Positive Health Online

Trial Evaluating B Vitamins in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

In response to a paper published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)[1] regarding B vitamins, folic acid and cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease, the Health Supplements Information Service (HSIS) would like to make the following comment:
 
Pamela Mason, spokesperson for HSIS notes: "This is yet another study attempting to use vitamin supplements like drugs in the treatment and prevention of disease. B vitamin supplements are not intended to be taken like drugs to prevent or treat cardiovascular disease. People should not be taking them for this purpose. They are health supplements and their role is in helping to maintain good health, particularly in those large numbers of adults whose dietary intake of essential nutrients is inadequate. This study, like many other recent studies evaluating vitamins, does not address the issue of health maintenance.
 
"The researchers compared a combination of 0.8 mg of folic acid , 0.4mg vitamin B12  and 40mg vitamin B6 , or folic acid plus vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 alone or placebo. These B vitamins can help to lower plasma homocysteine levels, and high homocysteine levels are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.[2]
 
"The main outcome measure in this study was the total number of deaths from any cause, plus nonfatal acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), plus acute hospitalization for unstable angina pectoris, and nonfatal thromboembolic stroke.  It is important to realize that the subjects in this study were patients who already had coronary artery disease.
 
"So, what did the researchers find?  The key findings were two-fold. Firstly, mean plasma homocysteine concentration fell by 30 per cent in patients taking folic acid and vitamin B12. Secondly, there was no difference in mortality or the incidence of major cardiovascular events among these patients given the B vitamins and group given the placebo. Essentially, they were able to confirm that B vitamins do lower homocysteine levels but not the related hypothesis that this would reduce cardiovascular disease. There was a lower incidence of stroke and higher incidence of cancer in the groups receiving folic acid, but these observations were not statistically significant.
 
The authors say that their findings do not support the use of B vitamins as secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease. However, B vitamins are not drugs, they are not magic bullets intended for the treatment and prevention of chronic disease. Their role is in helping to maintain good health.
 
"What must not be forgotten is that B vitamins, including folic acid, B6 and B12 are essential to health. Folic acid is critical for every single process in the body that requires cell division. It is especially important in foetal development and helps to produce key chemicals for the brain and nervous system. Folic acid is a particularly key nutrient for women, yet nine out of 10 women consume too little."[3] It would be quite wrong to dissuade people from consuming folic acid or B vitamins in recommended amounts (either through their diet and/or via supplements). This must not be allowed to happen."
 

References

[1].    JAMA. 300[7]: 795-804. 2008.
[2].    BMJ. Nov 25;333(7578):1114-7. 2006.
[3].    Henderson L et al. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey. adults aged 19 to 64 years. Volume 3. Vitamin and mineral intake and urinary analysis. London: Stationery Office, 2003.

Drug Company Propaganda on AOL's Health Page

"AOL's Dangerous Vitamins" [1] is loaded with much more than your recommended daily dose of misinformation. "Medical experts are concerned that you may be at risk for vitamin overload"! "Be wary of high doses"! "Increased risk of all-cause mortality"!

Yes, AOL surely wants you to stop taking vitamins. Dangerous, they say. Overdoses, they say. Baloney. Where are the bodies? According to 24 years of nation-wide data collected by the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there is not even one death per year from vitamin "overdosing".[2] Half of the population takes them, and the more they take, the healthier they are.[3] Vitamins have long been proven exceptionally safe, even in high doses.[4]

How come AOL does not know that vitamin supplements are safe and effective? Or do they? Let's take a closer look. A small webpage note indicates that the "Dangerous Vitamins" article is "presented by Journey for Control." Say, guess who "Journey for Control" really is? Click the link and see for yourself: "Journey for Control is a trademark of Merck & Co., Inc." Yes, that is indeed the huge drug conglomerate. How about that: an anti-vitamin article promoted by a drug company.

