Sunday, June 6, 2010

Ray D.Strand, M.D. warns you of the danger you expose yourself to if you think most doctors are health experts.

Doctor Ray D. Strand, MD parroted the tune of the American Medical Association during the first 23 years of his practice as a doctor. In fact, Dr. Strand admits telling patients the very statement which drove me to researching vitamins and alternatives to traditional western medicine in the early 1980’s which is “Vitamins just make expensive urine.” It appears on page xv of the introduction to his 2002 book called “ What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You”.

However, after witnessing the recovery from fibromyalgia that his wife made using nutritional supplements when everything he learned in medical school had failed to help her, he soon learned how many thousands of double-blind, placebo-controlled scientific studies have already been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine which demonstrate the effectiveness of antioxidants in treating disease.

Although it is not true, if you read his book and mine, you would think one of us had knowledge of the other before writing our books. Some of the other admissions he makes about MD’s and American medical schools follow my writing practically word for word. Some of these statements included by Dr. Strand in his book are:

“Prevention of disease should be the first order of business for a physician.” “Yet, less than one percent of our health care dollars are spent on so-called preventive medicine. In reality the majority of our preventive medicine programs simply attempt to detect disease earlier.”

“Only approximately 6 percent of the graduating physicians in the United States have any training in nutrition.”

“Are you aware that less than 6 percent of physicians receive any formal training in nutrition?”

“I’ve used all the patented answers in the past (about vitamins): “They’re Just snake oil,” “Vitamins just make expensive urine.”

“Even though research scientists are making tremendous discoveries into the root causes of these diseases, very few physicians are applying this science to their patients. Doctors simply wait until patients develop one of these diseases and then begin to treat it.”

“People don’t make a profit preventing disease.”

“Chronic inflammation is the underlying cause of heart attacks, strokes, peripheral vascular disease, and aneurysms.”

"Why your cholesterol level is NOT the key to protecting you from heart disease" (From the front cover of the book)

“Take a look at the amount of money the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry have made by lowering cholesterol with synthetic drugs. Billions and billions of dollars roll in each and every year. Have you ever considered who educated you about the risk of high cholesterol? Who is taking out that full-page ad to inform you about the importance of lowering your homocysteine? There is not nearly as much money to be made in the sale of vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and folic acid.”

In addition to writing “ What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You”, Ray D. Strand, MD also wrote “Death by Prescription: The Shocking Truth Behind an Overmedicated Nation” and “Bionutrition: Winning the War Within-The Amazing Health Benefits of Vitamin Supplements.

Thank you Dr. Strand! Thank you for writing to inform the American public how little doctors know and do to prevent us from falling prey to diseases, even though most are easily prevented by obtaining sufficient nutrients. Thank you for warning people that doctors are not health experts.

Better Health Through Education

Gary Springer,

Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Author of They’re Making You Fat and Sick, It’s Big Business and Big Money

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Dr. Abram Hoffer, Allopathic vs. Orthomolecular Medicine

To help you better appreciate Dr. Hoffer's work, it's important to understand the difference between two separate approaches to medicine.

Allopathic Medicine is the medical training provided in all medical schools of the United States. Upon completion of the required training of Allopathic Medicine, a physician can use the letters "MD" after his name. MD means "Doctor of Medicine".

Most of the patented medicines used by allopathic MD's are poisons that interupt the normal biological function of the body to cause a desired result. Small amounts of toxic compounds are given to patients, usually in prescription pill form, in an attempt to stop the body's capacity to produce a symptom.

On the other hand, Orthomolecular Medicine works to restore the balance of the biological functions of the body by providing it with substances natural to the body such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids.

Even though the natural substances used in Orthomolecular Medicine prevent and cure diseases, because they are natural substances they can not be patented and are therefore low priced. Any natural substance that cures and prevents disease is in direct competition with the expensive patented pills of the Pharmaceutical industry and the medical practices of all those with MD after their name.

Therefore, natural substances proven to prevent and cure disease are a huge threat to the income of both the pharmaceutical industry and traditional American MD's.

To keep people ignorant of the powerful healing nature of natural vitamins and other natural substances, the AMA and the pharmaceutical companies conduct a campaign to discredit MD's who begin to use natural substances for curing patients instead of prescribing expensive patented pharmaceutical drugs that only cover up symptoms.

Dr. Barret of QuackWatch is engaged in this campaign to discredit inexpensive but more effective and safer means of cure and good health and the doctors who promote them. Dr. Barrett throws all those who promote Orthomolecular medicine under the bridge with quacks who belong there. But, he never exposes any of the scams of the Pharmaceutical companies and the many useless or dangerous products they market using the highly regarded title of "MD".

Incidentally, before a substance can be called a vitamin, it must cure and prevent a disease. For example, Vitamin C prevents and cures Scurvy, Vitamin D prevents and cures rickets and the B vitamins cure and prevent pernicious anemia, beriberi and pellagra.

