NCAHF Newsletter articles from May 1998

NCAHF Newsletter archives from May 1998

WATCH OUT FOR KAVA.
May 1, 1998... Kava root extract is a traditional drink use in the South Pacific for religious ceremonies and to get "mellow." Kava drinks are used much as are alcoholic beverages elsewhere. In small doses, kava reduces anxiety, relaxes muscles, and numbs the...

WHEN GOVERNMENT GETS IN BED WITH PSEUDOSCIENCE, THINGS CAN GET KNOTTY.
May 1, 1998... The U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) is retreating from proposals on "organic food" standards that would have allowed the use of irradiation, sewage sludge and bioengineered material (eg, genetically altered seeds to improve yield). According to...

RIPPED FUEL LINKED TO TWO DEATHS IN CALIFORNIA.
May 1, 1998... NCAHF has learned of two recent deaths that are blamed on the dietary supplement Ripped Fuel. 15-year-old Rosanna Porras collapsed during soccer practice in April and died three days later never regaining consciousness. Rosanna was president of...

CHIROPRACTOR NOT LIABLE FOR FAILURE TO WARN OF ABNORMAL MASS.
May 1, 1998... On April 21, a Wisconsin appellate court ruled that chiropractor Mark Murray was not liable for Gerald Pilak's death from lung cancer because, unlike physicians, chiropractors are not licensed to diagnose medical problems. According to court...

BUSINESSES THAT SUE COMPETITORS MAKING FALSE CLAIMS FOR UNFAIR COMPETITION.
May 1, 1998... A Useful Antiquackery Tool The Upjohn Company sued the promoters of the Helsinki Hair Formula after Rogaine was approved by the FDA. It was not willing to share the hair restoration market with a pretender after it had spent millions of...

BURZYNSKI ANNOUNCES INTERIM RESULTS.
May 1, 1998... A Burzynski Research Institute (BRI) company press release announced on May 24 that its Antineoplastons A10 and AS2-1, used in combination, produced either complete tumor elimination or greater than 50% reduction in tumor size in 43 of 178...

CHOLESTIN "SUPPLEMENT" RULED TO BE A "DRUG".
May 1, 1998... Cholestin is a variety of red yeast, Monascus purpureus, derived from fermented rice. It contains lovastatin, the same active ingredient found in Merck's prescription drug, Mevacor, which is one of a group of "statin" drugs used to lower...

USEFUL ARTICLE ON PATIENTS' USE OF HERBAL REMEDIES.
May 1, 1998... Consultation-liaison psychiatrists discuss the use of herbal remedies by patients who are struggling with the physical and emotional effects of acute or chronic disease, and have become disillusioned with conventional medical treatments and...

CHITOSAN.
May 1, 1998... Chitin is a cellulose-like biopolymer found in the exoskeletons of marine creatures such as shrimp, crabs, and lobsters. The processing of squid in New Zealand provides an inexpensive source of chitin as a waste by-product. Deacylated chitin is...

WIDESPREAD MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE CAUSES OF CANCER COST SOCIETY BILLIONS.
May 1, 1998... Molecular biologists Bruce Ames and Lois Gold, of the Carcinogenic Potency Project at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Berkeley, teamed up to debunk major misconceptions concerning the...

DUBIOUS CANCER CURE FUELS ITALIAN POLITICAL STRIFE.
May 1, 1998... An 85-yr-old physician, Luigi Di Bella, promotes a cancer cocktail containing a mixture of vitamins, minerals, and the drug somatostatin. Somatostation has been shown to have some effect on some rare neuroendocrine tumors, but not others. Di...

DEATH OF A NUTRITION ENTHUSIAST.
May 1, 1998... Anne Frahm's breast cancer was widely disseminated by the time it was diagnosed. She underwent surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy. When these failed to send her disease into remission, she underwent an experimental autologous...

SURVEY ON WHY PATIENTS USE ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE.
May 1, 1998... A researcher at the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention set out to investigate possible predictors of alternative health care use. Three primary hypotheses were tested: (1) they are dissatisfied in some way with conventional...

VITAMIN C PRO-OXIDANT.
May 1, 1998... Researchers at the UK's University of Leicester found in a 6-week study of 30 healthy men and women that a daily 500 mg vitamin C pill had pro-oxidant as well as antioxidant effects on DNA. The vitamin C promoted genetic damage to the adenine...

THE NCAHF BULLETIN BOARD MAY/JUNE, 1998.
May 1, 1998... The NCAHF Bulletin Board is sent to NHF members and complimentary media NCAHF Newsletter recipients only. It is intended to stimulate and aid in activism against health fraud, misinformation and quackery at the local, state & national levels....