Leukaemia drug treatment research compromised by drug company funding and authors with potential conflicts of interest?

Three Australian oncologists say cancer treatment research published in one of the world's most prestigious medical journals may have been compromised by a drug company that funded the study. They said publication of the research in The Lancet might have boosted the drug's perceived value to doctors and patients around the world, helping its manufacturer, Roche, make billions of dollars from the product.
Read article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Surgical Stockings Do Not Help Stroke Patients to Avoid Blood Clots

BBC News reports that around two thirds of stroke patients are unable to walk on admission to hospital and approximately 15% develop blood clots because of this lack of movement.

A large Lancet study, by the University of Edinburgh, involved over 2,500 stroke patients in the UK, Italy and Australia. They were divided into two groups. All received routine care, including aspirin and assisted exercise, but half were offered surgical stockings as well.

After 30 days there was no significant difference in the blood clot rate in the two groups but the group given stockings experienced more skin breaks, ulcers and blisters than those without.

Researcher Professor Martin Dennis said: "We have shown conclusively that compression stockings do not work for stroke patients.

"The national guidelines need to be revised and we need further research to establish effective treatments for these patients.

"Abandoning this ineffective and sometimes uncomfortable treatment will free up valuable resources in our health services."

If you cut down on salt and salty food you will reduce your risk of stroke and many other health problems.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Sodium in foods

Despite its expense and unpleasant side-effects, alli, the 'slimming' drug, causes weight loss of only 2.5kg a year!

Obesity drug 'causes only limited weight loss'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Alli, also known as orlistat, causes slimmers to lose only around 5.5 lb (2.5kg) a year, according to an editorial in the Lancet."

So, despite its expense and very unpleasant side-effects, alli, the 'slimming' drug, causes weight loss of only 2.5kg a year! - Yet if obese people simply avoid eating salt and salty food they can easily lose more than 6kg in the first month without hunger and with no adverse side-effects whatsoever!

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

The Government's Change4Life anti-obesity campaign is too "simplistic" and partly funded by the companies that cause the problem, the Lancet says.

Multi-million pound Change4Life obesity campaign too 'simplistic'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Ministers hope that the push, which includes participation from food companies such as Pepsi and retailers and an £8 million television campaign, will ease a growing trend which has left one in four Britons obese.

But the Lancet medical journal says that the decision to allow producers of fatty and sugary foods, which it accuses of contributing to the obesity crisis, to take part in the campaign "beggared belief"."

Actually, 'fatty foods', as such, do not contribute to obesity. - It is SALTY foods that need to be avoided in order to lose excess weight. - And the emphasis on exercise as helping to reduce obesity is a red herring. - Despite the claims constantly made about exercise and despite its many health benefits, there is no scientific evidence that it helps with weight loss. On the contrary, there is evidence that with children at any rate, it neither prevents nor reduces obesity. - But I do agree that the food companies bear a lot of the responsibility for the increasing incidence and severity of obesity. - This is because they have for many years ladled harmfully excessive levels of salt into bread and into processed food and they are being very slow about reducing these levels...

The medical profession probably bears most responsibilty for the obesity crisis as they have consistently misinformed people of the facts about obesity and how to reduce it, and their reckless over-prescribing of drugs that actually CAUSE obesity, is a national scandal.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Older people need sufficient calcium and vitamin D to prevent bone damage if they fall.

Over-50s told to take proper dose of calcium to avoid bone damage - Guardian

Extract:

"Doctors are recommending that people over 50 take supplements of calcium to reduce the risk of bone damage if they fall, as a study in the Lancet medical journal today suggests that daily pills can prevent one in four fractures in the over-50s.

The findings will add to the increasing number of pills many older people are recommended to take and renew suggestions that some should consider a daily "polypill", including cholesterol-busting statins, aspirin and calcium.

University of Western Sydney scientists pooled the results of 17 studies involving more than 50,000 people over 50 who were given calcium supplements. They discovered that supplements reduced the risk of fractures by 12% but when the proper dose of 1200mg was taken every day the risk was reduced by 24%.

Benjamin Tang, the lead author, said: "If you're fit, healthy and have a very good diet then at 50 perhaps it's optional but the older you get and the poorer diet you have the more definite the benefit."

But the study also suggested that many people are not taking strong enough doses of calcium, or not taking them regularly enough, to reap the full benefits. "Unfortunately most of the tablets are low dosage," said Dr Tang."

I reckon calcium supplementation is a good idea for older people, but "a daily "polypill", including cholesterol-busting statins, aspirin and calcium" would not be a good idea. Statins have caused many adverse side-effects in the people who take/have taken them, and it has been reported that most people feel better when they give them up. Cholesterol can be lowered without drugs by reducing salt intake. This would also help with the problem of insufficient calcium. - And aspirin for all the people needing calcium supplements would not be safe, since many people have weak blood vessels and a tendency to bleed, which would be likely to be exacerbated by daily aspirin. People need to have sufficient vitamin D in order to utilise the calcium.


Lose weight and improve your health in many other ways by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Glaxo takes out newspaper ads to defend Avandia

Glaxo defends Avandia with newspaper ads

Extract:

"The ads, which appeared in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, take the form of a letter to Avandia patients signed by Ronald Krall, chief medical officer of the world's second-largest drugmaker.

The unusual step comes a day before a scheduled U.S. congressional hearing on the Food and Drug Administrations role in evaluating the safety of Avandia, and a day after the first solid data became available on the medicine's eroding prescription numbers.

