Best Health Web Sites

Need To Take Size Off Belly?

You Can Be Happy, Full of Energy In Later Life

Nitric Oxide May Be The Answer To Muscle Building

Study Shows Autism Runs In Families

What About Food Allergies?

What You Should Know About Allergies

Japan: AIDS And Other Diseases Run Rampant Following Quake And Tsunami

Diabetes: The Causes and Cures

Kale Can Lower Your Cholesterol

Collard Greens Are Definitely For You

New Breakthrough In Body Transplants

Wind And Weather Determines How Much Radiation The U.S. Receives

Big Pharma Out-Negotiated Obama So Dems Could Get Re-elected At The Expense of Taxpayers

Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try on

Health Care Records

Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try

on Health Care Records

Drug Makers Reap Profits On Tax-Backed Research

If American Taxes Pay For New Super Drugs, Why Does Big Pharma Charge U.S. Taxpayers Twice That Of Europeans?

Guard And Nourish Your Eyes - They Are Not Subject To Aging

TriVita Has Some Great Products - I Know, I Take Them

TriVita Has Some Great Products - I Know, I Take Them

It's On The Label... Is It In The Bottle?

Best Health Sites, Best Health Care

Best Health Web Sites

Need To Take Size Off Belly?

You Can Be Happy, Full of Energy In Later Life

Nitric Oxide May Be The Answer To Muscle Building

Study Shows Autism Runs In Families

What About Food Allergies?

What You Should Know About Allergies

Japan: AIDS And Other Diseases Run Rampant Following Quake And Tsunami

Diabetes: The Causes and Cures

Kale Can Lower Your Cholesterol

Collard Greens Are Definitely For You

New Breakthrough In Body Transplants

Wind And Weather Determines How Much Radiation The U.S. Receives

Big Pharma Out-Negotiated Obama So Dems Could Get Re-elected At The Expense of Taxpayers

Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try on

Health Care Records

Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try

on Health Care Records

Drug Makers Reap Profits On Tax-Backed Research

If American Taxes Pay For New Super Drugs, Why Does Big Pharma Charge U.S. Taxpayers Twice That Of Europeans?

Guard And Nourish Your Eyes - They Are Not Subject To Aging

TriVita Has Some Great Products - I Know, I Take Them

TriVita Has Some Great Products - I Know, I Take Them

It's On The Label... Is It In The Bottle?

Best Health Sites, Best Health Care

New Discovery Leads to Shocking Muscle Gains

About the Author

New Discovery Leads to Shocking Muscle Gains

About the Author

Posted on 30 November 2011

You aren't unhappy; our brains just aren't equipped for

21-st century life. Seehow you can use a new solution to stimulate your

brain into being happier...

Posted on 30 November 2011

Related

RSS Feed

21-st century life. See
how you can use a new solution to stimulate your

Something Stinks About How NIH Supported Big Pharma Discriminates In Drug Prices Against American Citizens Who Paid For The New Drug Development In The First Place - Don White

Research for the People

President's Budget Request

Funding for Diseases, Conditions, Research Areas

Grants Awarded

Something Stinks About How NIH Supported Big Pharma Discriminates In Drug Prices Against American Citizens Who Paid For The New Drug Development In The First Place - Don White

Research for the People

President's Budget Request

Funding for Diseases, Conditions, Research Areas

Grants Awarded

Related Links

Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Multimedia

Forecast for Plume's Path Is a Function of Wind and Weather

U.S. Calls Radiation ‘Extremely High;’ Sees Japan Nuclear Crisis Worsening (March 17, 2011)

U.S. Urges Wider No-Go Area Around Nuclear Plant (March 17, 2011)

In Europe and China, Japan’s Crisis Renews Fears About Nuclear Power (March 17, 2011)

The Lede Blog: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: How to Help (March 11, 2011)

2012-01-14T08:58:00.001-08:00

Ever heard of adiponectin?

It's a recently discovered hormone - just 11 little letters
- that can quickly multiply your body's ability to "metabolize"
your midsection away. This video explains it all:

4 Simple Steps That Double Your Metabolism...

When you watch that video, you'll discover exactly why nearly
every single approach - from dieting, to exercise programs
and beyond - FALLS FLAT in helping you drop excess weight.

And that's because little-known hormones - particularly adiponectin -
are among the very deepest, most essential factors for safe,
natural, effortless weight management.

4 Simple Steps That Double Your Metabolism...

The more adiponectin you have in your body,
the faster those excess pounds will disappear. Period.

This video shows you what it is, why it works, and how to
get more of it.

P.S. - Step 2 in this video helps you reduce the "hungry hormone"
that causes your cravings to spin out of control and overeat.
Nobody else talks about this.

4 Simple Steps That Double Your Metabolism...

2012-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

embed this tweet

As many people hit middle age, they begin to look back on their life, and realize they aren't as happy as they used to be. We were told that growing older would bring maturity, wisdom, and happiness. So why aren't more of us happier?

You may be suffering from poor mood support. Like a car running on cheap gas, your body is only as good as the food and nutrients that you put into it. You wouldn't put diesel into a Ferrari, so why should your body be any different?

A poor mood wears and tears on your body
leaving you feeling tired, drained,
and empty inside. Unhappiness
damages your relationships, hurts
your family, and can make everyday
a struggle. Your best days don’t
have to be behind you.

Scientists have long recognized the link between some
mood ingredients and healthy adults. Mood ingredients
such as 5-HTP, St. John’s Wort, and L-Theanine have
shown promising mood benefits in clinical trials. And
B-Vitamins have shown interesting results in many
cases. But it wasn’t until recently that they were finally
combined into a single complete mood solution.

After a grueling wait, the proprietary compound
“Lumiday” finally became available in stores last
year. Researched in Cambridge, MA and
manufactured in the US. Lumiday was scientifically
designed to combine all of the key mind and mood
ingredients into a single, safe dosage. Early
reviews have been positive.

Start feeling your best everyday

Enjoy times with friends and family

Feel better tackling your goals in life

Be healthy, fit, and more active

Improved well-being and peace of mind

Lumiday's unique mood compound is pollutant free.
While many supplements are made overseas in
sometimes unsafe or unmonitored laboratory
conditions, Lumiday is manufactured in US
laboratories under FDA GMP Guidelines (Good
Manufacturing Practices) to insure the purity
and safety of the product.

The components of Lumiday aren't hidden like some
supplements, but available directly on the label
along with quantities. They include proven mind
ingredients such as L-Theanine, Rhodiola Rosea,
and St. Johns Wort. In addition to 5-HTP and
Ashwagandha Root, which have impressive
clinical studies. Fuel your brain with Lumiday
and you can actually trick yourself into feeling
better and being happier.

The entire Lumiday compound fits into two pills
that you should take in the morning. The capsules
dissolve quickly, generally in a few hours. Your
body will then safely absorb the mood ingredients.
Working to support natural, healthy mood function.
Lumiday is an ingenious way to naturally enhance
your mood.

Feel relaxed and relieved. Face your challenges
head on and see what you can do with a clear
head. Lumiday is not a drug, but a safe natural
way to support your mood. Last year, GNC stores
secured the exclusive store rights to Lumiday's
US launch.

This summer it became the #1 selling mood product
in GNC. Thousands of Lumiday users attest to the
benefits of the product. Every individual faces
different problems, but we all benefit from a better
mood. Wake up bright and refreshed. Take
control of your day. Feel strong, motivated, and excited.

You can start feeling better today by trying Lumiday.
The manufacturer is offeringsamples to certain
customers who qualify online. The exclusive offer
is not available in stores. Act now to see if you qualify.

2011-12-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

embed this tweet

(Cambridge) – Have you ever considered taking steroids to get the perfect body?

With the recent media coverage exposing steroid use in professional sports, many people are looking for an extra edge to build muscle, get stronger, and look better.

Steroids, although effective, are unhealthful and illegal to use without a prescription. Millions of dollars have been spent in sports medicine research to find a completely safe, natural alternative that produces the same results.

Years of research now show that nitric oxide supplements are the safe way to maximize your muscle gains.

Athletes like 2011 professional basketball MVP Derrick Rose and professional football player Vernon Davis, are just now discovering the dramatic benefits of using a nitric oxide supplement. Davis has been an advocate of Force Factor since first taking it, telling his teammates in San Francisco, “Force Factor has proven results. I believe in results.”

The Science Behind Nitric Oxide

Your body naturally produces nitric oxide to move oxygen to your muscles while you exercise. This burst of oxygen keeps your muscles functioning while you lift weights or blast through your cardio sessions.

Unfortunately, your body can only generate a limited amount of nitric oxide. When the nitric oxide runs out, your muscles can no longer power through the exercise, no matter how much mental determination you have.

Taking a nitric oxide supplement 30 minutes before you work out could be the push your body needs to add weight to your bench press or run that extra mile. This increased stamina results in longer, harder workouts and a healthier, stronger body in less time.

The Benefits of Nitric Oxide Supplements

Drastic Muscle Gains
Increased Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery
Boosted Strength, Endurance, and Power
Support for Your Immune System
Immediate Results
Total Body Transformation

What’s the Best Nitric Oxide Product?

Now that the science behind nitric oxide has been proven, several companies are rushing to bring a nitric oxide supplement to consumers, but which is the best?

Force Factor is a very popular nitric oxide supplement available. Thousands of people have already purchased Force Factor online or from their local GNC. In fact, Force Factor recently won GNC’s “Rising Star” award because of its breakthrough muscle building formula.

Professional basketball superstars, football players, and UFC fighters have all said that Force Factor works for them. Will you continue to struggle at the gym, or will you take this opportunity to finally see the results you want?

UPDATE: Force Factor is now offering 14-day samples on a limited basis. If you are not able to claim a sample online, you can find Force Factor at your local GNC.

2011-08-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

embed this tweet

Kids with an older autistic sibling are more likely to develop the condition than experts previously believed. Past research suggested children had a 3 to 10 percent chance of being diagnosed with the developmental disorder if they had an older sibling with autism. But those estimates were based on a small number of families and an outdated definition of autism. A new study puts the risk at 19 percent; 32 percent if a child has more than one older sibling with the disorder, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. The findings are based on an analysis of 664 infants across the United States and Canada who had at least one older brother or sister with autism. “It’s the first thing families ask: How likely is this to happen again?” study author Sally Ozonoff of the University of California—Davis told NPR. “We are able to supply some answers.

This should mean there is more careful monitoring and screening beyond the usual questions at a normal well-child visit. Drilling down into the things that we know are early signs of autism—interest in people, responding to their name, responding to other people, smiling at other people.” Closer screening of younger siblings will hopefully lead to earlier diagnoses and better outcomes; treatment is most likely to work if it’s started early.

Post Continues on health.usnews.com

2011-07-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

embed this tweet

View PDF | Print View
by: aleciadavis75
Word Count: 556
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 Time: 6:15 PM
0 comment(s)

Peanuts could lead on you breathless, a bowl of pulses might trigger swelling of the tongue and throat, or a fish preparation might result in redness of pores and skin and an incessant rash. The checklist is endless, and these are just a handful of the widespread allergy symptoms that individuals undergo from. While their occurrence could also be frequent, what actually makes the duty difficult is that there is no cure for an allergy, and the one means out is by stopping the consumption of meals that causes allergy.

Simply defined, an allergy is intolerance of the immune system to specific foods. You might be allergic to food when your body reacts adversely to it, thereby producing excess histamine, which triggers a cascade of allergic signs that may affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, pores and skin or cardiovascular system.

Although an individual could possibly be allergic to any meals, comparable to fruits, greens and meat, it is protein-rich meals that greater than eighty per cent of the individuals are allergic to.

You would either be allergic to particular food items, or preservatives. In case of meals, allergies are usually caused by protein rich meals stuffs like peanuts, fish, egg, soy, wheat and pulses.

