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.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

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’ve been taking Total Balance Men’s version from Xtend-Life for two months along with Cardio-Klenz.
One side effect I noticed was constipation… I do not take any other medication (never did in my life) and I am 72.

My wife ordered Total Balance for women a month ago, along with Viral-Protec. A few days after starting using the products, she had constipation too (she is 66)… Like me, she avoids all type of medication.

This is a strange coincidence, isn’t it? Constipation has never been a concern to us before!
Searching reviews about Total Balance, I found your nutritional-supplement-truths.com website.
I did not find any side effect such as constipation.

My wife and I do not understand what is going on and worry about this problem. Any idea or suggestion?

Response From Brett:

Hello Jack

I know that this isn’t a usual problem with Total Balance or Cardio-Klenz but I have heard about others experiencing it on occasion – including my mother a few years back.

What I tend to find is that constipation occurs when people’s systems are adjusting if their diet and fluid intake isn’t usually optimal. Total Balance is formulated to be used ‘ in addition to an improved dietary regime, increased pure fluid intake, and regular exercise daily”. This all helps the digestive system to adjust.

Total Balance also helps to eliminate some toxins initially that may have laid dormant in the system for some time. This is another cause and what is known as the toxin release or commonly “detox”. This could also be a part of what is happening here with you and your wife.

So here is what I recommend you do. Stop the supplement(s) for a day or two, until problems disappear, at the same time concentrate diligently on a good dietary regime – based on raw/steamed vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish, whole grains (in moderation), etc; increase your pure fluid intake (water, vegetable juicing, greens and others: 2+ liters per day, or as near as possible, daily), and whatever daily exercise you can regularly do to keep oxygenated. Then, restart the supplements again at a one tablet of each after a few days, and gradually increase this one by one until you’ve reached full dose (or the dose you want) again without any adverse effects.

In addition to this, upon rising in the morning, before doing anything else, drink 2 large glasses of room temp water, with added lemon juice to taste: STRAIGHT DOWN ( before anything else). This in itself is helpful for relieving constipation as well as cleansing the liver and digestive process before it has to begin for the day!

Jack this is the same advice I give to anyone who experiences gastric complaints after starting on Total Balance. It is a very sophisticated supplement which provides your body with a full spectrum of highly effective nutrients – targeting all organs and systems in the body (including the brain). This protocol has worked for everyone who I recommended it to – including my mother.

Here’s to great health Jack!

And here’s some links to anyone interested in reading up on Total Balance:

Men’s Premium Version   (the one I take)

Women’s Premium Version   (my mum and sister use this version)

Men’s standard Version   (my uncle)

Women’s Standard Version   (my Aunt)

Children’s Version   (my niece and nephew use this one)

—————————————————————————————————–

Like this post?
Publish It On Your Own Blog

]]> http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-supplement-side-effects/feed/ 9 http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/anti-aging-secrets-and-nutritional-supplements-%e2%80%93-part-1/ http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/anti-aging-secrets-and-nutritional-supplements-%e2%80%93-part-1/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:03:40 +0000 Brett http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/anti-aging-secrets-and-nutritional-supplements-%e2%80%93-part-1/

Todays post about anti aging secrets with respect to nutritional health supplements is a very interesting one which I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading. You’re going to discover a number of ‘eye opening’ facts which most of you won’t have come across before.

These are facts which supplement manufacturers and companies definitely don’t want you to know because they reveal major weaknesses and limitations in their products when it comes to anti aging claims.

I’ve decided to split this topic up because it’s quite a complex one. To keep it ‘readable’ and not bombard you with too much technical detail in any one post I’ve divided it into 4 parts which will appear over the next 2 weeks.

Now, if you’re a regular subscriber you will have noticed I haven’t made a post for over 2 weeks. So, first up let me apologize for that.

I’m actually on vacation in Sydney so it’s hard to get ‘online time’ as per my normal schedule.

