diseases like high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering drug, is the #1 medication sold in the USA.

Get this – it brings in sales of about 12 Billion Dollars a year! Whoa – 12 billion!

The greed and profiteering of the major drug companies seems to know no bounds!

So then , the number one question to ask is:

“What exactly is going on behind the closed doors of doctors offices across America?”

A former drug rep came out last month to confirm the answer! Right up he admitted he was paid to wine and dine doctors to make a sale!

Shahram Ahari, spent 2 years at Eli Lilly where he sold the popular psych drugs Prozac and Zypraxa.

Ahari told a Senate Aging Committee that his job involved “rewarding physicians with gifts and attention for their allegiance to your product and company despite what may be ethically appropriate.”

Ahari claims that despite having no background in science, former cheerleaders, athletes, models and even military personnel were often hired by drug companies as sales reps.

Clearly drug companies are using more than just the merits of the drugs themselves to influence prescribing decisions!

During their five-week training class, Ahari says he was taught sales tactics such as:

• How to exceed spending limits for important clients

• How to be generous with free samples to leverage sales

• How to use friendships and personal gifts to foster a “quid pro quo” relationship

• How to exploit sexual tension

This whistle-blower basically ‘said it all’ when he uttered:

“The nature of this business is gift-giving.”

Would you like to know some of the more lavish types of gifts that doctors receive?

Ahari claims he’s heard stories about sales reps ‘helping’ with the costs of a doctor’s swimming pool and regular trips to nightclubs where a hostess was paid to keep the doctor company!

Hmmmmm!

The pharmaceutical companies are always telling us about the high costs of research for the development of prescription drugs but what about their marketing budgets - what must they be…?

Keep in mind that the pharmaceutical industry is bringing in new record profits — more than 3 times the average of other Fortune 500 industries, that’s after all research and development costs.

So how much are the sales reps getting for this type of work?

Apparently it’s often more than the researchers earn! Isn’t that truly incredible!

On top of a base salary of $50,000 for starting reps, Ahari says, “there were four quarterly bonuses, an annual bonus, stock options, a car, 401K, great health benefits, and a $60,000 expense account.”

What didn’t they get!

Recommended Reading:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/guess-whos-educating-your-doctor/ Guess Who’s Educating Your Doctor – Tara Parker-Pope NY Times Blog </a>

Sources:

ABC News March 12, 2008

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Are you using an upmarket multi ingredient vitamin supplement? The types of supplements promoted as super supplements? Do these higher prices give you SUPER ingredients, SUPER efficiency and SUPERIOR value for money? Let’s find out!

Just how super are super supplements – find out here

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Brett’s Comments:

This issue seems to have good recognition with health conscious consumers but not so with less healthy people who visit their doctors more often.

Almost all of my friends are well educated about [tag-tec]health[/tag-tec] and [tag-tec]nutrition[/tag-tec] and when I mentioned this story to more than a dozen of them during last week, every single one knew about ‘gift-giving’ practices to doctors and said it was “old news” to them.

Then I mentioned exactly the same thing to 5 people I know who are not in very good shape and have terrible diets full of processed foods and junk foods.

Only one of them said he had heard of the gift giving problem.

The health conscious people all said they are very well aware that their doctors were under this kind of influence and accordingly they not only questioned their doctors when a drug was subscribed but also researched the drug on the web the very same day.

Only then did they make the decision whether to take the drug or revisit their doctor (and in a few cases it was a different doctor for a second opinion.)

Shahram Ahari is one of very few sales reps who has seen and partaken in these corrupt practices and then gone public with them.

He is giving the public the confirmation for what many of us knew was going on but it’s still shocking to hear the extent of this ethical corruption with swimming pools, night clubs and hostesses!

As of April 2007 only 7% of U.S. Doctors refuse to meet with drug sales reps.

What does that mean to you?

That your doctor is probably under the influence of sales reps and has comfy relations with them!