Now that you understand why there are so many attacks upon the credibility of the man who first coined the term Orthomolecular Medicine, Linus Pauling, one of the two greatest scientists of the twentieth century, you are better prepared to understand the attacks upon the credibility of Dr. Hoffer who is considered by many to be the founder of Orthomolecular Medicine.

Dr. Abram Hoffer used Orthomolecular Medicine to treat psychiatric patients.

Following is an introduction to Dr. Hoffer's autobiography provided by Orthomolecular Medicine.org http://www.orthomed.org/index.html

"Abram Hoffer's Biography

Synopsis

This book is a feast for the mind and the spirit: the autobiography of one of the great doctors of the 20th century, Dr. Abram Hoffer.

For those of us who have learned, through painful personal experience that drugs, surgery, and most of high-tech medicine offer only very temporary benefits, but rarely if ever a cure, this book tells the wonderful story of the rebirth of nutritional medicine. Based on the science of biochemistry, now known as orthomolecular medicine.

Here we follow the journey of its founder: from his Saskatchewan farm childhood, subsequent training in bio-chemistry and agricultural science, his early insights into the central importance to human and animal health of soil and plant food quality, to his specialization in psychiatry, professorship at the University of Saskatchewan, and his daily work with patients. We learn of his disillusionment with traditional methods of treating the mentally ill and we share his excitement of discovery as we follow his dramatic case histories, which unfold like detective-stories, as he uncovers the connection between deficiencies in specific vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids and mental illness. Price is $35.00. "

You can purchase the book at the store of Orthomolecular Medicine http://www.orthomed.org/store/store.html

Better Health Through Education

Gary Springer,

Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Author of They’re Making You Fat and Sick, It’s Big Business and Big Money

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Dwight C. Lundell, MD Heart Surgeon

If you still thnk cholesterol and saturated fat are causing heart disease, here's what a heart surgeon and co-author of "The Cure for Heart Disease" says about the matter.

Following is the beginning of an article/interview of Dr. Lundell from his website located at http://thecureforheartdisease.net/index.php ;

Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire

Is it possible that the low-fat diet was a big fat lie?

The fat content in food continues to decrease. Yet, our belt lines continue to increase. And, heart disease is more prevalent now than ever. Is the low fat diet helping or hindering our national epidemics of heart disease and obesity?

Statistically, the low-fat diet isn’t helping. In fact, it’s making the entire situation worse. The same diet recommendations that have been the focal point of public consensus, numerous fad diet plans, and the foundation of the government’s famous food pyramid is creating a national health crisis.

“Quite frankly, the low-fat diet is a confusing mess,” says Dr. Dwight Lundell, a heart surgeon with more than 25 years of experience and co-author of the new book The Cure for Heart Disease—Unmasking the Real Cause of Heart Disease. “In spite of the fact that there was no initial evidence to support the low-fat theory in the first place, the diet continues to be the focus of the government, the medical establishment, and almost every food manufacturer in this country. The American public is screaming for change. And, instead of looking closely at the low-fat theory and its results on our health—more incidences of heart disease and obesity—we ignorantly continue lowering the fat content of our food supply. The lower it gets, the fatter we become. And, heart disease is out of control.”

So, Americans are consuming less fat, yet the epidemics continue to spiral out of control? What about the good old slogan our mothers would drill into heads at the dinner table, ‘You are what you eat.’ Is that wrong?

“It is wrong,” says Lundell. “Instead of focusing on what we put inside our bodies, we need to focus on what our bodies do with the foods we consume—what happens when those foods enter the metabolic process. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) adopted the now famous food pyramid and began a public health campaign to change the diet of America, our nation began to face unimaginable health problems. The low-fat diet is not working. The food pyramid isn’t working. It’s not making our nation thinner and it’s not reducing the incidence of heart disease.”

So, there’s a lot of wishful thinking going on in America today—an obese and unhealthy public is blindly hoping for a possible benefit from the low-fat diet. And, so far, all we’ve seen are negative effects. Nevertheless, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cholesterol Education Program, the American Heart Association, the US Department of Agriculture, and a host of other medical organizations continue to promote and publicize the low-fat diet—even though the health of our nation is in dire need of rescue.

Is this a conspiracy theory? Are they trying to trick us?

“The low-fat diet is not a conspiracy,” says Dr. Lundell. “It’s simply a theory that isn’t based on fact—the entire theory is based on incomplete science. All these groups have good intentions. But, let’s look at the facts. There is no evidence to suggest that low-fat equals lower incidence of heart disease and obesity. In fact, all the evidence points in the opposite direction. So, when will the public, the politicians, the medical organizations, and the food manufacturers start waving their white flags and surrender to real science? I admitted that I was wrong, why can’t they?”