Whereas an allergy might develop at any age, there isn't a particular treatment, which can be prescribed. Docs prescribe anti-histamine drugs and may even have to inject steroids in severe instances, however these only subdue the effects after an allergy has occurred. There isn't a long-term treatment or means to get rid of any allergy and the one way out is to stop the intake of food that causes the allergy.

The signs fluctuate from urticaria - crimson patches, indicating extra of blood provide to that area of the body, to basic body rash and itching. In severe instances it could result in breathlessness and angioneurotic oedema, the place the wind pipe is blocked.

Patch take a look at to find out the precise food that causes allergy exist. These are restrictive in nature and can solely take a look at allergy to 50 to 100 meals stuffs. The strategy of exclusion serves best. Doctors recommend sustaining a diary. As soon as you recognize that you are allergic to one thing, start recording every little thing that you just eat in a diary. Will probably be simpler to detect the actual meals whenever you develop signs next.

As soon as you establish what you are allergic to, it is important to study to learn food labels and thereby avoid eating food that you're allergic to. The dictum, prevention is healthier than remedy, works best in case of allergy.

Symptoms of an allergic response

Signs typically appear inside minutes to two hours after a person has eaten the meals to which he/she is allergic.

1. Tingling sensation in the mouth

2. Swelling of the tongue and throat

3. Issue in breathing

4. Vomiting

5. Abdominal cramps

6. Diarrhea

7. Drop in blood pressure

8. Loss of consciousness

Signs could also be gentle or very sever, relying on how a lot of the meals you have consumed and extent that you are allergic to it.

ContentKing's Recommended Video

If you need added facts about low auto insurance stop by the writer's web site in a flash.

2011-05-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

2011-05-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

2011-03-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

What's New and Beneficial About Kale

Kale can provide you with some special cholesterol-lowering benefits if you will cook it by steaming. The fiber-related components in kale do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract when they've been steamed. When this binding process takes place, it's easier for bile acids to be excreted, and the result is a lowering of your cholesterol levels. Raw kale still has cholesterol-lowering ability - just not as much.
Kale's risk-lowering benefits for cancer have recently been extended to at least five different types of cancer. These types include cancer of the bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from glucosinolates in kale play a primary role in achieving these risk-lowering benefits.
Kale is now recognized as providing comprehensive support for the body's detoxification system. New research has shown that the ITCs made from kale's glucosinolates can help regulate detox at a genetic level.
Researchers can now identify over 45 different flavonoids in kale. With kaempferol and quercetin heading the list, kale's flavonoids combine both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits in way that gives kale a leading dietary role with respect to avoidance of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.

WHFoods Recommendations

You'll want to include kale as one of the cruciferous vegetables you eat on a regular basis if you want to receive the fantastic health benefits provided by the cruciferous vegetable family. At a minimum, include cruciferous vegetables as part of your diet 2-3 times per week, and make the serving size at least 1-1/2 cups. Even better from a health standpoint, enjoy kale and other vegetables from the cruciferous vegetable group 4-5 times per week, and increase your serving size to 2 cups.

Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables around and one way to be sure to enjoy the maximum nutrition and flavor from kale is to cook it properly. We recommend Healthy Steaming kale for 5 minutes. To ensure quick and even cooking cut the leaves into ½" slices and the stems into 1/4" lengths. Let them sit for at least 5 minutes to enhance their health-promoting qualities before steaming. See our Healthiest Way of Cooking Kale in the How to Enjoy section below.

Health Benefits

While not as well researched as some of its fellow cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or cabbage, kale is a food that you can count on for some unsurpassed health benefits, if for no other reason than its exceptional nutrient richness. In our own website food rating system, kale scored 4 "excellents," 6 "very goods," and 10 "goods"-for a total of 20 standout categories of nutrient richness! That achievement is difficult for most foods to match.

Antioxidant-Related Health Benefits

Like most of its fellow cruciferous vegetables, kale has been studied more extensively in relationship to cancer than any other health condition. This research focus makes perfect sense. Kale's nutrient richness stands out in three particular areas-(1) antioxidant nutrients, (2) anti-inflammatory nutrients, and (3) anti-cancer nutrients in the form of glucosinolates. Without sufficient intake of antioxidants, our oxygen metabolism can become compromised, and we can experience a metabolic problem called "oxidative stress." Without sufficient intake of anti-inflammatory nutrients, regulation of our inflammatory system can become compromised, and we can experience the problem of chronic inflammation. Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation - and the combination of these metabolic problems-are risk factors for development of cancer. We've seen research studies on 5 specific types of cancer-including bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer-and intake of cruciferous vegetables (specifically including kale). As a group, these studies definitely show cancer preventive benefits from kale intake, and in some cases, treatment benefits as well.

Kale's cancer preventive benefits have been clearly linked to its unusual concentration of two types of antioxidants, namely, carotenoids and flavonoids. Within the carotenoids, lutein and beta-carotene are standout antioxidants in kale. Researchers have actually followed the passage of these two carotenoids in kale from the human digestive tract up into the blood stream, and they have demonstrated the ability of kale to raise blood levels of these carotenoid nutrients. That finding is important because lutein and beta-carotene are key nutrients in the protection of our body from oxidative stress and health problems related to oxidative stress. Increased risk of cataracts, atherosclerosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are three such problems. Also among these chronic health problems is cancer since our overall risk of cells becoming cancerous is partly related to oxidative stress.

Within the flavonoids, kaempferol is a spotlight antioxidant in kale, followed by a flavonoid called quercitin. But recent research has also made it clear that at least 45 different antioxidant flavonoids are provided in measurable amounts by kale. This broad spectrum of flavonoid antioxidants is likely to be a key to kale's cancer-preventive benefits and benefits that we expect to be documented for other health problems stemming from oxidative stress.

Anti-Inflammatory Health Benefits

We have yet to see research on kale's omega-3 content and inflammation, but we would expect this kind of research to show the omega-3s in kale to be an important part of kale's anti-inflammatory benefits. It only takes 100 calories of kale to provide us with 25-35% of the National Academy of Sciences' public health recommendation for the most basic omega-3 fatty acid (alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA). We suspect that this amount will be plenty to show direct anti-inflammatory benefits from routine kale intake.

We also have yet to see specific research on inflammation and kale's vitamin K content. But we know that kale is a spectacular source of vitamin K (one cup of kale provides far more micrograms of vitamin K than any of our 135 World's Healthiest foods) and we also know that vitamin K is a key nutrient for helping regulate our body's inflammatory process. Taken in combination, we expect these two facts about vitamin K to eventually get tied together in health research that shows kale to be an exceptional food for lowering our risk of chronic inflammation and associated health problems.

Glucosinolates and Cancer-Preventive Benefits

What we have already seen in the health research on kale is ample evidence that its glucosinolates provide cancer-preventive benefits. Kale is a top food source for at least four glucosinolates, and once kale is eaten and digested, these glucosinolates can be converted by the body into cancer preventive compounds. Kale's glucosinolates and the ITCs made from them have well-documented cancer preventive properties, and in some cases, cancer treatment properties as well. At the top of the cancer-related research for kale are colon cancer and breast cancer, but risk of bladder cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer have all been found to decrease in relationship to routine intake of kale. The chart below presents a summary of the unusual glucosinlate phytonutrients found in kale, and the anti-cancer ITCs made from them inside the body

Glucosinolates in kale and their detox-activating isothiocyanates

Glucosinolate	Derived Isothiocyanate	Isothiocyanate Abbreviation
glucobrassicin	indole-3-carbinol*	I3C
glucoraphanin	sulforaphane	SFN
gluconasturtiian	phenethyl-isothiocyanate	PEITC
glucopaeolin	benzyl-isothiocyanate	BITC
sinigrin	allyl-isothiocyanate	AITC

* Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is not an isothiocyanate. It's a benzopyrrole, and it is only formed when isothiocyanates made from glucobrassicin are further broken down into non-sulfur containing compounds.

Cardiovascular Support

You can count on kale to provide valuable cardiovascular support in terms of its cholesterol-lowering ability. Researchers now understand exactly how this support process works. Our liver uses cholesterol as a basic building block to product bile acids. Bile acids are specialized molecules that aid in the digestion and absorption of fat through a process called emulsification. These molecules are typically stored in fluid form in our gall bladder, and when we eat a fat-containing meal, they get released into the intestine where they help ready the fat for interaction with enzymes and eventual absorption up into the body. When we eat kale, fiber-related nutrients in this cruciferous vegetable bind together with some of the bile acids in the intestine in such a way that they simply stay inside the intestine and pass out of our body in a bowel movement, rather than getting absorbed along with the fat they have emulsified. When this happens, our liver needs to replace the lost bile acids by drawing upon our existing supply of cholesterol, and, as a result, our cholesterol level drops down. Kale provides us with this cholesterol-lowering benefit whether it is raw or cooked. However, a recent study has shown that the cholesterol-lowering ability of raw kale improves significantly when it is steamed. In fact, when the cholesterol-lowering ability of steamed kale was compared with the cholesterol-lowering ability of the prescription drug cholestyramine (a medication that is taken for the purpose of lowering cholesterol), kale bound 42% as many bile acids (based on a standard of comparison involving total dietary fiber). Amongst all of the cruciferous vegetables, only collard greens scored higher at 46%.

Other Health-Related Benefits

Kale has a definite role to play in support of the body's detoxification processes. The isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from kale's glucosinolates have been shown to help regulate detox activities in our cells. Most toxins that pose a risk to our body must be detoxified by our cells using a two-step process. The two steps in the process are called Phase I detoxification and Phase II detoxification. The ITCs made from kale's glucosinolates have been shown to favorably modify both detox steps (Phase I and Phase II). In addition, the unusually large numbers of sulfur compounds in kale have been shown to help support aspects of Phase II detoxification that require the presence of sulfur. By supporting both aspects of our cellular detox process (Phase I and Phase II), nutrients in kale can give our body an "edge up" in dealing with toxic exposure, whether from our environment or from our food.

We have yet to see studies that look directly at kale and its support for our digestive system. However, we have seen studies for kale's fellow cruciferous vegetable - broccoli - in this regard, and we definitely expect to see future research that looks directly at kale and our digestive function. We predict that one area of digestive support provided by kale will turn out to involve fiber. We feel that 7 grams of fiber per 100 calories of kale is just too much fiber to fail in the digestive benefits category. We predict that a second area of digestive benefits will involve kale's glucosinolates. The ITCs make from kale's glucosinolates should help protect our stomach lining from bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori and should help avoid too much clinging by this bacterium to our stomach wall.

Description

The beautiful leaves of the kale plant provide an earthy flavor and more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. Although it can be found in markets throughout the year, it is in season from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring when it has a sweeter taste and is more widely available.

Kale is a leafy green vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family, a group of vegetables including cabbage, collards, and Brussels sprouts that have gained recent widespread attention due to their health-promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients. It is easy to grow and can grow in colder temperatures where a light frost will produce especially sweet kale leaves.There are several varieties of kale; these include curly kale, ornamental kale, and dinosaur (or lLcinato or Tuscan) kale, all of which differ in taste, texture, and appearance. The scientific name for kale is Brassica oleracea.

Curly kale has ruffled leaves and a fibrous stalk and is usually deep green in color. It has a lively pungent flavor with delicious bitter peppery qualities.

Ornamental kale is a more recently cultivated species that is oftentimes referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may either be green, white, or purple and its stalks coalesce to form a loosely knit head. Ornamental kale has a more mellow flavor and tender texture.

Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato or Tuscan kale. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale.

History

Like broccoli, cauliflower, and collards, kale is a descendent of the wild cabbage, a plant thought to have originated in Asia Minor and to have been brought to Europe around 600 B.C. by groups of Celtic wanderers. Curly kale played an important role in early European foodways, having been a significant crop during ancient Roman times and a popular vegetable eaten by peasants in the Middle Ages. English settlers brought kale to the United States in the 17th century.

Both ornamental and dinosaur kale are much more recent varieties. Dinosaur kale was discovered in Italy in the late 19th century. Ornamental kale, originally a decorative garden plant, was first cultivated commercially as in the 1980s in California. Ornamental kale is now better known by the name salad savoy.

How to Select and Store

Look for kale with firm, deeply colored leaves and moist hardy stems. Kale should be displayed in a cool environment since warm temperatures will cause it to wilt and will negatively affect its flavor. The leaves should look fresh, be unwilted, and be free from signs of browning, yellowing, and small holes. Choose kale with smaller-sized leaves since these will be more tender and have a more mild flavor than those with larger leaves. Kale is available throughout the year, although it is more widely available, and at its peak, from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring.

To store, place kale in a plastic storage bag removing as much of the air from the bag as possible. Store in the refrigerator where it will keep for 5 days. The longer it is stored, the more bitter its flavor becomes. Do not wash kale before storing because exposure to water encourages spoilage.

How to Enjoy

Tips for Preparing Kale

Rinse kale leaves under cold running water. Chop leaf portion into ½" slices and the stems into 1/4 " lengths for quick and even cooking.

To get the most health benefits from kale, let sit for a minimum of 5 minutes before cooking. Sprinkling with lemon juice before letting them sit can further enhance its beneficial phytonutrient concentration.

The Healthiest Way of Cooking Kale

We recommend Healthy Steaming kale for maximum nutrition and flavor. Fill the bottom of a steamer pot with 2 inches of water. While waiting for the water to come to a rapid boil chop greens. Steam for 5 minutes and toss with our Mediterranean Dressingand top with your favorite optional ingredients. For details see 5-Minute Kale.

2011-03-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

What's New and Beneficial About Collard Greens

The cholesterol-lowering ability of collard greens may be the greatest of all commonly eaten cruciferous vegetables. In a recent study, steamed collard greens outshined steamed kale, mustard greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage in terms of its ability to bind bile acids in the digestive tract. When this bile acid binding takes place, it is easier for the bile acids to be excreted from the body. Since bile acids are made from cholesterol, the net impact of this bile acid binding is a lowering of the body's cholesterol level. It's worth noting that steamed collards show much greater bile acid binding ability than raw collards.
We get unique health benefits from collard greens in the form of cancer protection. The cancer-preventive properties of collard greens may be largely related to 4 specific glucosinolates found in this cruciferous vegetable: glucoraphanin, sinigrin, gluconasturtiian, and glucotropaeolin. Each of these glucosinolates can be converted into an isothiocyanate (ITC) that helps lower our cancer risk by supporting our detox and anti-inflammatory systems.

WHFoods Recommendations

You'll want to include collard greens as one of the cruciferous vegetables you eat on a regular basis if you want to receive the fantastic health benefits provided by the cruciferous vegetable family. At a minimum, include cruciferous vegetables as part of your diet 2-3 times per week, and make the serving size at least 1-1/2 cups. Even better from a health standpoint, enjoy collard greens and other vegetables from the cruciferous vegetable group 4-5 times per week, and increase your serving size to 2 cups.

It is very important not to overcook collard greens. Like other cruciferous vegetables overcooked collard greens will begin to emit the unpleasant sulfur smell associated with overcooking. To help collard greens to cook more quickly, evenly slice the leaves into ½-inch slices and the stems into 1/4-inch pieces. Let them sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out the health-promoting qualities and steam for 5 minutes. Serve with our Mediterranean Dressing. See 5-Minute Collard Greens.

Unlike broccoli and kale and cabbage, you won't find many research studies devoted to the specific health benefits of collard greens. However, collard greens are sometimes included in a longer list of cruciferous vegetables that are lumped together and examined for the health benefits they provide. Based on a very small number of studies looking specifically at collard greens, and a larger number of studies looking at cruciferous vegetables as a group (and including collard greens on the list of vegetables studied), cancer prevention appears to be a standout area for collard greens with respect to their health benefits.
This connection between collard greens and cancer prevention should not be surprising since collard greens provide special nutrient support for three body systems that are closely connected with cancer development as well as cancer prevention. These three systems are (1) the body's detox system, (2) its antioxidant system, and (3) its inflammatory/anti-inflammatory system. Chronic imbalances in any of these three systems can increase risk of cancer, and when imbalances in all three systems occur simultaneously, the risk of cancer increases significantly. Among all types of cancer, prevention of the following cancer types is most closely associated with intake of collard greens: bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer.

Detox Support Provided by Collard Greens

The detox support provided by collard greens includes antioxidant nutrients to boost Phase 1 detoxification activities and sulfur-containing nutrients to boost Phase 2 activities. Collard greens also contain phytonutrients called glucosinolates that can help activate detoxification enzymes and regulate their activity. Four key glucosinolates that have been clearly identified in collard greens in significant amounts are glucobrassicin, glucoraphanin, gluconasturtiian, and glucotropaeolin.
If we fail to give our body's detox system adequate nutritional support, yet continue to expose ourselves to unwanted toxins through our lifestyle and our dietary choices, we can place our bodies at increased risk of toxin-related damage that can eventually increase our cells' risk of becoming cancerous. That's one of the reasons it's so important to bring collard greens and other cruciferous vegetables into our diet on a regular basis.

The Antioxidant Benefits of Collard Greens

As an excellent source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and manganese, and a good source of vitamin E and zinc, collard greens provide us with 5 core conventional antioxidants. But the antioxidant support provided by collard greens extends far beyond the conventional nutrients into the realm of phytonutrients. Caffeic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, and kaempferol are among the key antioxidant phytonutrients provided by collard greens. This broad spectrum antioxidant support helps lower the risk of oxidative stress in our cells. Chronic oxidative stress- meaning chronic presence over overly reactive oxygen-containing molecules and cumulative damage to our cells by these molecules-is a risk factor for development of most cancer types. By providing us with such a great array of antioxidant nutrients, collard greens help lower our cancer risk by helping us avoid chronic and unwanted oxidative stress.

Collard Greens' Anti-inflammatory Benefits

As an excellent source of vitamin K and a very good source of omega-3 fatty acids (in the form of alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA), collard greens provide us with two hallmark anti-inflammatory nutrients. Vitamin K acts as a direct regulator of our inflammatory response, and ALA is the building block for several of the body's most widely-used families of anti-inflammatory messaging molecules. In addition to these two anti-inflammatory components, one of the glucosinolates found in collard greens - glucobrassicin - can be readily converted into an isothiocyanate molecule called I3C, or indole-3-carbinol (I3C). I3C is an anti-inflammatory compound that can actually operate at the genetic level, and by doing so, prevent the initiation of inflammatory responses at a very early stage.
Like chronic oxidative stress and chronic weakened detox ability, chronic unwanted inflammation can significantly increase our risk of cancers and other chronic diseases (especially cardiovascular diseases).

Collard Greens and Cardiovascular Support

Researchers have looked at a variety of cardiovascular problems-including heart attack, ischemic heart disease, and atherosclerosis-and found preliminary evidence of an ability on the part of cruciferous vegetables to lower our risk of these health problems. Yet regardless of the specific cardiovascular problem, it is one particular type of cardiovascular benefit that has most interested researchers, and that benefit is the anti-inflammatory nature of collard greens and their fellow cruciferous vegetables. Scientists have not always viewed cardiovascular problems as having a central inflammatory component, but the role of unwanted inflammation in creating problems for our blood vessels and circulation has become increasingly fundamental to an understanding of cardiovascular diseases. Of particular interest here has been the isothiocyanate (ITC) sulforaphane, which is made from glucoraphanin (a glucosinolate) found in collard greens. Not only does this ITC trigger anti-inflammatory activity in our cardiovascular system, it may also be able to help prevent and even possibly help reverse blood vessel damage.
A second area you can count on collard greens for cardiovascular support involves their cholesterol-lowering ability. Our liver uses cholesterol as a basic building block to product bile acids. Bile acids are specialized molecules that aid in the digestion and absorption of fat through a process called emulsification. These molecules are typically stored in fluid in our gall bladder, and when we eat a fat-containing meal, they get released into the intestine where they help ready the fat for interaction with enzymes and eventual absorption up into the body. When we eat collard greens, fiber-related nutrients in this cruciferous vegetable bind together with some of the bile acids in the intestine in such a way that they simply stay inside the intestine and pass out of our body in a bowel movement, rather than getting absorbed along with the fat they have emulsified. When this happens, our liver needs to replace the lost bile acids by drawing upon our existing supply of cholesterol, and as a result, our cholesterol level drops down. Collard greens provide us with this cholesterol-lowering benefit whether they are raw or cooked. However, a recent study has shown that the cholesterol-lowering ability of raw collard greens improves significantly when they are steamed. In fact, when the cholesterol-lowering ability of steamed collard greens was compared with the cholesterol-lowering ability of the prescription drug cholestyramine (a medication that is taken for the purpose of lowering cholesterol), collard greens bound 46% as many bile acids (based on a standard of comparison involving total dietary fiber).
In addition to the support factors described above, it is impossible to talk about the cardiovascular benefits of collard greens without mentioning their exceptional folate content. Although this cruciferous vegetable scores a rating of "excellent" in our food rating system, we would like to point out just how "excellent" excellent is when you're talking about collards. These greens provide more than 350 micrograms of folate in every hundred calories. That's 50% more than the amount provided by 100 calories' of broccoli, 100% more than the amount provided by 100 calories' of Brussels sprouts, 3 times the amount provided by 100 calories' of cabbage, and over 7 times the amount provided by 100 calories' of kale. Folate is a critical B-vitamin for support of cardiovascular health, including its key role in prevention of homocysteine build-up (called hyperhomocysteinemia).

Collard Greens and Digestive Support

The fiber content of collard greens - over 5 grams in every cup - makes this cruciferous vegetable a natural choice for digestive system support. You're going to get 85% of your Daily Value for fiber from only 200 calories' worth of collard greens! Yet the fiber content of collard greens is only one of their digestive support mechanisms. Researchers have determined that the sulforaphane made from a glucosinolate in collard greens (glucoraphanin) helps protect the health of our stomach lining by preventing bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori in our stomach or too much clinging by this bacterium to our stomach wall.

Other Health Benefits From Collard Greens

The anti-inflammatory nature of glucosinolates/isothiocyanates and other nutrients found in collard greens has been the basis for new research on inflammation-related health problems and the potential role of collard greens in their prevention. Current and potentially promising research is underway to examine the benefits of collard greens in relationship to our risk of the following inflammation-related conditions: Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and ulcerative colitis. .

Description

All cruciferous vegetables provide integrated nourishment across a wide variety of nutritional categories and provide broad support across a wide variety of body systems as well. For more on cruciferous vegetables see:

Collards are leafy green vegetables that belong to the same family that includes cabbage, kale, and broccoli. While they share the same botanical name as kale, Brassica oleracea, and some resemblance, they have their own distinctive qualities. Like kale, collards are one of the non-head forming members of the Brassica family. Collards' unique appearance features dark blue green leaves that are smooth in texture and relatively broad. They lack the frilled edges that are so distinctive to their cousin kale.

Long a staple of the Southern United States, collard greens, unlike their cousins kale and mustard greens, have a very mild, almost smoky flavor. Although they are available year-round they are at their best from January through April.

History

Like kale, cauliflower and broccoli, collards are descendents of the wild cabbage, a plant thought to have been consumed as food since prehistoric times and to have originated in Asia Minor. From there it spread into Europe, being introduced by groups of Celtic wanderers around 600 B.C. Collards have been cultivated since the times of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. While collards may have been introduced into the United States before, the first mention of collard greens dates back to the late 17th century. Collards are an integral food in traditional southern American cuisine.

How to Select and Store

Look for collard greens that have firm, unwilted leaves that are vividly deep green in color with no signs of yellowing or browning. Leaves that are smaller in size will be more tender and have a milder flavor. They should be displayed in a chilled section in the refrigerator case to prevent them from wilting and becoming bitter.

