Experts Debate Benefits and Risks of Stimulants

Dr. Nick Friedman’s comment below regarding http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/705057

Experts Debate Benefits and Risks of Stimulants for Healthy People

June 29, 2009 — Two new editorials debate the question of whether healthy people should take stimulants, especially methylphenidate [Ritalin (sic)], to enhance cognitive performance.

John Harris, DPhil, from the school of law at the University of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, argues that it is unethical to stop healthy adults from taking methylphenidate to enhance cognitive performance and asserts that chemical cognitive enhancers should be freely available to those who choose to use them.

Anjan Chatterjee, MD, from the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, disagrees, maintaining that making methylphenidate freely available to those who want to enhance performance would cause undue medical risk and that these drugs should be reserved for those who suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The risks of methylphenidate include potential for abuse and dependence and risk for sudden death and serious cardiovascular events, he points out.

Their discussion is published online June 18 in BMJ. [British Medical Journal (sic)]

Risk for Sudden Death  Dr. Harris argues that methylphenidate is safe enough to be used widely in children and adults with ADHD, and its significant advantages for healthy adults include improved executive function, study skills, and the ability to focus. In an interview, he noted that access to methylphenidate could be improved by taking it off prescription or allowing it with a pharmacist consultation.

Methylphenidate’s health risks should be dealt with in the same way as are those of cigarettes; while adults who use the drug should be warned of its potential for abuse and cardiac risks, sale should not be prohibited. “We should not police healthy adults,” he said. “We can issue them a warning as we do on other dangerous products.”  (sic)

Social Coercion? Dr. Chatterjee, however, warns of the public-health risks that could occur should methylphenidate be freely available. He notes that the risks for serious cardiovascular events with methylphenidate are likely to be higher in older people with undetected cardiac disease —  1 group that might be likely to use the drug if it were sold over the counter.

Dr. Chatterjee also argues that the use of methylphenidate might pose another risk for society that is rarely considered in debates about the subject. He notes that enhancing focus with methylphenidate might mean sacrificing creativity. “Most models of creativity suggest that you have to have some down time in order to have the leaps of imagination that end up being creative insights; it requires not being focused,” he said.

Dr. Nick’s comments: This really caught my attention. Ritalin is a speed drug that is used for ADHD individuals. I am in Dr. Chatterjee’s corner with this. The part that is really scary is when Dr. Harris recommended controlling it the way we do with cigarettes: put a warning label on it. That works really well!

How many people are still smoking, getting emphysema, cancer, heart disease, etc.? This is another person with flawed thinking. Yes, we would ALL like to have increased energy both physically and mentally! But doing this through the use of drugs does not work. Every pharmaceutical drug out there, OTC (over the counter) or prescription, has its side effects, some more than others. But they ALL have them. Further, the more readily available this is, the more the real side effects in “healthy” individuals will start appearing

June 29, 2009 — Two new editorials debate the question of whether healthy people should take stimulants, especially methylphenidate [Ritalin (sic)], to enhance cognitive performance.

John Harris, DPhil, from the school of law at the University of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, argues that it is unethical to stop healthy adults from taking methylphenidate to enhance cognitive performance and asserts that chemical cognitive enhancers should be freely available to those who choose to use them.

Anjan Chatterjee, MD, from the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, disagrees, maintaining that making methylphenidate freely available to those who want to enhance performance would cause undue medical risk and that these drugs should be reserved for those who suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The risks of methylphenidate include potential for abuse and dependence and risk for sudden death and serious cardiovascular events, he points out. Their discussion is published online June 18 in BMJ. [British Medical Journal (sic)]

Risk for Sudden Death  Dr. Harris argues that methylphenidate is safe enough to be used widely in children and adults with ADHD, and its significant advantages for healthy adults include improved executive function, study skills, and the ability to focus. In an interview, he noted that access to methylphenidate could be improved by taking it off prescription or allowing it with a pharmacist consultation.

Methylphenidate’s health risks should be dealt with in the same way as are those of cigarettes; while adults who use the drug should be warned of its potential for abuse and cardiac risks, sale should not be prohibited. “We should not police healthy adults,” he said. “We can issue them a warning as we do on other dangerous products.”  (sic)

Social Coercion? Dr. Chatterjee, however, warns of the public-health risks that could occur should methylphenidate be freely available. He notes that the risks for serious cardiovascular events with methylphenidate are likely to be higher in older people with undetected cardiac disease —  1 group that might be likely to use the drug if it were sold over the counter.

Dr. Chatterjee also argues that the use of methylphenidate might pose another risk for society that is rarely considered in debates about the subject. He notes that enhancing focus with methylphenidate might mean sacrificing creativity. “Most models of creativity suggest that you have to have some down time in order to have the leaps of imagination that end up being creative insights; it requires not being focused,” he said.

Dr. Nick’s comments: This really caught my attention. Ritalin is a speed drug that is used for ADHD individuals. I am in Dr. Chatterjee’s corner with this. The part that is really scary is when Dr. Harris recommended controlling it the way we do with cigarettes: put a warning label on it. That works really well!