Admitting he was wrong? Dr. Lundell is referring to his own career, and a pesky suspicion that haunted him through more than 25 years of surgical practice and more than 5000 open-heart surgeries.

“There came a point in my career when I realized that everything was backward,” says Dr. Lundell. “Medicine was only treating disease after people had become ill. We know the real cure for heart disease. So, why aren’t we curing it? And, why do we continue to promote the low-fat diet theory? It isn’t helping the situation. In fact, it’s becoming much worse.”

He’s right. More people develop heart disease today than ever before. Every 34 seconds a person in this country dies of a heart attack. And, if you’re curious how many people won’t live to see tomorrow due to a heart attack—2500 Americans die each day. And, as far as reducing our waistlines, obesity rates in the United States remained stable at around 14 or 15% from 1900 to 1980. Since then, the obesity rates have skyrocketed. Today, nearly 60% of the population is overweight or obese

So, is the low-fat diet really just one big fat lie?

“It may sound melodramatic, but I’m a guru of the facts,” says Dr. Lundell. “Study after study has demonstrated the negative effects of consuming high-grain based diets and low-fats. I think it’s about time the American public heard the truth about the low-fat diet. And, I think it’s time that everyone knows, there is a cure for heart disease.”

Dr. Lundell’s new book, The Cure for Heart Disease, co-authored with Todd R. Nordstrom, details the rise of popularity for the low-fat diet—showing exactly how the low-fat diet became public policy and consensus. He also details numerous studies that back his bold statements—denouncing the theory. And, he provides a solution to a problem that medicine has been bumbling with for decades—the elusive cure for heart disease.

“I know it’s a bold statement, saying there is a cure for heart disease,” says Dr. Lundell. “But again, as a former heart surgeon, I look to the facts—this statement is based only on science. We have the cure for heart disease.”

Thank you Dr. Lundell!

Now, if you're still not convinced that your health depends upon learning that saturated fat and cholesterol are not the demons in heart disease, and if you really do care about your health, take the time to read a book or two by authors who are exposing these money making myths for what they are.

Read Dr. Lundell and Todd Norstrom's book, "The Cure for Heart Disease".

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Friday, May 14, 2010

What are Vitamins? And, How to Find a Good Doctor

When most people hear the word “vitamin” they think of the pills sold in nutrition stores. And, they associate “vitamins” with the controversy over whether or not eating them will prevent or cure disease, whether they will improve health, or, are vitamins simply a waste of money?

Many others think vitamins are just a fad.

But the truth is that “Vitamins are nutrients in fresh food that prevent and cure disease”.

This isn't my definition of a vitamin. For a micro-nutrient found in food to be classified as a vitamin, it must prevent and cure a disease!
Put even more simply, “Vitamins are food required for life”.

The truth is that without vitamins, you will become diseased and die a slow painful death.

The vitamins were discovered one by one as scientists searched for minute quantities of mysterious substances found in fresh foods that were known to prevent and cure many different diseases.

Every historical account ever written about the discovery of vitamins is an account of disease prevention and cure. Search the word “vitamin” in Wikipedia, then scroll down to “history”. The entire section is an account of isolating compounds that prevent different diseases.

Even if you eat plenty of protein, fats, carbohydrates and water, if you stripped all the vitamins from your diet, you will die a slow agonizing death within a few short months.

Even the American Medical Association and the Center for Disease Control acknowledge that Vitamin C prevents and cures scurvy, Vitamin B3 prevents and cures pellagra, Vitamin B1 prevents and cures beriberi, Vitamin B12 prevents and cures pernicious anemia, and Vitamin D prevents and cures rickets.

Yet, despite millions of dollars spent designing new sophisticated drugs in hundreds of modern labs working day after day, the pharmaceutical industry would not dare claim that even one of its expensive patented drugs would prevent and cure any disease!

For several reasons, vitamins, the important substances in food that prevent disease are very difficult to obtain in the diet in sufficient quantities.

The first reason is that there are only very tiny amounts of vitamins even in the freshest of foods.

The second reason is that most vitamins are quickly destroyed by heat during cooking and food processing.

Another is that exposure to oxygen quickly destroys many vitamins.

Also, exposure to toxins in the environment and in food causes the destruction of vitamins within our own bodies, thereby increasing the need for vitamins in modern times above the need for vitamins decades ago.

The food industry destroys so many of the naturally occurring vitamins during food processing that were it not for laws that require the addition of the above mentioned vitamins to processed foods, a scourge of death and disease would sweep across America in a few months.

If you eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) the artificial vitamins added to food are keeping you alive.

The pharmaceutical industry controlled medical schools teach doctors that we get all the vitamins we need in the food we eat. Even though they recognize that the artificial vitamins added to processed foods are at this very moment preventing epidemics of rickets, scurvy, beriberi, pellagra and pernicious anemia, despite thousands of double blind scientific studies that show increased consumption of vitamins will prevent, delay or reduce the rates of diseases that take years to develop, they will not participate in research to determine the optimal levels of
vitamins for prevention of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis and many other diseases.