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine reveals the following:

28% of doctors have been paid for consulting services, lectures or signing their patients up for clinical trials

80% of doctors commonly accept free food and samples of drugs

94% of doctors have some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical drug industry

One third of doctors were reimbursed by the drug industry for attending professional meetings and/or further education classes

According to a report by Ahari and a colleague, published in PLoS Medicine

“Reps may be genuinely friendly, but they are not genuine friends. Drug reps are selected for their presentability and outgoing natures, and are trained to be observant, personable, and helpful. They are also trained to assess physicians’ personalities, practice styles, and preferences, and to relay this information back to the company.”

This is very serious stuff!

EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE

The drug sales reps are purposely trained with cutting edge tactics and strategies that will effectively brainwash a doctor for a successful outcome.

Tactics for manipulating physicians are clearly printed out for reps to follow.

For example:

To see the entire chart just use this link:

tactics for manipulating doctors

From the moment a sales rep enters a doctors office the contest begins!

“A photo on a desk presents an opportunity to inquire about family members and memorize whatever tidbits are offered (including names, birthdays, and interests); these are usually typed into a database after the encounter. Reps scour a doctor’s office for objects—a tennis racquet, Russian novels, seventies rock music, fashion magazines, travel mementos, or cultural or religious symbols—that can be used to establish a personal connection with the doctor.”

TO SUM UP

If your doctor is seeing drug reps there is a VERY STRONG likelihood that he/she has been manipulated by the huge multinational drug companies hiding behind their reps and as a result your doctor is probably biased in his attitudes and choices towards the drugs he/she prescribes.

In other words your doctor, perhaps quite unintentionally, does not have a free choice in the medicines he/she prescribes and that means there is the possibility that you may not get the absolute best medicine at the best price.

SO, STAY HEALTHY AND STAY AWAY FROM THE DOCTORS OFFICE!

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This person made 3 comments in his post, all of which I have seen quite regularly on health sites around the web and ALL 3 represent common misconceptions with regard to nutritional supplements!

These particular misconceptions are proof of the popular saying “If you throw enough mud for long enough some of it will stick!”

And the Internet only serves to exacerbate this problem!

Because I take issue with these comments on several levels I have decided to address them in my blog post for today.

”What are they” you ask?

Here’s what the reader said:

1. “Almost all the studies we read about these days are flawed or intentionally skewed….

2. Most supplements on the market are just a waste of money, they contain synthetic or low quality ingredients….

3. ….and what’s actually much worse are the excipients that they are made with – magnesium stearate, stearic acid, vegetable cellulose, etc. are all damaging to the human body, specifically as immunosuppressants”

Hmmmmmmm!

Here are my responses:-

1) Almost All Studies Are Flawed:

It’s waaaaaay too much of an all-encompassing generalization to say “almost all studies …. are flawed or intentionally skewed”.

While some studies, such as the recent Cochrane Report on [tag-tec]supplements[/tag-tec] and early death, are definitely skewed in favour of a pre-existing bias, the majority of studies are conducted in a manner in which much useful information can be gained.

Yes, there will always be flaws in a study; new information will appear that casts things in a different light, the study may not be long enough, the study may not necessarily be looking at the correct values or some of the participants may not be “suitable” for the study, among many other reasons.

But this is no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water!

Even in a “flawed” study there can still be a lot of useful information gathered!

I have stressed this before – it is important to DIG A LITTLE DEEPER and look CLOSELY at the:-

• The reason behind the study – what are they REALLY looking for?

• The parameters used to verify the hypothesis (EVERY study should have a clearly defined hypothesis based on previous research being investigating, rather than just seeing what effect an ingredient has)

• Statistical methods used to analyze the results (remember there are 3 types of UNTRUTH: lies, damned lies and STATISTICS!)

• And even the conclusions that the researchers come to.

Everything needs to be looked at closely and in detail. This is part of the reason why peer-review is important (though it also to be taken to a degree with a grain of salt).

2) Most Supplements Are A Waste Of Money

Yes – I do AGREE that MOST supplements on the market today are a WASTE OF MONEY!

They are contract manufactured, with the cheapest and sometimes useless ingredients of low quality.