One word question: Why? One word answer: Cash. At the Merck website, you can get a load of their dollar-driven agenda. Merck is on a "journey for control", to be sure. They want information control to consumers. For instance, Merck believes that "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising contributes to greater public awareness about conditions and diseases, as well as available treatments." And as for lobbying, Merck believes it just fine "where government initiatives to control health care costs and regulate the health care system will directly affect the Company's business and the incentives for pharmaceutical innovation."

Note that telling last phrase, "directly affect the Company's business and the incentives for pharmaceutical innovation". The biggest threat to big pharma profits is a healthy populace that does not use their expensive drugs. People who take more vitamins are healthier than people than people who take too few: it is just that simple. Thousands of peer-reviewed research studies show this over and over again: Vitamin therapy is very safe and very effective. Merck Pharmaceutical and their mercenary information-puppet AOL don't much like it.

Conspiracy thinking, you say? Unfortunately, no. The US Food and Drug Administration, whose task is supposedly to regulate the drug industry, agrees that high-dose vitamin preparations are direct competition for their pet clients, the pharmaceutical industry. Nothing new there. FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy David Adams, at the Drug Information Association Annual Meeting, back in July 12, 1993, said:

"Pay careful attention to what is happening with dietary supplements in the legislative arena. If these efforts are successful, there could be created a class of products to compete with approved drugs. The establishment of a separate regulatory category for supplements could undercut exclusivity rights enjoyed by the holders of approved drug applications."

And the FDA Dietary Task Force Report, released June 15, 1993, said:

"The task force considered many issues in its deliberations including to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development."

This is the real reason Merck Pharmaceutical seeks shills to generate anti-vitamin propaganda. Since Merck Pharmaceutical can't get this control without media help, they get AOL's editorial staff to do their work for them. There is no mistake about it: the author of Dangerous Vitamins is Caroline Howard, who, says her AOL bio, is a "senior editor on AOL's Health site." Neither her previous job experience "as photo editor for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, AP, and the Village Voice," nor her bachelor's degree in social science and photography, nor even her master's in journalism especially qualify her as a nutrition expert. And yet there it is; nutritional nonsense online for millions to see. Dangerous Vitamins is crude vitamin-bashing, written by AOL, bankrolled by Merck, and read by you. And your friends and your family.

It is time to say it out loud: AOL is on the take. Now you know. Click away from AOL. Get your nutrition news elsewhere, somewhere where the 'information' is not bought and paid for by big pharma.

References:

[1] http://www.aolhealth.com/healthy-living/nutrition/vitamin-safety?
[2] Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poisoning and Exposure Database (AAPCC), 3201 New Mexico Avenue, Ste. 330, Washington, DC 20016. Download any report from1983-2006 at www.aapcc.org/dnn/NationalPoisonDataSystem/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx free of charge. The "Vitamin" category is usually near the end of the report.
[3] http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v03n11.shtml Block G, Jensen CD, Norkus EP, Dalvi TB, Wong LG, McManus JF, Hudes ML. Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study. Nutr J.6(1):30. Oct 24 2007.
[4] http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

Study Fails To Clear MMR/Autism Link

by Barbara Loe Fisher
As the latest study attempting to disprove a link between vaccination and autism demonstrates: if you really don't want to know the answer, just ask part of the question. When medical researchers take a reductionist approach to investigating vaccine risks, the public can always count on spin doctors to position the conclusions of a narrowly focused study in a way that appears to totally exonerate vaccines from association with all risks, especially autism.

The most recent paper purporting to clear MMR vaccine from any relationship with the development of regressive autism in previously healthy children was published by researchers at the CDC and Columbia University in the online journal of Public Library of Science . The authors report on a federally funded initiative to address the hypothesis published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, MD and others that some children who receive MMR vaccine develop inflammatory bowel disease and regressive autism due to persistent measles virus (MV) infection.

