So a few weeks ago there was the whole swinde flu story where we were getting updates hour by hour of the srpead of the flu. Two things happened that bumped it off the newspapers and TV. First not many people died, and secondly there was no new news about the Swine Flu.

This changed this week but only in the background. There are two new stories. First the World Health Organization announced that the spread of Swine Flu has forced the call of this to be a world wide pandemic. This is big news because many countries will now begin to mobilize their central health organizations to start and combat and tighten restirctions to stop the spread of the flu.

Also, there is as you may imagine a race by all of the pharmaceutical companies to come up with a flu vaccine to be tested and of course make that company big bucks as the vaccine gets rolled out around the world. Novartis is apparently first and is ready to test swine flu vaccine. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant has a swine flu vaccine ready for trial as governments step up precautions following the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: Novartis, pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical giant, Swine Flu, World Health Organization

Interesting news from Pfizer today. It seems that some testing that was done shows that the cholesterol reducing medication Lipitor was very affective at increasing the blood and oxygen to the hearts of people with Chronic Angina.

Pfizer said Tuesday that a new study of its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, 80 mg, showed unexpectedly significant reduction in myocardial ischemia in patients with chronic stable angina.

Myocardial ischemia is a condition defined by insufficient blood supply and oxygen to the heart. Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when an area of the heart muscle doesn’t get enough oxygen-rich blood.

The New York-based pharmaceutical giant said Lipitor reduced the average number of ischemic events by nearly 70% and total duration of events by more than 60% from baseline to week 18 of the study, and sustained the effects until the end of the trial at week 26.

In 60% patients treated with Lipitor, all ischemic events were completely eliminated by the end of the study, the company said.

The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

This is big news for a great many people in the population that have issues with Angina

Tags: american college of cardiology, angina, chest pain, cholesterol, chronic stable angina, insufficient blood supply, lipitor, myocardial ischemia, New York, pfizer, pharmaceutical giant, the American College

I just ran into a couple of great articles on Hoodia and thought it would be great to share them. Why do I care about Hoodia? Well I keep getting spam about the “Greatest weight loss product ever” and man do I hate unfounded hype.

It seems that Hoodia may be a good product but if there is ever a wonder drug that will stop people from eating and help them lose weight than the lack of exercise will surely kill people. I t is very important to remember that even if Hoodia does a great job in helping you lose weight that you still need to exercise regularly to stay or regain health. I have made my own notations here in bold from this great article at about.com written by Cathy Wong

Introduction to Hoodia

Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.

Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it’ll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away. It’s very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn’t stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you’re full, even if you’ve eaten just a morsel.

Hoodia is a cactus that’s causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia is also found in the popular diet pill Trimspa.

Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Much like a cactus it has recently been turned into a cash crop in Namibia where there are hundreds of acres of it being grown to meet the demand in North America.

It takes about 5 years before hoodia’s pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.

Although hoodia was only marketed recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.

In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn’t until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa’s national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising — lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia.
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