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April 17, 2000 Research Update |
This is one of the best ways to combine the best of nutrition w/ the best of Western medicine. But don't hold your breath waiting for it to become standard prescription practice..
Investigational studies of a formulation of extended release niacin and lovastatin show that the combination is safe and well-tolerated and that it improves a number of lipid profile markers. Dr. Moti L. Kashyap of Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center, in California, presented findings from a study of combination therapy in 814 patients in a dose-escalating open-label study during the 49th scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology. Dosages ranged from niacin 500 mg + lovastatin 10 mg to niacin 2,000 mg + lovastatin 40 mg. Dr. Kashyap said that the combination drug, Nicostatin (Kos Pharmaceuticals, Miami Lakes, Florida), has additive effects over monotherapy with either of the two drugs alone, especially in lowering LDL cholesterol, raising HDL cholesterol and lowering triglycerides.
Whoa!! Very important news. We all know that NSAIDs (ibuprofin and it's kin...) have damaging side effects on the stomach, liver, joints and kidneys. But increasing your risk of congestive heart failure? If a natural remedy had even 1/10th of the dangers of NSAIDs, it would be yanked off the market faster than you could say "Celebrex". Remember the tryptophan contamination way back when? A handful of deaths were attributed to a contaminant in the supplement (not the supplement itself) and it was yanked off the shelves and still can't be sold; yet, an estimated 15,000 people die from NSAIDs per year!!!
More benefits of monounsaturated fats...
Olive Oil and Reduced Need for Antihypertensive Medications
Not that I've ever said it, but lifestyle changes are the only way to safely and successfully take off and keep off weight...
The Central Role of Lifestyle Change in Long-term weight management Clinical Cornerstone 2(3):43-51, 1999
Lifestyle change--most notably, modification of eating behavior, physical activity, and psychologic factors like attitudes, goals, and emotions--is the central determinant of whether people will lose weight and maintain the loss. Even when medical intervention appears to be the primary treatment, as with pharmacotherapy, behavior plays the determining role in successful weight loss.
Antioxidant benefits of grapes and their derivatives (i.e. wine...)
Comparison of Antioxidant Potentials of Red Wine, White Wine, Grape Juice and Alcohol Current Medical research and Opinion 15(4):316-320
...not only red wine but also white wine and grape juice can have similar effects in vivo on the blood antioxidant system, and thus can play a part in lowering the mortality rates for CAD (coronary artery disease) risk factors in some populations such as those in France, whose population consume all these beverages in larger amounts relatively to the populations of many other countries.
Some drugs for high blood pressure may increase risk of diabetes. Is anyone starting to notice a pattern here?? Pharmaceutical drugs are not, have not, and will never be the answer to health.
Original Articles -- NEJM 2000; 342: 905-912