Place collard greens in a plastic bag, removing as much of the air from the bag as possible. Store in the refrigerator where they should keep fresh for about three to five days.

How to Enjoy

Tips for Preparing Collard Greens

Rinse collard greens under cold running water. Chop leaf portion into ½-inchslices and the stems into ¼-inch pieces for quick and even cooking.

To get the most health benefits from collard greens, we recommend letting them sit for a minimum of 5 minutes before cooking. Sprinkling with lemon juice before letting them sit may be able to help activate their myrosinase enzymes and increase formation of beneficial isothiocyanates in the greens.

The Healthiest Way to Cook Collard Greens

We recommend Healthy Steaming collard greens for maximum nutrition and flavor. Fill the bottom of a steamer pot with 2 inches of water. While waiting for the water to come to a rapid boil chop greens. Steam for 5 minutes and toss with our Mediterranean Dressing and top with your favorite optional ingredients.

2011-03-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Lives Every Year, This Medical Miracle Could Revolutionize The $21 Billion Organ Transplant Market - Exploding It
To $60 Billion!

Buying ALZM today under $2 means you could watch a$5,000 investment blossom into $300,000 – $10,000 explode into $600,000 – all before July 1st, 2011!

When it comes to organ transplants, the difference between life and death is seconds, not minutes. ALZM puts that precious time back in doctor’s hands by extending the organ viability window by 700%!
This breakthrough could literally save millions of lives...
but it could also make us incredibly wealthy in the process!

Hello Fellow Player,

Not since penicillin has a medical discovery saved so many lives in such a short period of time…

ALZM is shocking the medical community with its JUST RELEASED revolutionary, life-saving breakthrough.

You see, in over 40 years, there hasn’t been any significant advance in organ transportation… until now.

Leading medical experts now agree, this unique, patented, PROVEN game-changing technology could save anywhere between 287,000 to 350,000 lives each year…

And that’s in the United States alone.

When It Comes To Organ Transplants, The Difference
Between Life And Death IsSeconds, Not Minutes.
ALZM Puts That PreciousTime Back In Doctor’s Hands

Allezoe Medical (ALZM) has discovered a way to not only safely transport organs to the patients in dire need of them, but they’ve figured out a way to keep the viability window open another 17-21 hours longer than current methods!

Words cannot express how big this breakthrough is.

To get a true understanding of the magnitude of this discovery you have to know a few facts…

First of which, is the fact that of all the people on a transplant waitlist, only 35% of them live long enough to receive their second chance at life, mostly due to the state and health that the organ arrives at.

This is a staggering statistic.

Which is why experts are predicting such big things for ALZM…

Because not only can they improve the state of health of many of these organs during transport, but by offering an wider viability window, expanding that 35% success rate up to 80%!

What this means is that the lives of potentially Millions of people can be saved with ALZM’s technology.

That’s Why It’s So Urgent You Read My Hot-Off-The-Press Report NOW. In It, You’ll See Why You Could Make
3,000% In The Coming Weeks. Every $5,000 Invested
Today, Could Be WorthA Staggering $300,000 By July 1st!

The importance of this innovation is apparent and obvious…

But it can also be just as lucrative to investors who are there from the very beginning as it is to those in need of the service that ALZM provides.

In fact, 2,000% - 3,000% gains may be on the low end of the spectrum when all is said and done…

Especially if a high-priced and aggressive bidding war breaks out among many of medicines biggest names like Johnson and Johnson , GE Healthcare and Siemans... once they catch wind of the profit potential that ALZM is offering.

I’ve just finished an in-depth, detailed report that will give you all the facts on why this company could be the best and biggest move of your financial career. Get the whole story HERE.

Get the whole story HERE.

To Your Future Wealth,

Eric Dickson
Editor, Breakaway Stocks

2011-03-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

A forecast by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization shows how weather patterns this week might disperse radiation from a continuous source in Fukushima, Japan.The forecast does not show actual levels of radiation, but it does allow the organization to estimate when different monitoring stations, marked with small dots, might be able to detect extremely low levels of radiation. Health and nuclear experts emphasize that any plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States.
New York times Related story »

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

Enlarge This Image

At a rail station in South Korea on Wednesday, passengers viewed news reports about Japan.

Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.

The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse.

2011-03-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 13 Mar 2011 10:39 AM

More . . .

A A |

Email Us |

Print |

Forward Article

When it came time to sit down with pharmaceutical companies
to get them on board in supporting Obamacare in 2010, they
bargained away low-priced drugs to Americans for a
pharmaceutical company exemption from Obamacare rules.
In other words, pharmaceuticals sold the American public
down the river to maintain their own profits at the highest levels in history.

Obama Stares Down John Q. Public Telling Him He Lost
in a negotiation with Big Pharma and had to increase
prices of meds for Americans in Exchange for a big
Pharma donation to his re-election.

If you want to go to
Mexico or Canada,
you can buy
generic drugs which
are just as good as
brand name
medicine in the U.S.
But the Democrats
beat down
the public by giving
in to Big Pharma
firms desire to
restrict U.S. patients
from getting discounted
products,
like Canadians
and Mexicans get.
In other words,
Americans continue
to pay a big part of the tab for
citizens across the globe to obtain expensive drugs.
It's one of the "perks" (costs) of being a U.S. citizen.
Yet, Obama promises that he will level the income
playing field so that people from other countries will be
earning equal or better wages than Americans. How
fair is that? When is he going to stop discriminating
against Americans in medicines where they have to
pay top dollar?

It used to be Americans whose work ethic was better
than any place on the globe that would earn more
because they worked harder. It sounds like Obama is
taking out of the equation our hard work ethic, our
inventiveness, and our competitiveness to remain the
number one country on earth.
Why has Barak Obama "got it in" for Americans? Is it
something he brought with him from Africa or Arabia -
or from wherever he was born and raised? Is it built into
this man from his father's un-realized hopes and dreams?
Sounds masochistic, doesn't it. Well, it is.

Next time you go to the polls you should retaliate and
elect a conservative who will look after your interests.

1) Read in SLATE how Big Pharma out negotiated Obama:
http://www.slate.com/id/2224621/

2) "Internal Memo Reveals Big Giveaways In White
House Deal With Big Pharma:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-
memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html

Don White
Here is a Newsmax article outlining some of
this competitive and rotten stuff:
__________________________________________

Sunday, 13 Mar 2011 10:39 AM

More . . .

A A |

Email Us |

Print |

Forward Article

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama once promised
that negotiations over his health care overhaul would be
carried out openly, in front of TV cameras and microphones.
that to the White House now.
Republican congressional investigators got the brush-off
this past week after pressing for details of meetings between
White House officials and interest groups, including drug
companies and hospitals that provided critical backing for
Obama's health insurance expansion.
Complying with the records request from the House Energy
and Commerce Committee "would constitute a vast and
expensive undertaking" and could "implicate longstanding
executive branch confidentiality interests," White House lawyer
Robert Bauer wrote the committee. Translation: Nice try.
It's one more roadblock for Republicans who tapped into
widespread anxiety about the scope and costs of the new
health care law to regain control of the House in last fall's
elections.
So far, they've been unable to repeal the landmark legislation
they dismiss as "Obamacare." GOP efforts to deny administration
agencies the money to carry out the law are running into
unintended consequences, not to mention the sheer difficulty
of tracking those dollars. Now it looks like oversight isn't going
to be easy either.
"We are both concerned and disappointed by your response,"
the committee chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., wrote
back to Bauer. "The American public deserves the information
we have requested. The secret meetings conducted by (White
House officials) are a perfect example of why transparency in
government is so important."
Upton urged the White House to carefully reconsider, but
it's uncertain he'll ever get what he wants. Even if the standoff
dramatically escalates to a congressional subpoena, history
shows that presidents usually succeed in keeping records
away from snooping eyes.
President George W. Bush's administration beat back efforts
to reveal the dealings between Vice President Dick Cheney's
energy task force and industry. President Bill Clinton's
administration successfully resisted demands for records of
its failed push to remake the health care system, which was
overseen by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The request for records from Obama's health care reform
office is broad. The committee asked for a list of every meeting,
briefing or telephone call regarding changes to the health care
system, as well as notes or summaries of those encounters.
It wants a list of every employee of the now-disbanded health
reform office, including their salaries. Committee investigators
are also seeking any written communications, whether by
letter or e-mail, with outside groups.
White House visitor records released at the request of The
Associated Press in late 2009 show that Obama's top aides met
frequently with lobbyists and health care industry leaders
during the marathon congressional debate over health care
overhaul.
The list included George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of
Kaiser Health Plans; Scott Serota, president and CEO of the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; Kenneth Kies, a
Washington lobbyist representing Blue Cross/Blue Shield,
among other clients; Billy Tauzin, then head of PhRMA,
the drug industry lobby; Richard Umbdenstock, chief of
the American Hospital Association; and numerous others.
Nearly every health industry group has complaints about
aspects of the final legislation. But they're also working to
carry out its provisions, even as challenges to the law's
constitutionality advance in federal court. Some sectors
got significant concessions from the administration.
The pharmaceutical industry and hospitals agreed early
on to tens of billions in savings to help finance new coverage
for the uninsured. When an amendment to allow importation
of low-cost prescription drugs came up in the Senate, the
administration worked successfully to defeat it, although
Obama had supported the idea as a presidential candidate.
Hospitals won a reprieve of several years from cuts proposed
by a new Medicare cost control board.
The White House sent the Energy and Commerce Committee
some 100 pages of records that have already been made public,
including visitor logs and press releases. That may be all
they get for a long time.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try
on Health Care Records
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama once
promised that negotiations over his health care overhaul
would be carried out openly, in front of TV cameras
and microphones. Tell that to the White House now.
Republican congressional investigators got the brush-off
this past week after pressing for details of meetings
between White House officials and interest groups,
including drug companies and hospitals that provided
critical backing for Obama's health insurance expansion.
Complying with the records request from the House
Energy and Commerce Committee "would constitute a
vast and expensive undertaking" and could "implicate
longstanding executive branch confidentiality interests,"
White House lawyer Robert Bauer wrote the committee.
Translation: Nice try.
It's one more roadblock for Republicans who tapped into
widespread anxiety about the scope and costs of the new
health care law to regain control of the House in last fall's elections.
So far, they've been unable to repeal the landmark legislation
they dismiss as "Obamacare." GOP efforts to deny
administration agencies the money to carry out the law
are running into unintended consequences, not to mention
the sheer difficulty of tracking those dollars. Now it looks like
oversight isn't going to be easy either.
"We are both concerned and disappointed by your response,"
the committee chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.,
wrote back to Bauer. "The American public deserves the
information we have requested. The secret meetings
conducted by (White House officials) are a perfect example
of why transparency in government is so important."
Upton urged the White House to carefully reconsider, but
it's uncertain he'll ever get what he wants. Even if the standoff
dramatically escalates to a congressional subpoena, history
shows that presidents usually succeed in keeping records
away from snooping eyes.
President George W. Bush's administration beat back efforts
to reveal the dealings between Vice President Dick Cheney's
energy task force and industry. President Bill Clinton's
administration successfully resisted demands for records
of its failed push to remake the health care system, which
was overseen by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The request for records from Obama's health care reform office
is broad. The committee asked for a list of every meeting, briefing
or telephone call regarding changes to the health care system,
as well as notes or summaries of those encounters. It wants a
list of every employee of the now-disbanded health reform
office, including their salaries. Committee investigators are
also seeking any written communications, whether by letter
or e-mail, with outside groups.
White House visitor records released at the request of The
Associated Press in late 2009 show that Obama's top aides
met frequently with lobbyists and health care industry
leaders during the marathon congressional debate over health care overhaul.
The list included George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of
Kaiser Health Plans; Scott Serota, president and CEO of the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; Kenneth Kies, a
Washington lobbyist representing Blue Cross/Blue Shield,
among other clients; Billy Tauzin, then head of PhRMA, the
drug industry lobby; Richard Umbdenstock, chief of the
American Hospital Association; and numerous others.
Nearly every health industry group has complaints about
aspects of the final legislation. But they're also working to
carry out its provisions, even as challenges to the law's
constitutionality advance in federal court. Some sectors got
significant concessions from the administration.
The pharmaceutical industry and hospitals agreed early on to
tens of billions in savings to help finance new coverage for the
uninsured. When an amendment to allow importation of low-
cost prescription drugs came up in the Senate, the administration
worked successfully to defeat it, although Obama had supported
the idea as a presidential candidate. Hospitals won a reprieve of
several years from cuts proposed by a new Medicare cost control board.
The White House sent the Energy and Commerce Committee
some 100 pages of records that have already been made public,
including visitor logs and press releases. That may be all they
get for a long time.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Obama Tells GOP: Nice Try on Health Care Records

2011-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

JEFF GERTH and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG.� New York Times (Late Edition (east

N.Y.: Apr 23, 2000

On Jan. 7, 1982, in a laboratory at Columbia University, a little-known science professor, Laszlo Z. Bito, finished a nine-month experiment on the eyes of cats. In his handwritten data, carefully charted in gray hardcover notebooks, lay the origins of what every pharmaceutical company longs for: a blockbuster drug.