Additionally, my website nutritional-supplements-truths.com has recently begun to ‘boom’ and I’ve become inundated with reader questions like never before. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs doing.

Anyway, enough with the excuses, let’s start digging into those anti aging secrets!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – SOME YOU KNOW SOME YOU DON’T!

That word ‘anti aging’ has been bandied around in all the various media forms for years now. So much so that of late it has totally outgrown any ‘legitimate’ roots it originally had. Now we are faced with a literal tidal wave of products in the marketplace all promoting some form of ‘anti aging’ capacity.

From a business marketing point of view the term ‘anti aging’ is simply a connotation for looking and feeling younger in some way or to some degree and ‘anti aging’ has basically become nothing more than a valuable brand through which businesses can increase sales!

But, the misleading and deceptive marketing presentations of numerous ‘anti aging’ product manufacturers, not to mention outright fraudulent practices, seems to have reached no limits! That’s because of the enormous profits driven by the antiaging phenomena and these are of course an intrinsic result of people’s natural desire to look good and maintain their youth.

With nutritional science constantly evolving and promising ‘better and better’ results, people are spending increasing amounts of their disposable income in the hunt for stronger anti aging properties.

It’s clear to me thought that an increasing number of savvy health-conscious consumers are learning to no longer be sucked in by exaggerated ‘anti aging’ claims and to take them with a grain of salt. So the lingering question as to the ‘worthiness’ of anti aging products must then become one of degree.

To what degree are anti aging benefits obtainable from a given anti aging product’?

Let’s address that question from the point of view of nutritional health / vitamin supplements.

ANTI AGING SECRETS – NUTRITIONAL HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS

Can nutritional health supplements create significant anti aging benefits for the user?

From a nutritional science standpoint the answer is “yes!”

But do they?

For almost all supplements the answer is a definite “no!” (Note I said “almost”)

To understand why this is the case we first need to define ‘anti-aging’.

The term ‘Anti Aging’ has evolved to represent a number of different common meanings and connotations depending upon whether you’re dealing with the medical, scientific or business communities.

Nutritional health supplements of course define ‘anti aging’ purely from a business perspective and as such we need to address the following common product claims:

• Stopping your aging process

• Reversing your aging process or “turning back the clock”

• Slowing down / normalizing your aging process

I would be highly surprised to find anyone who honestly believes a nutritional supplement can actually “stop” the aging process despite this subtle connotation wafting out from cleverly put together marketing presentations by disreputable supplement companies.

Most supplement manufacturers however would definitely have you believe their supplements can turn back the clock making you look and feel (biologically) younger.

But the truth is that’s not possible. Well at least not yet!

When it comes to the word ‘reverse’ (certain) supplements can undo (to varying degrees) the effects of degenerative and age-related disease thus technically speaking making some people feel and look younger. This can to some be interpreted as an anti aging response.

The market’s best nutritional health / vitamin supplements are also believed to be able to improve damaged DNA. This goes far beyond their abilities to simply limit oxidative damage to DNA through the use of antioxidants. Here we are talking about actually repairing damage that has already occurred!

That’s what the leading industry experts are trying to do right now – find a way to clinically prove that their supplements actually do repair damaged DNA.

Assuming they can do this then at that point the “turning the clock back” claim will become valid.

But, as of right now, what are we left with?

• Slowing down and normalizing your aging process!

• Bringing it back more in tune with what nature originally intended!

This is what I believe is the appropriate anti aging definition in respect of nutritional health supplements.

It must also be remembered that anti aging is relative to the times we live in and the way in which we are now aging. In other words it is linked to 21 st century environmental, emotional and dietary/nutritional stressors which are currently impacting on our aging processes.

The bottom line here is that the daily effects of these stressors has resulted in a speeding up of the aging process for an overwhelming majority of the population. Premature aging if you prefer.

