Drisdol is the form of vitamin D prescribed by many doctors.  But it is vitamin D2, which is not the type produced by your body in response to sun exposure.  Vitamin D2 is made by irradiating fungus and plant matter.

A recent review and meta-analysis looked at mortality rates for people who supplemented their diets with D2 versus those who did so with D3, the form naturally produced by your body.  The analysis of 50 randomized controlled trials with 94,000 participants total showed that there was a 6% relative risk reduction among those who used vitamin D3, but an actual 2% relative risk increase among those who used D2.

In an article posted on Live in the Now, Dr. John J. Cannell writes:

“Amazingly, this study somehow slipped under the radar … You would think a paper that took a look at tens of thousands of subjects and analyzed the efficacy of prescription vitamin D (D2) and over-the-counter vitamin D (D3) would warrant a news story or two. To my knowledge, these papers are the first to paint such a clear picture about the efficacy between D3 and D2.”

A U.S. government report has stated that the number of overdose deaths from powerful painkillers more than tripled over the course of a decade.  CDC Director Thomas Frieden and White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called the problem an epidemic.

In 1999, prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone led to the deaths of roughly 4,000 people.  By 2008, that number had jumped to almost 15,000.

According to Yahoo Health:

“Overall, there were 36,450 fatal overdoses in 2008, including accidental cases and suicides involving illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine along with prescription medicines. About three-quarters of the deaths from prescriptions involved narcotic painkillers.”

A U.S. government report has stated that the number of overdose deaths from powerful painkillers more than tripled over the course of a decade.  CDC Director Thomas Frieden and White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called the problem an epidemic.

In 1999, prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone led to the deaths of roughly 4,000 people.  By 2008, that number had jumped to almost 15,000.

According to Yahoo Health:

“Overall, there were 36,450 fatal overdoses in 2008, including accidental cases and suicides involving illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine along with prescription medicines. About three-quarters of the deaths from prescriptions involved narcotic painkillers.”

A U.S. government report has stated that the number of overdose deaths from powerful painkillers more than tripled over the course of a decade.  CDC Director Thomas Frieden and White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called the problem an epidemic.

In 1999, prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone led to the deaths of roughly 4,000 people.  By 2008, that number had jumped to almost 15,000.

According to Yahoo Health:

“Overall, there were 36,450 fatal overdoses in 2008, including accidental cases and suicides involving illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine along with prescription medicines. About three-quarters of the deaths from prescriptions involved narcotic painkillers.”

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging – Dr. Aubrey de Grey – Part 1 – MIT Club of Northern California from Hank Magnuski on Vimeo.

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging – Dr. Aubrey de Grey – Part 2 Q&A – MIT Club of Northern California from Hank Magnuski on Vimeo.

Aubrey de Grey recently spoke about the possibility that the first human who will live up to 1,000 years might be alive today.  The 1,000 year life span is an estimated life expectancy for someone who does not age to death, thanks to possible coming advances in rejuvenation medicine.  Mortality rates due to other causes would result in an effectively ageless person having a lifespan of at least 1,000 years, on average.

Dr. Carlos Camargo of Harvard University recently wrote an editorial about the growing number of studies that link low vitamin D levels to heart attack, heart failure, stroke, hypertension and diabetes. One recent study found that every 10 ng/ml lower blood vitamin D concentration resulted in a 9% greater risk of death and a 25% greater risk of heart attack.

As noted in Dr. Camargo’s editorial, credit is due to the first man to discover the connection, an epidemiologist in New Zealand by the name of Professor Robert Scragg. Professor Scragg first noticed the association in 1981.

According to the Vitamin D Council:

“… [Y]ou should know of two large, population based, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials on the health effects of vitamin D supplements that are now underway. The first is at Harvard … looking at cancer and heart disease; results available in 2017. A similar study is going on in New Zealand … looking at heart disease, infection and fractures; results again available in 2017. Six years of waiting, but no need to wait on your vitamin D deficiency.”

Dr. Paul Lee of the University of Queensland in Australia believes that people all over the world are needlessly dying because they have vitamin D deficiency. The notes that the stress of surgery uses up tremendous amounts of vitamin D.

In a paper, he finds that severe immune dysfunction, bone hyper-resorption, blood poisoning, and hyper-inflammation in critically ill patients could all be resolved with sufficient vitamin D.  He cites studies showing that death in the ICU and the CCU is 2 to 3 times higher for the vitamin D deficient.