Given the consistent and numerous successes with vitamin therapy by top notch scientists and doctors such as Dr. Linus Pauling, Dr. Ray Strand, Dr. Mercola and hundreds of others, the only possible reason pharmaceutical companies and the American Medical Association refuse to participate in research into the effectiveness of vitamins for prevention of diseases that are rampant in our society is that the purpose of these organizations is profit. They can’t make a single dime on prevention or cure of disease by vitamins because they can’t be patented. In fact, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry rely upon sickness for profit.

Since MD’s are trained in pharmaceutical industry controlled medical schools, trained to sell their expensive patented pills, most don’t have a clue about the thousands of scientific studies conducted that show the powerful disease curing and prevention capacities of vitamins and other natural nutrients.

Now that you know that Vitamins are nutrients in fresh food that prevent and cure disease”, here’s how to find a good doctor:

Print this article and show it to your doctor. If he disagrees with its content, continue presenting it to different doctors until you find one who agrees and admits to the failings of American medicine as described above.

When you find a doctor who agrees with this paper, you will have discovered one who cares enough about his patients to educate him or herself beyond the indoctrination received in western medical school. But, you remain primarily responsible for your own health. So, it’s important to continue reading books, especially those by authors who are critical of American medicine and its recommendations.

To Your Health,

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, Ph.D.

The next MD Doctor Watch introduces you to is Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, Ph.D..

We open our introduction by presenting a quote that can be interpreted only one way; Cholesterol and saturated fat have nothing to do with heart disease. Dr. Ravnskov says:

“People who avoid all saturated fat and who have low cholesterol become just as atherosclerotic as people who gorge in animal food and whose cholesterol is high.”

Dr Ravnskov said it would take an entire book to explain all the
"inaccuracies, misinterpretations, exaggerations and misleading quotations” needed to support the lie that heart disease is caused by cholesterol and saturated fat.

In 1991 he published the first of many books that do just that. It’s called “The Cholesterol Myths”.

Since he wrote “The Cholesterol Myths”, he has published more than 70 papers further exposing cholesterol-fear for what it really is, a myth.

He is also a member of the International Science Oversight Board, the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, and is the spokesman for THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics.

In an interview for Health Myths Publishing, Dr Ravnskov in 2005 was asked what causes heart disease. He said:

“Most researchers to-day in this field agree that inflammation of the arterial wall is the start. The crucial question is, what starts the inflammation? As cholesterol has been demonized for so many years we have not been able to clear the blackboard and rethink... all studies of dead people have failed to show an association between their intake of saturated fat, or their serum cholesterol, and the degree of atherosclerosis. People who avoid all saturated fat and who have low cholesterol become just as atherosclerotic as people who gorge in animal food and whose cholesterol is high.”

“Another misconception is that atherosclerosis is a disease. When arteries become inflamed the body immediately starts a repair process to strengthen the vascular wall. Smooth muscle cells proliferate, fibrosis follows, and later, if necessary for further strength, cholesterol and calcium are used for reinforcement. This is in particular important in the coronary arteries because due to the steady movements of the heart and the negative pressure at their outside they have to be stronger than for instance arteries running to the intestines or inside bony channels.

Inflammatory processes go on now and then already from childhood; it is a natural defence mechanism and atherosclerosis should therefore be considered as scars, remnants from a long life's combat with noxious chemicals or microorganisms....I think that the final attack is caused by microorganisms, but this is not the only answer.

Any factor that weakens our immune defense may facilitate the growth of microorganisms, also at the inside of our vessels. These factors may be environmental (toxic compounds) or nutritional. There is much evidence that microorganisms may play a role. I published a review about this issue a few years ago."

Thank you Dr. Ravnskov! Thank you for having the courage to take on those who create myths for money and power even though they cause misery and early death for hundreds of millions of people.

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Dr. Linus Pauling

The next man Doctor Watch introduces is consistently considered internationally to be the man who shares with Albert Einstein the distinction of being one of the top two scientists of the twentieth century.

You may consider yourself an informed objective thinker. But, unless you're familiar with the leading roles that Linus Pauling played in science, politics and power in the 20th century, you have not even found one of the largest pieces of the puzzle.

The sooner you're acquainted with the multifaceted work of this genius and the worlds reaction to it, the better you will understand the world.

Everyone knows about Albert Einstein. And, because of his many contributions to science, peace and medicine, everyone should also know Linus Pauling because no one else is ranked nearly as high as these two scientists in the last one hundred years.

