Way Too Many Prescriptions

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, August 11, 2008

 

Way Too Many Prescriptions

(OMNS, August 11, 2008) Vitamin Therapy Safer, More Effective

Half of all Americans are on drugs: prescription drugs. It's true, says the

Associated Press (14 May 2008): " Half of all insured Americans are taking

prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems. " That is nothing

to be proud of.

Among the very most prescribed of all are drugs to lower " bad " LDL cholesterol.

Patients taking pharmaceuticals trying to do that are being mistreated. Why?

Because niacin (vitamin B-3) in high doses is just as effective, much cheaper,

and most importantly, far safer. Niacin raises beneficial HDL levels better than

any drug. (1) It also dramatically lowers triglycerides.

The New York Timesagrees, saying: " An effective HDL booster already exists. It

is niacin, the ordinary B vitamin. Niacin can increase HDL as much as 35 percent

when taken in high doses, usually about 2,000 milligrams per day . . . and it

has been shown to reduce serum levels of artery-clogging triglycerides as much

as 50 percent. " The president of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Steven

E. Nissen, said, " Niacin is really it. Nothing else available is that

effective. " (2)

Indeed, niacin is it. Niacin is cheaper, safer and more effective. (3) So why

are cholesterol-lowering drugs pushed anywhere and everywhere? Professor of

medicine Dr. B. Greg Brown offered an answer: " If you're a drug company, I guess

you can't make money on a vitamin. "

One reason why doctors and patients select drugs over vitamins is, said AP, " the

pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. " Indeed, " Americans buy much

more medicine per person than any other country . . . The biggest jump in use of

chronic medications was in the 20- to 44-year-old age group - adults in the

prime of life - where it rose 20 percent over the (last) six years. " That is a

huge increase.

Even worse than that, now one out of every four children and teenagers is taking

a chronic disease drug, usually for depression, asthma, or ADHD. Pushing drug

therapy for these conditions is largely based on profit, not health. The value

of vitamin therapy for each of these conditions is already well established. (4)

It is time for patients to assert that they are simply not going to accept more

and more drugs, at higher and higher prices, with more and more dangerous side

effects. It is time to demand the proven but too-long-overlooked alternative:

safe and effective nutritional treatment.

Not one of the cells in your body is made from a drug. When you see

advertisements urging you to take prescription drugs for a chronic condition,

ask your doctor why. Then ask for a nutritional alternative. Half of us on

chronic medication means it is time to say no to drugs.

References:

(1) Alderman JD, Pasternak RC, Sacks FM, Smith HS, Monrad ES, Grossman W. Effect

of a modified, well-tolerated niacin regimen on serum total cholesterol, high

density lipoprotein cholesterol and the cholesterol to high density lipoprotein

ratio. Am J Cardiol. 1989 Oct 1;64(12):725-9.

 

(2) Mason M. NY Times, January 23, 2007. An old cholesterol remedy is new again.

 

(3) http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n10.shtmlAlso vitamin E:

http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n01.shtml

 

(4) Depression: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n11.shtml

Asthma: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n08.shtml

Behavioral disorders: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v03n07.shtml

Research summaries at http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

Free access to full-text, peer-reviewed journal articles at

http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom

OMNS Update: OMNS August 7th, 2008 release titled " AOL Shills For Big Pharma " -

AOL now appears to have dropped the " Presented by Journey for Control " link to

Merck Inc. from their " Dangerous Vitamins " article. The text of the article

appears unchanged.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight

illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and

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Editorial Review Board:

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.

Damien Downing, M.D.

Harold D. Foster, Ph.D.

Steve Hickey, Ph.D.

Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.

James A. Jackson, PhD

Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D

Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.

Erik Paterson, M.D.

Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns

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