December 08, 2006

As predicted, the lame duck U.S. Senate passed S-3546, the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Act, which will require manufacturers to notify the FDA of all serious adverse events for dietary supplements. The bill still has to get through the House of Representatives to become a fait accompli.

December 01, 2006

Product and consumer safety is always foremost in the minds of science-based nutraceutical companies. The Natural Products Association is, and has been for some time, working with the FDA to establish good manufacturing practices (GMPs) that appropriately match, or better, those used by the pharmaceutical industry.

November 24, 2006

Howard Rheingold, my former Marin County, CA neighbor, Stanford professor and author of The Virtual Community, once commented on the influential early online intellectual community called The Well, "When people carry on public discussions long enough, and with sufficient human feelings, they form webs of intense supportive relationships."

November 17, 2006

Age-related cataract, the world's leading cause of blindness, affects more than 20 million Americans over the age of 40 years. Surgical correction is currently the only known option for intervention, but researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University recently sought, in three different studies, to determine if prevention is possible.

November 10, 2006

Our genes are formed from microscopic double-strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). They are dependent on adequate nutrition for their structure and activity. By appropriately switching on and off (this is called transcription in the genome research world) our genes direct the behavior of our body's 60 trillion cells. Many genetic researchers consider our genes to be the Rosetta stone of health and disease.

November 03, 2006

It seems appropriate, on the Friday before 2006 mid-term elections, for Biosyntrx to set aside nutrition studies until next week and discuss the most pressing mortality crisis in the world - and the numbers that none of us want to face.

October 27, 2006

For the non-scientists, meta-analyses combine similar small studies together in an attempt to better assess the effects of a treatment. Meta-analyses are often considered the final word on the effects of those treatments, although there are serious limitations to this approach. When studies have different designs or inclusion parameters, deciding which studies to combine and which to leave out of the analyses is too often subject to investigator bias.

October 20, 2006

With a six inch blanket of pristine new snow already covering my Colorado garden, it seems appropriate to remind our Friday Pearl readers about Dr. Steve Whiting's vitamin C cold and flu therapy. Steve Whiting, PhD, is an orthomolecular biologist and an esteemed member of our scientific advisory board.

October 13, 2006

The October 7th, 2006, launch of the Just Say Know to Prescription Drugs campaign, aimed at getting one million people to stop and reevaluate the medications they have been prescribed, has secured amazing support from main stream medical professionals who are getting involved and drawing their social and professional networks into the campaign. One explanation for this positive response is that the Just Say Know to Prescription Drugs campaign was intentionally designed to be a positive intiative. The chairman of the campaign, Dr. Dominick Riccio, was quoted as saying, "Rather than being against any industry, organization, policy, practice, individual or group of individuals, the campaign is designed to get people to do what they can do to protect themselves. So far the approach seems to be resonating loudly."

October 06, 2006

This past summer creative minds throughout America had the opportunity to show off their artistic and comedic talents in support of independent science by entering Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest.