Niacin, Statins And Difficulties Of Drug Discovery

John LaMattina, Contributor

Former president of Pfizer Global Research covering news in pharma.

About a dozen years ago, a team of Merck scientists met with upper management to discuss a new approach for treating cardiovascular disease. The approach was simple, but clever. The scientists had a way of turning a well known and widely used drug, niacin, into an even better and safer drug, thereby expanding its usage.

Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is known to raise HDL (“good cholesterol”) by about 25% as well as modestly lower LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and triglycerides. It had been used for decades to help patients control their blood lipid levels based on results from a trial done in the 1960s known as the Coronary Drug Project, which looked at niacin versus placebo in men who had a previous heart attack over a period of five years. While niacin showed no difference from placebo in the death rate of the men in this study, fewer patients on niacin had a non-fatal heart attack or stroke, by 26% and 24%, respectively. This study provides the basis for the use of niacin in cardiovascular disease.

Are you only as young as you feel?

In her book Counterclockwise, Harvard professor Ellen Langer recounts a groundbreaking study she did in 1979 that has since become the stuff of legend.

R.I.P. modern medicine

When the shutters come down for the final time at your local pharmacy and all the prescription drugs we've come to rely on are labelled 'Not Fit For Purpose', what will you do?

Are we facing the end of modern medicine?

At the risk of provoking howls of derision from regular readers, bear with me for one minute...

Recently, I told you about a leading doctor who risked professional suicide by suggesting that a 10 pence Vitamin B tablet is more effective for treating dementia than the blockbuster drug Aricept...

We also heard the apocalyptic pronouncement from the World Health Organisation that antibiotics have been so over-used that they're now almost completely useless against 'super strains' of bacterial infection. 

Sniffing Saffron

Jacob Schor, ND, FABNO

A particularly curious paper was published in the June 2011 issue of Phytomedicine.  In it, H. Fukui and colleagues tell us that sniffing at saffron is stimulus enough to trigger hormonal changes in young women. 

This was a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study involving just a short period of exposure ( 20 minutes) to the saffron.

Forty-seven female college students took part in the study.  Of these, 36 were randomly assigned to a saffron group and 11 assigned to a control group. Each sniffed at either a dilute solution of saffron or a for 20 minutes. 

The experimental solutions of saffron were diluted in to such a degree that the smell of saffron could not be sensed. The control was 76% ethanol only.

Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs

By SAMANTHA ROLLINS 

How Do Aphrodisiacs Work?

Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really work? Scientific evidence suggests it’s the placebo effect that accounts for most of the libido-lifting powers of your typical aphrodisiac, but some of these foods, drinks, herbs, spices and scents may actually contribute to physical arousal in a variety of ways. Read on for the lowdown on five popular sex enhancers.

Satiereal and Saffron Safety Information

Saffron is a very safe spice. Annually, over 200 tons are produced worldwide, primarily in the Mediterannean region.  According European Food Science Agency experts, saffron is not a source of any safety concerns.  So the source of Safranal is well-tested and verified for human safety.  Moreover, an analysis of over 500 allergy studies against various spices found that saffron allergy is extremely rare.  In an evaluation of saffron stigma tablets, testing up to 400mg daily of an aqueous extract saffron crocus stigma over 7 days in healthy volunteers, no clinically significant changes occurred in blood or biological markers.  This result is confirmed by a current publication-pending 8-week human clinical study.

The levels of saffron constituents in Satiereal are safe for human consumption, and the Satiereal Formulation has been tested in the laboratory and in human studies to confirm its safety.   Results of a recent human clinical and laboratory safety study over 8 weeks of supplementation showed it to be well-tolerated with no safety concerns.   This study measured blood sugar and blood fat levels, markers of normal liver and kidney functions, as well as urine laboratory checks.  There were no significant differences between volunteers taking Satiereal and placebo.

