Antidepressant Suicide Risk Varies By Age -US FDA

August 11, 2009

Reuters

By Julie Steenhuysen

People under age 25 who take antidepressants have a higher risk of suicide, but adults older than that do not, an analysis by U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers released on Tuesday showed.

The report by the FDA scientists confirms earlier studies and supports the agency’s age-related warnings on the drugs’ labeling.

U.S. and European regulators have been sounding alarms on the use of antidepressant drugs since 2003 after clinical trials showed they increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in those under age 18.

In February 2005, the FDA added a so-called black box warning — the agency’s strongest warning — on the use of all antidepressants in young children and teens to draw attention to the possible risks of these medications. In May 2007, it extended the warnings to young adults aged 18 to 24.

Many psychiatrists have criticized the warnings, saying they scare people away from effective treatment for depression, the leading cause of suicide. In fact, recent studies have suggested the warnings triggered an 8 percent rise in suicide among youth and teens in 2004, the biggest one-year gain in 15 years.

A LASTING DECLINE

A study published in June in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry said the FDA’s decision to impose black box warnings for children and young adults had a spillover effect on depression care in older adults, resulting in a lasting decline in depression diagnosis and treatment.

Those researchers urged the FDA to revise its policy.

The FDA analysis by Dr. Marc Stone, Dr. Thomas Laughren and colleagues involved a review of data from eight drug makers on 372 clinical trials involving nearly 100,000 adults.

Overall, they found the risk of suicide was “strongly age-dependent,” with higher risks in people under 25, no difference among those 25 to 64, and lower risks in people 65 and older.

The researchers said the findings, published on the British Medical Journal website, support the agency’s warnings on antidepressant drug labeling for people under 25, and they also support the notion that antidepressant drugs can have two distinct effects.

In some patients, they can promote suicidal thoughts or behavior — but this risk appears to diminish with age. In others, the drugs provide relief from depression, reducing the risk of suicide. They said more research is needed to understand these differences.

John Geddes from the University of Oxford and colleagues said in a commentary the findings were not new and noted that the trials studied by the FDA excluded sicker patients. The study did, however, make clear differences in risks among specific antidepressants, they said.

They noted specific differences in commonly used drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.

For example, the odds of suicidal behavior by people taking Pfizer Inc’s  Zoloft, or sertraline, were around half of those who took placebo. By comparison, Forest Laboratories Inc’s Celexa, or citalopram, and Lexapro, or escitalopram, “seem to increase the risk of suicidal events,” Geddes and colleagues wrote.

“Increased risk is probably restricted to younger people and varies greatly between individual medicines.”

Click here for the full report from Reuters

Childhood Cancer Treatment May Raise Diabetes Risk

August 10, 2009

Reuters

By Julie Steenhuysen

Cancer survivors who got radiation treatments as children have nearly twice the risk of developing diabetes as adults, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said children who were treated with total body radiation or abdominal radiation to fight off cancer appear to have higher diabetes risks later in life, regardless of whether they exercise regularly or maintain a normal weight.

The odds of surviving childhood cancer have improved with better therapies but several research teams have found that some treatments pose health risks later in life.

Dr. Lillian Meacham of Emory University in Atlanta and colleagues compared rates of diabetes in nearly 8,600 childhood cancer survivors diagnosed between 1970 and 1986, and nearly 3,000 of their siblings who did not have cancer.

After adjusting for other risk factors, including body mass index — a ratio of height and weight — they found the childhood cancer survivors overall were 1.8 times more likely to have diabetes.

And the more radiation that was used, the greater the diabetes risk. For those treated with total body radiation — a treatment often used before bone marrow transplants to treat childhood leukemia — the diabetes risk was more than seven times greater.

Cancer survivors already have higher risks of heart and kidney disease. A study last year found children who survive cancer while they are young are five to 10 times more likely than their healthy siblings to develop heart disease.

“It is imperative that clinicians recognize this risk, screen for diabetes and pre-diabetes when appropriate, and approach survivors with aggressive risk-reducing strategies,” the team wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

They said more study was needed to understand how radiation could promote diabetes in cancer survivors.

Type 2 diabetes — the most common form of diabetes — develops when the body makes too much insulin and does not efficiently use the insulin it makes.