How many people are still smoking, getting emphysema, cancer, heart disease, etc.? This is another person with flawed thinking. Yes, we would ALL like to have increased energy both physically and mentally! But doing this through the use of drugs does not work. Every pharmaceutical drug out there, OTC (over the counter) or prescription, has its side effects, some more than others. But they ALL have them. Further, the more readily available this is, the more the real side effects in “healthy” individuals will start appearing.

Springing into Summer with Heart Healthy Habits

Everyday there is talk in the many forms of media of improving our health. The topics are usually related to the heart. They cannot talk about preventing or decreasing chances of cancer because they haven’t figured out that the same things that one needs to do to have a healthy heart, are the same things that are needed to decrease your chances of getting cancer. 

With that said, I will talk briefly about the following: Exercise, Food, Rest & Relaxation, and of course Mental/Psychological attitudes.

Exercise – it is a well known fact that movement is beneficial. Exercise comes in many forms. You can do it by yourself, with someone else, and/or in groups. The most important part of it is that you enjoy the exercise you do. It doesn’t matter what it is.

If you get 20 minutes every day of some sort of exercise that makes your heart work a little harder, breath a little harder, you are now not only exercising your heart, but you are increasing the amount of oxygen coming into your system, as well as doing some toxin elimination. 

With the wet spring moving into warm dry summer weather, this is a great time to go out to a park, walk along the beach; just do something fun where you are outside. Another benefit is the exposure to sunshine. Assuming you don’t allow yourself to get more than a very mild sunburn, you are getting increased Vitamin D production. 

Food – I am always amazed at how people eat and questions that are posed. Worst of all is when you look at what the American Heart Association, American Diabetic Association and the American Medical Association think good eating is. 

In their minds, if you can control the numbers by drugs than you can pretty well eat what you want. That’s ALL wrong! If you eat poorly and try to manage the numbers with drugs, it doesn’t work. You are still putting a strain on your system to work overtime to try and find a balance.

Let us think about what it is that we enjoy eating: Fruits, vegetables, of course our grains, mostly breads. Sometimes rice is more dominant than wheat. Also, most of us eat, to some degree or another, meat. I have been reading this book called The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II. It concludes that dairy, whatever form it comes in—cheese, kefir, milk, etc.—is the worst food you could consume. 

There is always a rationale as to why it is ok. But this was a very extensive study done by a researcher through Cornell University. 

Rest & Relaxation – Sleep is very important. Our bodies and minds require restful sleep. That is part of the way our bodies recharge themselves.

What relaxation does is allow our minds and bodies to unwind. In today’s society we are all pushing ourselves to do more things at a faster pace and more things all at once.

This is not always done when we exercise. Relaxation is another necessary way of allowing our body to replenish itself and do some of the maintenance that is required for both mind and body. 

Mental/Psychological attitude –Being positive about things allows the tension that we carry to be minimized. In fact a lot of times it is simply a matter of choice.

For example, is the gas tank half full or half empty? There is another part of just loving yourself. Ok – this is not my cup of tea. It is Cathy’s. So I am going to let Cathy Breshears talk about this in her blog: “Body Moving.”

hearing

IN THE NEWS

Can you hear me now?    By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

For an increasing number of young kids 10-20 years old, the answer is no, they really can’t hear. It’s because of ear buds from devices such as iPods tucked tightly into the ear canal blasting at high volume, or too loud base volume booming out of the car stereo.

Susie Burdick, CEO of the Hearing Speech and Deafness Center in Seattle, says if there’s one thing she wishes she could do, it’s alert kids to the permanent damage they’re doing to their hearing.

 

White bread may bring greater disease risk

This is only NEW material for those individuals who cannot accept anything that doesn’t have “Scientifc Double Blind Studies” done on them. Fortunately this is becoming more and more mainstream This information that is!! Dr. Nick 

The study found that high blood glucose led to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and was also linked to gall stones and some types of cancer, providing further evidence that could trigger greater demand low GI and multi grain foods.

The researchers concluded: “Low-GI and/or low glycemic load (GL) diets are independently associated with a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases. In diabetes and heart disease, the protection is comparable with that seen for whole grain and high fibre intakes. The findings support the hypothesis that higher postprandial glycemia is a universal mechanism for disease progression.“

Source : The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Authors: Alan W Barclay, Peter Petocz, Joanna McMillan-Price, Victoria M Flood, Tania Prvan, Paul Mitchell, and Jennie C Brand-Miller.
The researchers are affiliated to the University of Sydney, Australia.

 

www.nutraingredients.com/news

protein

Well here is something that is not new. I did read this in A newspaper. “The Asian Reporter”. Of course it couldn’t be in an american based media source. Headline reads: “Insect eating promoted for everyone from famine victims to astronauts.” Yes astronauts!

The just of the story is that insects have protein that we can use. It is basically culturally oriented as to who eats them.  The opening paragraph reads as such: Chiang Mai, Thailand – Crickets, caterpillars and grubs are high in protein and minerals and could be an important food source during droughts and other emergencies, according to scientists.” Here is America it is not acceptable to eat insects. Unless of course you are in the military and doing survival training!!

 Thought you all would enjoy a little different piece of information.

 Dr. Nick

New Beginnings

To come..