When Dietary Supplements Are Used As Medicines
http://getbetterhealth.com/when-dietary-supplements-are-used-as-medicines/2011.02.24"...
The FDA regulates foods and has been instrumental in improving the safety of our food supply. It regulates prescription and over-the-counter medications, requiring evidence of effectiveness and safety before marketing. Surveys have shown that most people falsely assume these protections extend to everything on the shelves including diet supplements, but they don’t.
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DSHEA is based on a fiction. It prohibits claims that diet supplements prevent or treat any disease and only allows structure/function claims alleging that they “support” health in various ways. DSHEA is a stealth weapon that allows the sale of unproven medicines just as long as you pretend they are not medicines. It allows the sale of products that are not intended to prevent or treat disease so people can buy them with the intent of preventing or treating diseases. People don’t buy St. John’s wort (SJW) to correct a deficiency of SJW in their diet or in their bloodstream; they don’t buy it to “support” brain function; they buy it to treat depression. People don’t buy glucosamine to “support joint health” but to treat their arthritis pain. People don’t buy saw palmetto to “support prostate health” or correct a saw palmetto deficiency, but to relieve symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia or to prevent prostate cancer. The FDA’s “Quack Miranda warnings” are routinely ignored even by those few who actually read the fine print.
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What are the chances that a diet supplement picked at random will turn out to be safe and effective when proper studies are done? Not high. Promising drugs that pharmaceutical companies submit to clinical trials only have about a 5 percent chance of making it to the market. A few years ago, I went through all the entries in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database and tabulated their effectiveness ratings. Only 5 percent were rated “effective” and almost all of those were vitamins, minerals, and medicines that are also available as prescription or over-the-counter products approved by the FDA.
There are many products on the diet supplement market that combine multiple ingredients in a kitchen-sink mixture that has no rationale and has not undergone any testing. Maybe the ingredients act synergistically; maybe they interfere with each other. How would we know? Taking such products is a crap-shoot and is like being a guinea pig in an uncontrolled experiment. Many supplement mixtures are sold by multilevel marketing programs and improve health only to the extent that they improve the health of the promoters’ wallets.
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A concise piece in regard to the problems with a lack of regulation of the supplement industry.
= new reply since forum marked as read
so no bias there! 
...writes an article on supplements.
On the other hand, I think I'll stick with my protocol, keep my liver and kidneys, take my chances.
http://www.politicolnews.com/fda-needs-major-overhaul/
Safety comes first for any government to protect its citizens from fraudulent claims and known corruption in government. For the last 20 years the FDA has been run by ex -executives of drug companies. This alliance has made the FDA not only corrupt but has cost the government billions of dollars in health care costs. Why? Since the FDA approves drugs that are unsafe and unleashes this poisonous drugs on the American public they become ill from the side effects which are not disclosed. The bill for healthcare for the victims of these drugs are the taxpayer.
Read more: http://www.politicolnews.com/fda-needs-major-overhaul/#ixzz1gnuBmPAI
>>People don’t buy St. John’s wort (SJW) to correct a deficiency of SJW in their diet or in their bloodstream; they don’t buy it to “support” brain function; they buy it to treat depression. People don’t buy glucosamine to “support joint health” but to treat their arthritis pain. People don’t buy saw palmetto to “support prostate health” or correct a saw palmetto deficiency, but to relieve symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia or to prevent prostate cancer. The FDA’s “Quack Miranda warnings” are routinely ignored even by those few who actually read the fine print.<<
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21914616
Psychiatrike. 2010 Oct-Dec;21(4):332-8.
History and therapeutic properties of Hypericum Perforatum from antiquity until today.
Istikoglou CI, Mavreas V, Geroulanos G.
Source
Department of Psychiatry, "Konstantopouleion" General Hospital, Nea Ionia, Athens.
Abstract
The St. John's wort has been recently one of the most popular therapeutic means that may be easily found in health food stores in various forms, such as capsules, liquid extracts, oils,ointments and others. The St. John's wort is not, however, a new pharmaceutical aid. The herb has a long and particular background as an antidepressant, anti-septic, anti-inflammatory,expectorant and tonic for the immune system, used for its alleviating properties. In fact, some of the previous reports on the herb's use originate from the Greek herbalist of the 1st AD century,Pedanios Dioskourides, as well as from his contemporary physicians, respectively Greek and Roman, Galinos and Plenius. In the treatise, Paracelsus (1493-1541 AD), the famous Swiss alchemist and physician,has been also mentioned to be using the St. John's wort. The historians consider that the name of the St. John's wort was given to it by the first Christians, who noticed that the plant blossomson about the 24th of June, the Saint John's-the Baptist's birthday, who was decapitated.
In our times, and mainly in the USA, the UK and Germany, the St. John's wort has been extensively usedfor the treatment of mild and moderate depression. According to researchers, the St. John's wort has an action equivalent to amitryptilline, fluoxetine and maprotiline, and is clearly more activethan placebo. Experimental protocols have been also in progress on the St. John's wort therapeutic action against diseases of our times, such as cancer, AIDS and hepatitis. According to what iswidely supported, the St. John's wort is considered as bridge between the conventional and the alternative medicine.