Vital signs (blood pressure and heart rate) remained unchanged in both groups at the end of study as compared to baseline. Moreover, there were no changes in clinical biology parameters assessed at baseline and after the study.  Additionally, no significant adverse effect has been reported during the complementary clinical study that is currently in process.

While saffron is a very safe spice, and can easily be identified, sometimes the inexperienced mistake the autumn crocuses of the genus Colchicum for saffron crocuses.  The autumn crocus is extremely poisonous, so never try to prepare saffron from your garden crocuses!  Stick with saffron from culinary suppliers, and to obtain the weight loss benefits of saffron, choose Satiereal, which is standardized to the medicinally relevant  levelof safranal .

http://slimmingfacts.org/satiereal/safety/

Satiereal Saffron Extract: Miracle Appetite Suppressant?

By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | Healthy Living

What if there was a safe supplement that would banish hunger and boost metabolism? That's exactly what Dr. Oz touted in a recent episode of his show called Belly Blasting Supplements. America's favorite TV doctor says that Satiereal saffon extract, will "annihilate your urge to overeat."

Saffron is a culinary spice derived from the dried stigmas of crocuses. Each flower contains only three stigmas and they are usually harvested by hand. This makes saffron the most expensive spice in the world by weight. It has been cultivated for over three thousand years.

Satiereal saffron extract is believed to diminish "emotional eating." It may have the effect of increasing serotonin levels in the brain, which improves mood and makes people less likely to snack. Dr. Oz explains, "You crave carbohydrates…when you take carbohydrates and put them up in the mouth you are actually turning on chemicals in the brain... They turn on this pleasure sensation, this craving you have, and they give you the satisfaction from doing this and relief."

A 2010 study of 60 women did show that participants taking a Satiereal saffron supplement did lose more weight and experienced fewer cravings than others given a placebo. The dosage is 88-90 mg, twice a day, and the cost is about $30 per month. 

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/satiereal-saffron-extract-miracle-appetite-suppressant-203200700.html

GSK study suggests its antidepressant drugs cause suicidal tendencies Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032097_antidepressants_suicidal_tendencies.html#ixzz1mFJc4F4t

(NaturalNews) A new study released by drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) suggests that its very own antidepressant drug Paxil (paroxetine) is linked to an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and tendencies among adult patients. The findings appear to confirm those of previous studies and cases that have linked selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) like Paxil to suicides, suicide attempts, and even murders (http://www.naturalnews.com/019342.html). Published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the GSK study reveals a nearly sevenfold increase in suicide attempts among those taking Paxil versus those taking a placebo. In clinical trials, 0.34 percent of participants taking Paxil attempted suicide, while only 0.05 percent of those taking a placebo did. Besides increasing the risk of suicidal tendencies, a GSK study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in early 2010 showed that Paxil does not even appear to work as intended in patients with varying levels depression (http://www.naturalnews.com/027962_Paxil_antidepressants.html). Combine this with the fact that Paxil technically makes depression symptoms worse by causing more suicides and suicide attempts, and you are left asking how or why this drug ended up on the market in the first place. GSK has known since at least 2006 that Paxil is linked to increased suicide risk, and yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to allow the ineffective, harmful drug to remain on the market. Sure, the agency has upped its warning labels over the years, but based on the drug's safety and performance record, is there any legitimate reason for it to even be on the market in the first place? The FDA first modified warning labels for Paxil in 2004 after suicide rates among children taking the drug was found to be twice as high as it was among those not taking Paxil. In 2006, the FDA extended the warning to include adults up to age 25. Today, the drug carries a "black box" warning for everyone that says it may increase risk of suicide. A 2009 study published in the online journal PLoS One revealed that among 832 different drugs, which represent 99 percent of the total suicide-related events reported in the Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), Paxil was the worst of all. Among the 27,012 adverse events reported for suicide attempts between 2004 and 2008, 1,323, or 4.9 percent, were linked to Paxil (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007312). Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032097_antidepressants_suicidal_tendencies.html#ixzz1mFJhSATd