The examination by three laboratories of intestinal tissues from 25 autistic children, five of whom developed gastrointestinal (GI) and autistic symptoms after MMR vaccination, confirmed the presence of measles virus RNA in one child with autism and one control case. Even though the study only included five children who were previously healthy before regressing into autism after MMR vaccination, it is being touted as concrete proof that MMR vaccine is not in any way involved in the development of regressive autism in previously healthy children.

Nothing Could be Further from the Truth.
While Wakefield may have imperfectly described the biological mechanism for development of MMR vaccine induced autism in 1998 (proposing a persistent measles virus infection in the GI tract that affected the brain), he certainly DID correctly report an association between receipt of MMR vaccine in previously healthy children and subsequent simultaneous development of serious bowel disease and autism. It was an important clinical observation and call for further research published in a respected medical journal (The Lancet) but one that Wakefield and his colleagues would pay for dearly. The hypothesis has been furiously denounced for a decade by mandatory vaccination proponents in government, industry, and medical organizations in Europe and the US as they scramble to defend aggressive one-size-fits-all MMR vaccine policies being used in measles eradication campaigns worldwide.

Thoughtful House, a paediatric care facility and research institute in Austin, Texas founded by Dr Wakefield, issued a response to the study which said in part: "We are pleased to see that this new study provides further confirmation that children with autism suffer from gastrointestinal problems that deserve to be addressed as a priority. Dr Andrew Wakefield, Executive Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children, whose work has focused on intestinal disease, and on the possible role of MMR vaccine in regressive autism in children with GI symptoms, welcomed these new findings. Dr Wakefield was a co-author of the 2002 paper that, unlike yesterday's study, examined children in the majority of whom there was a clear temporal link between MMR exposure and regression. Dr Wakefield comments, "The search for the 'footprints' of measles virus in the intestine is merited, based upon the previous findings and the intestinal disease that is commonly found in these children. This new study rules out only one possibility - that the measles virus must remain for the long term in the intestine. We need to consider that the MMR vaccine can cause autism as a hit-and-run injury, but not necessarily leave the measles virus behind."

The biological mechanism for MMR vaccine induced regressive autism - as well as autism that develops in previously healthy children following injection with other vaccines like DPT/DTaP, hepatitis B, varicella zoster, pneumococcal - could well involve an interaction between individual genetic vulnerabilities (autoimmunity, allergy) and the known ability of drugs and vaccines to induce immune mediated inflammation in the body, especially brain inflammation. The most serious and feared complication of the very first vaccines - smallpox and rabies - is inflammation of the brain (encephalitis/encephalopathy), which can be mild or severe with a constellation of acute symptoms that are subtle (deep sleep with difficulty arousing) to dramatic (convulsions, high pitched screaming).

Mild to severe brain inflammation can lead to permanent brain dysfunction in at least one-third or more of all who experience it. The residual effects of brain inflammation can vary from learning disabilities and ADHD/ADD to medication resistant seizure disorders, autistic behaviors and mental retardation.

In 1998, officials of the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) published a review of vaccine injury and death claims submitted to the VICP involving measles vaccine either alone or in combination (such as MMR). They analyzed the medical records of 48 children ages 10 to 49 months who either had died or suffered mental regression and retardation, chronic seizures, motor and sensory deficits and movement disorders following receipt of measles containing vaccines. The authors concluded that "The onset of neurologic signs or symptoms occurred with a nonrandom, statistically significant distribution of cases on days 8 and 9" and "This clustering suggests that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization."

Immune-mediated chronic inflammation of the brain, gastrointestinal tract and other parts of the body in previously healthy children following receipt of MMR and other vaccines may not be as rare as CDC officials would have the public believe.

Researchers have found evidence of chronic inflammation in the brains of patients with autism, particularly in the cerebellum. Brains of those suffering with autism have been observed to be in "a chronic state of specific cytokine activity." The suggested biological mechanisms for the observed brain inflammation included chronic disease or an external environmental source. In addition, there is a good possibility that genetic predisposition to immune system dysfunction (autoimmunity, allergy) may be a key to development of regressive autism following vaccination in some children.

