Protect Our Supplements

  Dietary supplements are big business.  They take in billions of dollars in sales every year. Consequently, with the help of our politicians and news media, the pharmaceutical industry would do anything to protect their market shares.

In addition, prevention is not the main focus of the pharmaceutical industry in the US.  The reason is because they don’t make money when we are healthy.  The same goes for the politician, i.e. they don’t get contributions when there is no crisis. Also, if the media did its job in reporting about the pharmaceutical industry they would not get the advertising funds from the pharmaceutical interests.

The scenario looks like this:

Over-the-counter dietary supplements are the primary source of competition for the pharmaceutical industry.

• Americans spend $27 billion on dietary supplements; pharmaceutical interests want to re-route the money to their bottom line.
• In order for the federal government and the medical industry to control health care completely, over-the-counter supplements must be banned or reduced to an ineffective dosage.
• With Medicare spending projected to increase to $900 billion by 2018, the Feds are looking for ways to trim cost and dietary supplements are on the Feds’ radar screen as a cost-cutting measure, thus providing more incentive for pharmaceutical interests to gain control of supplements.
• DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994) presents a problem for conventional medicine. DSHEA gives Americans the right to purchase safe, over-the-counter supplements in useful dosages.
• The FDA is currently attempting to undermine and re-write DSHEA by re-defining the terms regulating dietary supplements in its new Draft Guidance.  NDI (new dietary ingredients) is a side door which provides an indirect way to decimate the dietary supplement industry by increasing the cost to manufacturers in the name of providing a higher degree of “safety” for products appearing on the market after 1994, resulting in increased seizure of products and driving smaller companies out of business.  The newer products which could disappear include supplements such as the Ubiquinol form of CoQ10, Resveratrol, Grape Seed Extract, Pycnogenol,  Alpha Lipoic Acid, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, Green Tea Extract, etc. Details may be found in the FDA’s “Draft Guidance for Industry: Dietary Supplements: New Dietary Ingredients: Notifications and Related Issues.”
• On the international front, the U.S. signed the World Health Organization’s trade agreement, Codex Alimentarius, which may supersede the laws of the countries signing it. Countries not in compliance are considered holdouts and may not be allowed to trade. Codex has the potential to override our DSHEA if the FDA doesn’t undercut it first.
• When pharmaceutical interests control the supplement industry, conventional medicine will control health care options.

We depend on supplements to support our health, especially for many who take prescription drugs. A take-over of dietary supplements by conventional medicine is not acceptable.

SIGN THE PETITION AND PROTECT YOUR SUPPLEMENTS!

Source from: Citizens.org

Taking Calcium WITHOUT Magnesium can Cause Hardening of the Arteries (Atherosclerosis) – Something the FDA will Never Tell You

Taking Calcium WITHOUT Magnesium can Cause Hardening of the Arteries (Atherosclerosis) – Something the FDA will Never Tell You

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6372264/description.html

( Summary) Magnesium balances calcium and its functions within the human body. It is believed that the adult human body contains approximately 1200 grams of calcium, with approximately 99% of it in the skeleton, and approximately 1% (about 12 grams) in extracellular fluids, intracellular structures, and cell membranes. This approximately 1% plays an essential role, in conjunction with magnesium, in the functions of nerve conduction, muscle contraction, blood clotting, and membrane permeability. It is believed that serum calcium concentration is maintained by several hormones, including estrogen and testosterone. It is known that dietary protein enhances calcium absorption, and dietary phosphorus causes calcium retention.

Magnesium deficiency is known to cause nausea, muscle weakness, neuromuscular and cardiac irritability, tetany, convulsions, tremors, mental depression, psychotic behavior, inhibit proper muscle function and contractions, as well as interfere with the proper utilization of calcium and potassium.

Magnesium is inorganic and is not produced by the human body. Humans must rely upon dietary sources to provide the body with its magnesium requirements. Magnesium is a natural component of the earth’s crust and finds its way into the diet of humans from the food products grown in soil. Foods containing the highest concentration of magnesium are unprocessed whole grains, legumes, seeds, and chlorophyll containing green plant foods (the central atom of chlorophyll molecules is magnesium). More than 80% of the magnesium content of unmilled grains are lost by removal of the germ portion and by the removal of the outer layer (bran) of the grains during the milling process. Diets rich in refined and processed foods, meats, and dairy products are low in magnesium content, in addition to increasing calcium absorption caused by protein consumption, and calcium retention caused by phosphorus consumption (often in the form of phosphates from processed foods and sodas)…MORE..