Drug Warnings

Every now and then I run across some interesting drug warnings - Look for updates!

For any prescription drug you may want to check here for all the info on it.

Procrit / Epogen (Epoetin Alpha) - you might end up with a Stroke. There are additional warnings for those with renal failure, cancer, etc.
Partial text: Epoetin alfa increases the risk of blood clots forming in or moving to the legs, lungs, or brain.

P.S. Go to my post for Magnesium - if you are tired or depressed!

Pain Killers - a double edged sword

Popular pain killers delay or prevent healing.

Pain drugs such as Vioxx & Celebrex, Ibuprofen, Naproxen (Aleve), Nabumetone (Relafen), etc. may kill or dull the pain, but they have also been found to delay and in some cases, prevent healing. This occurs with any injury from scrapes and burns to more serious bone fractures and torn ligaments. Slow Bone Healing Reference

Second Thoughts On Soy

I have been dupped like many of you health conscious people into thinking anything soy is good for you. Well, that may be another BigBu$ greed tactic and another big sell of bad stuff. Of course the highly refined soy products like soy isolate, etc. you have to avoid. Here are a few insights into the evils of the soy industry that you may want to take into consideration before you 'switch to soy'. They both come from Dr. Mercola, who has his own stuff to sell, but I've found him to have an open mind and one who tries to sort out the facts.
Ref 1
Ref 2

Fructose - too much of a sweet thing

If you get it from one of the center isles of the grocery store it isn't good for you! I guess you could call that Murphy's Law of Health #1.

Here is an article I found at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about corn showing up in everything.

A load of granola bars just showed up in our pantry with some new stuff in it (new to me). #1 on the ingredients list was Tapioca Syrup! What's that? Well it's another type of fructose!

Here is an excerpt on The Fructose Name Game - "[Fructose is] health damaging (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypoglycemia, Syndrome X, obesity, etc.) it may come in many forms - intentionally MISLABELED, or DECEPTIVELY legally noncompliant like: 'chicory', 'inulin', 'iso glucose', 'glucose-fructose syrup', 'dahlia syrup', 'tapioca syrup', 'glucose syrup', 'corn syrup', 'crystalline fructose' and flat out fraud 'fruit fructose', or criminally prosecuted and non Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)human red blood membrane cell destroying, and spontaneous abortion triggering, 'agave'. " For details on Fructose see this reference.

MORE ON FRUCTOSE -> See Murky World. Here is a quote from half way through the articla: "The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results".

These granola bars also contain Rice Bran Extract. I think that acts as a preservative. Can't find anything bad about that stuff, so if anyone knows more about it, please let me know. . .

Infant/Baby Health

There are a number of things mothers can do to help their baby.

1st - Omega-3 essential fatty acids, found in leafy greens vegies and fish oil. Ups the I.Q. of baby if mother takes while pregnant. Also helps immune system of infant and helps protect children from excitotoxins found in processed foods, formulas, vaccines, fruit juices, processed baby foods, and junk food. Read that as ADHD, etc. Reference-1 .
It can also help with postpartum blues, and recovery of mother. Ref-2.

2nd - Be careful of baby formulas. Be really sure it is made in America. But since FDA has no capability for checking safety of formulas (and just because it is made in U.S. doesn't mean all the ingredients are). Breast Is Best. Sorry, upon later examination, this link has dissappeared from the FDA website. I guess somebody got paid off??
! Add to this that the United States is the only country in the world where infant formulas are generally not fortified with DHA, this despite a 1995 recommendation by the World Health Organization that all baby formulas should provide 40 mg of DHA per kilogram of infant body weight. Oh, you get both DHA and EPA from fish oil - Nordic Naturals have flavored oils which really aren't that bad tasting. . . and no heavy metals.

Overweight & Fit better than Lean & Lazy

I try for lean & fit, but if you're overweight its not the end of the world as all those anorexic models would have you believe. This STUDY supports the theory that its better to be fat & fit than skinny and unfit. It just might have something to do with your outlook on life too.

Here are some of the latest statistics:

Obesity in the U.S. has increased from:
12 percent in 1991
to 18 percent in 1998
to 34 percent in 2006, according to CDC obesity data.

A full two-thirds of the U.S. population is now considered overweight. However, in some ethnic groups the rates are even higher, such as African-American women, of whom 78 percent are currently either overweight or obese.

Naturopathic Physicians

Try something different - a holistic or naturopathic physician. The downside is your health insurance probably won't pay for it! But it may be your only way to get healthy. . .

Go HERE to find out more about it and find one near (or not so near) to you.

Or if you want to listen to an interview (rather long, but very informative) try WOR.

Pain killers - The Downside

While updating my post on Africa, I included some info on pain killers. This is important enough that I thought I'd make a separate post.

Did you know that OTC or prescription pain killers can slow down or prevent healing? Particularly broken bones and cartilage! If you want to search for yourself, just search on "pain killers delay healing". Or here are a few I've already found:



Aetna

USGyms (Scroll down to - 'A Further Word of Caution')

Vaughn's 1-pagers; an interesting comparison chart. But of course, no natrual stuff.

I use Noni juice (tastes terrible though, so that means most people won't use it).

17-page summary of Noni (not for the casual reader).

Sales pitch on Noni from UK, but good references and other info.