Health Supreme NewsGrabs - 5 February 2007

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NewsGrabs

Sepp Hasslberger's News Grabs - a selection of alternative health news and related bits of interesting information ...

In this issue:

Vitamins Fight Disease -
Divers benefit from Vitamins -
New Zealand to Restrict Natural Products -
Cheap, safe drug kills cancers -
UK: Branson to launch stem-cell bank -
FDA Revamps Drug Safety Process -
Zyprexa Injuries -
Merck lobbies to require cervical-cancer vaccine for schoolgirls -
Banning Aspartame in New Mexico -
UK: Bitter Apricot Kernels meet disapproval -
Debate About Control of AIDS Epidemic -
AIDS microbicide gel studies halted -
Video: "HIV = AIDS, Fact or Fiction?" -
AIDS: World waits on South Africa verdict -
AIDS or Candida albicans? -
Iran unveils herbal remedy against AIDS -
Medical trial guinea pigs contract HIV -
U.S. flu crises guidelines issued -
Medical Mistakes: Patient, protect thyself -
Study Links Air Pollution, Heart Disease -
Cat Stevents: the peace train -

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VITAMINS FIGHT DISEASE: Nutrients Effective but Overlooked
Vitamin supplementation fights disease. Although medical research has repeatedly shown this, such has not always been the case in the news media. Recently, however, the popular press is picking up more of the good news: Nutritional therapy is cheaper, safer, and often more effective than pharmaceutical drugs.

- Niacin was first used to successfully lower serum cholesterol in 1955.
- An abundance of vitamin D seems to help prevent multiple sclerosis.
- People who have vitamin E in their bodies live longer.
- Having more vitamin C in your blood plasma reduces your risk of stomach cancer.

And best of all, vitamins are safe.

Vitamins benefit divers' health
The scientists from Croatia and Norway gave vitamins C and E, which work as antioxidants, to divers, the Journal of Physiology reported. The vitamins stopped ill-effects of the dive on the cells lining blood vessels, which can lead to high blood pressure and other associated diving problems. The team found that antioxidant treatment prevented endothelial dysfunction, which stops the cells lining blood vessels working properly, causing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is relatively common in divers and can lead to conditions such as pulmonary oedema - fluid on the lungs which can be found in divers.

Will New Zealand Restrict Natural Products Availability?
The project of a TransTasman Joint Health Agency, meant to extend the rather restrictive Australian system to its smaller neighbour and thereby close a loophole through which Australians are able to obtain certain healthy products that are formally prohibited in their country, is making its way through the New Zealand legislature.

Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers
DCA attacks a unique feature of cancer cells: the fact that they make their energy throughout the main body of the cell, rather than in distinct organelles called mitochondria. This process, called glycolysis, is inefficient and uses up vast amounts of sugar. Until now it had been assumed that cancer cells used glycolysis because their mitochondria were irreparably damaged. However, Michelakis’s experiments prove this is not the case, because DCA reawakened the mitochondria in cancer cells. The cells then withered and died.

Branson to launch stem-cell bank
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is set to launch a company which will let families bank and store stem cells from their child's umbilical cord. Virgin says its service is unique because it will offer a charitable element, allowing the NHS to use some of stem cells the company stores. Sir Richard explained: "We will take an individual's cord blood and we will divide it in two. "So, part of it will go into a national blood centre that anybody can get access to. And the other half will be put aside for the child."

FDA Revamps Process for Safety of Drugs After Approval
Officials outlined plans to better monitor safety problems after drugs are approved and to make internal changes to increase the profile of agency scientists who raise red flags about drugs. The steps were announced in response to a report last year by the congressionally chartered Institute of Medicine (IOM) that called for an overhaul of the FDA's culture and structure following safety controversies over drugs such as the painkiller Vioxx. Officials said the steps will restore the trust and confidence of Congress and the public. They also pledged a renewed commitment to good science as the best way to counter critics who say the agency is too cozy with drug companies.

I will believe it when I see the first few of the worst offending drugs taken off the market - including toxic sweetener Aspartame which was approved following political pressure brought by Donald Rumsfeld - over the objections of the FDA's own scientists...

Zyprexa Injury Clock Keeps Ticking Away
The on-going legal battle over the disclosure of secret Eli Lilly documents that reveal the serious health risks associated with Zyprexa and the company's off-label promotion of the drug involves a matter of grave public concern. But observers on the sidelines of this courtroom circus say the conduct of the judge in helping Lilly keep documents secret that give the specific details of an illegal marketing scheme that is literally killing people is almost as disturbing as the underlying acts.

Merck lobbies states to require cervical-cancer vaccine for schoolgirls
AUSTIN, Texas - Merck & Co. is helping bankroll efforts to pass state laws requiring girls as young as 11 or 12 to receive the drugmaker’s new vaccine against the sexually transmitted cervical-cancer virus. With at least 18 states debating whether to require Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for schoolgirls, Merck has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country. A top official from Merck’s vaccine division sits on Women in Government’s business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.

MSNBC is conducting a straw poll. You can vote here

Banning Aspartame in New Mexico
Stephen Fox of Santa Fe lobbies to support bills to ban Aspartame, the neurotoxic artificial sweetener. "Last year, lobbyists put the kibosh on the Governor speaking out, perhaps reminding him that a Presidential Candidate should not be impugning Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and other corporate end-users of Aspartame."

Bitter Apricot Kernels meet disapproval of UK Food Watchdog

I say let the Committee On Toxicity issue their advice if they will, but let people be free to buy and sell - and to eat if they wish - the apricot kernels of their choice.

Having two apricot trees in my garden, I eat the kernels together with the fruit when I feel like it, and I certainly won't limit myself to one or two of them. Experience tells me that there aren't any untoward effects in exceeding their extremely, if not ridiculously, cautious recommendation.

We should tell those would-be babysitters that we welcome their advice, but also that we are grown-ups who can determine on their own what to eat or not to eat.

Debate About Natural Control of the AIDS Epidemic Triggers Global Interest
“AIDS is a multi-billion dollar business, but only as long as this epidemic spreads and only as long as the pharmaceutical investme