Click here for the full report from Reuters

Wyeth’s HRT Drug Increases Risk of Death From Lung Cancer

August 12, 2009

Natural News

By David Gutierrez

Women who take the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug Prempro not only increase their risk of breast cancer, but their risk of death from lung cancer as well, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical Center at the University of California-Los Angeles and presented at a meeting of the American Society of Oncology.

“This is a new finding that tells us women who smoke shouldn’t take estrogen and progestin for menopause symptoms,” said study author Rowan Chlebowski.

Prempro, manufactured by Wyeth, was a best-selling treatment for the symptoms of menopause until 2002, when the Women’s Health Initiative study revealed that HRT significantly increased women’s risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. Sales of the product plunged, although it still generated $1.1 billion for the company in 2008.

Menopause can lead to unpleasant symptoms such as hot flashes, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, muscle weakness, nausea and rapid heart beat.

The current study was based on an analysis of 16,608 participants in the original Women’s Health Initiative study. The researchers found that current and former smokers who took Prempro were significantly more likely to die from lung cancer than women who received a placebo pill instead. This pattern held for non-smokers as well, although there were significantly fewer deaths than among smokers.

Nearly 80 percent of lung cancer cases in women are caused by tobacco use.

There were also more cases of lung cancer diagnosed in women taking HRT than those taking a placebo, but this difference did not achieve statistical significance.

The type of cancer in the study is known as non-small cell lung cancer, and accounts for 85 to 90 percent of all lung tumors. Both worldwide and in the United States, lung cancer kills more people than any other form of cancer. Roughly 200,000 new cases are diagnosed and approximately 160,000 people die from the disease in the United States each year.

Click here for the full report from Natural News

Resveratrol – The Miracle Nutrient for Cancer, Cholesterol and Longevity

August 12, 2009

Natural News

By Mike Adams

You’ve all heard the good news about resveratrol, commonly known as the “red wine nutrient.” There’s more to resveratrol than red wine, though, and it’s helpful for far more than just preventing heart disease. It’s also phenomenal for maintaining a healthy cholesterol balance and even supporting increased longevity.

As you’ll see below in quotes from health experts about resveratrol, this “miracle” nutrient is also useful for preventing many types of cancer. As you read these quotes, pay special attention to any mention of phytoalexins, as this is a class of plant-based nutrients that you’ll be hearing about much more in the future (as nutritional healing becomes more widely known).

If you want to acquire some resveratrol, there are lots of natural sources such as red wine or grape leaves (the leaves actually contain far more than the grapes themselves). The Chinese medicine herb hu zhang is also loaded with resveratrol.

Click here to continue reading the full story from Natural News

Drink Blamed for Oral Cancer Rise

August 10, 2009

BBC News

Alcohol is largely to blame for an “alarming” rise in the rate of oral cancers among men and women in their forties, say experts.

Numbers of cancers of the lip, mouth, tongue and throat in this age group have risen by 26% in the past decade.

Alcohol consumption has doubled since the 1950s and is the most likely culprit alongside smoking, says Cancer Research UK.

Each year in the UK around 1,800 people die from the disease.

“But for people in their 40s, it seems that other factors are also contributing to this jump in oral cancer rates.

“Alcohol consumption has doubled since the 1950s and the trend we are now seeing is likely to be linked to Britain’s continually rising drinking levels.”

Oral cancer can be treated successfully if diagnosed early enough.

The most common signs of the disease are ulcers, sores, or red or white patches in the mouth that last longer than three weeks, together with unexplained pain in the mouth or ear.

Alcohol Concern chief executive Don Shenker said: “Many people are not aware of the connection between alcohol and cancer, yet as this research shows, it can be a major contributor or cause of the disease.

“While alcoholic liver disease remains the number one killer linked to alcohol, more and more people are suffering from oral cancers – and record drinking levels have undeniably played a part.”

He said it was time to introduce tobacco-style health warnings on alcohol.

“It’s a consumer issue – people have a right to know the full range of health risks associated with drinking alcohol above recommended guidelines.

“This research will hopefully help people realise the full extent of the damage that alcohol can do, then they’re better placed to make informed decisions about how much they drink.”

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians and chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “These latest figures demonstrate once again that people are being struck down at ever younger ages with alcohol-related illnesses that they might never have previously associated with heavy drinking.

“There is an urgent need to rethink how we communicate the risks of misuse. The first step is to challenge the widespread notion that the only chronic health damage is suffered by a minority of older drinkers.”

