Are prescription drugs our friend or our foe? I would like you to answer this question, but before you answer this question, please consider the following information first.

Reputable research has shown that prescription drugs taken as prescribed are the leading cause of death in America, killing more people every year than AIDS, alcohol, and automobile accidents combined.  I am sure that there are certain circumstances in which medication is helpful and possibly life saving; however, the majority of the time, the “cure” is worse than the disease.  This concern is expressed in a quote from  JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association), 1998; 279:1200 and 1216 which states, “Medications, potentially life-saving when used against illness, also can be dangerous and sometimes lethal. In this analysis the investigators determine the proportion of patients hospitalized in the United States who are affected by serious or fatal drug reactions defined as a noxious, unintended, or undesired effect of a drug that occurs at therapeutic doses. The overall rate of serious adverse drug reactions (ADR’s) was 6.7% of hospitalized patients.” The authors estimated that “in 1994, over 2,216,000 hospitalized patients had serious ADR’s and 106, 000 had fatal ADR’s, making these reactions the fifth leading cause of death.” So as to eliminate confusion, the above statistics are different than the third cause of death statistic which is not in hospitals, but rather prescription drugs taken as prescribed outside of hospitals.

The number of iatrogenic deaths, deaths caused by medical error, is staggering. Listed below are a few examples:

1. Medication Errors in Hospitals                         Deaths Per Year              7,000

2. Medical Errors in Hospitals                             Deaths Per Year            20,000

3. Unnecessary Surgery                                    Deaths Per Year            12,000

4. Drug Adverse Events                                     Deaths Per Year            106,000

Acording to USA TODAY, May 2, 2006, these figures may be VERY conservative. USA TODAY is quoted as saying,  ”Studies suggest the FDA’s adverse events reporting systems database captures only 1% to 10% of drug-induced side-effects and deaths, maybe even less than 1%,” says clinical pharmacologist Alastair J.J. Wood, an Associate Dean at Vanderbelt Medical School in Nashville. So the real number of cases is almost certainly much higher.

Finally, I present to you A List of the Best-Selling Drugs in the U.S. (as it appeared in the online version of the New York Times 9/30/04).

These are the top selling drugs in the United States in 2003, their annual sales, what each treats, and the manufacturer. The 2003 data contains the most recently audited figures available.

1. Lipitor, $6.8 billion, cholesterol, Pfizer Inc.

2. Zocor, $4.4 billion, cholesterol, Merck & Co.

3. Prevacid, $4.0 billion, heartburn, TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.

4. Procrit, $3.3 billion, anemia, Johnson & Johnson

5. Zyprexa, $3.2 billion, mental illness, Eli Lilly & Co.

6. Epogen, $3.1 billion, depression, Pfizer Inc.

7. Nexium, $3.1 billion, heartburn, Merck & Co.

8. Zoloft, $2.9 billion, depression, Pfizer Inc.

9. Celebrex, $2.6 billion, arthritis, Pfizer Inc.

10. Neurontin, $2.4 billion, epilepsy, Pfizer Inc.

11. Advair Diskus, $2.3 billion, asthma, GlaxoSmithKline PLC

12. Plavix, $2.2 billion, blood clots, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

13. Norvasc, $2.2 billion, high blood pressure, Pfizer Inc.

14. Effexor XR, $2.1 billion, depression, Wyeth

15. Pravachol, $2.0 billion, cholesterol, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

16. Risperdal, $2.0 billion, mental illness, Johnson & Johnson

17. Oxycontin, $1.9 billion, pain, Perdue Pharma

18. Fosamax, $1.8 billion, osteoporosis, Merck & Co.

19. Protonix, $1.8 billion, gastrointestinal reflux disease, Wyeth 20.Vioxx, $1.8 billion, arthritis, Merck & Co.

After reading this list and concidering all that I have shared with you, ask yourself the question: Is the pharmacutical industry concerned about financial gain or providing solutions for disease? You be the judge.

There are several myths surrounding healthy cholesterol  levels.

Cholesterol is presented as harmful, but instead it is a substance vital to the healthy cells of all mammals including humans.

First let us dismiss the myth that there is any such thing as good or bad cholesterol.

The fact is that mental stress, physical activity, and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent. For hundreds of years the measure of a “good cholesterol” level was 200 plus your age. That is, if you were age 30 your cholesterol should be 230. This would beg the question, was the level of healthy cholesterol changed by the drug companies to sell more drugs?

On the subject of cholestrol lowering drugs, research has shown Statin drugs inhibit the absorption of Co enzyme Q10 and can lead to heart disease. There is also a possible cause and effect relationship to certain forms of cancer and Statin drugs.

Another myth is that high blood cholesterol promotes atherosclerosis and thus also coronary heart disease, but many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low are just as prone to atherosclerosis as those whose cholesterol is high.

Still another myth is that diets low in cholesterol are good for you. The reality is that your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat a lot. This explains why “low fat” diets cannot lower cholesterol more than a few per cent.

Are all fats good? The answer is no!!! Fats from french fries or deep fried foods are not good for a number of reasons.  On the other hand, fats from animals that have not been shot full of hormones and antibiotics in addition to being feed unhealthy diets can be beneficial.

Our ancestors who lived on fresh wild meat, raw milk, and fresh eggs (which is God’s perfect food) had far less heart disease than there is today.

If you have any questions on your cholesterol and how you can help yourself naturally, please go to the contact section of the website and let me know what your situation is. I will be glad to recommend an appropriate solution.