They are formulated by people who have no understanding of [tag-tec]nutrition[/tag-tec],[tag-ice] nutritional[/tag-ice] science or [tag-tec]health[/tag-tec]!

But Not ALL supplements are like that!

There is an elite group at the top of the market which are formulated using genuine nutritional science, are manufactured by the company promoting and selling the product, using the best quality materials available including many ingredients that are not in the “run-of-the-mill” products.

These supplements are VERY GOOD VALUE and are the only ones you should use to support your health and [tag-ice]longevity[/tag-ice]!

3) Excipients Are All Damaging To The Body

Again, this person gets very ‘all-encompassing’ with the “excipients….are all damaging to the human body” statement.

This is RUBBISH!

Virtually all excipients, but especially magnesium stearate, stearic acid, vegetable cellulose ARE DERIVED FROM PLANTS!

Is this person saying that we SHOULDN’T EAT PLANTS?

Because all these types of excipients are ordinarily present in plants that are a part of the ordinary diet, and the quantities eaten as part of the diet FARRRRR outweigh the amounts in [tag-ice]nutritional health supplements[/tag-ice].

In the case of stearic acid this is a vital component of the diet that is used in a large number of functions within the body. It can even be used to produce unsaturated fats.

The state-of-the art [tag-tec]vitamin supplement[/tag-tec], Total Balance,I take uses Magnesium Stearate, Carboxy Methyl Celluose (CMC), Microcrystalline Celluose (MCC), Calcium Phosphate, Dextrose and Silicon Dioxide as excipients, and ONLY these.

You can view Total Balance here.

The first 3 are derived from plants, calcium phosphate is a component in hydroxyapatite that makes up 70% of bone, dextrose is a form of glucose, one of the most important sugars in the body, and silicon dioxide is known to pass through the body unchanged.

Many other (less professional and responsible) companies may use a much larger range of excipients 10-20 – even 62!), some of which may have harmful effects, but Xtend-Life which manufactures Total Balance choses only these ones because they can either be used in the body or pass through.

The Chairman of the company once told me that limiting their excipient range often creates problems for them and their tablets resulting in additional expense.

But they accept that as a consequence of producing a safe, high quality, healthy supplement.

Does Your Supplement Manufacturer Follow Suit?

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Your nutritional vitamin supplement contains Folic acid, right?

Well it very well may cause you cancer - according to a recently released article!

That’s exactly what Harvard Medical School researchers have said in the March 2008 edition of their Harvard Men’s Health Watch newsletter.

They also cited studies to say that other multivitamin ingredients, namely [tag-tec]antioxidants[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]vitamins B6[/tag-tec], B12 and [tag-ice]Folic acid[/tag-ice] don’t prevent disease (cancer and heart disease).

Now, before jumping to any conclusions, it is VERY important, with all (often sensationalist) negative supplement reports, to DIG DEEPER to see what’s really going on!

As you know some researcher’s research protocols and conclusions can be clouded by vested interests and their results INTENTIONALLY SKEWED. Third party examinations of the cited studies/research usually paint a somewhat different picture/conclusion. (Usually that it is inconclusive and needs further study!).

Over the years there has been studies conducted, which have been ‘sponsored’ by those with ‘anti-supplement vested interests’, such as Big Pharma, where the final conclusion has been pre-determined before the study even begins! This needs to be kept in mind when reading negative [tag-tec]supplement[/tag-tec] studies.

The best course of action is to never take any of them at face value.

In the case of this Harvard Men’s Health watch report, the Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at the Council for Responsible [tag-tec]Nutrition[/tag-tec] (CRN), Andrew Shao, Ph.D., has come out to question the research cited in the newsletter and labeled it’s conclusion as “premature”.

Mr Shao helped put this report in perspective for supplement consumers and other interested parties by revealing that the [tag-ice]antioxidant[/tag-ice] studies it referenced have been “heavily criticized by the scientific community.”

He also noted that the Folic acid research cited was “only one study”!

Hmmmmm – ONE SINGLE STUDY!

