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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that exercise has proven just as effective in most cases as prescription drugs for improving heart disease and diabetes and a host of other ailments? The nice thing about exercise is that it does not come with a long list of other side effects, some of them fatal.

"Nothing can be done without hope and confidence" Helen Keller

 Take a LOOK at the following two links:

http://www.belmarrahealth.com/heart-health/prevent-heart-disease-and-diabetes-with-exercise/

EXCERPT from article:


Best Medicine To Prevent Heart Disease And Diabetes Is Absolutely Free

Originally published on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014
DIABETES, Exercise, GENERAL HEALTH, Heart Disease, HEART HEALTH by Bel Marra Health



Move more, more often! Exercise is one of the most important things you can do to prevent heart disease and diabetes, new research shows. It won’t cost you a penny, and it will save you time and money down the road.

The health benefits of exercise have been well established in a multitude of studies, yet more and more people are leading sedentary lifestyles. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and the incidence of type 2 diabetes is on the rise, but the good news is that there may be something natural that you can do to prevent both conditions: Exercise!

A researcher group from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Stanford University School of Medicine has found that exercise may be just as effective as drug therapy for the prevention of heart disease and diabetes. The group’s study was published in the October 2013 edition of the British Medical Journal.

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Exercise Effectiveness Study

The researchers compared mortality rates of four conditions: Coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure and prediabetes. Their analysis looked at four exercise and 12 drug meta-analyses that included 305 clinical trials and a total of 339,274 participants.

The results of the current analysis showed that there was no statistical difference between the benefits of exercise compared to drug therapy for patients with heart disease or prediabetes. For those individuals recovering from stroke, exercise was a more effective therapy compared to drugs. However, drug therapy, in the form of diuretics, was more effective than exercise for heart failure patients.


A limitation of the current study is that there is a significantly smaller amount of research available on the health benefits of exercise compared to the overwhelming amount of research on the benefits of drug therapy. Makes sense, of course, because drug therapy has to be proven before its market release.

Medical professionals and patients may under-value the impact of exercise on heart disease and diabetes simply because the supporting research is limited. Don’t let that stop you from becoming more active.

For physicians to prescribe exercise to heart disease and prediabetes patients, additional research needs to be done, and the results made available to all medical professionals.

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Physical Activity Recommendations

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children and adolescents aged six to 17 years should participate in at least one hour of physical activity per day, including aerobic activity, muscle strengthening and bone strengthening.

Adults over the age of 18 should participate in at least two and a half hours of moderate aerobic activity each week combined with muscle strengthening at least two days per week.

Most Americans, however, aren’t meeting the recommended guidelines. Despite the known health benefits of exercise – longevity, vigor, lower risk of stroke, depression and some cancers –levels of physical activity continue to dwindle in adults and children alike. Less than half of all American adults meet the physical activity recommendations. And less than 30 percent of high school students get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day.

Why not beat the statistics and get moving? And prevent heart disease and diabetes while you’re at it. Start with short, brisk walks and some simple stretches and take it from there. As it turns out, the best medicine may be absolutely free!

MY INPUT:

Are Drug ads on TV and the Radio deceiving? That is somewhat like asking if it snows in the northeaster United States in the winter time. You NEED to have your BS antenna up when listening to drug ads on TV or the radio.

Dan

EXCERPT from my HSI daily Health newsletter:



Dear Reader,

The scene opens with a mom in a beautiful garden with her daughter. Mom looks confused and disorientated. Cut to doctor's office, where the pair learns about Aricept "for symptoms of Alzheimer's."

Wow, that drug works fast! Now mom is smiling, planting seeds and looking really happy. All in a 60-second spot! This must be a wonder drug!

And you know how all these drug ads end, "ask your doctor about..."

So if you're worried about a parent who acts that way, it seems like asking your doctor about Aricept would be the right thing to do.

After all, that mom in the commercial was really helped by the drug.

But a lot of these drug ads are telling you bald-faced lies about how well these pharmaceuticals work. All for one reason.

To get you to go and "ask your doctor..."

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Let the asker beware
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Lots and lots of money is spent to sell us drugs on television. About $24 billion dollars, in fact. And that was just in one year!

It seems like we've been seeing these commercials forever. But really, it's only been for the last 17 years. That's when the FDA gave Big Pharma the thumbs up to advertise during prime time, (and just about every other time).

And it's just us and the Kiwis – no other country even allows drug ads on TV.

Okay, so what are the brains in the FDA doing about all these misleading ads? It was their idea, after all, to let drug companies pitch their products nonstop while we're watching 60 Minutes or the Late Show.

And it's their job to watch these commercials and make sure they're all telling the truth.

Well, they've turned the task over to your doctor...and nurse, and physician's assistants and even your pharmacist!

In 2010 the FDA started what they call the "BadAD" program. And the goal is for these "health care professionals" to be on red alert for "misleading" prescription drug promotions.

It's not like these folks don't already have enough to do, right?

But not so fast. These drug company lies and half-truths are clever, very clever – so the FDA says this important responsibility requires some training!

Believe this one, if you can. They created a whole course for them, complete with videos and even education credits if they complete the program.

Give me a break! What doctor in the world has time to watch FDA training movies showing all the sneaky ways these companies lie?

Remember the lethal Vioxx disaster? I wonder how many unsuspecting people went and asked their doctor about that deadly drug because Merck spent over $500 million to pitch it on TV.

And that Aricept commercial I told you about? That's one of the BadAd case studies FDA uses for training.

Turns out that Aricept couldn't have possibly helped that mom, or any other mom that fast, or even that much.

Here's the truth about Aricept, and it's straight from the FDA, not Madison Avenue.

"The majority of patients (who took the drug) experienced no change or became worse on Aricept treatment." 


They also told the drug maker that their TV ads are misleading and "not representative."

I'll bet the script writers for Grey's Anatomy go to more trouble to make sure they get their facts right than the "Mad Men" who write these commercials do. 

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