Calcium Supplements Could Raise Heart Risks in Postmenopausal Women

Emerging serious risks now make calcium supplementation an unwise choice. A five year Auckland University study was recently halted upon finding that supplementing with 1000mg of calcium a day increased the incidence of heart attack by 40 percent in women over 70 years. More

Bisphosphonate bad news keeps on coming…

The FDA last month issued an alert about the previously downplayed side-effect afflicting many bisphosphonate users of chronic, often incapacitating joint and bone pain, swelling of ankles and feet, muscles cramping, stiffness, and difficulty walking. Many users find the symptoms take a long time to subside even after stopping the drug as bisphosphonates have an indefinite half-life in the body of at least 10 years. The amount of drug within the bone accumulates with use and effect of the drug continues once stopped. There is no known method of removing the medication from the bones.[v]

Scientific misconduct under scrutiny

Dr Aubrey Blumsohn’s scientific misconduct website details on-going ethical scandals confronting pharmaceutical research. The stranger-than-fiction story of his expose of Proctor and Gamble’s VERY dodgy dealings over the osteoporosis drug Actonel make for riveting reading.

Pesticides and Breast Cancer: A Wake Up Call

‘Pesticides and Breast Cancer: A Wake Up Call’ Dr Meriel Watts 

Breast cancer incidence rose 30-40 percent from the 1970s to the 1990s and rates continue to escalate in the Asia Pacific region. New Zealand has one of the highest rates in the world. New Zealand’s Dr Meriel Watts set out to identify what synthetic chemicals may be contributing to breast cancer. Her research took three years and resulted in the book ‘Pesticides and Breast Cancer: A Wake Up Call’. 

The Burden of the BONZ report

 A staggering 84,354 New Zealanders are predicted to break bones this year as a result of osteoporosis; that’s one osteoporosis related fracture every six minutes and a hip fracture every two hours. By 2020 the annual osteoporosis-related fracture rates are expected to exceed 115,000. So cautions the Fonterra funded ‘Burden of Osteoporosis in New Zealand Report’ commissioned by Osteoporosis New Zealand. But should we really heed the exhortations to drink more milk, scoff calcium supplements, have our bones scanned or swallow powerful drugs?

Industry rules at international osteoporosis symposium in D.C.

Barbara Quart’s excellent article  ‘Big Pharma is big dog at symposium’  (following this comment) observing the culture of excess and hype pervading the osteoporosis symposium in Washington DC in April is a salutory reminder that despite the efforts of many, nothing has changed. The powerful osteoporosis industry still promotes lies and misinformation, not just to the consumer, but to unwary or easily bought medics as well. Well known authorities who are specialist speakers by day, then drug company reps by night are the norm at these industry-sponsored events. We need more people like Barbara Quart and the one courageous solitary orthopedic surgeon at the symposium who voiced his concerns about the potential for a major medical disaster in future from the global experimentation occurring with the potent bisphosphonate drugs Fosamax and Actonel.

The truth about HRT

Survey after survey has linked hormone replacement therapy to cancer, strokes, blood clots and heart disease. Why, then, are so many women so relaxed about using it? And why do some doctors insist that the dangers are exaggerated? Sarah Boseley from the Guardian investigates. Wednesday June 6, 2007

New danger alert for Fosamax and Zometa (Reclast)

New evidence reveals the potential for very serious harm from the bisphosphonates Zoledronate (Zometa) and Fosamax. In a study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that can increase the risk of stroke, was found to be nearly three times more common among women taking Zoledronate or Reclast. Of 3,889 volunteers using the drug and 3,876 given placebo injections, one in 77 Reclast patients developed the problem.People with atrial fibrillation have reduced cardiac output and are four times more likely to have a stroke. Overall mortality rates are doubled in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Bisphosphonate Fact Sheet

The action of bisphosphonates is not fully understood, and their long term effects are unknown. What is known is that they effectively poison and kill bone remodelling cells. One hundred and fifty years ago they were used for making soap and de-scaling boilers. In humans they permanently adhere to the surface of bone, particularly on sites where there is active bone turnover.

A Bone to Pick with Bone Drugs

Read this reassuring article by Adriane Fugh-Berman – a rare voice of sanity in a world where osteoporosis is diagnosed and treated in hundreds of thousands of well women who do not  (and in all likelihood won’t ever) suffer from the condition. Highly recommended.

adriane-fb-bone-drugs.pdf