That lone study found an increased risk of [tag-ice]cancer[/tag-ice] (colon and prostate cancers) among people taking Folic acid. BUT……

……the study involved ONLY people taking large amounts of Folic acid ( a whopping 2.5 times the recommended daily allowance) and who already have an increased risk of developing the [tag-ice]disease[/tag-ice].

The devil is in the details!

NOTE: Harvard professors contacted by Shao also thought the article was premature, and said that they still take their [tag-tec]multivitamins[/tag-tec].

The newsletter article concluded “There is no proof that a daily [tag-ice]multivitamin[/tag-ice] is harmful. Still, it now seems possible that the high levels of Folic acid achieved by well-intentioned people who take a multivitamin and eat healthful [tag-ice]foods[/tag-ice] could increase the risk of colorectal and possible prostate and breast cancers.”

Sources:

Harvard Men’s Health Watch March 2008

Natural Foods Merchandiser March 4, 2008

Brett’s Comments:

An estimated 35 percent of U.S. adults regularly take [tag-tec]nutritional vitamin supplements[/tag-tec]. That includes the industry’s best [tag-ice]super supplements[/tag-ice] that come with a much higher price tag.

That’s a HUGE amount of money each year spent on [tag-tec]dietary supplements[/tag-tec]. ($21 billion actually).

But….. it has been previously estimated that $1 in every $3 used on [tag-tec]nutritional supplements[/tag-tec] is WASTED!

Gosh, could that be your money?

Supplement users, like you and I, have relied on supplement manufacturers for the safety and efficacy of supplements we use. We rely on them to balance the ingredient dose amounts so that if in the unlikely event situations such as the above Harvard report ever turn out to be true, we will not be affected by having consumed excessive amounts of any isolated ingredient.

If you’ve read through some of the articles in at the nutritional supplement truths main site, you’ll already know that relying on supplement manufacturers can be a BIG MISTAKE!

The time has come for supplement consumers to start thoroughly checking up on the manufacturers of supplement(s) they use or those they are comparing prior to purchase.

Why?

Because there are just too many dishonest and disreputable manufacturers out there trying to mislead you.

And on top of that there’s many many others who just don’t have the superior manufacturing know-how to produce a safe, professional, science-based supplement that is highly effective. The kind of [tag-ice]elite supplement[/tag-ice] that savvy consumers like you and I want to take.

You know, even the huge and well known supplement companies who have marketed their way to large scale popular recognition over the years, are cleverly holding back little known key information because it would reveal weaknesses and poor value for money in their products.

Now more than ever you need to check the details of your nutritional supplements to be sure you haven’t been sucked in by deceptive and misleading marketing and that you really are getting all the [tag-tec]health benefits[/tag-tec] you want and are paying for.

Many self claimed super supplements are certainly not all they claim to be and this extends right down to the basic supermarket type multivitamins as well!

The short time it takes to do your supplement homework will be well worth it, for your safety and peace of mind and that of your family if they use [tag-tec]nutritional health supplements[/tag-tec].

WHAT’S IN YOUR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT?

I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not but the FDA dietary supplement regulations leave it up it up to supplement manufacturers to make sure their supplement is safe and effective, and that the bottle label is a truthful representation of what’s really in each tablet in that bottle.

These FDA regulations don’t prevent manufacturers from creating poorly put together and even [tag-ice]unsafe supplements[/tag-ice]!

Because there’s currently no FDA enforcement, many manufacturers take advantage of the situation by doing minimal to no quality assurance testing of their raw material ingredients.

Reputable supplement manufacturers, however, test ALL their raw ingredients for conformity with each Certificate Of Analysis (COA).

The COA is a document containing detailed information about the identity, quality and purity of the raw material. It should reflect the true and representative properties of the substance in question.

Disreputable manufacturers just don’t test.

They simply rely on the word of the raw material supplier who supplies the COA. This creates tremendous cost savings for them. They’d rather focus on excessive profits at the expense of your [tag-tec]health[/tag-tec]!