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: “The really lethal cocktail is drinking strong spirits and smoking – a carcinogenic double whammy for the delicate lining of the mouth and throat. My advice is if you drink, don’t smoke – and if you must smoke, avoid spirits.”

Click here to continue reading the full story from the BBC News

Swine Flu: More Than 400 Cases of Tamiflu Side Effects

August 12, 2009

Telegraph.co.uk

Between April 1 and August 6 there were 418 reports, of which 125 were received in the last week alone.

The 418 reports detailed 686 suspected adverse reactions, including allergy to Tamiflu and nausea.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is collecting data on suspected side effects – not all of which are confirmed as being caused by the drug.

Tamiflu, which is manufactured by Roche, has vomiting and nausea listed as its main side effects on its packaging.

A total of 11 per cent of adults and adolescents taking the drug experience nausea and 8 per cent have vomiting, according to the summary of product characteristics.

Headaches are another side effect when the drug is taken preventatively rather than as a treatment.

In children, the most commonly reported side effect is vomiting, with 15 per cent suffering it and 10 per cent having diarrhoea.

A total of 3 per cent of children will get nausea and 5 per cent have reported abdominal pain.

Clinical studies accepted by health bodies in the UK and worldwide show that the drug should not aggravate asthma.

A total of 4 per cent of children with asthma experienced worse asthmatic symptoms when taking the drug – the same proportion as in a group of asthmatic children taking a dummy drug.

The study, on 334 asthmatic children aged six to 12, found the drug did not help cut the length of the illness.

But by the last day of treatment (day six) the lung function was better in children taking Tamiflu, with their Forced Expiratory Volume having increased by 10.8 per cent compared with 4.7 per cent among those on the dummy drug.

The Government has 23 million treatments of Tamiflu and 10.5 million treatments of another anti-viral, Relenza.

Orders of Tamiflu have been placed to increase UK supplies to 50 million doses, enough to treat 80 per cent of the population.

Pregnant women should take Relenza, which is inhaled and helps reduce flu symptoms without affecting the baby.

However, if a pregnant woman has unusually severe flu, a doctor may prescribe Tamiflu.

An expert group reviewed the risk of anti-viral treatment in pregnancy and told the Government the risk was extremely small – smaller than the risk posed by the symptoms of swine flu.

Some people have had wheezing or serious breathing problems when they have used Relenza and it is not recommended for people with asthma or other serious lung problems.

Other possible side effects of Relenza include headaches, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.

The MHRA has received a total of 10 reports of side effects from Relenza since April 1.

An MHRA spokesman said: “We have allocated a dedicated section of our website to receive reports of side effects to Tamiflu and Relenza from doctors and the public in order to spot any developing trends.

“We have set up this specific site so that people can log on and report any potential side effects.

“This will assist us in monitoring the safety of these anti-viral medications.

“A report of a reaction does not mean it has been caused by the drug in question – a mere suspicion will suffice.

“The MHRA is very keen to promote this website as we want people to know about it and use it – http://swineflu.mhra.gov.uk/.”

Click here for the full report from the Telegraph

Mumbai Closes All Schools Over Swine Flu Fears

August 12, 2009

Breitbart.com

Indian authorities on Wednesday ordered all schools and colleges in the vast city of Mumbai to shut for a week over fears about the spread of swine flu.

The state government of Maharashtra has had the highest incidence of swine flu fatalities in India, with four people dying over the last ten days in Pune, 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Mumbai.

“The government has decided to close down schools, colleges and coaching classes in the entire city for a week starting on Thursday,” said Suresh Wandile, spokesman for the state’s chief minister.

“We have seen a rise in cases of swine flu cases in the state. We need to take care, hence these precautionary measures,” he said, adding that all cinemas and theatres would also close for three days.

Mumbai, home of the Bollywood film industry, is a teeming industrial and financial city with an estimated population of 18 million people.

Public concern in India about the spread of the A(H1N1) virus has mounted since the country’s first death from the disease on August 3.

As of Wednesday, 15 people who were confirmed to have the virus had died, while more than 1,000 people had tested positive, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has stressed that swine flu should be put in the context of other health risks in India.

“It is not the only virus we have in our country. We have much more fatal diseases, much more costly diseases,” he told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

With most confirmed cases so far among people who have returned from overseas, tens of thousands of travelers arriving at India’s 22 international airports from affected countries have been screened.