The drug is Xalatan, a best-selling eyedrop for glaucoma. With $507 million in sales last year -- and the potential for billions more, most of it pure profit -- the four-year-old medicine is the equivalent of liquid gold for its manufacturer, the Pharmacia Corporation. The eyedrop earned Columbia University about $20 million in royalties last year, and it has made a millionaire of Dr. Bito as well.

Yet there are other, unseen, partners in the creation of Xalatan: the American taxpayers, who backed Dr. Bito's work with $4 million from the National Institutes of Health. The taxpayers have reaped no financial return on their investment; their reward, government officials say, is the eyedrop itself.

Xalatan costs patients $45 to $50 for a tiny bottle that lasts six weeks� That price -- about $1 a day for a drug that staves off blindness � may not seem excessive. But the key ingredient in that daily dose costs Pharmacia only pennies to make, and Americans, who live in the only industrialized nation that lacks government restraints on drug prices, pay more than twice what European patients pay for the drug.

That puts Xalatan out of reach for patients like Albert Russell, a retired optician and part-time blues singer from Prince George's County, Md. Mr. Russell, whose glaucoma has left him nearly blind, lives on an $832-a-month Social Security check. He is among the one-third of elderly Americans who lack prescription drug coverage, and when he talks about Xalatan, he uses the word ''outrageous'' to describe its price.

To officials at Pharmacia, the price is fair. ''We are bringing forth innovation,'' said Dr. Anders Harfstrand, the company's vice president for ophthalmology, ''and innovation always brings a premium.''

In this election year, the cost of prescription medicines is at the center of the political debate. With the biomedical revolution yielding a flood of new therapies, drugs are now the fastest-growing component of the nation's trillion-dollar-a-year medical bill. As Congress contemplates expanding Medicare to include prescription drug coverage, and some states move to bring drug prices more in line with those in foreign countries, the industry is struggling to fend off federal regulation that might limit its ability to set prices.

At the heart of the fight is Dr. Harfstrand's contention that the price of medication is justified by the extreme risk of failure and high cost of drug discovery -- an average of $500 million per drug, by the industry's estimate. It is an argument that the pharmaceutical industry, one of the world's most lucrative and secretive businesses, has relied on for more than 40 years. But it has rarely been put under a microscope, because the industry will not divulge the costs of researching and developing a particular drug.

To shed light on the subject, The New York Times examined Xalatan, from its genesis in Dr. Bito's laboratory to its arrival in the medicine cabinets of patients in 57 countries. Pharmacia declined to disclose specific financial information about the making of the drug. But through interviews with key participants and an analysis of publicly available documents, the examination found, among other things, that Pharmacia spent no more than $150,000 to buy the rights to Dr. Bito's invention from Columbia. Though it later spent tens of millions of its own money to develop the drug, the company acknowledges that Dr. Bito, with the taxpayers' support, provided it an ''uncut diamond'' that later became Xalatan.

The industry's reliance on taxpayer-supported research � characterized as ''a subsidy'' by the very same economists whose work the industry relies on -- is commonplace, the examination also found. So commonplace, in fact, that one industry expert is now raising questions about the companies' arguments.

The expert, Dr. Nelson Levy, a former head of research and development at Abbott Laboratories, who now works as a consultant for industry and the federal government on drug development, bluntly challenged the industry's oft-repeated cost of developing a drug. ''That it costs $500 million to develop a drug,'' Dr. Levy said in a recent interview, ''is a lot of bull.''

Finally, the examination found, federal officials have abandoned or ignored policies that could have led to lower prices for medicines developed with taxpayer dollars. That is partly because the government has lost track of what drugs are invented with its money, and partly, officials say, because the industry resisted government efforts to get involved in pricing.

As Dr. Bernadine Healy, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, said in a recent interview, ''We sold away government research so cheap.''

Going Against the Standard

Like many scientific discoveries, the invention of Xalatan began with a hunch. It was the mid-1970's, and Dr. Bito, a hard-driving researcher who bucked the eye-research establishment with his unconventional ideas about glaucoma treatment, had been named an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Columbia University.

Born in Budapest, he was conscripted into a forced labor coal mining camp at 18. In 1956, the year the Communists quashed a rebellion in his homeland, he escaped, eventually fleeing for the United States. His passion was writing, but he abandoned it for a career in science, particularly the study of the eye.

Dr. Bito was interested in a family of chemicals produced by the body, prostaglandins, and how they might affect the eye, particularly the fluid, known as aqueous humor, that nourishes the cornea and the lens. In glaucoma, the aqueous humor does not drain quickly enough, causing an increase in intraocular pressure inside the eye. This pressure can damage the optic nerve, causing vision loss and ultimately blindness.

An estimated two million Americans have glaucoma, and every year, 120,000 Americans go blind from the disease. The elderly, African-Americans, and people with family histories of the disease are at greatest risk. Glaucoma is often called ''the sneak thief of sight.'' Often, by the time the patient notices vision loss, glaucoma can only be halted, not reversed.

When Dr. Bito began his research, ophthalmologists had already concluded that prostaglandins raised intraocular pressure, and were therefore dangerous. But Dr. Bito, along with a student at Columbia Medical School, Carl Camras, suspected otherwise; they thought that if prostaglandins were given in extremely small doses, they could actually reduce the pressure.

In 1977, after a series of studies on the eyes of rabbits, they published a paper showing just that. ''It was blasphemy,'' Dr. Camras said.

Dr. Bito continued the work with monkeys, cats, and even himself, squirting the chemical in his own eye to gauge how much redness and irritation it caused. The studies were paid for by the National Eye Institute, a branch of the health institutes.

Within weeks of the cat experiment's conclusion in 1982, administrators at Columbia University had steered Dr. Bito to a patent lawyer; in May of that year, he applied for a patent.

It felt strange, he said, but it signified the changing culture of the ivory tower. As a professor, Dr. Bito was accustomed to publishing his work in journals and talking about it at scientific meetings. Patenting, to him, represented secrecy, the culture of industry, not academia. ''It was looked down on,'' Dr. Bito said. ''It was too commercial.''

Law Behind the Companies

Commerce, however, was exactly what Congress had in mind when, in late 1980, it passed legislation that directed federally financed researchers like Dr. Bito to patent their inventions, or risk losing control of them to the government.

Ronald Reagan had just won election on a platform to make America strong again. Japan's electronic industry was out-competing the United States in its own backyard. Determined not to lose, Congress passed Public Law 96-517, known as the Bayh-Dole Act after Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Bob Dole of Kansas.

The law was designed to push federally financed research from the university laboratory into the marketplace. Scientists who made discoveries using taxpayer money were required to file invention reports with the government. Universities were directed to license patented inventions to companies that would commercialize them.

The law was originally passed to aid small businesses, but later it was modified so that even big companies like Pharmacia could benefit. If a company did not develop a product quickly enough, the government could revoke the company's license and hand the job over to a competitor. It could also take control of an invention to alleviate ''health or safety needs,'' the law said.

Once an invention is on the market, the law grants the government the right to buy it without paying customary royalties. At the same time, say patent experts in the Clinton administration and at the National Science Foundation, other laws enable federal agencies to put taxpayer-financed inventions out to competitive bidding. For example, the government, which buys Xalatan, could give companies other than Pharmacia the opportunity to manufacture the eyedrop and sell it at a lower price -- but only to the government.

So, these experts say, the Bayh-Dole law, in conjunction with other provisions, could result in lower drug prices for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health, two major purchasers of medicines.

But in the 20 years since the Bayh-Dole bill became law, the government has not taken advantage of these provisions, say officials at the health institutes. One reason, said Dr. Wendy Baldwin, a deputy director at the agency, is that the government already buys drugs cheaply by purchasing them in bulk. But even if federal officials wanted to use the Bayh-Dole Act to get medicines at still cheaper prices, they could not because they do not keep track of products, including drugs, that are invented with taxpayer money.

That failure has drawn criticism from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, which last year conducted a review of the government's invention reporting system. ''Inaccurate, incomplete and inconsistent,'' the accounting office concluded.

Also, last year, a preliminary report by the inspector general's office of the Department of Health and Human Services found that as many as 22 percent of discoveries financed by the health institutes were not reported by universities, as is required. More than 2,000 inventions developed with government money were reported to the health institutes last year, but Dr. Baldwin and other agency officials said in interviews that they had no idea which, if any, companies had licensed those inventions, or how they were being used.

As for the issue of what consumers pay for drugs, the health institutes has concluded it should stay out of it. When Dr. Healy was director of the agency in the early 1990's, she insisted that companies interested in developing drugs that had been invented by government scientists sign contracts agreeing to ''reasonable pricing'' for those medicines.

The companies balked at the reasonable-pricing clause. ''I was persona non grata for it,'' said Dr. Healy, who now heads the American Red Cross. The provision was dropped in 1995 by Dr. Harold Varmus, her successor; at the time, he said the policy was discouraging collaboration by driving industry away.

In the end, said Dr. Baldwin, the official designated by the N.I.H. to answer questions for this article, taxpayers may not get lower drug prices. Still, she said: ''The current policies are actually bringing drugs to market. It's a huge advance, a wonderful accomplishment.''

Going Abroad for Help

If the federal government leaves it to companies to decide how much consumers pay for taxpayer-backed inventions, universities are even less concerned about the prices. The Bayh-Dole Act has meant a windfall in revenues from licensing and royalties for them, none more than Columbia.

Last year, Columbia earned $96 million in licensing fees and royalties under the Bayh-Dole law, ranking it first among universities in royalties from inventions, said Jack Granowitz, who runs Columbia's program to commercialize university inventions. Roughly $20 million of that money was from Xalatan; one-fifth goes to Dr. Bito and the university keeps the rest.

When Dr. Bito first filed his patent application in 1982, no drug company in the United States would touch it; most glaucoma experts remembered well the studies showing prostaglandins could only hurt people with the disease. Dr. Bito recalled: ''They said, 'It's crazy. You can't put prostaglandins in the eye.' ''

So Dr. Bito approached another Hungarian eye researcher who knew people at Pharmacia, at the time one of Sweden's largest drug companies. (The company, now of Peapack, N.J., has since undergone two mergers, one with Upjohn in 1995, and another this year, with Monsanto.) Within a year, Dr. Bito said, Pharmacia had bought exclusive rights to his idea, paying Columbia between $100,000 and $150,000. The government received no fees; the law did not require it.

For Pharmacia, which was already marketing a cataract therapy developed by Dr. Bito's Hungarian friend, it was a nice fit. It was also a way for the company to hedge the risky bets it made on drug development.