According to the study, in Best Practice & Research – Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism:

“Collectively these results provide unequivocal evidence that vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are highly prevalent among critically ill patients … These results demonstrate current replacement regimes are grossly inadequate.”

A new analysis of data shows that over a twenty-seven year period (the complete length of time that data has been available) vitamin supplements have caused no deaths.  The previous estimate of vitamin-related deaths over that period had been eleven people.

The eleven deaths had been attributed to misuse.

However, according to Doctor Yourself:

“… [T]here is no substantiation provided to demonstrate that any vitamin was a cause of death … Although vitamin supplements have often been blamed for causing fatalities, there is no evidence to back up this allegation.”

Meanwhile, over the same period, millions have died from effects which are directly attributable to prescription drugs.

Fueled in large part by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States.  At a time when most major causes of preventable death are declining, the death toll for drugs has doubled in the last decade.

Public health experts have begun to characterize the nation’s growing prescription drug problem as an epidemic.  They particularly point to prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are highly addictive and dangerous when combined with other drugs or alcohol. Drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma, and Fentanyl now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

“Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who pop pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become addicted.”

In related news, the number of children going to hospitals and emergency rooms after accidentally ingesting medication has increased in recent years. Between 2001 and 2008, there was a 36 percent increase in admissions for unintentional exposure to medication, and a 28 percent increase in emergency department visits for the same reason among children 5 years old or younger.

Fueled in large part by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States.  At a time when most major causes of preventable death are declining, the death toll for drugs has doubled in the last decade.

Public health experts have begun to characterize the nation’s growing prescription drug problem as an epidemic.  They particularly point to prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are highly addictive and dangerous when combined with other drugs or alcohol. Drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma, and Fentanyl now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

“Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who pop pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become addicted.”

In related news, the number of children going to hospitals and emergency rooms after accidentally ingesting medication has increased in recent years. Between 2001 and 2008, there was a 36 percent increase in admissions for unintentional exposure to medication, and a 28 percent increase in emergency department visits for the same reason among children 5 years old or younger.

For years, consumers have asked for a vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study that might answer the question: Are unvaccinated children healthier? And now, a startling – and exciting – new survey appears to give an answer. While the project is ongoing, over 7600 people have participated in this survey so far, and according to the Healthy Home Economist, the evidence that unvaccinated children are healthier is piling up:

• Less  than 10 percent of unvaccinated children in the survey have allergies of any kind
• .2 percent suffer from asthma
• 1.5 percent have hay fever
• 2 percent have the autoimmune disorder neurodermatitis
• ADHD is present in only 1-2 percent of unvaccinated children in the survey
• Less than .5 percent had ever had middle ear infections; less than 1 percent had sinusitis  

And the biggie:

• Only FOUR children out of 7600+ total surveys reported having severe autism – and in all four cases, the mothers tested very high for mercury

Most people believe that hospitals are the best place to be when you’re sick and you want to get better. And just about everyone believes that, of all the hospitals in the world, U.S. hospitals are the best there are. But a new report that summarizes data on hospital-acquired infections, errors and deaths may turn everything you ever believed about U.S. hospitals upside-down. For example, in Europe, 1 in 22 hospital-acquired infections lead to death; but in the U.S., 1 in 7 does. And, in America, 1 in 5 of all hospitalized patients suffer harm from medical errors.

A recent opinion piece in the Scientist calls attention to the need for better global monitoring of drugs in countries with few financial resources. Using the U.S. FDA as a model of how to regulate “real world” drug safety and efficacy, The Scientist chose the FDA’s handling of Vioxx – which was recalled because thousands of people who took it died – as an example of successful monitoring, The Scientist said:

“Post-marketing drug withdrawals such as Vioxx® demonstrate post-marketing drug safety monitoring success in saving lives and preventing morbidity.”

If it sounds too good to be true, in this instance it IS true – a new study of several hundred thousand people between 1996 and 2008 has shown that just 15 minutes of exercise a day can reduce your risk of death by 14  percent – an equivalent of an extra three years of life expectancy! And, researchers said, every additional 15 minutes of exercise beyond that per day reduced mortality by 4 percent. This applied to all individuals, including those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

In June the FDA issued nine new, graphic warning labels that tobacco companies now have to put on their cigarette packages. The tobacco giants don’t have a problem with the written wording, CNN reports. But they do have a problem with something else – and as a result, five companies are suing the FDA, claiming their civil rights have been violated.