But, this is not the case because of Pauling's work against nuclear testing and nuclear proliferation for which he was black-balled by the US government which even revoked his passport to limit his association with other scientists. Ironically, his contributions in this area for which he was awarded his second Nobel Prize may have been his largest contribution to humanity because it expedited international nuclear treaties which may have prevented nuclear war.

The next reason his name isn’t a household word is that to the dissappointment of the pharmaceutical and medical industries working the for-profit business model, he focused his cutting edge scientific genius on understanding the role natural organic compounds played in prevention and cure of disease in what he called, “orthomolecular medicine” which can not be patented. Because all of Pauling's successes would REDUCE the prized profits of conventional medicine, he has been labeled a quack by Quackwatch.com and the pharmaceutical industry lead medical community.

Linus Pauling is the fourth person we've highlighted at Doctor Watch, but, as the founder of Orthomolecular Medicine, he belongs at the top of the list.

You can enjoy a fascinating journey into the accomplishments of this most amazing man by following this link to Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/lpbio/lpbio2.html

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Friday, April 16, 2010

Dr. Joseph Mercola, D.O.

The third doctor that Doctor Watch is proud to introduce you to is Dr. Joseph Mercola. Dr. Mercola is a D.O. or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.

Because saturated fat-fear and cholesterol-fear are such dangerous myths, and because Dr. Mercola has done such a fine job publishing a hilarious cartoon video that is now on YouTube, we introduce Dr. Mercola by briefly explaining the “Town of Allopath”.

The Town of Allpath is a parody that shows the foolishness of trying to prevent heart disease by lowering blood choleterol levels.

The Town of Allopath was named after the type of medicine all MD’s learn in the United States, Allopathic Medicine.

Instead of identifying the cause of a health problem, Allopathic Medicine is devoted to treating the symptom by blocking the body’s ability to produce the symptom. In essence, the MD prescribes a toxin that blocks the normal operation of the body so the body can no longer produce the symptom.

In this video:

Town of Allopath represents Allopathic medicine
Dr. West represents western doctors
SkidMarks Disease substitutes for "High Cholesterol Disease" (LOL)
Roadaceuticals parallels the pharmaceutical industry
Auto Repair Businesses represent the health care industry

Teflon coatings sold by Roadaceuticals to the town of Allopath are very effective in eliminating Skidmarks Diesase.

Cholesterol lowering statin drugs are very effective in lowering blood cholesterol levels too.

But, because auto accidents aren’t caused by the skid marks, when you use Teflon to reduce skid marks, you increase traffic accidents.

And, because heart disease is not caused by cholesterol, blocking the bodies ability to make life supporting cholesterol not only does not lower risk of heart disease, statin drugs designed to lower blood cholesterol levels increase death from all causes.

Laughter is good for the health so watch Dr. Mercola’s, Town of Allopath by clicking HERE

To Your Health,

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Dr. Ray Sahelian, M.D. discusses Quackwatch and Dr. Stephen Barrett

The second MD that Doctor Watch introduces you to is Dr. Ray Sahelian.

Here's part of a short bio from the doctors own website located at http://www.raysahelian.com/

"Ray Sahelian, M.D. is the bestselling author of Mind Boosters, The Stevia Cookbook and several other books (more than 1,000,000 copies sold). See Bio. He is also a superb herbal product formulator with such popular products as Mind Power Rx, Passion Rx, Eyesight Rx, Prostate Power Rx, Joint Power Rx, Diet Rx, and others."

Following is communication between Dr. Sahelian and Dr. Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch. Dr. Sahelian published this exchange on his website. http://www.raysahelian.com/quackwatch.html

Quackwatch review by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Is Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch a Quack?

Is he fair, balanced, or biased?


Over the years I have had many people ask my opinion regarding Stephen Barrett and Quackwatch, but I have been reserved in voicing my thoughts. However, in March 2006 we received an email from someone who claimed that Stephen Barrett had told him negative things about a product I had formulated. Then, in June, 2006 my staff received an email from Stephen Barrett (see below). This prompted us to create a page regarding Quackwatch.org in order to present our point of view. According to the Quackwatch website, this is what Stephen Barrett, M.D. says about himself.

"Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is vice-president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)."

Is Dr. Stephen Barrett fair in his analysis of nutrition research and those involved in the nutrition industry?

I have not read every single page on Quackwatch but the ones I read give me the impression that in many cases Stephen Barrett, M.D. has done good research on many of the people involved in the alternative health industry, and has pointed out several instances of inaccuracies and scams (for instance, Hulda Clark and her pitiful book "The Cure for all Cancers").

However, I hardly came across reports on his website regarding some of the scams or inaccurate promotion and marketing practices by the pharmaceutical industry. Why is this? Why has Stephen Barrett, M.D. focused almost all of his attention on the nutritional industry and has hardly spent time pointing out the billions of dollars wasted each year by consumers on certain prescription and non-prescription pharmaceutical drugs? If he truly claims to be a true consumer advocate, isn't it his responsibility to make sure the big scams are addressed first before focusing on the smaller scams? It's like the government putting all of its efforts going after the poor misusing food stamps while certain big companies cheat billions of dollars from consumers with hardly any governmental oversight.

