Heath Ledger, RIP

Heath Ledger was a talented young actor with a bright future. We extend our sincere sympathy to his family and friends.

If toxicology reports prove that he died from a combination of FDA approved anti-depressants and sleeping pills, we can only hope society will wake up and start to take precautions to protect our innocent children and ourselves from similar fates in the future.

The media-driven mass-medication of our population needs more controls. However, patients and parents need to take more responsibility for the drugs they put in their bodies and their children's bodies by carefully reading the drug inserts, as well as the information most pharmacists provide when they fill scripts.

An obvious question: why isn't every filled FDA prescription logged into a national data base (patient SS number, date of birth, and address, plus prescribing doctor)? Fairly simple programing of this data base could instantly alert all pharmacists to question the prescribing doctor when filling scripts that adversely react with drugs the patients is already taking, as well as expose over-prescribing physicians, and most of those patients who go from doctor to doctor for scripts for physically addicting drugs.

The Cost of Drugs

A 2007 article in Medical Economics estimated there to be 90,000 to 100,000 drug reps nationwide; each is supposed to call on eight to 10 physician offices a day.

Some practices may get only two to four visits a week, but primary care physicians deemed as "heavy prescribers" were called on by an average of 29 reps a week, according to 2005-2006 data gathered by Health Strategies Group, a research firm that tracks the pharmaceutical industry.

The cost of the drug samples being handed out daily, by almost 100,000 drug reps, is passed right on to the consumer in the price of drugs.

Once again we learn: there is no free lunch.

Fish & Fat Loss

The fact is, fish oil has a number of important health benefits. But, the idea that fish oil is some kind of magic bullet for weight loss is nothing more than a myth. You can't just pop a lot of fish oil capsules and expect your fat to melt away without making changes to your diet and exercise program first.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that daily consumption of fish or fish oil is only effective for weight loss, if it is combined with moderate exercise like walking for 45 minutes three days a week.

This study looked at 75 overweight subjects for a period of six weeks who took fish oil and exercised: subjects who took fish oil and did not exercise, and subjects who took Omega-3 sunflower or flax seed oil and exercised for three days a week, vs those who took the vegetable oils and did not exercise.

The subjects who lost the most weight were in the group who ate moderate amounts of healthy foods, exercised three days a week, and took fish oil.

Are we really surprised?

Vitamin C & Stroke

A study published in the January 2008 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that persons with a mean age of 58 years with the highest levels of vitamin C had a 42% lower risk of having a stroke than did the study participants with the lowest level of plasma vitamin C.

Correlation does not always mean causation, so although data from this study cannot be used to infer a causal relation between intake or plasma concentration of vitamin C and risk of stroke, they can justifiably be used to suggest that low plasma vitamin C concentrations may serve as an excellent biological marker in identifying individuals at high risk of stroke.

It's important to note that data from this study and others suggests that smoking dramatically lowers plasma vitamin C. So, if you are still smoking - give it up!

Pee, Sweat & Tears

Question One:

How often do women pee or sweat compared to the men in their lives? I think we all know the answer.

Sweat removes excess salts from the body and cools us down when we are overheated; urine expels waste products that can harm the body. Both sweat and urine lower the level of toxic proteins associated with stress. This speaks to the efficiency of human design. If males had to sit down every time their bladders responded to stress, there would be lines in front of every men's room door and we would see a lot more men peeing their pants.

Tears are body excretions just like sweat and urine. There are three types of tears and they differ completely in function and biochemical composition. Basil tears (also called continuous tears) keep the ocular surface moist; reflex tears (also called irritant tears) are a reaction to onion vapors, smoke or foreign bodies; emotional tears, secreted in moments of intense feelings or total fatigue, lower levels of proteins and hormones that can become toxic when the body experiences emotional stress.

One of the major stress hormones released from tears is prolactin, which is found in higher concentration in women's bodies than in men's, therefore explaining the tendency for females to tear up quicker than males.

If the hormones and proteins associated with stress are not discharged through body excretions, they build up to toxic levels---the outcome being a compromised immune system in both males and females.

So, let's make a deal. We women will continue to pretend we don't notice how often you men suddenly have to pee, and you men will understand that when a woman gets a tear in her eye, it's a similar physiological response designed to protect our health.

Question Two:

Forgive me, but I have to ask this question, too.

Given the information above and in order to be fair, shouldn't both the liberal and conservative press start giving the same amount of coverage to the number of times the presidential hopefuls visit the men's room, as they are giving to one tear that didn't even fall.

I'm Ellen Troyer, and this article is meant to be educational, not a Senator Clinton endorsement.

Who Gets Pain Drugs?

A study published in this week's JAMA suggests a dramatic difference in prescribing practice for whites and non-whites.

Among patients in severe pain, opioids were prescribed to 52 percent of whites, 42 percents of Hispanics and 39 percent of African-Americans.

The use of opioids increased overall from 1993 to 2005, but the differences in use between racial and ethnic groups did not change.

The study data comes from analysis of 374,891 emergency department visits over 13 years.

Another study published in the January 2006 issue of Cancer found that white women with metastatic breast cancer suffer less pain than nonwhites.

Nalgene Water Bottle Safety

Canadian retailers have pulled nalgene plastic water bottles from store shelves. These bottles contain a hormone-mimicking chemical bisphenol A (BPA).

Few scientists dispute the fact that BPA causes hormonal system disruption, but the FDA and the plastics industry have argued the BPA-based products do not pose a health risk.

An expert panel of researchers recently reported that many Americans have higher levels of BPA than those found to cause harm in lab animals.