Dear Patients
I hope you are successfully weathering this very stormy time. Although the times are certainly dramatic and interesting, hopefully you are not suffering in keeping with the Chinese curse “May you be born in interesting times”.
I will be out of town and the office closed until Monday October 6. We are off for our own interesting times visiting family and having some fun.
Best
Michael Carlston, MD
www.carlstonmd.com
More Drug Company Deceit
Additional evidence indicates that US drug companies are misleading the public and medical professionals by selectively releasing information. A new study uncovered the fact that the majority of safety and efficacy studies used in the FDA drug approval process are never made public. This obstructs good medical care and patient safety. The authors of the study wrote that this situation is “scientific misconduct” on the part of the drug companies. The result is needless suffering and an unknown death toll among patients experiencing adverse effects known to the companies but not published in the medical literature.
It May Make You Live Longer But It Is Also Good For You
In recent years, study of genetic material that was thought to be simply filler, has led many to believe that this material (telomeres) are a pivotal determinant of human longevity. The more telomeres the better. A recent study of lifestyle interventions for men with prostate cancer also looked at their telomeres. Investigators discovered that these lifestyle interventions (healthy diet, exercise and stress reduction) increased the number of telomeres and so, quite possibly, the life expectancy of these men.
These data are very preliminary. This was a very small (30 men), uncontrolled study of patients with one form of cancer. We do not know if this finding will hold up in a larger controlled trial, in healthy men or in women. However, this is exciting and it is reasonable to expect that it may be a real discovery.
Lifestyle and Stroke Risk
On the theme of the power of healthy lifestyle (or more accurately the risk of an unhealthy one), Harvard researchers investigated the impact of lifestyle on the risk of stroke. Reviewing data from over 100,000 patients they found that 80% of the time, strokes were linked to some bad health habit (smoking, lack of exercise, overweight, immoderate alcohol consumption).