North American Health or Sickness ?

Spending on prescription drugs in the United States has risen nearly 6-fold since 1990, concurrent with adverse drug reactions tripling between 1995 and 2005. Research finds drug reactions are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

Canadian statistics follow the US very closely; just divide numbers by 10 to reflect proportionate population.

An excellent research report from the Annals of Family Medicine has eye-opening results which everyone should be aware of. Your life depends on it.

The full article link is at the end of this summary.

One primary goal to increase prescription spending and profits by finding ways to get healthy people to take drugs, which in the long run, will make them sick, leading to more drugs. Sounds simple? It is. Two methods commonly used are:

1. Change the diagnostic standards which govern treatment and prescribing. Two examples are:

• For hypertension (high blood pressure), the acceptable norm in 1992 was 160/95. The very next year, in 1993, the norm was lowered to 140/90, resulting in an additional 22.0 million people being diagnosed with the  “disease”.

• The acceptable level of fasting plasma glucose in 1992 was 140 mg/DL. In 1998 this was lowered to 120 resulting in 10. 3 million more people being diagnosed as diabetic, and likely prescribed medication(s).

2. Create new conditions, or “pre-conditions”, which can be treated with drugs:

Both terms “pre-hypertensive” and “pre-diabetic”, have resulted in consequent drug treatment of these new conditions. This approach is not helping North Americans to be healthier. The revised guidelines encourage treatment of pre-disease conditions with drugs, rather than lifestyle changes to prevent the disease.

This does, however, help enrich the pharmaceutical pocketbook immensely, allowing them increasing control over industry standards, medical training, safety standards, and public health policy. The downward spiral of health continues as Big Pharma gains.

Prescription drugs often accumulate in what has been called a prescribing cascade, whereby a prescribed drug produces symptoms for which more drugs are prescribed, resulting in polypharmacy and further increasing the risk of adverse drug reactions. The prescribing cascade may be further sustained by clinicians failing to recognize that the drug they prescribed caused the new symptoms, even when the symptoms are well known to be associated with that drug.

Are Natural Traditional Remedies Safer and More Effective ?

The safe, natural traditional remedies are facing extinction by regulatory boards that are supported by Pharmacy industry to protect their own financial interests, not the public. For example, there ARE safe, effective natural approaches for hypertension, in products such as Blood Pressurex and Arginine Plus , or Power Beets.

For diabetes there are natural aids, such as Chromium GTF . Unfortunately these products have to be labelled “for those whose blood pressure / blood sugar levels in normal range”.  Why would you take these if your levels are in normal range?! People have to trust their suppliers, herbalists, natural health consultants to get beyond misleading government regulations which are limiting peoples’ choices in health care.

We encourage people to follow healthful lifestyle suggestions as in the Four Pillars to Health explained in Benoit’s book, The Paw Paw Program – A “Christopher Columbus” Approach to Cancer.

The natural approach to working with and preventing cancer offers insights into all chronic health conditions, with the goal of choosing optimum health, rather than  the North American Drug Ceremony.

For the complete research report with references, please read: http://www.annfammed.org/content/10/5/452.full

For professional, personal service with a live human about any of these products or other health concerns, please contact Benoit Health Associates.