Hot MedFax

Take herbal supplements? You might want to listen up. A new study is warning that new information is showing that some supplements may damage the liver, along with over the counter drugs and even those prescribed by physicians, according to newswise.com. The rate of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare adverse drug reaction which is challenging to diagnose -- and which can lead to jaundice, liver failure and even death -- is increasing more and more.  Experts put it down to the overwhelming use of herbal supplements and other drugs in the last 10 years.  “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case,” the Web site quotes Herbert Bonkovsky, MD, FACG, co-author of the guidelines. “Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements. We encourage pa...

I win.  My husband and I argue all the time about vitamin pills and supplements.  I don't take anything other than fish oil but he believes in just about every claim ever made about supplements.  Now I'm finally being proved right.  A new study has found that,  using DNA analysis, only two out of 12 companies tested sold supplements that were all completely genuine and free of plant substitution.  The others?  They contained fillers such as soy, rice, and wheat, or weeds or potentially harmful contaminants. According to Sarah B. Weir at yahoo.com, re searchers at a university in Ontario tested things like St. John's wort and echinacea -- and 42 others -- that are sold by 12 different companies in Canada and the United States, and they found that "one-third of the supplements contained none of the plant extracts indicated on the product label. " In addition, 59 percent were contaminated with plant species not listed on the ing...

So you think you're ok. You've been able to cut down your coffee consumption to just two cups a day. But you may be up to three or four, without even knowing it, if you take certain supplements . According to Genevra Pittman at healthnews.com, many supplements containing caffeine don't even mention it on the label, a new study has found.  "The amount of caffeine in diet supplements varies widely and product labels are often inaccurate or have no caffeine information at all, according to a new study of supplements sold on military bases," she writes. "Consumers really have no idea when they're purchasing supplements what's in them, even if they carefully read the label,"Dr. Pieter Cohen from Harvard Medical School in Boston, who worked on the new study, told Pittman. Six of the products tested did not have caffeine levels on their labels, "but had very high amounts according to the chemical analysis - between 210 and 310 milligrams p...

Sad, but true.  Antioxidants won't make it easier to have a baby.  Cure cancer.  Or help you live longer. Studies for some time have shown that these elements are not the miracle drug we once thought they were -- though my husband (who doesn't believe in doctors, but then, he's a dentist) still gulps a handful of supplements every day and this most likely won't stop him. But according to a story at yahoo.com, a recent fertility study contradicted an earlier one that showed that partners of men who took antioxidants seemed to get pregnant more easily.  The new study, though scientists admitted it was of low quality, completely turned that treatment advice on its head. You partner can take all the antioxidants he wants but it's probably not going to get you pregnant. As someone who sought out every old wives' tale under the sun -- cut out diet soda (cyclamates), stop using the microwave, drink red raspberry leaf tea -- to get pregnant, I kno...

It's as easy as one-two-three.  Well, not quite.  But the answer is calcium , according to a new study. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, women who take 1,000 miligrams of calcium a day "had lower mortality rates," translating into a 22% less chance of dying over 10 years.  Men showed none of the same benefits.  If you're like me, you may remember that many doctors (mine included) warned us off calcium, as earlier studies had shown that it increased the risk of heart disease.  But new studies have proven this wrong. For a while now I've sworn off vitamins (other than fish oil, if that counts) because I've been reading about all the (untrue) claims that purveyors make without having to prove any of them.  Who knows exactly what goes into your vitamin? It could be a sugar pill, for all you know, since they're not regulated.  But I have to say this gave me pause.  Still, if you read down further, the article says that you can also get thi...