The industry's own studies show that drug research is riskiest in the early stages, when a company has no way to tell if a given compound is a blockbuster or a dud. The companies often build on basic scientific findings that emerge from taxpayer-financed studies, underwriting the applied science themselves. But in some cases, as with Xalatan, those studies actually produce a practical discovery that can be licensed, allowing companies to step in when profits seem more assured.

No one knows precisely how many medicines result from such licensing arrangements, but they are not unusual. For example, Trusopt, a glaucoma eyedrop by Merck, was taken to the market in similar fashion, after researchers at the University of Florida, with backing from the National Eye Institute, discovered how to convert a related drug from pill to drop form. As Dr. Carl Kupfer, the institute's director, said, ''A pharmaceutical company wouldn't take over the drug unless the animal testing looked very feasible.''

Still, Pharmacia was hardly getting a finished product. ''An uncut diamond'' is how Dr. Harfstrand described Dr. Bito's work. Using the natural prostaglandins Dr. Bito had identified, Pharmacia had the task of developing a synthetic molecule that could be given safely to people.

It was a tall order. As Dr. Bito well knew from squirting the chemicals into his own eyes, the prostaglandins caused redness and irritation. One of Sweden's leading eye experts, Dr. Anders Bill, remembered informing the company that Dr. Bito's idea was ''next to ridiculous,'' and giving it only a 5 percent chance of success. The drug industry's trade association says for every 250 compounds that emerge from a laboratory to enter this kind of pre-clinical testing, only one makes it to market.

By 1985, two years into the Pharmacia's contract with Columbia, the company's research was progressing slowly. Dr. Bito persuaded Mr. Granowitz to write a letter to the company reminding it that, under the Bayh-Dole law, the government could step in and take control of the invention. The next year, Pharmacia hired a new manager for the project, a Swedish pharmacologist, Johan Stjernschantz.

By 1988, Dr. Stjernschantz had found what Pharmacia was looking for: a family of chemical cousins to Dr. Bito's prostaglandins that also lowered pressure but without the troubling irritation. From this family, Dr. Stjernschantz said, he selected latanaprost, the key ingredient for the compound that would later take the trade name Xalatan.

The uncut diamond was now a sparkling gem.

Government's Silent Role

How much was Dr. Bito's government-supported work worth to Pharmacia? Only company officials know, and they won't say.

That kind of secrecy is typical, making it difficult for outsiders to examine drug pricing issues. Nonetheless, experts characterize work like Dr. Bito's as an extremely valuable subsidy for a business that is already receiving government help in other areas, such as tax credits for research and development.

Dr. Levy, the former Abbott Laboratories executive, says preclinical research could account for as much as 20 to 25 percent of a company's research and development budget for a particular drug.

''N.I.H.-supported research represents a subsidy to pharmaceutical development,'' said Dr. Louis Lasagna, an expert in drug development at Tufts University whose studies are widely cited by the industry. ''But you need a midwife, the companies, to bring it to market.''

The word subsidy, not surprisingly, rankles drug industry officials, who say other businesses, including the medical device industry, also benefit from public science.

Yet it is clear that the government plays an important, and an increasing, role in drug development, both through inventions like Dr.Bito's and more basic scientific research on which the companies can build. A 1995 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that, of the 14 new drugs the industry identified as the most medically significant in the preceding 25 years, 11 had their roots in studies paid for by the government.

''The general pattern is that industry is building enormously heavily on basic research supported by N.I.H.,'' said Dr. Francis Narin, president of C.H.I. Research, a consulting firm that has analyzed patents as a way of measuring the role public science plays in industry.

In a 1997 study commissioned by the National Science Foundation, C.H.I. looked at the most significant scientific research papers cited in medicine patents. It found that half the cited studies were paid for with United States public funds, primarily from government and academia; only medicine patents. It found that half the cited studies were paid for with United States public funds, primarily from government and academia; only 17 percent were paid for by industry. (The rest came from public and private foreign sources.)

And in a study with the National Eye Institute, published in 1996, C.H.I. found that 41 percent of patented eye-care technology was linked to research financed by the health institutes, including Dr. Bito's studies, which have been cited in 15 patents, including Xalatan's.

''I think that is very typical,'' Dr. Narin said of Dr. Bito's work. ''If you find any good advanced biomedical patent, and you look at its science references, most of them are going to be public,'' meaning from publicly financed research.

The industry's estimate for the average cost of developing a drug -- $500 million -- is drawn from a study published in 1991 by Dr. Lasagna and Dr. Joseph DiMasi, an economist at Tufts, and adjusted to reflect inflation and the additional testing drug companies have begun doing to obtain F.D.A. approval for their medicines. Only a small percentage of the $500 million represents the actual cost of developing a particular medicine, Dr. DiMasi said. The rest is the cost is attributed to lost opportunities: years spent going down scientific ''dry holes'' and research money that could have generated interest had it been invested instead.

Dr. Levy, the drug development expert, says the Bayh-Dole law has altered that equation. In the past, Dr. Levy said, ''academia was coming up with concepts, not molecules'' for drug development. Today, university scientists are more commercially oriented; many are spinning off their own biotech companies to develop their ideas. That, in turn, has enabled companies like Pharmacia to shift resources away from in-house research and development and toward outside collaborations, a strategy known as ''external innovation.''

For instance, Pharmacia shut down Dr. Stjernschantz' prostaglandin lab after Xalatan went on the market in 1996, instead giving Dr. Stjernschantz a grant to continue his research at a nearby university. And last year, Pharmacia spent $650 million to buy Sugen, a biotech concern in San Francisco that is collaborating with the National Cancer Institute on clinical trials of its two leading drugs. The company's co-founder, Dr. Joseph Schlessinger, is a New York University scientist whose initial financing included a nine-year grant from the cancer institute, N.I.H. records show.

So the pharmaceutical companies have become more efficient, in part because university researchers are more efficient. As Dr. Levy put it, the companies are ''not having to dig as many dry holes.''

Drawback in Development

Once Dr. Stjernschantz had identified the latanaprost molecule, Pharmacia needed a place to produce it in large amounts for testing in people. It takes 110 raw materials, 32 separate chemical reactions and three months to make a batch of latanaprost, and few companies had the technical know-how.

Among those that did was the Chinoin Pharmaceutical and Chemical Works, in Dr. Bito's hometown, Budapest. The 88-year-old company, owned until recently by the Hungarian Communist government, sits hard by the railroad tracks in a drab corner of the city, a vast array of 100 low-slung buildings connected by a maze of steel pipes.

Dr. Bito knew Chinoin's chemists well. He introduced them to officials at Pharmacia, and after some testy east-west negotiations, clinical trials were under way by the early 1990's in three countries, with Chinoin producing the key ingredient.

Dr. Camras, the young medical student who worked with Dr. Bito at Columbia, was brought in to run the United States arm of the final study; by this time he had become an ophthalmologist, with an academic appointment at the University of Nebraska.

Human testing is typically the most expensive part of the drug development process. Clinical trials usually consist of three phases; the first study tests safety and looks for the proper dose; if the drug is safe, it moves to the second phase to test effectiveness in a limited number of patients. The costliest clinical trial is the last one, the large Phase 3 study to prove the drug is safe and effective, proof that is necessary for the Food and Drug Administration approval. Depending on the drug and the amount of medical care involved, experts say the cost of a Phase 3 trial can range from $10,000 to $20,000 per patient.

The Phase 3 study of Xalatan was relatively small, just 829 people. The company will not say what it spent on that study, or any other. But Dr. Stjernschantz, the project manager, said the total costs for all trials was significantly less than $30 million, an estimate that, a Columbia researcher said, Pharmacia provided to the university before the testing had begun.

The trials gave the company precisely what it was looking for: proof that Xalatan, given once a day, lowered intraocular pressure as much as the gold standard of glaucoma treatment, timolol.

But the studies turned up a worrisome, and unique, side effect: Xalatan caused 7.2 percent of patients' eyes to darken, changing from blue or green to brown. The company nearly pulled the plug on the project. ''That was a very terrible crisis,'' Dr. Stjernschantz said.

In the end, the pigmentation issue led to less-than-wholehearted backing from the F.D.A., which approved the drug on June 6, 1996, with a caveat: Xalatan, it said, should be used only as backup therapy when all other drugs have failed, and not as a ''first-line'' treatment. It was a setback, but hardly a fatal one. drugs have failed, and not as a ''first-line'' treatment. It was a setback, but hardly a fatal one.

Today, Xalatan is approved for sale around the world, from the United States to Japan, Australia and all across Europe. The key ingredient is still being manufactured at Chinoin in Budapest, although the Hungarian company has since become a subsidiary of Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant.

The Chinoin-Pharmacia partnership has been a profitable one. Chinoin is making a 50 percent return on its prostaglandin investment, company officials said. And Pharmacia pays Chinoin slightly more than $5 million a year for the manufacturing of latanaprost, said Tibor Szabo, who directs the prostaglandin business unit at Chinoin.

That amounts to roughly one one-hundredth of Xalatan's $507 million in annual sales last year. Or, to put it another way, the cost of making the key ingredient is just 1 percent of the revenue Xalatan generates.

Pricing Around the World

Between Dr. Bito, the National Institutes of Health and Pharmacia, 20 years and many millions of dollars were spent getting Xalatan to a point where it could be sold to the public. But those costs bear little relationship to the price of the drug.

Nor is the price based on what the company spends to make and sell Xalatan, which includes not only the $5 million paid to Chinoin but also the cost of diluting, bottling and shipping the drug, the royalties paid to Columbia, and other costs, such as marketing.

Globally, there can be scores of prices for the same drug, as Xalatan shows.

In the United States, where there are no government restrictions, the basic price set by the company is determined by what the market will bear, taking into consideration the competition, the drug's side effects, and the patient population.

Xalatan is the first and only prostaglandin-based glaucoma drug, which gives it a competitive edge. It is taken only once a day; other drops must be taken more often. And aside from the eye pigmentation, it has fewer side effects. In the United States, the company sells the drug for about $36 a bottle wholesale, far more expensive than the cheapest generic, but roughly in line with other brand-name glaucoma medications, according to industry data and experts.

That price changes from customer to customer. Large health maintenance organizations, as well as the government, can often wring discounts out of manufacturers, while people with no prescription drug coverage must pay the full price. The Department of Veterans Affairs, for instance, pays $25 a bottle for Xalatan, about half what uninsured patients like Mr. Russell pay. And there are even different prices within the pays $25 a bottle for Xalatan, about half what uninsured patients like Mr. Russell pay. And there are even different prices within the government; smaller federal agencies pay $29 a bottle for Xalatan.

Overseas, price controls make for a different story.

In Dr. Bito's home country, Hungary, where the government pays for approved medications, Pharmacia receives a negotiated price of $17.50 a bottle for Xalatan, said Katalin Szutrely, who runs Pharmacia's Hungarian branch. Because the drug is so costly, she said, obtaining government approval to market it was difficult. One selling point was Dr. Bito himself. ''We were proud of him being the inventor,'' she said, ''and we used his name.''

That does not mean the drug is reaching a lot of patients in Hungary. A panel of Hungarian eye doctors recommended Xalatan as a first-line treatment, Ms. Szutrely said, but the government pays for it only when doctors can prove all other eyedrops have failed. As Ms. Szutrely said, ''If you don't have the reimbursement, you cannot sell the drug.''

Back in Washington, the debate revolves around dueling sets of statistics about why Americans often pay more. Some say the price of new medicines is driving up health care costs. Kaiser Permanente, the health maintenance organization, says it spent $4.7 million on glaucoma drugs in 1995, the year before Xalatan was introduced. Last year, Kaiser's expenditures for glaucoma reached $20.4 million, $9 million of it on Xalatan.

