It would be reassuring to be able to assume that when your Doctor prescribes a drug, it's because he thinks it is the best one for your condition, guaranteed to help you get better.  But that is only a dream of the ideal.  In actual fact, quote:

In the world of medicine, "key opinion leader" is the somewhat Orwellian term used to describe the senior doctors who help drug companies sell drugs.

Read the report in the British Medical Journal, and listen to the revealing video of a former drug rep plumbing the depth of this disgraceful shill.  These influential Doctors are PAID to represent to their peers that recent medications are effective and safe - when all they may be is new and unproven.

Key opinion leaders: independent experts or drug representatives in disguise?

Scientists noticed that heart attacks in men seemed to vary according to whether they lived in higher latitudes, or were enduring the winter months - and they attributed this to the availability of sunshine - and the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D3.

The authors of the study write: "This pattern is consistent with an adverse effect of hypovitaminosis D [vitamin D deficiency], which is more prevalent at higher latitudes, during the winter and at lower altitudes"

Even when other risk factors were taken into account, the researchers determined that  men with high levels of vitamin D had approximately half the risk of heart attack as men whose levels were inadequate.

I'd take odds that the same is true for women.  Perhaps they won't be so sexist next time!!

Men With Vitamin D Deficiency May Have Increased Risk Of Heart Attack

There is a new product available called “Obecalp”, which happens to be the word “placebo” spelled backwards.  It consists of cherry-flavored dextrose.  Yup, that's all.  It is for children, and is intended to make them feel they are being treated for something, wihout actually giving them any medication.

Because they contain no active drug, the pills will not be sold as a drug under Food and Drug Administration rules. They will be marketed as dietary supplements, meaning they can be sold at groceries, drug stores and discount stores and discount stores without a prescription.”

And the Ethics. This is wrong on so many levels, I hardly know where to start.  

First, what parent would interact with their child so deceptively? I find I intuitively make a distinction here between the kind of charming mothering that says "a kiss will make it better" and a commercial produt that LOOKS like real medicine. Second, either the child is sick or it is not.  If it is not, why lead it to believe that a pill, any pill, is what will help?  If it is sick, who would want to take a chance on treating it with fake medicine? Third, dosing the child with a delicious pill at the first sign of trouble, will contribute to the "take a pill for any ill" mentality which has led to the over-medicated society we live in.

HSI comments thusly:

Traditionally, mommies make owies go away with a kiss or some other form of TLC. But one day when Jennifer (Buettner) was trying in vain to cope with a hypochondriac niece, she asked her husband to pick up some placebo pills at the drugstore. This must have amused his local druggist, and of course Mr. Buettner returned home with no placebo.

That's when a light bulb blinked on over Jennifer's head.

Instead of simply giving her "ailing" niece a baby aspirin and telling her it was a new miracle drug, Jennifer started thinking big and developed Obecalp (spell it backwards) - a standardized, pharmaceutical grade, chewable, cherry-flavored pill, sweetened with just a bit of dextrose (sugar).

A legal look at this

Read what the Quackometer has to say

What do YOU think??

I  have been warning for years of the effects of blood pressure medication and cholesterol lowering medication on the function of the brain.   Now comes a theory explaining WHY lowering cholesterol in particular may affect function to the point of being a causative factor in the increase in Alzheimer's.

The villain in the onset of Alzheinmer's disease is now known to be tangles of amyloid plaque;   it appears that this amyloid is an emergency response on the part of the body to a lack of sufficient cholesterol.

If you would like an accurate road map, Dr. Lorin's book will provide it:

Author/dentist Henry Lorin watched helplessly as his wife's father developed Alzheimer's disease, while his own father did not. The two men were the same age and very similar medically, except for one key health factor. Dr. Lorin then spent years studying all the medical research, utilizing the clues and insights gained from his family's experience. The result? He is able to show that this one factor is the true key to Alzheimer's. Dr. Lorin's book reveals that factor and the simple steps needed to prevent the disease.