Prescription Drugs

Complementary medicines (CAM) can be dangerous for children and can even prove fatal, if substituted for conventional medicine, indicates an audit of kids' CAM treatment published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. But parents often misguidedly think CAM treatments are better for their children because they are "natural" and therefore less likely to have harmful side effects, say the authors.

Retired NFL players use painkillers at a much higher rate than the rest of us, according to new research conducted by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

When an antibiotic is consumed, researchers have learned that up to 90 percent passes through a body without metabolizing. This means the drugs can leave the body almost intact through normal bodily functions.

The FDA is trying to turn a simple notification system for new supplements into a totally arbitrary approval system. Let’s tell the FDA that supplements are not drugs and ask Congress for help! Last week we told you about FDA’s draft guidance on New Dietary Ingredients, which allows FDA to arbitrarily deny the sale of any supplement created (or said to be created) in the past seventeen years!

New research has highlighted rising rates of supplement contamination in the European Union – typically by steroids – with the US and China the main sources. The report published in Food And Chemical Toxicology found enforcement actions were lacking in the EU and called for greater scrutiny of the sector, to stem a problem they measured at 25 per cent of EU.

The most toxic free radical appears responsible for much of the lung damage that can result from oxygen therapy in the critically ill or injured, Medical College of Georgia researchers report. Within just a few days, ventilators and oxygen chambers used to significantly increase oxygen levels can also dramatically increase levels of peroxynitrite, an oxidant powerful enough to break down DNA and cause proteins to malfunction, said Dr. Yunchao Su, pharmacologist in the MCG Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies.

According to the New York Time, the number of people treated in hospitals in the United States for problems related to medication errors has surged more than 50 percent in recent years. In 2008, 1.9 million people became ill or injured from medication side effects or because they took or were given the wrong type or dose of medication, compared with 1.2 million injured in 2004, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

It is well known that drug-related morbidity is common among hospitalized patients, and is to some extent preventable, but less is known about drug-related morbidity outside hospitals. Two new studies conducted at the Nordic School of Public Health NHV, show that healthcare professionals perceive drug-related morbidity to affect half of all patients attending healthcare.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found a protein normally involved in blood pressure regulation in a surprising place: tucked...

Our affiliate, ANH International, is preparing for a legal challenge against EU herb laws. As we reported to you last November, thousands of products associated with traditional medicine will become illegal throughout the European Union. And more and more, European Union (EU) legislation influences US domestic policy, especially where health-related laws are concerned.

British scientists have found a new strain of the "superbug" MRSA in milk from cows and in swab samples from humans and say it cannot be detected with standard tests. Researchers said the find was "worrying" but added it was unlikely that the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bug, which is resistant to some antibiotics, could cause infections by getting into the food chain via milk.

Taking medications to treat insomnia and anxiety increases mortality risk by 36%, according to a study conducted by Geneviève Belleville, a professor at Université Laval's School of Psychology. Details of the study are published in the latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.