The recent study out of the CDC and Columbia University is not good enough evidence to disprove the autism-MMR link first reported by Wakefield and others in 1998. The scope of the most recent investigation was far too narrow and enlightened paediatricians and informed parents know it. As autism advocate Rick Rollens and national autism groups have pointed out, more methodologically sound research must be done before the public jury questioning MMR vaccine safety will stand down. A good start would be a prospective case controlled study comparing immune and brain function of highly vaccinated children to that of unvaccinated children for a period of at least ten years, which has been requested by parents of vaccine injured children for several decades.

For a comprehensive summary of the decade-long persecution that Andrew Wakefield has endured at the hands of individuals with major financial conflicts of interest with government and industry, visit the Cryshame website at http://www.cryshame. net/ maintained in Great Britain. A new essay by British journalist Martin Walker entitled An Interest in Conflict examines the tactics used by those determined to punish Wakefield for daring to publish an hypothesis discussing the association between vaccines and autism.

The Cryshame website also features a video tutorial by British paediatrician Richard Halvorson on measles, mumps, rubella, and MMR vaccine. Questions Dr Halvorsen poses and answers include:

• How dangerous is measles?
• Is measles a killer?
• Can measles be good for you?
• Does vaccination give life-long protection?
• Is MMR necessary?

"We are certain that there's no link between autism and the MMR," Dr W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, said at a Wednesday teleconference...... Not everyone is convinced, however, that the vaccine does not play a role in causing gastrointestinal problems that can precede the onset of autism. "This study addresses one hypothesis. This study, by itself, does not exonerate the role of all vaccines. There are many biological mechanisms where environmental factors could present in the development of autism," said Rick Rollens, the father of an autistic son and one of the founding members of the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis. Rollens was also part of the teleconference." - Serena Gordon, U.S. News & World Report (September 4, 2008) http://health.usnews.com/articles/healt h/healthday/2008/09/04/study-dispels-link-between- autism-and-measles.html

"While several researchers said this study is "conclusive" proof that there is no link, Tampa paediatrician, Dr David Berger says the study is too small (38 children) to make that claim and not comprehensive enough to give parents 100 percent assurance. Dr Berger says larger, long-term studies are needed. The Tampa board certified paediatrician advises parents to separate the live combination virus vaccine so they can tell if their child has had an allergic reaction to any of the vaccines. That will help parents when it comes time to give kids their MMR booster shot around kindergarten.....'If this study was done in an attempt to try and replicate the original research that was done by Dr Wakefield, the researchers completely missed the point. Dr Wakefield specifically looked at children- who had developed symptoms of both autism and intestinal abnormalities after receiving the MMR vaccine, and in those particular patients he was able to identify the presence of the measles virus. In this current study 80% of the patients had abnormal gastrointestinal symptoms prior to receiving MMR.'" - Heather VanNest, Tampbays10-TV (September 4, 2008) http://www.tampabays10.com/news/health/story.aspx? storyid=89044&catid=12

"For years, parents have claimed that MMR triggered their child's subsequent GI (gastrointestinal) disease and autism. In a 2002 paper where the majority of autistic children were found to have measles in their intestines, the children examined showed a clear temporal link between MMR exposure and regression. The CDC's attempt to replicate the 2002 study fell far short of proving the safety of the MMR vaccine.....Inflammatory bowel disease in the absence of MMR RNA does not mean that MMR shot didn't precipitate the GI disease and didn't precipitate autism." - National Autism Association (September 3, 2008) http://www.nationalautismassociation.or g/press090308.php

Study Dispels Link Between Autism and Measles Vaccine

Parent advocate disagrees, noting that only one potential mechanism was studied by Serena Gordon
US News & World Report
September 4, 2008
http://health.usnews.com/articles/ health/healthday/2008/09/04/study-dispels-link-between-autism-and-measles.html
(HealthDay News) -- Hoping to dispel long-running concerns that autism is linked to the measles- mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), researchers now say a new study shows the childhood vaccine does not raise that risk.