MOST PEOPLE ARE AGING WAY TOO QUICKLY – FAR FASTER THAN WHAT NATURE INTENDED!

This is clear with just a casual look at the ever increasing year on year stats for degenerative disease like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke and so on. People are contracting these life-debilitating diseases at earlier and earlier ages.

How often do we now hear of people in their 40′s having had a heart attack!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – THE COMPONENTS OF AGING

To be capable of producing significant and effective anti aging effects which slow down and normalize aging, a nutritional vitamin supplement must address the primary causes of aging!

But….

This Is A Complex And Multi-Faceted Task!

Yet 99% of supplements, including virtually all the market’s leading, so-called ‘elite’ multi ingredient vitamin / health supplements address this task via ONE APPROACH ONLY – the reduction of free radicals through the use of antioxidants!

This is why they FAIL to make any real headway!

Anti Aging Can Only Be Successfully Accomplished By Targeting The Main Components Of Aging – Not Just One!

There are numerous causes attributed to aging but without doubt four of the primary and most important ones are:

• Free radicals

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

So, that means your supplement must be capable of:

• Using Antioxidants to reduce and control your free radical production

• Preventing Glycation which leads to Age’s

• Balancing Methylation for Healthy DNA

• Reducing Chronic Inflammation which contributes to degeneration.

The critical aspect to understand here is that these critical components ARE ALL INTERDEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER!

Optimizing the normalization of your aging process means you must not short change yourself by excluding any one!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – REDUCING FREE RADICALS

Today I’ll concentrate on the free radical component of aging and then tackle the other components in parts 2, 3 and 4 of this anti aging secrets topic.

Just about every supplement consumer out there has heard of free radicals and antioxidants, right!

You probably know that antioxidants are like ‘superheroes’ for your health and that free radicals are really nasty, unstable molecules wandering around inside you which can cause you serious health problems.

Antioxidants have the ability to neutralize free radicals and so your body uses them to keep your free radical population to adequate levels and minimize the damage they cause.

If your free radical levels are in excess they will accelerate your aging and basically cause havoc to your health.

Here are just some of the diseases linked to excess free radicals:

• Various Cancers

• Arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis

• Heart Disease

• Stroke

• Arthritis

• Diabetes

• Alzheimer’s

• Emphysema

• Ulcers

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Cataracts

• Senility

Now we come to ‘Oxidation’.

Picture an apple which you’ve taken a bite out of and left sitting for 20 minutes on the kitchen sink. The exposed inside part of the apple has turned brown right! This is an example of a process called oxidation (chemicals inside the apple have reacted with oxygen in the air) and this is what oxidation does on a molecular level!

So, what you need to know here is that oxidation creates those bad guys – free radicals!

And there’s oxidation going on inside you ALL THE TIME. Just the simple act of breathing in oxygen (respiration) creates oxidation which in turn creates free radicals. So, you can’t avoid oxidation nor the creation of those nasty free radicals, they are continuous and inescapable!

But not to worry because in controlled quantities free radicals are fine. They are in fact necessary in many of your metabolic processes. The bottom line is simply to ensure that oxidative stress and the production of free radicals do not increase to the point of over production!

Remember above I mentioned that environmental, societal and dietary/nutritional stressors are to blame for premature aging.

Things like smoking including second hand smoke, air pollution, electromagnetic radiation including sunlight and x-rays, stress, exercise, food additives, toxic chemicals, smoked and barbecued foods, lack of nutrients in our diet, pharmaceutical drugs, and even alcohol all create free radicals.

In the civilized world of today you are impacted by these factors every single day. You simply cannot escape them! Three or four decades ago things were significantly different. Food was not processed as it is today and it was far more nutritious with a much greater antioxidant content. Nor were people exposed to today’s ridiculous levels of pollution and toxins.

Faced with these dilemmas you need to take action to ensure you take in enough antioxidants to meet the double challenge of these destructive free radical promoters and an antioxidant depleted food chain!