The St. John's wort pharmacodynamics as well as pharmacokinetics have beenalso extensively studied. The probable mechanism of the St. John's wort action is the suspension of monoaminoxidase (MAO) and the suspended reuptake of serotonine. Using the St. John's wort weopen the wide sphere of natural therapies. Such an extended approach may lead us to an increasing evaluation of our natural sources. Preserving what we have and renewing what we have destroyedis our only hope for the future of humanity, our planet and all the living organisms.
PMID:
21914616
[PubMed - in process]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21969849
Ther Adv Urol. 2011 Aug;3(4):193-8.
Serenoa repens extract in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Geavlete P, Multescu R, Geavlete B.
Source
Department of Urology, 'Saint John' Emergency Clinical Hospital, Vitan Barzesti 13, 042122 Bucharest, Romania.
Abstract
We are experiencing a revival of interest in phytotherapeutic agents, both in Europe and North America, especially as a consequence of patients' dissatisfaction with the adverse effects of the medical alternatives. One of the most frequently prescribed and studied such agents is Serenoa repens extract, derived from the berry of the dwarf palm tree. We aimed to review the most important published data regarding this type of treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia. A review of the existing articles regarding the use of Serenoa repens extracts for benign prostatic hyperplasia was performed. The articles were analysed with regard to their relevance, scientific value and the size of the evaluated series.
Multiple mechanisms of action have been attributed to this extract, including antiandrogenic action, an anti-inflammatory/anti-oedematous effect, prolactin signal modulation, and an antiproliferative effect exerted through the inhibition of growth factors. Regarding efficacy, European Association of Urology guidelines state that Serenoa repens extracts significantly reduce nocturia in comparison with placebo. However, the guideline committee is unable to make specific recommendations about phytotherapy of male lower urinary tract symptoms owing to the heterogeneity of the products and the methodological problems associated with meta-analyses.
Most of the published trials regarding Serenoa repens phytotherapy demonstrate a significant improvement of urinary status and a favourable safety profile. Also, some authors have credited it with giving a significant improvement in erectile function and decreasing complications following transurethral resection of the prostate, especially bleeding. The results of phytotherapy with Serenoa repens extracts are very promising. More high-quality, randomized, placebo-controlled studies are required in order to demonstrate without doubt the true therapeutic value of these products. Particular attention must be focused on differentiating between registered preparations, which are regulated as drugs, and those considered to be food supplements.
PMID:
21969849
[PubMed]
PMCID: PMC3175703
Free PMC Article
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22089456
J Rheumatol. 2011 Nov 15. [Epub ahead of print]
Glucosamine Sulfate Reduces Prostaglandin E2 Production in Osteoarthritic Chondrocytes Through Inhibition of Microsomal PGE Synthase-1.
Kapoor M, Mineau F, Fahmi H, Pelletier JP, Martel-Pelletier J.
Source
From the Osteoarthritis Research Unit, University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), Notre-Dame Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Glucosamine sulfate (GS) has been inferred to have a potential antiinflammatory effect on osteoarthritis (OA). We investigated its effect on prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) in human OA chondrocytes, and the level in the PGE(2) pathway at which its effect takes place.
METHODS:
We investigated the effect of GS treatment (0.05, 0.2, 1.0, and 2.0 mM) in OA chondrocytes in the absence or presence of interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß; 100 pg/ml). We determined the expression levels and protein production/activity of PGE(2), cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), COX-2, microsomal PGE synthase-1 (mPGES-1), glutathione, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ
, using specific primers, antibodies, and assays.
RESULTS:
GS treatment at 1 and 2 mM significantly inhibited (p ≤ 0.03) production of endogenous and IL-1ß-induced PGE(2). GS in both the absence and presence of IL-1ß did not significantly modulate COX-1 protein production, but GS at 1 and 2 mM demonstrated a decrease in COX-2 glycosylation in that it reduced the molecular mass of COX-2 synthesis. Under IL-1ß stimulation, GS significantly inhibited mPGES-1 messenger RNA expression and synthesis at 1 and 2 mM (p ≤ 0.02) as well as the activity of glutathione (p ≤ 0.05) at 2 mM. Finally, in both the absence and presence of IL-1ß, PPARγ was significantly induced by GS at 1 and 2 mM (p ≤ 0.03).
CONCLUSION:
Our data document the potential mode of action of GS in reducing the catabolism of OA cartilage. GS inhibits PGE(2) synthesis through reduction in the activity of COX-2 and the production and activity of mPGES-1. These findings may, in part, explain the mechanisms by which this drug exerts its positive effect on OA pathophysiology.
PMID:
22089456
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
It's important to make the distinction between opinion and fact, and the above statement is merely your opinion.
A Ministry of Information?
Look we have laws against fraud. I don't think we want government imposed censorship in a free society.