"We are certain that there's no link between autism and the MMR," Dr W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, said at a Wednesday teleconference.

"We found no evidence that the [gastrointestinal] pathology consistently preceded autism, and we also found that the MMR didn't consistently precede either autism or GI pathology," he added.

Not everyone is convinced, however, that the vaccine does not play a role in causing gastrointestinal problems that can precede the onset of autism.

"This study addresses one hypothesis. This study, by itself, does not exonerate the role of all vaccines. There are many biological mechanisms where environmental factors could present in the development of autism," said Rick Rollens, the father of an autistic son and one of the founding members of the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis. Rollens was also part of the teleconference. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, between 3 million and 4 million Americans contracted the measles each year, and about 400 to 500 people died annually, according to background information provided by the researchers.

In 1998, a small British study linked the presence of measles RNA in the gastrointestinal tract and children who had autism and gastrointestinal (GI) problems, which seemed to confirm what many parents of children with autism had suspected all along -- that the vaccine played a role in the development of autism.

To investigate this possible link, researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Massachusetts General Hospital and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland used tissue biopsies taken from the bowels of children with autism and GI problems and compared them to age-matched control children who had no developmental delays, but were undergoing bowel biopsies for GI disturbances. The control group children also were matched as closely as possible with regard to when they received their MMR vaccine.

The researchers analyzed the bowel tissue to look for the presence of measles virus RNA. One theory held that the measles RNA could grow in the intestinal tract and cause inflammation that would make the bowel more permeable. Once the bowel was more permeable, the virus could enter the circulation system and then travel to the central nervous system, where it might play a role in the development of autism, some theorized.

However, only one child out of the 25 children with autism and one in the control group of 13 children in the new study showed slight levels of measles RNA. According to one of the study's authors, Dr Mady Hornig, director of translational research at the Mailman School of Public Health Center for Infection and Immunity, the levels of measles RNA was just above the threshold levels.

The new findings were published online Thursday in the Public Library of Science journal.

"This was a rigorous analysis. We did this in a blinded fashion, and we are persuaded that there is no link," Lipkin said.

He added that these findings don't mean that the occasional child won't have an "idiosyncratic response" to the vaccine. "Nothing is without risk," he said.

Rollens, however, remains steadfast in his belief that immunization played some role in his son's autism. "I'm totally convinced the vaccines caused the autism of my son, and we need to have more biological studies on this vaccine and others," he said.

'Conclusive' Vaccination Study?

Tampabays 10-TV (CBS)
by Heather VanNest
September 4, 2008
http://www.tampabays10.co m/news/health/story.aspx?storyid=89044&catid=12
St. Petersburg, Florida-A local paediatrician, who treats many young patients with autism, is speaking out against a new government study on childhood MMR vaccinations.

The Centers for Disease Control released a new, study, claiming there is no link between the combination Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism nor gastrointestinal disorders.

While several researchers said this study is "conclusive" proof that there is no link, Tampa paediatrician, Dr David Berger says the study is too small (38 children) to make that claim and not comprehensive enough to give parents 100 percent assurance.

Dr Berger says larger, long-term studies are needed. The Tampa board certified paediatrician advises parents to separate the live combination virus vaccine so they can tell if their child has had an allergic reaction to any of the vaccines. That will help parents when it comes time to give kids their MMR booster shot around kindergarten.

Dr Berger says he uses the same cautious approach when it comes to introducing new foods to kids, try one at a time.

Many parents of autistic kids and advocacy groups suspect that combination MMR vaccine may have triggered their child's GI (gastrointestinal) disease and autism, but there are no long-term studies to support that claim.

Watch Heather's story on "Why some Bay area parents are separating combination MMR vaccines."