To counter such numbers, industry officials argue that Xalatan and other new medicines may be saving money as well, by reducing the need for doctors' visits and also for surgery. At the same time, they say the American free market provides the companies with the profits they need to plow back into research, so that patients can benefit from the next generation of drugs like Xalatan.

''I'm worried about low prices in Europe,'' Dr. Harfstrand said. ''It discourages innovation.''

And because more prescription drugs are made and sold in the United States than any other country, the thought of regulation is especially troubling to the companies. In the case of Xalatan, for instance, more than half the drug's sales are in the United States.

''The U.S. has been the only major free market for pharmaceuticals,'' Fred Hassan, Pharmacia's chief executive, said in a company newsletter last fall, ''and that has benefited patients as well as our industry.''

Science vs. Selling

As Xalatan's inventor, Dr. Bito likes to think of the drug as a triumph of science. But at Pharmacia, they speak proudly of Xalatan as a triumph of marketing.

The F.D.A.'s recommendation of Xalatan as only a backup therapy presented a considerable challenge to the company: How to persuade doctors to turn to their drug before other glaucoma medications. The company pursued an aggressive strategy, according to the drug agency's records and interviews with eye doctors, leaving the impression but not stating explicitly that Xalatan should be considered as a first-line therapy. The drug's growing sales suggest the strategy has worked; in an advertisement announcing its merger with Monsanto, Pharmacia proudly called Xalatan ''the new gold standard for treatment of glaucoma.''

Company documents show Pharmacia spent 40 percent of its overall revenue on marketing and administrative expenses last year, more than twice what it spent on research. In the last year alone, it increased its global sales force by 30 percent to 6,500 people, including scores of ''detail men'' who make door-to-door visits to doctors. Last year, company officials say, those detail men gave away more than a million free samples of Xalatan to doctors.

Companies gauge a product's success by its gross-profit margin � the money left from sales after expenses, but before taxes. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association says only three out of 10 medicines recover their research and development costs. But those that do, like Xalatan, can be hugely profitable.

A reconstruction of Xalatan's profitability, based on outside experts and company documents, suggests its profit margin is likely higher than the company's average of 76 percent, perhaps as high as 90 percent. The company, however, will not talk about Xalatan's earnings.

As Dr. Harfstrand said, ''We never comment on gross margins on individual products.''

Easy and Effective

To spend a day in the examining room with Dr. Harry Quigley, director of the glaucoma service at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, is to see why Xalatan is popular with both doctors and patients. As one of the nation's best-known eye specialists, Dr. Quigley sees as many as 40 patients on any given day, and these days, it seems, he is prescribing Xalatan to most.

He likes the drug for the obvious reason: It reduces intraocular pressure. His patients like it, too; in interviews, several said it caused less redness and irritation than other glaucoma drops, and they preferred its once-a-day formula. Other drugs to combat glaucoma must be taken as often as four times a day. For Dr. Quigley, convenience is hardly a side issue; the once-a-day regimen, he said, means patients are more likely to take their eyedrops.

In October of 1996, a few months after Xalatan was on pharmacy shelves, Dr. Quigley prescribed it to Mr. Russell, the retired optician, who is blind in his right eye and nearly blind in the left. The drug worked to perfection, lowering Mr. Russell's intraocular pressure to well within normal range. ''It was fantastic,'' he said.

The only problem was the price. ''Forty-five bucks,'' Mr. Russell exclaimed, cradling a bottle of Xalatan in his hand. ''I flinch every time I think about it.''

Like many older people, Mr. Russell takes other medications that run up his monthly prescription drug bill. For a time, he said, he paid out of pocket for Xalatan. Then his wife, Millie, discovered that Pharmacia runs a prescription assistance program for patients with ''short-term financial hardship.'' Under the program, the company provides drugs, with patients typically making a $5 co-payment to the pharmacy, for six months, and then patients can reapply.

Mr. Russell was approved for the program. But last August, he received a letter from Pharmacia telling him his discounted supply of Xalatan would run out in November, and urging him to find another, more permanent, way to pay for the drug.

But Mr. Russell did not have another way to pay. So Dr. Quigley proposed an alternative that Medicare would pay for: surgery to lower the intraocular pressure. It was not the optimal solution, Dr. Quigley said, because Mr. Russell's glaucoma was well controlled with the drops and the operation meant a two to three percent risk that he would lose sight in his only good eye, plus a continuing risk of infection.

''The best way to take care of Mr. Russell would have been to continue his medications,'' the doctor said. ''That was not practical, so we did the next best thing.''

�For Dr. Quigley, the situation was hardly extraordinary. Too many of his patients, he said, are ''being forced to choose between paying the rent, buying food and taking expensive medicine.'' And he is irritated that Pharmacia offers patients only short-term help. ''If somebody is going to start taking medication,'' he said, ''they are going to need it indefinitely, and they are unlikely to be poor for only 6 or 12 months.''

Also troubled is Dr. J. William Doyle, a University of Florida ophthalmologist who has studied company assistance programs and found them often inaccessible to patients. ''It's a hassle,'' he said, and many patients choose cheaper, less effective medicines rather than jumping through the bureaucratic hoops necessary to get drugs at reduced prices.

At Pharmacia, officials will not divulge information about how many patients receive help from the medication assistance program, or how much the company spends on in it.

Mr. Russell, for one, says he is quite familiar with the pharmaceutical industry's arguments about the cost of prescription drugs, and he does Mr. Russell, for one, says he is quite familiar with the pharmaceutical industry's arguments about the cost of prescription drugs, and he does not believe them.

''They say the extra price is for research,'' he said. ''That's hard to believe.''

Though it is not the most often-prescribed glaucoma drug, Xalatan brought in more revenue last year than any of its competitors, and was Pharmacia's best-selling product prior to the company's merger with Monsanto. Pharmacia, which had $7 billion in revenue last year, before the merger, forecasts $750 million in annual sales for Xalatan by 2002. But the patent is due to expire in 2011, according to the company, and competitors are busy developing rival products. Pharmacia is busy, too; it is already seeking F.D.A. approval of a new product, a combination of Xalatan and timolol, the leading generic competitor, that could extend the life of the patent.

As for Dr. Bito, he has closed down his lab at Columbia and is back in Budapest, living in a spacious apartment with high ceilings and wood floors and a large picture window that looks out on the Roman Catholic church he attended as a boy. Despite the millions he has earned from Xalatan, he lives relatively modestly, driving around hills above the Danube in an 18-year-old Russian car. He has finally achieved his dream of becoming a novelist; his latest book, ''Abraham & Isaac,'' has made the best-seller list in Hungary.

[Photograph]

Albert Russell is almost blind from glaucoma but he can not afford Xalatan, a best-selling eyedrop to fight the disease. (Marty Katz for The New York Times)(pg. 26); This drug to fight glaucoma, developed with government help, is not cheaper because of it. (pg. 1)

[Chart]

''From the Lab To the Pharmacy''

The process by which an idea moves from the lab to the drugstore shelf is long and complex. A look at the process for a particular drug, Xalatan,� reveals that taxpayers can play a substantial financial role.

DRUG DISCOVERY

Basic research, which can last from 2 to 12 years, is conducted to gain knowledge about diseases. It is frequently financed by public agencies. Dr. Laszlo Bito, a Columbia University professor, receives grants from the N.I.H. to conduct research on a treatment for glaucoma.

TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Transition from basic research to applied pharmaceutical research. Financed primarily by pharmaceutical companies, but public agencies may be involved.

XALATAN

After successful tests with animals, Dr. Bito applies for a patent, assigning the rights to Columbia University, which eventually licenses the rights to Pharmacia, a pharmaceutical company.

PRECLINICAL TESTING

Actual development and testing of medicines. Financed primarily by pharmaceutical companies.

pharmaceutical companies.

XALATAN

Dr. Johan Stjernschantz, a Pharmacia official, adapts Dr. Bito's invention so that it can be safely delivered to humans.

CLINICAL TRIALS: PHASE 1

Small trials (20-80 healthy volunteers) to evaluate drugs for safety.

CLINICAL TRIALS: PHASE 2

These trials (100-300 volunteer patients) focus on efficacy and side effects.

CLINICAL TRIALS: PHASE 3

These large trials (1,000 - 5,000) are typically the costliest. Tests for all adverse reactions to long-term use.

XALATAN

Xalatan's Phase 3 study includes 829 people and lasts six months. Pharmacia discovers that the drug can cause patient's eyes to change color.

F.D.A. REVIEW, APPROVAL

Submission for approval to manufacture, distribute and market a drug in the U.S.

XALATAN

Pharmacia submits Xalatan to the F.D.A., which approves it as a backup therapy one year later.

PHASE 4: ADDITIONAL POST-MARKET TESTING

Pharmaceutical companies report adverse reactions not present during trials. The FDA evaluates the reports for trends and implications.

XALATAN

Pharmacia continues to test Xalatan on patients while pursuing an aggressive marketing strategy. Xalatan becomes highly profitable.

(pg. 26)

[Chart]

''AT ISSUE: Going Without''

Medicare does not cover the cost of prescription drugs outside the hospital. But some beneficiaries have coverage under other plans, and those without coverage are less likely to fill prescriptions.

Medicare beneficiaries, 1996

NO DRUG COVERAGE: 31%

DRUG COVERAGE: 69%

Prescriptions filled

Average number per person, 1996

Beneficiaries in poor health

WITH DRUG COVERAGE: 38

NO DRUG COVERAGE: 27

Beneficiaries with incomes below the poverty level

WITH DRUG COVERAGE: 25

NO DRUG COVERAGE: 14

Total prescriptions filled per Medicare beneficiary (on average)

WITH DRUG COVERAGE: 21

NO DRUG COVERAGE: 16

(Source: Kaiser Family Foundation)(pg. 26)

[Chart]

''UP CLOSE: One Company''

A pharmaceutical giant and a top prescription drug.

Chart shows total profits for Pharmacia & Upjohn and annual sales of

Xalatan.

Who pays what for Xalatan

For a six-week supply

$17.50 -- Hungarian wholesaler (direct from manufacturer)

$18.78 -- French patient

$25.37 -- N.I.H., Veterans Admin. and other federal agencies (direct from

manufacturer in bulk)

$25.65 -- Japanese patient

$29.44 -- Canadian patient

$29.64 -- Other federal agencies (direct from manufacturer)

$36.02 -- American wholesaler (direct from manufacturer)

$38.44 -- Leesburg, Va., pharmacy (from wholesaler)

$42.10 -- American patient (online-Drugstore.com)

$44.85 -- American patient (Leesburg, Va., pharmacy)

$49.69 -- American patient (CVS Pharmacy)

(Sources: Pharmacia & Upjohn annual reports (Pharmacia & Upjohn expenses

and profits); IMS Health (Annual U.S. sales))(pg. 26)

[Graph]

''TRENDS: Drugs and Prices Rising''

Prescription drug prices are rising, and doctors are prescribing more

drugs.

Graph tracks U.S. prescription drug prices and average cost of filling a

prescription since 1990.

Pharmaceutical company sales and expenditures

Pharmaceutical sales are rising, but expenditures for research and

develoment are rising at a faster rate.

Graph tracks U.S. domestic sales and R&D since 1995.

(Sources: National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Pharmaceutical

Research and Manufacturers of America)(pg. 27)

2011-02-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

The NIH invests over $31.2* billion annually in medical research for the American people.

More than 80% of the NIH's funding is awarded through almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 325,000 researchers at over 3,000 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state and around the world.

About 10% of the NIH's budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

Budget Statements—testimony by the NIH Director and Institute and Center Directors
History of NIH Appropriations—from 1938

Funding levels for diseases, conditions, and research areas, based on actual grants, contracts, research conducted at NIH, and other mechanisms of support.