The more prominent cigarette health warnings are the first time those warnings have been revised in 25 years and “are a significant advancement in communicating the dangers of smoking… expected to have a significant public health impact by decreasing the number of smokers, resulting in lives saved, increased life expectancy, and lower medical costs,” the FDA website says.

The companies are seeking an injunction to these rules before they go into effect next year.

You’ve heard it before – exercise can help you live a longer, healthier life. But how do you fit a good exercise program into a busy life? The exciting news is that just 15 minutes a day can boost your life expectancy by three years. Plus, that 15 minutes has a positive side effect, a new study shows – people who added just a few minutes of exercise to their daily routines got a “taste” for it and continued to add more.

Sometimes, the results of a clinical health study are obvious.  Sometimes, they yield results that no one could have predicted.  Yahoo Health has collected 9 fascinating strange-but-true study findings.  Here are a few of them:

Live Longer by Changing Your Name:  People with “positive” initials (initials that spell out words like J.O.Y. or W.O.W.) live nearly 4 and a half years longer than people with neutral initials.

Break a High Fever With Your Armpits:  To quickly bring down a high fever, you can put an ice pack under your arm or near your groin.

Stop Bleeding with This Spice:  Next time you cut yourself, after cleaning the wound, sprinkle on some black pepper and apply pressure. In no time, the bleeding will stop.

Massage Away Nicotine Cravings:   If you’re a smoker trying to quit, try this simple trick the next time a craving hits — rub the skin between your index fingers and thumbs and the center of your palms. A study found that men using this technique worked better than traditional distraction methods such as chewing gum.

To see the rest of their list, you can click on the link below.

A recent study looked at mammography radiation-induced DNA damage in epithelial breast cells. The results showed that damage was induced both through a low-dose effect and a repeated dose effect.

According to the study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“These findings may lead us to re-evaluate the number of views performed in screening using a single view (oblique) in women whose mammographic benefit has not properly been proved”.

In related news, an article in the prestigious British Medical Journal compared breast mortality rates in a variety of different countries before and after the introduction of routine mammography screening.  It demonstrated that screening apparently did not play a direct part in reductions in breast cancer mortality.

A recent study used the self-controlled case series method (SCCS), which was developed to analyze the association between a time-varying exposure and an outcome event, to look at the relationship between multidose vaccinations and sudden infant death.

The researchers looked at 300 cases of sudden infant death, and found a 16-fold risk increase after the 4th dose.

In addition, according to the study as reported by Green Med Info:

“A general 2-fold risk increase after [any] vaccination could be detected with a power of 80 percent.”

Babies who sleep in bed with adults, or in unsafe ways, are at a higher risk of death than had previously been thought.

Nurse Jennifer Combs reviewed a sample of 45 baby deaths, and found that not only had 9 officially died from sleep-related deaths, but  6 were sleep-related that had been called something else. That means one in three babies dead from unsafe sleep, when the standard estimate has been one in five.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

“Babies had been smothered by pillows, blankets or soft items while asleep in adult beds or their cribs, or by adults rolling on top of them. Babies also died after being put to sleep on their stomachs, which raises the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This happened in families from all walks of life”.

Average life expectancy in most U.S. counties is far behind that of the world’s healthiest nations. In Holmes County, Mississippi, the area which has the lowest life expectancy in the country, a woman can expect to live 73.5 years — but this is the average life span that women in the healthiest nations had as long ago as 1957.

More than 80 percent of U.S. counties fell below the average life-expectancy of the healthiest nations.  However, the U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other country in the world.

According to CNN:

“The study … does show huge differences from one U.S. county to the next.  In 2007, life expectancies for men ranged from a high of about 81 years (in Fairfax County, Virginia.) to a low of about 66 years in Holmes County … In Mississippi, there are five counties where the life expectancy for women is on par with nations such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru.”

A number of recent studies have suggested that the more TV you watch, the more likely you are to develop a plethora of health problems and die at an earlier age.  A new analysis that looked at eight such studies determined that for every two additional hours you spend watching TV each day, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 20 percent and your risk of heart disease increases by 15 percent.

What’s more, for every three additional hours you spend in front of the TV, your risk of dying from all causes increases by 13 percent.

According to CNN:

“Extended TV watching has reached epidemic proportions, especially in the U.S.  Around the world, people spend more time engaged in this pastime than in any other activity except working and sleeping, but by one estimate the average American spends no fewer than five hours a day in front of the TV”.