Why is there no review of Vioxx on Quackwatch? Why is there no mention on quackwatch.org of the worthless cold and cough medicines sold by pharmaceutical companies and drug stores? Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted each year by consumers on these worthless and potentially harmful decongestants and cough syrups. Why is there no mention on quackwatch of the dangers of acetaminophen use, including liver damage? There are probably more people who are injured or die from over the counter Tylenol and aspirin use each year than from all the natural supplements people take throughout a year. If Dr. Barrett had focused his career on educating people in reducing the use of useless and dangerous prescription and nonprescription drugs (even just one, acetaminophen) he would have helped many more people than attempting to scare people from the use of supplements.

Another point I would like to make regarding Quackwatch is that Dr. Barrett often, if not the majority of the time, seems to point out the negative outcome of studies with supplements (you can sense his glee and relish when he points out these negative outcomes), and rarely mentions the benefits they provide. A true scientist takes a fair approach, and I don't see this in my review of the Quackwatch website. I subscribe to the Quackwatch newsletter (which often has interesting information) but there is hardly any mention of the benefits of supplements. As an example, see a paragraph from the August, 2006 Quackwatch newsletter mentioned a few paragraphs below.

Bottom line: Overall, Dr. Barrett does some good in pointing out scams in the alternative health field, but, in my opinion, he is not fair and balanced, and he is not a true objective scientist as he claims to be. Someone who has a website specifically tailored for criticism needs to have a higher and more objective scientific standard, and Barrett fails in this regard.

Could Stephen Barrett, M.D. post his thoughts on Quackwatch regarding these two topics:

The first is on the billions of dollars spent on worthless and dangerous Alzheimer's drugs as noted in The New York Times: "Alzheimer’s Drugs Offer No Help, Study Finds" By Benedict Carey, October 12, 2006. The article begins, "The drugs most commonly used to soothe agitation and aggression in people with Alzheimer's disease are no more effective than placebos for most patients, and put them at risk of serious side effects, including confusion, sleepiness and Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms."

The second is on drug company charlatanism by Robert Bazell, a medical correspondent for NBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14348176/

Am I, Ray Sahelian, M.D., perfectly fair in my review of supplement research?
I try to be, but this is a very difficult task. I cannot be fully objective and I don't believe anyone can be. It is well known in psychology that people perceive things according to how they want to see them. We all approach scientific research results with our own bias and interpretation (even actual researchers have their bias or may be influenced by vested interests). But the difference between me and Dr. Barrett is that I don't have a website that primarily focuses on bashing other people or bashing a particular and important aspect of the health industry, such as the nutritional field which holds enormous promise in health and medicine and has long been ignored, and its potential barely tapped.

Apparently Stephen Barrett is a retired psychiatrist. Does he take any supplements himself to learn firsthand how they work? Does he treat patients with nutritional supplements in order to get an insight how these herbs and nutrients influence the body? Anyone who comments about supplements and has not taken them, or has not had feedback for several years from hundreds or thousands of patients, does not have a full understanding of how they work or what benefit or side effects they have. Their opinion cannot be fully relied on, no matter how many articles they have read regarding the effect of these supplements on rodents or in vitro lab studies......snip...

.....Is Stephen Barrett, M.D. a Quack?

According to the Quackwatch website, Stephen Barrett, M.D. says this about quackery: Dictionaries define quack as "a pretender to medical skill; a charlatan" and "one who talks pretentiously without sound knowledge of the subject discussed."

Stephen Barrett, M.D. does not have a degree in nutrition science. He has been trained in psychiatry but has not practiced psychiatry for many, many years and has, to the best of my understanding, never practiced nutritional medicine. In my opinion, Stephen Barrett, M.D., when it comes to the field of medicinal use of nutritional supplements, can be easily defined as a Quack since he pretends to "have skills or knowledge in supplements and talks pretentiously" without actually having clinical expertise or sound knowledge of herbal and nutritional medicine.

A person can't be an expert at a topic if they have not had hands-on experience. Would you feel comfortable having heart surgery by a doctor who has read all the medical books on how to surgically replace a heart valve but has never performed an actual surgical procedure in an operating room? Would you feel comfortable relying on nutritional advice from a retired psychiatrist, Stephen Barrett, M.D. of Quackwatch, even though he has not had hands-on experience using supplements with patients and does not have a degree in nutrition science?