In other words they’re gambling with your health!

“How?”

They know all too well that raw ingredients can be adulterated with heavy fillers, some of which can be TOXIC, not to mention impurities and potencies far below what they should be.

And how about this for RIDICULOUS – Raw material suppliers to the nutritional supplement manufacturing facilities are “EXEMPTED” from the new (2007) FDA GMPs !

Are you starting to see what you’re up against here!

Reputable manufacturers are well aware that some raw material suppliers (even including those with GMP accreditation) falsify their COA’s!

That’s why quality focused manufacturers go through the huge cost of testing ALL their raw ingredients.

But then we have the problem of some manufacturers falsifying the results of their own tests!

Argh – What to do!

Despite the fact that there are currently no regulations to do independent, third party testing to verify raw material conformity with COA’s, the absolute best manufacturers DO employ third parties to verify their own test results.

Those third parties should however be accredited state, regional or national bodies. (It ‘s estimated that by the end of this year the FDA will be ready to appoint its own third party auditors.)

And just putting aside the quality and safety issue of raw ingredients for a moment, don’t forget that producing a professional grade supplement is a complicated manufacturing task that has many complex steps.

If there is any technical oversights (ie. MISTAKES!) from a lack of know-how in any step OR cost-cutting shortcuts, then in no time at all supplement quality is rocketing downhill. The end result is a substandard, less effective supplement or in the worse case scenario a potentially dangerous supplement.

So, when it comes to choosing a quality nutritional vitamin supplement or one of the market’s leading super supplements, there are a multitude of options to weed through. Therefore you really do need to examine many details.

This is exactly why it’s so risky selecting on PRICE ALONE!

There is a huge risk that you will end up with a sub-standard supplement that has not been verified through a vigorous quality assurance process.

Don’t take anything for granted when it comes to your health and your family’s health.

Every detail is worthy of your attention!

Don’t trust any supplement or the word of any supplement company, unless you’ve done your homework and are 100% sure it makes the grade!

PLEASE DO YOUR SUPPLEMENT HOMEWORK!!!!

You’ll be relieved to know that dietary supplement quality controls in the USA will soon significantly improve.

The revised (June 2007) FDA cGMP contain much stricter (legislated) standards than what manufacturers have been operating under to date and will weed out a lot (but not all) of the disreputable manufacturers who are only in it for a quick buck. These companies are essentially marketers in disguise.

These new regulations could have been much stricter and to be honest they don’t actually prevent a manufacturer from producing a bad supplement. That’s because, as I mentioned above, the FDA leave it up to the manufacturer to conform.

There is no enforcement!

Nonetheless it will be near impossible for most of the really bad manufacturers to continue.

So, for the sake of your health and longevity, you’ve got to do your supplement homework.

Depending on the number of employees, companies have until June 2010 (at the latest) to become cGMP compliant.

You’re Not Going To Wait?

Great!, – to learn all the nutritional supplement details that you need to check on please visit my are super supplements all they claim to be article.

What To Ask – Ask The Right Questions!

You need to ask the right questions of supplement companies to draw out product and manufacturing details which they have deliberately kept hidden.

This then allows you to fill in the ‘information gap’ and judge the true effectiveness and value for money of a supplement.

Visit my evaluating nutritional vitamin supplements series of articles.

There’s 6 of them covering these crucial topics:

• The Formula
• Ingredient Quality
• Bioavailability
• Manufacturing Standards
• Synergy
• Value For Money

At the bottom of each one you’ll find a list of the RIGHT QUESTIONS to ask for that particular topic (or for a couple there’s a link to pdf files).

Please don’t waste your money, and worse yet, run the risk of potential harm, by taking poorly put together supplements offering poor value for money?

The value for money factor is one of the least understood issues by supplement consumers, particularly when it comes to super supplements made by those gigantic well known U.S based companies.

These companies have huge costs when they manufacture nutritional vitamin supplements and these impact on the product selling price and on which ingredients, potencies, bioavailable forms, and dose amounts that they can afford to include!

The Devil Is In The Details!

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