A 24-hour helpline and website have been set up, public hospitals have been given responsibility for testing and isolation of suspected cases, and 100,000 doses of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu have been sent to affected cities.

Click here for the full story from Breitbart.com

Disaster Plans Leave Disabled Behind

August 12, 2009

Washington Times

By Audrey Hudson

Four years after Hurricane Katrina exposed major deficiencies in the capacity of governments to evacuate and care for the disabled during a natural disaster, America’s most vulnerable citizens are barely considered in most emergency plans, according to a report being issued Wednesday by the National Council on Disability.

The report says huge gaps exist in those emergency plans despite an executive order issued by President Bush in 2004 urging federal and local governments, as well as private organizations, to consider the unique needs of the disabled when planning rescues and preparing to provide emergency shelter.

The 500-page report also criticized government disaster planners for failing to seek input about the needs of the disabled from the community and its advocacy groups. Among other problems the report cited were issues involving service dogs, relocation in trailers and mobile homes, the effectiveness of various warning systems and different transportation needs.

The independent federal agency’s report, titled “Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People With Disabilities,” said the exclusion of issues affecting the disabled from disaster planning is a long-standing problem and that the details “have typically been limited to a few lines in an emergency plan, if they are mentioned at all.”

“Although some improvement in this area is evident, catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina and the California wildfires exposed the gaps that still exist in many emergency plans and preparedness efforts,” said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times. “These events reinforce the need for additional action to protect the lives of people with disabilities against the destructive nature of disasters.”

With the exception of a single recent simulated-emergency exercise by the Department of Homeland Security, government agencies continue to ignore the disabled population when crafting emergency plans, the report said, repeatedly stressing the need for planners to consult directly with those who are disabled to better understand their particular needs during a disaster.

” ‘Disabilities’ were generally placed into one large category, without consideration for the unique needs associated with each type of disability. Emergency planners often decided what people with disabilities needed without consulting those people,” the report said. “This practice further alienated people with disabilities and increased their vulnerability during disasters.”

A separate report from the Special Needs Assessment for Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) project found that many emergency shelter planners had little interaction with the disabled community before Hurricane Katrina.

“Many of the problems incurred by emergency personnel during the response phase of a disaster could be addressed if planning included people with disabilities. It is imperative that people with disabilities have a voice and be at the table for all stages of disaster planning,” the National Council on Disability’s report said.

Emergency car loudspeakers, weather-warning radios or even television alerts are not the most effective ways to deliver information to the disabled during an emergency, the report said.

“And existing warning systems may be inadequate for rapid onset events, such as sirens that cannot be heard during high-wind events,” the report said.

On the other hand, vibrating pillows could save lives.

The report cites Jim Davis, emergency management coordinator for Pittsylvania County, Va., who used a $5,000 grant to buy radios then engineered them to vibrate pillows as a warning mechanism, the report said.

“New technologies may soon address these barriers,” the National Council’s report said.

Some communities are not waiting for new gadgets to hit the shelves, and are taking advantage of current technology. For example, OK-WARN, a system for the deaf in Oklahoma, instantly notifies e-mail address and pagers when the National Weather Service issues a tornado alert.

The Homeland Security Department maintains a Web site at www.disabilitypreparedness.gov for emergency managers to plan and respond to emergencies involving the disabled. The site currently provides information involving the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Simple considerations such as evacuating the disabled along with family members can be key to saving lives, the report said.

“To illustrate, a lack of adequate transportation impeded evacuation efforts before Hurricane Katrina. Family members and caregivers refused to leave relatives or clients behind who could not walk to bus locations or were not provided with accessible transportation,” the report said.

Some lessons have been learned, particularly in New Orleans, where tens of thousands of residents refused to evacuate despite repeated warnings from the National Weather Service and on orders from city and state officials.

Ken Fisher, New Orleans operations section chief for the Office of Emergency Preparedness, now says it is important to “create and maintain an environment where the decision to evacuate becomes more desirable than remaining behind.”

Making sure public transportation allows those with service animals or seeing-eye dogs to travel with their pets and that shelters have adequate handicapped features would be a significant step, the report said.

“Ensure that service animals, medical devices and equipment are transported to safety with their handlers,” the report said. “Offer medical support and veterinary support.”