On a positive note, Stephen Barrett, M.D. often does a good job when it comes to researching credentials of individuals in the nutritional industry, or researching the legitimacy or marketing practices of certain supplement companies. He has uncovered or brought to light several cases of companies that have shady or fraudulent practices. I suggest he stay on this course (which is his forte) rather than giving his uneducated opinion on nutritional medicine or supplement research. I also hope he becomes more balanced in his reviews and makes the effort to also mention positive outcomes regarding supplement research, and not just negative outcomes."

Again, the full communication can be found at Dr. Sahelian's website by clicking
http://www.raysahelian.com/quackwatch.html Please visit the site so you can read the discussion in its entirety, including others who have added their comments about Dr. Stephen Barrett and QuackWatch.

Furthermore, Dr. Sahelian's site is one of the top health and nutrition sites on the internet. Visit now, you'll be glad you did!

Have a Healthy Day!!!!!

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick

Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Dr. Marcia Angell, MD New England Journal of Medicine

In its work of exposing the truth about Joe American, MD and the American medical establishment, Doctor Watch introduces to you an MD who worked for the New England Journal of Medicine for 20 years.

Marcia Angell, MD, former Editor-in-Chief
New England Journal of Medicine

Following is a brief bio of Dr. Angell, a review of her 2008 book called "The Truth About the Drug Companies", a recent interview of Dr. Angell, and the beginning of her report that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Book Recommendation from Random House, Inc. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375508462
author spotlight by Random House

Former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine and now a member of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Social Medicine, Marcia Angell is a nationally recognized authority in the field of health policy and medical ethics and an outspoken critic of the health care system. Time magazine named her one of the twenty-five most influential people in America. Dr. Angell is the author of Science on Trial: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case.

“The Truth About the Drug Companies” by Dr. Angell, MD

During her two decades at The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell had a front-row seat on the appalling spectacle of the pharmaceutical industry. She watched drug companies stray from their original mission of discovering and manufacturing useful drugs and instead become vast marketing machines with unprecedented control over their own fortunes. She saw them gain nearly limitless influence over medical research, education, and how doctors do their jobs. She sympathized as the American public, particularly the elderly, struggled and increasingly failed to meet spiraling prescription drug prices. Now, in this bold, hard-hitting new book, Dr. Angell exposes the shocking truth of what the pharmaceutical industry has become–and argues for essential, long-overdue change.

Currently Americans spend a staggering $200 billion each year on prescription drugs. As Dr. Angell powerfully demonstrates, claims that high drug prices are necessary to fund research and development are unfounded: The truth is that drug companies funnel the bulk of their resources into the marketing of products of dubious benefit. Meanwhile, as profits soar, the companies brazenly use their wealth and power to push their agenda through Congress, the FDA, and academic medical centers.

Zeroing in on hugely successful drugs like AZT (the first drug to treat HIV/AIDS), Taxol (the best-selling cancer drug in history), and the blockbuster allergy drug Claritin, Dr. Angell demonstrates exactly how new products are brought to market. Drug companies, she shows, routinely rely on publicly funded institutions for their basic research; they rig clinical trials to make their products look better than they are; and they use their legions of lawyers to stretch out government-granted exclusive marketing rights for years. They also flood the market with copycat drugs that cost a lot more than the drugs they mimic but are no more effective.

The American pharmaceutical industry needs to be saved, mainly from itself, and Dr. Angell proposes a program of vital reforms, which includes restoring impartiality to clinical research and severing the ties between drug companies and medical education. Written with fierce passion and substantiated with in-depth research, The Truth About the Drug Companies is a searing indictment of an industry that has spun out of control.

Dr. Angell interview by PBS
The entire interview is available at http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/Exprts_intrvw/m_angell.htm

Are we in a health care crisis?

We certainly are in a health care crisis. If we had set out to design the worst system that we could imagine, we couldn't have imagined on as bad as we have. Here's a system in which we spend over twice what the next most expensive country spends on health care -- that's Switzerland.

We spend roughly $4500 for every American, whether they have insurance or not. Switzerland spends maybe $2500 for every citizen. Canada spends maybe $2,000. Great Britain, poor little Great Britain, spends about $1,000 for every British citizen. And what do we get for it? What do we get for that $4500? Well, we certainly don't get our money's worth. We have roughly 43 million people with no insurance whatsoever, and among the rest of us, many of us are underinsured. That is, we have shrinking packages. This might be covered, but that won't be covered.

Our life expectancy is shorter. Our infant mortality is higher. Our childhood immunization rate is lower. And look at how often we get to see the doctor, how long we get to stay in the hospital. Canadians see their doctors far more often than we do. Americans really can't afford to go see their doctor. There's always some co-payment, some deductible, or they have to pay out of pocket, or something isn't covered. But in Canada, where everybody is covered for everything, they go to the doctor much more often. When they are hospitalized, their hospital stays are longer. If they're having a baby, they get to stay four or five days. Japan has very long hospital stays. Ah, it's almost a rest cure. People in Japan who are hospitalized might lie around the hospital for a week or two just to take a rest. So we're really not getting our money's worth. It's going to all sorts of things, but not to doctors and patients.