Avandia, known chemically as rosiglitazone, came under fire last month after an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested the type 2 diabetes treatment might raise the risk of heart attack by 43 percent and of cardiac-related death by 64 percent. The analysis, by a top U.S. cardiologist, Steven Nissen, drew on pooled data from 42 trials involving nearly 28,000 patients.

Glaxo has been on the defensive ever since, putting out news releases criticizing the so-called meta-analysis and methods used in reaching its conclusions and defending the safety of the $3.2 billion (1.6 billion pound) a year product; trotting out executives to discuss Avandia safety with the media; and publishing a letter in the Lancet medical journal saying large studies showed Avandia's cardiovascular safety to be comparable to other widely used diabetes treatments."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Taking folic acid supplements reduces the risk of stroke but could worsen heart disease in those who are vulnerable.

Folic acid supplements 'cut stroke risk' - Guardian

Extract:

"Taking folic acid supplements reduces the risk of stroke by 18%, according to a large study published in today's Lancet.

The findings also suggest that mandatory fortification of flour, currently being considered by health officials in England, could reduce death rates from strokes.

Hopes of such a dramatic impact in reducing the 110,000 strokes diagnosed every year in the UK are tempered by warnings that supplementation could also worsen heart disease in those who are vulnerable."

The completely SAFE way to reduce your risk of stroke AND your risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and many other degenerative conditions is to reduce your intake of salt and salty food. - The less salt/sodium you eat, the better for your health.

And if you feel you need to lose weight, then please give up dieting! - All you need to do to lose some excess weight is to eat less salt and to continue with low salt intake for the rest of your life.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Rising level of teenage diabetes alarms researchers.

Rising level of teenage diabetes alarms researchers - Guardian

Extract:

" The rise of diabetes among teenagers and their poor adherence to treatment programmes is creating a serious public health problem, scientists have said.

Research published in the Lancet today highlights the need to address type 2 diabetes among young people, which goes hand-in-hand with obesity.

The condition, which can lead to high blood pressure, blindness, the destruction of nerves and muscle, heart, liver and kidney disease, and psychiatric disorders, is often worse in young people than in older adults. Coma and death are possible if uncontrolled blood sugar is left untreated.

The charity Diabetes UK said it was concerned by the research - the result of a review of several international reports on acute and longterm illness associated with type 2 diabetes in young people.

Teenagers with diabetes are prone not to manage it properly because they want to lead a "normal" life with their friends, which puts them at greater risk of complications, Diabetes UK's chief executive, Douglas Smallwood, said. He called for an urgent improvement in services for young people with diabetes saying there had been cuts in the number of paediatric diabetes specialist nurses (PDSN).

The researchers, led by Dr Orit Pinhas-Hamiel, from Sheba medical centre in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, wrote: "Substantial morbidity [illness] and mortality have been reported in children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes."

This is a wholly needless and avoidable tragedy for these young people and their families. It is directly caused by the failure of the medical profession and nutritionists to give the correct advice about the causes and alleviation of obesity, allied to the failure of successive Departments of Health to curb the calamitous practice of food manufacturers of ladling massive quantities of salt into bread and other processed foods for decades, plus the catastrophic effects of corticosteroids, HRT and many other drugs that cause sodium and water retention being recklessly prescribed and inadequately monitored by doctors ill-informed/ignorant about their side-effects.

Details on my website. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html
my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
and other pages.

Reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Doctors attack Lancet owner's arms fair links - Guardian

Extract:

"A subsidiary of the publishers, Reed Exhibitions, runs six defence-related fairs around the world including the highly controversial Defence Services and Equipment International, supported by the Ministry of Defence, which will take place in London in September. Doctors are also complaining about the Shot - shooting, hunting, and outdoor trade - show in America for domestic weapons.

Scientists including Sir Michael Atiyah, former president of the Royal Society, have called for a boycott of their publications.

International academics led by Noam Chomsky have also lobbied the company in a letter, and last month the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust sold £2m worth of shares in the company after three years of attempting to persuade it to halt its association with the arms trade.

Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, and Michael Pelly, its international adviser, write today: "The Lancet is one of the most respected international medical journals and should not be linked to an industry involved in weapons designed to cause physical harm and death."

A second letter, from Peter Hall of Doctors for Human Rights, reads: "The Lancet, as the foremost medical journal on global health issues, engages with all threats to human longevity or mental and physical wellbeing ... it is thus shocking to hear that the publisher ... continues to align itself so supportively with the arms trade.""

Transplants for slipped discs?

Patients with a slipped disc could be cured by transplant

Extract:

"Surgeons have pioneered a radical cure for the slipped disc, a common cause of back pain, by using transplants from donors.

In the first operation of its kind, orthopaedic specialists in Hong Kong replaced slipped discs in five patients, who had suffered long-standing pain, with discs removed from three women aged between 20 and 30 who had died in accidents.

The operations were performed between March 2000 and January 2001 and the five patients - four men and a woman then aged between 41 and 56 - were followed up for five years. The results, reported in The Lancet today, show the transplants were still functioning well in all the patients and their pain had improved. None of the patients needed immunosuppressant drugs normally given to transplant recipients for life.

A slipped disc occurs when the jelly-like disc of cartilage that acts as a cushion between two vertebrae in the spine, slips or prolapses so it is pressing on the nerves causing the muscles of the back to go into spasm."


Obesity is caused by fluid retention, not by overeating. - The usual cause of fluid retention is sensitivity to salt.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)