Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Supplements vs. Drugs
Confronted with the fact that dietary supplements produce the same biological effect as many prescription drugs without side effects that typically occur from drugs (examples: magnesium instead of calcium blockers, fish oil instead of blood thinners, vitamin D instead of Fosamax), many senior Americans say they prefer the drugs because their health plans provide them for $1. Drug makers and politicians have cemented drugs over dietary supplements, and Americans don't seem to care. They continue to take unsafe drugs with the assurance are approved by the Food & Drug Administration, yet the FDA continues to remove many of these approved drugs (Vioxx, Avandia, Zellnorm) because more complete safety data only becomes available after the drugs have been on the market for some time. This effectively makes the public guinea pigs. The FDA has wilted to demands from industry that drugs be approved more quickly. Yet the drug companies claim the cost of bringing drugs to market hasn't dropped, which justifies the high-cost of the drugs. Many Americans are apparently using the money they have saved on buying prescription drugs to spend elsewhere. For example, Americans spend more money gambling ($600 billion) than they do for food ($400 billion). In 2006 Americans spent $38.5 billion on care of their pets, but only $22 billion on dietary supplements. While 6 in 10 Americans take dietary supplements, most are single supplements such as vitamin E or vitamin C or a low-dose multivitamin. Most Americans are missing out on the health benefits provided by fish oil, magnesium, vitamin D, resveratrol, flaxseed meal, and garlic tablets. These six dietary supplements would replace most drugs taken by Americans today and save many thousands of lives. -Copyright 2007 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.
posted by Knowledge of Health at 11:17 PM