What are the dangers that we're facing right now?

Well, the danger is that our health care outcomes will start to drop. As I said, they're not all that good in the developed world. We're of the 25 richest countries in the world, we're somewhere around 22-23 in terms of our health. That could get worse, but the greatest danger is that spending so much money on health care risks the feeling that we somehow have to cut back on access, we have to cut back on availability, we have to cut back on quality because it costs too much. Right now the economy is doing well. We're rolling in money. So we feel, yes, we can have it all. We can put all this money into health care and we can also have patients' rights bills and maybe a pharmaceutical benefit for Medicare patients. But that's going to increase the cost in this system. The only way to both reduce cost and increase access and quality is to change the system, to scrap it and start over.

Toss it out and start over?

Yes, because it's based on a false premise. Our health care system is based on the premise that health care is a commodity like VCRs or computers and that it should be distributed according to the ability to pay in the same way that consumer goods are. That's not what health care should be. Health care is a need; it's not a commodity, and it should be distributed according to need. If you're very sick, you should have a lot of it. If you're not sick, you shouldn't have a lot of it. But this should be seen as a personal, individual need, not as a commodity to be distributed like other marketplace commodities. That is a fundamental mistake in the way this country, and only this country, looks at health care. And that market ideology is what has made the health care system so dreadful, so bad at what it does. Yes, it does do what markets are supposed to do. It expands. That's what markets are supposed to do. And it distributes a good according to the ability to pay. But that sure is not what we want of health care.

What led us to this situation?

It's very American. This is a very capitalistic country with relatively few safety nets as compared with Europe and Canada. It's a cowboy country. It's always been a cowboy country, and health care, as I said, has been seen as just one more commodity and the genius of the marketplace will take care of it. People don't think, "Well, how will that play out? Suppose you're poor and you're sick, what will the marketplace do for you," because if you want a VCR, for example, and you're poor, you don't get it. So you do without a VCR. Are you really going to say that to someone that has a brain tumor? So you do without your brain surgery. And also what markets do is they put out a lot of goods. The consumer pays out of pocket. He or she looks around, looks for a bargain, decides maybe he can't afford a VCR this year, he'll get one next year. Well, imagine you have a brain tumor. You're gonna shop for a bargain? You're gonna say, "Well, I don't want an excellent brain surgeon. I want a mediocre brain surgeon. I want a cheap piece of brain surgery." No. And you can't say, "And I'll wait until next year," either. This is a life and death thing and we ought to treat it that way. We ought to treat it the same way we treat education. You don't personally buy education insurance or your employer doesn't buy you education insurance. It's something that a decent society supplies to everyone..........

For the full version of this PBS interview, visit PBS at
http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/Exprts_intrvw/m_angell.htm

Report in the Journal of the American Medical Association
JAMA REPORT


Abstract:
OVER THE PAST 2 DECADES, THE PHARMACEUTICAL industry has gained unprecedented control over the evaluation of its own products. Drug companies now finance most clinical research on prescription drugs, and there is mounting evidence that they often skew the research they sponsor to make their drugs look better and safer. Two recent articles underscore the problem: one showed that many publications concerning Merck's rofecoxib that were attributed primarily or solely to academic investigators were actually written by Merck employees or medical publishing companies hired by Merck; the other showed that the company manipulated the data analysis in 2 clinical trials to minimize the increased mortality associated with rofecoxib. Bias in the way industry-sponsored research is conducted and reported is not unusual and by no means limited to Merck…………….(we do not have access to the full report at this time. If you have access to this full report, please share it with us).
Source:
The Journal of the American Medical Association , 2008, 300 (9) : P.1069-1071
ISSN:0098-7484 Language: English

To Your Health!!

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Welcome to Doctor Watch

Doctor Watch was created in response to QuackWatch.com

Because of the failure of traditional MD's to make positive differences in the health status of millions of people, with each passing year, more and more people are turning to nutrition and alternative approaches to cure and health maintenance.

QuackWatch.com is devoted to slowing the continued erosion of the faith Americans have in MD's, the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical industry.

QuackWatch.com founder, Dr. Stephen Barrett, bashes nutritional cures and alternative approaches to health and healing with every word he publishes. QuackWatch.com is in essence the attack dog for the traditional medical industries.

Doctor Watch is hereby founded to counter the attacks of QuackWatch.com

Doctor Watch will publish articles written by MD's who are working to expose the corruption and ignorance surrounding the Americal Medical Association, the pharmaceutical companies, medical schools and the average Joe American, MD.

If you become aware of the work of an MD who is parting with doctors trained in pharmaceutical controlled medical school, please let us know about that doctors work.

To Your Health!!

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick

Founder of Perfect Health Institute