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Avandia News
Type 2 Diabetes May Not Need to be Managed with Avandia Or Other Drugs -- Treat The Disease Naturally & Safely
Skip the Drugs:
Treat Type 2 Diabetes Naturally & Safely by Curbing Sugar and Exercising, Cardiologist & Health Counselor Recommend
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22 2007 - NEW YORK—The shocking news this week in the New England Journal of Medicine that the diabetes medication Avandia may raise the risk of heart attacks by 43 % and cardiovascular death by 64 % draws attention to the fact that in many instances, preventing and naturally treating type 2 diabetes by reducing sugar and exercising are much safer than pharmaceuticals.
“Why isn’t the medical community paying more attention to the fact that type 2 diabetes can be easily and effectively treated naturally, without any drugs?” wonders cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. and certified holistic health counselor Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C., authors of SUGAR SHOCK! How Sweets And Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life—And How You Can Get Back on Track.
“Doctors and health experts need to focus on the dangers of high sugar intake and the corresponding alarming incidence of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance,” Bennett and Dr. Sinatra insist.
“Taking natural measures is a much easier and safer way to prevent type 2 diabetes,” maintains Dr. Sinatra, an internationally recognized cardiologist and anti-aging expert with a practice in Manchester, Connecticut.
“And, if people get type 2 diabetes, whenever I can, I’ll treat these patients with high blood sugar in natural ways such as restricting intake of sugar and simple carbohydrates, increasing fiber, exercising, losing weight, and targeted nutraceuticals such as cinnamon, alpha lipoic acid, magnesium, vanadium and gymnema sylvestre.”
Both Dr. Sinatra and Bennett are alarmed that more doctors, patients and other consumers don’t know that eating too much sugar can trigger many serious health conditions, including heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, and polycystic ovary syndrome. “Sugar is not your friend; it’s your foe,” says Dr. Sinatra, who downplays cholesterol’s role in heart disease.
SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books, 2007) is an expose about the dangers of sugars and refined carbs. For the book, Bennett, an experienced journalist, interviewed more than 200 health experts and sugar addicts from around the world, including researchers from Harvard and Princeton. The inspiration for SUGAR SHOCK! grew out of Bennett’s own struggles with sugar addiction and her amazing improvement in health after kicking sweets and “culprit carbs.” Dr. Sinatra was eager to join forces with Bennett, because for some 30 years, he’s been warning his patients about sugar’s dangers.
SUGAR SHOCK! includes a foreword by Dr. Nicholas Perricone, and it is endorsed by a Who’s Who of health experts, including Dr. Mehmet Oz (YOU: On A Diet) and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. To get a sneak peek at the book SUGAR SHOCK!, visit www.SugarShock.com, where you also can sign up for the weekly Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Minute e-zine.
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CONTACTS: To interview Connie Bennett and Dr. Stephen Sinatra, contact connie@sugarshock.com; Heather Connor, at heather.connor@us.penguingroup.com and (212) 366-2004; or Heather Williams at williamsh@plannedtvarts.com and (212) 583-2729.
Connie Bennett (connie@sugarshock.com)
Stop SUGAR SHOCK!
New York, NY
Phone : 1-866-542-5784
Avandia Diabetes Drug Controversy
Reported by: Grace Polanski
gpolanski@fox21news.com
8-8-07 - The latest study on the controversial diabetes drug Avandia, supports it's maker, Glaxo-Smith-Kline. Avandia is taken by millions of people with type two diabetes, to control blood sugar levels. However, three studies have called it's safety into question, saying the drug increases the risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. the most recent study was reported back in May, in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers with Cleveland Clinic found a 43 percent higher risk of heart attack for those taking Avandia. Now, UCLA doctors re-examined the same data used by the Cleveland Clinic study, along with some additional trials that were looked at. Lead author, Dr. Sanjay Kaul says the trials excluded from the first study would have lowered the heart attack risk. He says those trials report "no" heart attacks. Last month, the FDA advisory panel recommended Avandia "not" be pulled from the market.
But the new findings are not enough for one local doctor to begin prescribing the drug again. Dr. William Munson has seen controversy like this come and go over his 35 year as an endocrinologist. Munson says, "I stopped prescribing it after the study came out in the New England Journal of Medicine". He is active in the debate when most other doctors refuse to speak out on the issue. Munson says it is imporant for doctors to be critical thinkers, but conservative in patient care. He says he prescribes the drug, Actose instead, "There is a better lipid profile with the Actose drug than there has been with Avandia, so that is an encouragement for me to continue using Actose in place of Avandia, until we hear more or have more information."
It is vital information to a community like Colorado Springs, a popular retirement spot for aging seniors. According to the Colorado State Demography Office, there will be 20,000 more people over the age of 60 moving to the area in the next five years. Research shows there will be twice as many seniors in the city in just 15 years. Munson says, "It's an increasing problem which has been called an epidemic with the prevalence increasing 5 percent every year."
More prominent heart failure warning for Avandia
Philadelphia Business Journal
August 15, 2007 - The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to use a so-called "black box" warning regarding the risk of heart failure for its Avandia type 2 diabetes drug.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) said the move was not related to recent concerns about Avandia increasing the risk of heart attack, which is distinct from heart failure.
"This new boxed warning addresses FDA's concerns that despite the warnings and information already listed in the drug labels, these drugs are still being prescribed to patients without careful monitoring for signs of heart failure," the agency said.
Manufacturers of similar diabetes drugs, which are in the thiazolidinedione class, have also agreed to black box heart failure warnings, the FDA said.
GlaxoSmithKline said there was already a warning about congestive heart failure, "a well known and well characterized risk in this class of medicine," but that the boxed warning "increases the prominence."
An FDA panel voted 22-1 last month to keep Avandia on the market despite concerns about heart attack risk. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study saying the drug increases the risk of heart attack in patients by 43 percent. GlaxoSmithKline, which has a U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, has disputed the study.
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