Supplements are a popular and sensible choice of action!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION

All nutritional health supplements tackle the free radical component of aging through the use of antioxidants.

In cheap and middle of the road supplements you will always find the well known vitamin antioxidants vitamins A, C, E and the trace mineral selenium, all of which are quite weak (and very cheap ingredients for manufacturers to use!)

The up-market multis do much better by using more powerful and expensive antioxidants like green tea, gingko biloba, alpha lipoic acid, lutein, bilberry and grape extract.

BUT NONE OF THESE CAN COMPARE TO AN EXCEPTIONALLY POTENT ANTIOXIDANT LIKE L-GLUTATHIONE!

Anti aging secrets No. 1:

L-Glutathione is an absolutely critical anti aging ingredient which you definitely want to see in your supplement!

But in 99% of supplements you won’t find it for 2 reasons!

Firstly, L-Glutathione needs to be in the ‘reduced’ form. This is a smaller molecular size because ‘normal’ L-Glutathione will not pass through the intestinal walls into the blood stream.

Due to the extreme price of reduced form L-Glutathione very few supplement companies can afford to include it. That’s because almost all supplements are made to a price!

Secondly, L-Glutathione must be protected as it passes through the stomach before being released in the upper intestine! This is the only place that L-Glutathione when taken orally can be effective.

This means that any supplement containing L-Glutathione needs to be ENTERIC COATED! This is a special aqueous coating which protects tablet ingredients from exposure to stomach acid and then harmlessly dissolves when the tablet reaches the alkaline environment of the upper intestine.

Once again due to price controls enteric coating is almost never used on multi ingredient vitamin health supplements. (The unique supplement I use is a rare exception).

Incredibly there are market leading health supplements out there which include L-Glutathione in the ‘normal’ form and without enteric coating.

This is a perfect example of how supplement companies, including the biggest and most well known ones, can deceive you and hide weaknesses in their products.

Of course L-Glutathione is not a miracle worker. It needs to be backed up by a wide range of other powerful antioxidants. The synergy created as these age defying nutrients interact together at the the molecular level create far more potent results in neutralizing more free radicals and bringing their production back more acceptable levels.

Here’s a list of the most potent antioxidants which you need backing up L-Glutathione in your supplement:

• N-Acetyl L-Cysteine
• Lutein
• Bilberry Extract
• L-Carnosine
• Green Tea Extract
• Grape Seed Extract
• Gingko Biloba
• Alpha Lipoic Acid

ANTI AGING SECRETS PART 1 – SUMMING UP

At the top of this article I said that while nutritional health supplements can create significant anti aging benefits, virtually all do not. Since they are made to a price the bio-chemists formulating them simply cannot include all the ingredients that they know should be there to get the job done properly.

Just look at what I’ve revealed for our first component of aging – free radical production!

Does your supplement contain L-Glutathione in the reduced form with an effective dose amount of at least 100 mg AND is it enteric coated? Does it contain every one or at least most of the key antioxidants listed above?

Unless your using the same supplement that I do then I know the answer is ‘no’.

Now, keep in mind that free radicals are ONLY ONE of the four primary causes of aging so there’s a lot more that a supplement has to tackle to truly address the anti aging issue and protect you from degenerative disease.

In my next 3 posts I’ll address the other 3 key components of aging:

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

—————————————————————————————-

P.S. If you’d like to read a review of the one of a kind nutritional health supplement I use, just follow this link, it’s called Total Balance

—————————————————————————————–

Like this post?
Publish It On Your Own Blog

Good Health Always!

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.

——————————————————————————————–

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

——————————————————————————————–

Like this post?
Publish It On Your Own Blog

Good Health Always!

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

——————————————————————————————–

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

——————————————————————————————–

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!

Like this post?
Publish It On Your Own Blog

Good Health Always!

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?

Like this post?
Publish It On Your Own Blog

Good Health Always!