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RESEARCH WITHOUT ANIMALS

WHI finds birth control pills reduce risk

of heart disease, stroke and cancer

In a complete reversal of its finding that hormone supplements posed a higher risk of heart disease and certain cancers in post-menopausal women, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) has announced that the same hormones in birth control drugs used by younger women confer protection from circulatory disease and cancer.

The earlier findings were so clear that the study was halted to prevent further risk to the 67,000 participants in the study who had been assigned to the hormone-taking group.

The same hormones, estrogen and progestin, produced the opposite effect in younger women, according to a survey of 162,000 participants.. If used for four years or more, they conferred a 42% reduction in the risk for ovarian cancer, a 30% reduction in uterine cancer and a 13% reduction in the risk for any type of cancer. When taken for less than four years, the cancer reduction was approximately 50% less, but still substantial.

The reduction in circulatory problems was lower, ranging from 8% for heart disease in general to 11% for high cholesterol. The risk of a heart attack was 10% lower.

AP report by Marilynn Marchione Oct 21/04

The WHI is a prime example of collecting and analyzing existing human data as opposed to artificially inducing menopause in mice who have a 3-year life spans as opposed to studying effects on much longer lived humans with different bodily functions. E.g. mice typically eliminate drugs from their bodies in three hours compared to three days for humans.

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"Data indicate that frequent milk consumption and higher dietary calcium intakes in middle aged women do not provide protection against hip or forearm fractures...women consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had significantly increased risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from nondairy sources."
12-year Harvard study of 78,000 women American Journal of Public Health 1997-87

- Robert Cohen http://www.notmilk.com

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Antacid drugs found to increase risk of pneumonia

This surprising finding published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is typical of the growing number of studies that analyze already existing information from medical records.

In this case, researchers at a medical center in The Netherlands mined the medical records from between 1995 and 2002 of 360,000 patients enrolled in a primary care program. They found that patients who used drugs to suppress gastric acid had 4.5 times the incidence of pneumonia as patients who didn't take these drugs.

The reason for this is not clear. One possible theory suggested by Allan Spreen, MD, advisor to Health Science Institute is that the reduction of stomach acid may interfere with action of sphincter that prevents stomach acid from entering the esophagus. With stomach acid suppressed, this sphincter may lack the stimulation to close allowing some of the weakened acid to slip into the esophagus and migrate to the lungs. The actual reason has yet to be determined, however.

David Peura, MD. spokesperson for the American Gastroenterological Association points out that treated acid reflux disease itself is known to increase the risk of pneumonia which brings up the question of whether the disease or the remedy is more responsible for the pneumonia.

The drugs pinpointed as increasing pneumonia incidence were of two different types: proton pump inhibitors to treat acid reflux and H2 receptor antagonists for heartburn.

Proton pump inhibitors included Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid, Protonix and Aciphex.

H2 receptor antagonists were Pepcid, Zantac, Tagamet, Rotane and Axid.

These drugs are often prescribed to reduce the chance of ulcers in patients taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to treat arthritis pain, another case of a drug being prescribed to treat the side-effects of drugs prescribed to treat another condition

Suppressing stomach acid can also interfere with the digestion of food the stomach acid is designed to treat, especially in older people whose stomach acid has weakened over the years.

According to Spreen: "Killing off (stomach) acid, however it's done, is a serious mistake with long term consequences if pursued over time. Poor digestion is the genesis of all sorts of problems."

Health Science Institute report, November 4, 2004

Science News, October 30, 2004

CoQ10 found to aid survival following cardiac arrest

Administering coenzyme Q10 combined with maintaining a lower body temperature has been shown to enhance the survival of patients recovering from cardiac arrest according to a Life Extension Update Exclusive via email in early November, 2004.

CoQ10 is a compound naturally generated by the human body, but the body's ability to produce it declines with age. It has been shown to protect both the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

In a study reported in the American Heart Association Journal of Circulation, 25 patients were given 250 mg of liquid CoQ10 eight hours after resuscitation followed by 150 mg thrice daily for five days. The 24 patients serving as controls were given a placebo. Both sets of patients were treated to maintain a body temperature of 35 C ( 95 F) for 24 hours.

After three months 17 of the patients treated with CoQ10 were alive compared to just 7 in the placebo group.

Thirty-six percent of the CoQ10 group were judged to have a good neurological outcome compared to 20 percent of the control group. No adverse effects were attributed to the administration of CoQ10. A separate study of the effects of CoQ10 on Parkinson's patients suggests that a higher dosage might be in order, but that remains to be tried.

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