Funded Organization—universities and research organizations around the nation receiving research grants and contracts
Budget and Spending—funding for grants and contracts
Success Rates—annual percentage of research grant applications that are funded
RePORTER—a searchable database of NIH-funded research projects

2011-02-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

Don't Squander Your Gift! How to Protect Your Vision

Today – right now! – 10 million Americans are blind or
are facing blindness from macular degeneration. It is
the most common cause of blindness in North America.
The most startling aspect of this disease is that, in
many people, it may be totally preventable!

The most destructive disorder that affects our vision
is a lack of knowledge. We need to know how to
protect our eyes and what warning signs to look
for as we go through life. There are also various
other diseases that may attack your eyes. An
ophthalmologist is a medical doctor specializing
in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of
the eye. You should rely on your ophthalmologist
for regular eye examinations.

Just getting old?
Loss of vision is not a normal part of aging. It is a
condition to be vigorously treated and
meticulously protected against. Vision loss
may seem gradual, but it is relentless. We
may start to have difficulty reading small print;
then we may find it hard to read any print.
The glare from headlights may make driving
a challenge. Then night driving becomes
impossible.

At first, brighter light and stronger glasses take
away the blurriness. But, eventually, nothing
can overcome the growing darkness in your
central vision and even the faces of the people
you love most are indistinguishable.

Vision loss is an epidemic.

With the growing number of "Baby Boomers"
turning 55 every year, the diagnosis of macular
degeneration is exploding. So, what can we do?
What strategies will help us to keep our precious
eyesight as long as possible? Are there
strategies for reversing vision loss?

What to do:

If you smoke, stop. Do whatever it takes to
stop smoking because smoking is strongly
linked to blindness from several causes.

Vigorously attend to your diet. Foods that are
high in sugars or have a "high" rating on the
glycemic index can add to the total amount
of sugar in your bloodstream. These excess
sugars "cook" in your body and caramelize
in your eyes – a reason why people with
uncontrolled diabetes face blindness.

Eating a diet that is rich in antioxidants is
essential for good vision, as they can help
preserve and protect the health of your eyes.
Children should eat 5 servings of fruit and
vegetables daily; women should eat 7 servings
of fruit and vegetables daily and men should
eat 9 servings of fruit and vegetables every
single day to protect their health and their
eyesight. Colorful vegetables and a variety of
berries – especially blueberries – can provide
you with a variety of antioxidants.

Supplements play a role in vision protection.
TriVita's VisionGuard and OmegaPrime are
good examples of "vision-specific" nutrition.
VisionGuard contains the best vision-specific
antioxidants to act as sunscreen for your eyes.
OmegaPrime provides you with the essential
fats needed for eye health. Include these in
your Healthy Foundation supplement program
to help build a bulwark of nutrients against
vision loss.

Exercise at least 30 minutes most days of
the week and work to keep your cholesterol
balanced, as buildup of cholesterol and other
substances in the arteries (atherosclerosis)
can cause vision loss.

When to do it:
Imagine what life would be like if you could
not see. That is a reality for many people.
The tragedy of vision loss is compounded
by the fact that many times, perhaps most
times, it is preventable. If we want good vision
throughout our lifetime we must begin prevention
techniques today – this minute! Even if we have
suffered some vision loss already, there may be
time to stop the progress of this horrible tragedy.

Start today. Do whatever it takes to preserve and
protect your eyesight. Your future and your
freedom depend on healthy vision!

Share this report with a friend

Take Control of Your Health

Use protective eyewear,

UV-A and UV-B filters,

Goggles and face shield with
toxins or particulates

Nourish your eyes

Drink pure water

Sleep peacefully

Eat high-antioxidant fruits and
vegetables, such as:

Blueberries

Tomatoes

Spinach

Turnip greens

Strawberries

Broccoli

Red peppers

Sweet potatoes

Carrots

Collard greens

Kale

Raspberries

Take vision-specific antioxidants
such as Vision Guard andOmegaPrime

Use Healthy Foundation supplements
every day

If you smoke, quit

Learn More!

What is Macular Degeneration

Preventing Macular Degeneration

Coping with Low Vision

How to Stop Smoking

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports…

Test Yourself Coronary Heart Disease

Resveratrol

Send us your topic suggestions!
If you have specific health topics you'd like Don White
to discuss in upcoming reports,
click here to submit your suggestions.

Please note that Best health Web Sites Wellness
Report topics will be chosen at the discretion
of Don White and based on general relevance.

These statements have not been evaluated by
the Food and Drug Administration. This report
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or
prevent any disease.

2011-02-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

We like TriVita products. Especially the NoPalea drink which is a fruit juice extract from the NoPalea cactus that is found in the hills of Arizona, among other places.

It has a fruit that looks like strawberries that grow on the prickley cactus bush fruit. It is from that strawberry-color fruit that the Nopalea comes. My wife and I drink a tablespoon or more each day and feel feel better - better concentration, focus, and general good feeling. If you translate that to avoiding depression and increasing mind power and focus, that's what it is to me.

When you sign up for TriVita Products and their Multi-Level Marketing opportunity to make some money, use my member number and have them place you under me. That way, you and I will be friends for life and I'll make myself available to help you enjoy these products, etc. Don White
My number: 13577336 http://www.reduceyourinflammation.com/

We also take their very strong B-12 pill. One each day on the bottom of the tongue that desolves slowly in the mouth. it is for memory, focus, and general well-being. It's the best B-12 I have ever seen. If you, my reader, wants to get involved in this Multi-Level Marketing plan (MLM) please let me know. I'll give you a way to place yourself under my downline and will promise to keep in touch with you regarding our general health.

I can tell you this. I feel more powerful, more energetic, and more capable of leaping tall buildings than ever before. My wife was amazed and somewhat scared of me. She said she didn't think I should have scaled that 7.5-foot fence to my friend's backyard (that had no foothold or places from which I could step and boost myself over the fence). It was mostly from body strength, and I'll tell you. I'm not as agile or strong as I was twenty years ago. I'm not ancient, but I am in my mid-seventies and I scaled the fence to gain access to his backyard and try to help him get his backdoor open. If it gives me this much added energy, it can help you, too. Don White - the old guy

http://www.reduceyourinflammation.com/

2011-02-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

It's On The Label... Is It In The Bottle?

From:	TriVita's Weekly Wellness Report Add to Contacts
To:	dusanotes@yahoo.com

If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.

The most expensive remedy is the one that doesn't work. The greatest fraud in healthcare is the betrayal of trust in the food supplement industry.

Here is a scenario: It's Sunday morning. You pick up the newspaper and turn to the section on Health. You read an article about an herb that is scientifically proven to address a specific concern. You rush to the herb store or pharmacy and lay down your confidence and your money. Yet, when you take it you don't get the anticipated results. Maybe you even get sick! What went wrong?

Here is another scenario: You confide in your best friend about a health concern you have. As it turns out, he/she has the same problem! He/she tells you about a remedy that worked for them. You take it the same way, yet it has absolutely no effect on your symptoms. Do you tell yourself that you are "just different"? Maybe so; but, maybe you are the victim of healthcare fraud.

There are many reasons why a person may choose to include vitamins, minerals and plant nutrients in their personal wellness program. Many people feel that it is their responsibility to take an active role in promoting their own health. You probably recognize that health is more than the absence of disease. So, you may do everything you can to create health and wellness – including a targeted vitamin and nutrient routine. Your conscientiousness may provide a target for charlatans in the vitamin business. Whatever the reason, many unscrupulous purveyors of natural remedies have taken advantage of consumers in this $35 billion industry.

On the label...

Have you ever noticed the order of ingredients on the label of foods and products sold in North America? The governments of the United States and Canada require full disclosure of the contents of consumer products (including food supplements) to be listed on the label, usually in descending order. That means that the company has to formulate the product, purchase raw materials, refine and combine them, analyze them, package them and label them. That's a lot of work, and that's just the beginning. They still must market them, deliver them to distributors and price them competitively.

Each step in preparing a product for our use requires Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC). When the product is a food supplement (like a vitamin), it is usually checked one last time for potency. Then, periodically, a batch is randomly pulled from the warehouse and retested. This ensures us that the claims made on the label are accurate. All of this is done under the watchful eyes of industry and government regulatory agencies.

So much effort, so much work, so much money! What if you "skipped a step" – or two! Who would know?

In the bottle?

It is so sad that people would take unkind advantage of the trust of their neighbor – but some do! Time and again the news media, government agencies and industry "watchdog" organizations have brought us news of healthcare fraud. Here are just a few examples:

A common herb for use in controlling migraine headaches is called feverfew. It contains an ingredient called parthenolide. News releases and medical journals reported how well feverfew worked on this painful, disabling condition. The rush to buy the herb quickly resulted in fraud. A report in a respected journal (Parthenolide j pharm pharmacol 44:391-5) found that 50% of the products pulled from the shelves at local health food retailers were devoid of parthenolide.

With the relentless stress of our modern lives, it is no wonder that we look for relief in herbs such as St. John's Wort. This herb is clinically proven to relieve mild to moderate depression. With the sale of St. John's Wort soaring, unscrupulous herb dealers quickly moved in. A report in the Los Angeles Times (August 31, 1998) demonstrated that seven out of 10 products labeled St. John's Wort did not have the potency of the herb that was claimed on the label. Some of the products had synthetic chemicals added to make them test better than they actually were. Eventually, only one in 10 of the herbal extracts labeled as St. John's Wort contained the potency claimed on the label.

Many of us take acidophilus from time to time to maintain a healthy level of good bacteria in our digestive systems. Some have even used acidophilus to address annoying, but not life threatening, infections. What if the acidophilus product actually gave you an infection? TheJournal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported a study of 11 brands of acidophilus products pulled from the shelf and tested. The result of the test was that only two of the 11 contained any acidophilus at all. Ten of the 11 products tested were contaminated with streptococcus! Several were contaminated with toxic metals, especially lead.

Many, but by no means all of the vitamin supplements and herbal remedies contain too many toxins and too few beneficial ingredients.

What are we to do?

The next time you look at the label on a bottle of supplements, stop and think about this article and consider the core issue: Trust.

Trust is the ability to have confidence in what you see, what you hear and what you buy. Trust must be earned and only trustworthy people earn trust. The people who make a guarantee of the quality, reliability or purity of a product must be reliable themselves; they must be people of integrity. So, are the people who make the product as empty as the product they sell? Are they known for their integrity? Have they earned the confidence of their peers and colleagues (even their competitors)? Do you share the same values based on similar beliefs? This gives you the basis for trust. Then, like a beautiful building, trust must be constructed slowly, piece by piece over time.

It's on the label; is it in the bottle? It is if you bought it from people of integrity; people you can trust.

Share this report with a friend View Current Product Specials

Take Control of Your Health

Read the label
Talk to people who have used the product
Look for trustworthy signs, like a Better Business Bureau (BBB) endorsement
Examine the company leaders
Ask for certificates of analysis if concerned
Buy only from trustworthy people

Learn More!

Upcoming Weekly Wellness Reports...

The Obesity/Stress Connection
How to Protect Your Eyesight

Send us your topic suggestions!
If you have specific health topics you'd like Brazos Minshew to discuss in upcoming reports,
click here to submit your suggestions.

Please note that Weekly Wellness Report topics will be chosen at the discretion of Brazos Minshew and based on general relevance.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Children, women who are pregnant or nursing, and all individuals allergic to any foods or ingredients should consult their healthcare provider before using this product. You should not stop taking any medication without first consulting with your healthcare provider. To report a serious adverse event or obtain product information, contact 1-800-991-7116.

2011-01-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Top Hospitals Across United States Ranked Based on Patient Mortality

From:	Medscape Daily News Add to Contacts
To:	DUSANOTES@YAHOO.COM

JANUARY 26, 2011

I strongly recommend that you read this blog
on a regular basis. I am not a doctor, nor do I
give medical advice. I am an affiliate member
of TriVita which produces wellness products.
Ask me how you can become an affiliate in
this multi-level-marketing endeavor and save
on your wellness products and profit. Don White dusanotes@yahoo.com