“Train volunteers and staff on issues involving a full range of disabilities, including disability etiquette, service animals and communication procedures,” the report said. “Take steps to ensure the dignity, privacy, and independence of shelter residents.”

The disabled also have special needs when it comes to temporary housing in trailers and mobile homes after a disastrous event, including proximity to public transportation and health care facilities.

“Formalize programs that check for mold, formaldehyde and other toxins that can have a heightened effect on those with disabilities or medical conditions,” the report said.

Scores of recommendations are included in the study, such as suggestions that disability coordinators be hired at regional FEMA offices and that the disabled be included in emergency exercises and recovery plans. The report also recommends that disaster recovery funding include coverage costs associated with health care disruption, loss of medical equipment, caregiver expenses, transportation and costs associated with seeing-eye dogs or other service animals.

Insurance companies should be mandated to cover nursing homes during evacuations, and entitlement checks should be released before an event so that recipients are more willing and able to evacuate, the National Council on Disability report said.

The report was to be released publicly Wednesday morning at the National Conference on Community Preparedness in Arlington. The report is part of the National Council on Disability’s congressional mandate to collect information on federal laws, policies and practices that affect the disabled.

Click here for the full report from the Washington Times

A Soldier’s Eye in the Sky

August 11, 2009

New York Times

By Christopher Drew

The soldiers crouched beneath the blazing desert sun, waiting to burst into the villages in conditions similar to those they have encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But this time, they got some high-tech help in an exercise intended to prove that new devices operated by the soldiers themselves can make those harrowing missions less dangerous in the future.

As the mock attack began on the sprawling military base here, tiny drones hovered overhead, peering through the windows to see insurgents gathered inside the houses. Small robots — like R2-D2 in “Star Wars” — crawled through some of the doors, flashing back live video of the startled enemy’s positions. Electronic sensors placed nearby watched escape routes. And a battery of six-foot-high missiles stood at the ready farther out in the desert to destroy vehicles that tried to rush in to help the insurgents.

“When I was in Iraq, we couldn’t see what we were busting into,” said Specialist Randall Thompson, who operates the robots. “But with this equipment, we can at least get a peek.”

Army officials are trying to distance the relatively small-scale effort, which still faces some technical hurdles, from the shadow of a much broader program recently canceled that was to have created a truly modern military, with a new generation of combat vehicles and a vast wireless network.

As they go back to the drawing board for the big equipment, Army officials say these smaller technologies could make a difference sooner for the soldiers who take on some of the most dangerous missions hunting out insurgents.

The new equipment, being developed by Boeing and other contractors, is expected to cost about $2 billion for the first seven brigades. Each has at least 3,000 soldiers, and the equipment is about two years away from use in the field. By 2025, the Army plans to create similar gear and other improvements for all 73 of its active and reserve brigades.

The changes also illustrate a shift in Pentagon contracting toward more incremental upgrades and a greater use of commercial technologies. For instance, iRobot, a Massachusetts company that has developed robots for home vacuum-cleaning and industrial uses, is building the Army’s robots.

Officials say the new devices will help transform basic infantry brigades, which have shouldered the bulk of the fighting in both wars even though they have far less protection and firepower than armored units.

The drones resemble flying lawnmower engines about the size of a beer keg that land on four curved wire feet. With the cameras on the drones acting like spotters, the ground-launched six-foot missiles, called “rockets in a box,” will eventually enable soldiers to destroy hostile forces more than 20 miles away without having to call in help from artillery units or other aircraft, Army officials say.

The robots could also search caves and cars at hazardous checkpoints. And the sensors could guard outposts and monitor areas cleared of insurgents, freeing more soldiers to fight.

“I think the difference is going to be huge,” Lt. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, a deputy Army chief of staff, said in an interview.

Col. Lee Fetterman, who is helping to oversee the testing here, said the new technologies were “methods of transferring risk from soldiers to machines, which we’re all for.”

The defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, broke up the broader effort to modernize the Army, called Future Combat Systems, in June. He was concerned about potential cost increases — it was headed for at least $160 billion — and he questioned whether the new combat vehicles would provide enough protection against roadside bombs.

Compared with that broader vision, “it seems like an awful lot of expectations have come down to a pretty small litter,” said Representative Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat of Hawaii, who heads a House subcommittee that oversees the Army.