According to a new study, getting bariatric surgery will not decrease mortality several years later.

The most common bariatric surgery is gastric bypass. This procedure creates a small stomach pouch that restricts food intake.  It is used on the severely obese as a way to reduce weight. 

According to CNN:

“But when researchers compared the 850 [study participants] to 1,694 similar patients who did not have bariatric surgery, they found that surgery was not significantly associated with reducing mortality.”

Derek K. Miller, a Canadian man who blogged about his battle with cancer, has died — but not without leaving a final post-mortem message on his website, penmachine.

The post began, “Here it is. I’m dead,” and went on to say, “In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote — the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.”

According to CNN:

“Miller had written about his physical deterioration, documenting his chest cough, abdominal pain, voice loss, and the emotional toll of wearing diapers and becoming housebound.”

New research finds that unintentional overdose deaths from prescription medications have reached epidemic proportions. In 2007, prescription opioid pain killers were involved in more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

In fact, in 20 states, the number of unintentional drug poisoning deaths exceeded both motor vehicle crashes or suicides.

Psych Central reports:

“According to the researchers, approximately 27,500 people died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2007, driven to a large extent by prescription opioid overdoses … Opioids are synthetic versions of opium that are used to treat moderate and severe pain.”

Omega-3 fats can regulate inflammatory processes and responses. Researchers recently investigated omega-3’s and other fats (such as omega-6 fats and alpha linolenic acid) to see if their consumption was associated with a reduction in mortality due to inflammatory diseases.

More than 2500 participants were tracked over a period of 15 years. Their diet was assessed using a food-frequency questionnaire.

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

“Women in the highest tertiles of total [omega-3] intake, compared with those in the lowest tertile of intake at baseline, had a 44 percent reduced risk of inflammatory disease mortality … In both men and women, each … increase in energy-adjusted intake of alpha-linolenic acid was [also] inversely associated with inflammatory mortality”.

The FDA has notified healthcare professionals and patients that they are receiving reports of methemoglobinemia, a serious and potentially fatal side effect, associated with benzocaine products. The condition can occur when benzocaine is used either as a spray used during medical procedures to numb the mouth and throat, or as over-the-counter gels and liquids used to relieve pain from conditions such as teething and canker sores.

Methemoglobinemia is a condition in which the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream is greatly reduced. In severe cases, methemoglobinemia can result in death.

According to Drugs.com:

“Methemoglobinemia has been reported with all strengths of benzocaine gels and liquids, and cases occurred mainly in children aged two years or younger who were treated with benzocaine gel for teething.”

Men who live to the age of 85 and beyond tend to have high levels of good (HDL) cholesterol when they are in their 60’s.  In fact, Researchers found that men with the highest HDL cholesterol were 28 percent less likely to die before they reached 85.

This adds to the evidence that HDL is important for a long life.  HDL can reduce the risks of heart disease and stroke.

Reuters reports:

“Low levels of HDL, less than 40 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) of blood for men, are known to increase the risk of heart disease, according to the heart association … [F]or each ten mg/dL increase of HDL, the men were 14 percent less likely to have died by 85.”

A review of more than 160 studies has found compelling evidence that happy people tend to live longer and experience better health.  The study is the most comprehensive review to date of the evidence linking happiness to health outcomes.

Although there were a few exceptions, most of the long-term studies the researchers reviewed found that anxiety, depression, and pessimism were all associated with higher rates of disease and a shorter lifespan.

According to Science Daily:

“While happiness might not by itself prevent or cure disease, the evidence that positive emotions and enjoyment of life contribute to better health and a longer lifespan is stronger than the data linking obesity to reduced longevity”.

Avastin, one of the most financially successful cancer drugs in the world, may cause more fatal side effects than previously realized.  Avastin increases the fatal side effect rate by close to 50 percent when combined with traditional chemotherapy.

The most common fatal side effects were hemorrhages, loss of infection-fighting white blood cells, and stomach or intestinal perforations.

According to USA Today:

“Avastin’s approval in 2004 was widely hailed as a major advance against cancer because it fought the disease in a new way.  While conventional chemo kills growing cells … Avastin blocks a specific protein that allows cancers to develop the blood vessels they need to spread and grow … Yet Avastin doesn’t cure cancer, and gives the average patient only a few extra months to live.”