Chapter 14: Where to Go from Here?
The GranuFlo disaster is awful, but hope springs eternal. For the friends and family members of patients who died (or suffered injury) from alkalosis or other dialysis side effects, the pain may never go away. But the wheels of justice are turning. Fresenius’ misdeeds have finally caught up with the company. FMC is currently […]
Another Disturbing Study about Risperdal and Gynecomastia
Here is another very thought provoking article, “Drug-induced gynecomastia: an evidence-based review,” published in Expert Opinion Drug Safety. The authors noted that: “Drugs are estimated to cause about 10 – 25% of all cases of gynecomastia. Over the course of several decades, multiple medications have been implicated in the development of gynecomastia, mostly in the […]
The Cochrane Collaboration’s New Line on Statins: What Does It All Mean?
Let us take a step back and consider our recent discussion about statin science in context. At the risk of being repetitious… the Cochrane Collaboration is considered by many to be the equivalent of the Supreme Court of science. Yet the authors of the 2013 statin meta-analysis used another group’s sloppy work, incorrectly assessed […]
Chapter 13: A Call to Action
The sheer size and scope of the GranuFlo disaster is difficult to comprehend. On some level, Fresenius’s gruesome, cynical calculus makes sense. The company, after all, brings in 64% of its annual global revenue of $12.8 billion from its North American dialysis clinics. GranuFlo is one of the most profitable products in its dialysis arsenal. […]
The Indirect Costs of Gynecomastia
Experts now believe that up to 25% of cases of gynecomastia may be caused by drug side effects. In addition to swelling breast tissue, adolescent males and men may experience pain in their breasts, discharge from their nipples, and tenderness. The true costs of these side effects cannot be measured simply in terms of medical […]
The Cochrane Collaboration’s Skeptical Look at the Efficacy of Statins
Authors Ebrahim and colleagues also noted in their Cochrane editorial about statin research that: “There are a number of concerning points with this review that arise due to limitations in the published data. First, in the majority of trials in the review… calculations were based on composite outcomes; second, in over one third of trials […]
What Causes Nasty VLDL Cholesterol [High Carbohydrate Diets?]
Gary Taubes — and many other people who have studied lipid biochemistry — point out that if VLDL specifically (not LDL in general) could be a primary villain in heart disease, effort should probably be put towards identifying what causes the formation of the VLDL particles and what oxidizes them. Taubes blames diets rich in […]
Chapter 12: An Alternative Hypothesis for the Kidney Disease, Obesity and Diabetes Epidemics
Could a dramatic change to the national diet have stoked the obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease epidemics? Author Gary Taubes argues that it is possible, at least biochemically, citing the effects that dietary carbohydrate can have on the fat storage hormone, insulin. In Good Calories, Bad Calories, he writes: “insulin… is the one hormone that […]
The Cochrane Collaboration on the Pros and Cons of Statins
For the “gold standard” in published research, scientists and journalists “in the know” turn to The Cochrane Collaboration. Here is the group’s mission: “The Cochrane Collaboration is an international not-for-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare […]
How to Be a Better-Educated Patient – Part I
Part 1 The debate over the efficacy of (and potential dangers of) Lipitor and other statins is, if nothing else, sprawling. It touches on issues of endocrinology, metabolism, cardiology, biochemistry, nutrition, and lipidology. Some people spend literally decades researching the primary science. Journalist Gary Taubes, for instance, researched and interviewed experts for eight years […]