Mr. Gates, who ordered the Army to go back to the drawing board on the combat vehicles, and Congressional leaders like Mr. Abercrombie have urged the military to supply the enhancements for the infantry as quickly as it can.

So 1,150 soldiers, most with experience in Iraq or Afghanistan, have been testing the gear here at Fort Bliss, which straddles Texas and New Mexico, and the adjacent White Sands Missile Range, where the mix of desert, mountains and 100-degree temperatures echo recent combat conditions.

Most of the soldiers are enthusiastic about the new capabilities. Some Army units already have tiny hand-held drones and robots that can disarm roadside bombs while the operator is a safe distance away. But the new drones, made by Honeywell, are designed to hover over a crucial spot on a battlefield like helicopters, instead of flying in a wide circle. And if an assault squad needed, for example, to toss the 35-pound robot though a window, where it happened to land on its back, it would flip itself over and start shooting video.

The sensors, designed by Textron, send alerts and pictures from the field or from the inside of buildings. One device, which can be buried near a road, can even discern from seismic readings whether people, trucks or tanks are passing by or approaching.

The precision-guided missiles could represent a major advance. Fifteen of them can fit into a refrigerator-size launcher. They are being designed, by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, to go over or swerve around hills and mountains and update their course in midflight. The warheads are supposed to be powerful enough to destroy a moving tank, making infantry brigades more potent than ever.

But some of the systems have obvious flaws. Even from several hundred feet high, the drone sounds like a lawn mower, and Honeywell is looking to muffle the noise. The soldiers here have also suggested changes, like redesigning the field sensors to make them less detectable.

And Army officials say it will be the ability, which is still being developed, to link all these systems wirelessly that could provide the biggest enhancement.

In the tests, the soldiers controlling the drones, robots and sensors could receive streaming video on laptops or other devices. But the network does not have enough bandwidth or range to send more than photographs to platoon leaders in Humvees and from there on to headquarters.

Even the photos are a big improvement over the mostly voice and data communications now in use. But the Army expects a sophisticated new radio, which has run into costly delays, to be available to extend the network’s video capabilities by the time the new equipment goes into full production in 2011.

The Government Accountability Office, a Congressional watchdog agency, has warned that the Army is taking a risk in testing the rest of the gear before that radio transmitter is ready. But Army officials say they will take that chance to push out the new devices as quickly as possible.

“It’s like the saying goes: A picture is worth 1,000 words,” said Lt. Col. Kevin D. Hendricks, a battalion commander involved in the recent exercise.

“If I can get early warning that an armored vehicle is coming down the road, and I can hit that vehicle with a precision-guided munition before any of my soldiers come into contact with it, that’s the way I’d like to fight every war,” he added.

Click here for the full story from the New York Times

Tomato Pill Found to Reverse Heart Disease

August 11, 2009

Natural News

By David Gutierrez

A pill made from tomatoes may do more to help treat heart disease and high cholesterol than many pharmaceutical products currently on the market, according to preliminary trials carried out by researchers from Cambridge University.

The pill, known as Ateronon, contains a version of the tomato phytonutrient lycopene, which gives the fruits their bright red color. Lycopene has been shown in a number of studies to help relieve the symptoms of heart disease and to help prevent cancer

The chemical is poorly absorbed by the human body, however, so researchers from a Cambridge spinoff company have refined it into a more accessible form. In preliminary trials, Ateronon reduced the oxidation of harmful fats in the blood to zero after only eight weeks of treatment in 150 people, a more significant result than that observed in statin drugs.

The preliminary study results were announced at the pill’s launch, at a meeting of the British Cardiovascular Society.

“If you think that this can reduce the damage to the arteries, which is the damage that ends up causing heart attacks and strokes — this can potentially extend life but also saves lives on a global basis,” TV doctor Rob Hicks said. “The potential impact is enormous — we might see a fall in the number of people suffering heart attacks, strokes and other problems relating to arterial damage and the clogging up of the arteries. That has to be welcomed.”

Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation noted that it could be some time before Ateronon undergoes enough studies to be considered clinically proven. Until then, he advised patients to “aim to get the benefits of the Mediterranean diet by eating plenty of fresh fruits and [vegetables].”

The Mediterranean diet, which has been proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, is heavy on fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts, light on meat, and uses olive oil as its primary fat source.

Click here for the full story from Natural News

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