Here is Dr David Berger's online interview:

-What is your reaction to this study?

If this study was done in an attempt to try and replicate the original research that was done by Dr Wakefield, the researchers completely missed the point.

Dr Wakefield specifically looked at children- who had developed symptoms of both autism and intestinal abnormalities after receiving the MMR vaccine, and in those particular patients he was able to identify the presence of the measles virus. In this current study 80% of the patient had abnormal gastrointestinal symptoms prior to receiving MMR.

-Do you agree this study is conclusive of no link?

It is not possible for a study such as this to be conclusive . There was a small sample size, for one thing . I guess that one could conclude that the evidence from the study shows that the small group of children studied who have abnormal intestinal symptoms prior to getting the vaccine do not show evidence of measles in the intestinal tract, but I think it would be reaching to go further than that .

-Does this put the controversy to rest?

Absolutely not

-What are your concerns about this study?

As stated above.

Also, this study is only looking for presence of the measles virus itself.- We know that there are immunological changes that occur when a person is injected with a virus which is different than what happens when a virus is either inhaled or ingested. These immunological changes may persist, and it can be independent of the virus itself persisting.

-What are you advising cautious parents to do?<

Follow their instincts

-The government claims there are many studies proving no link and combination MMR is safe. Do you believe these studies are adequate?

I do not

-What type of study is needed?

Someone needs to replicate Dr Wakefield study done in the exact same manner that he did.

Heather Van Nest

CDC Misses Target With Flawed MMR/Autism Study

NAA says: Wrong Question Asked. Wrong Children Studied. Wrong Conclusions Reached.
http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/press090308.php
Nixa, MO - A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study released today claims there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The National Autism Association (NAA) says this study does nothing to dispel the growing public concern over a vaccine-autism connection and raises several questions concerning design and methodology.

For years, parents have claimed that MMR triggered their child's subsequent GI (gastrointestinal) disease and autism. In a 2002 paper where the majority of autistic children were found to have measles in their intestines, the children examined showed a clear temporal link between MMR exposure and regression. The CDC's attempt to replicate the 2002 study fell far short of proving the safety of the MMR vaccine.

*    The CDC study was designed to detect persistent measles virus in autistic children with GI problems. The assumption being if there is no measles virus at the long delayed time of biopsy, there is no link between autism and MMR. But NAA says this underlying assumption is wrong. The questions should have been: Do normally developing children meeting all milestones have an MMR shot, develop GI problems and then regress into autism? Do they have evidence of measles and disease in their colons compared to non-vaccinated age and sex matched controls?

*    In the current CDC study, only a small subgroup of children was the correct phenotype to study. From page 7, "Only 5 of 25 subjects (20%) had received MMR before the onset of GI complaints and had also had onset of GI episodes before the onset of AUT (P=0.03)." The other 20 autistic children in the study had GI problems but the pathology developed before the MMR vaccine. Additionally, the controls all received the MMR vaccine and had gastrointestinal symptoms. The controls should have been free of exposure to vaccine measles in order to make a comparison relevant for purposes of causation.

*    Inflammatory bowel disease in the absence of MMR RNA does not mean that MMR shot didn't precipitate the GI disease and didn't precipitate autism. A similar example would be rheumatic fever where the infection is cleared quickly but damage to the heart and/or brain last a lifetime.

Public confidence in the safety of vaccines is at risk until safety studies are performed that are required by law, ethics, and science. NAA calls for a vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated study comparing all health outcomes including autism. The CDC is in charge of vaccine safety, owns patents to vaccines (according to a UPI Investigative Report from 2003) and is in charge of promoting vaccines. The public should demand that vaccine safety be taken away from an agency with such conflicts and support HR#1973, the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act."

Further Information

National Vaccine Information Center [NVIC]
NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co- founder.
Tel: 001 703-938-dpt3
news@nvic.org
www.nvic.org
www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
www.StandUpBeCounted.org