The Wall Street Journal is calling it “Vytoringate”.

As reported by Al Sears MD..................

In an effort to prove that their Vytorin is effective at reducing the arterial plague that leads to heart disease, Merck/Schering-Plough conducted its own study on 750 patients. Much to Merck’s disappointment, the study found that Vytorin was instead effective at doubling the growth rate of arterial plaque!1

So what did Merck do? They first hung on to the results, knowing full well sales and prescriptions of the drug would plummet as soon as the public found out.

And the organizations America trusts, the AHA and the ACC, both made statements giving a supportive tone concerning Vytorin and the ENHANCE trial. This has Congress looking into any financial ties that exist between them and Merck.

As if that wasn’t enough, it looks like the SEC is getting involved too. Turns out top executives at Merck sold 900,000 shares of company stock worth $28 million—before the ENHANCE trial went public.

Big Pharma Hid the Facts - Again
This is not the first time drug companies have hidden the facts they didn’t want you to know about.

Take GlaxoSmithKline for instance…who in 2004 was found guilty of hiding negative trial results of their anti-depressant Paxil. Turns out Paxil didn’t do anything more for Depression than a placebo did. Plus it increased the risk of suicide for those taking it. They held on to the information for up to four years before it became known.

A recent study published in New England Journal of Medicine found nearly a third of the 74 industry-sponsored studies of antidepressants they examined were not published, most of which showed negative outcomes for the drug involved.2

Positive results were 12 times more likely to be published. And negative results were purposely written to show a favorable outcome. Put into perspective, of all the articles published, 94% show a positive outcome. But on further inspection by the FDA, only half were actually positive.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study as far back as 2004, stating that the reporting of trial outcomes are frequently biased and overstate the benefits.3

Who Can you Trust?
Even doctors are misled by the drug companies into thinking the drugs they’re prescribing are safe for their patients.

This is because once a drug receives FDA approval, it’s pretty much a done deal. Drug companies are required to share any findings they get from studies to the FDA, but the FDA can’t share the information with the public. It’s because the study findings are considered “proprietary” information that belong to the drug companies.

To counter-act this, Congress recently passed a new law, requiring drug companies to share all their findings. But there’s one problem.

They’ve given them two years from the end date of the studies to make the information public. Critics are pointing out how even this new law wouldn’t have stopped the Vytoringate scandal.

Nature’s “Vytorin”…But Better
Nature has a substance that can do exactly what Vytorin was supposed to do. It’s called folic acid and researchers have known about it for years.

See, Merck/SP was looking to prove Vytorin effective by looking at how much it reduced the intima-media thickness of the carotid artery. The higher the thickness, the more likely a negative cardiovascular event such as heart attack, or stroke.

Recent studies show that folic acid supplementation significantly reduces the intima-media thickness of the carotid artery.4

Another study, published in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, found that folic acid reduces the risk of first stroke by as much as 18%.5 Had Vytorin created results like these, Merck/Schering-Plough would be headed for a bigger payday.

But there’s a bigger problem at work here. Mainstream medicine and the drug companies have got it all wrong. They’re looking in the wrong places to find a solution to heart disease. They look to cholesterol as the panacea of curing heart disease. And they’re missing the biggest indicators of heart disease, which isn’t high cholesterol, or even LDL cholesterol.

The two big indicators they’re completely ignoring are homocysteine and C-Reactive protein (CRP). But the links between them and heart disease are too strong to ignore.

One study found that levels of homocysteine were dramatically higher in men who died from heart attacks. They discovered that men with high levels were four times more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack than those with lower levels.6

And guess what? Folic acid can significantly reduce levels of homocysteine in the blood stream.

The other indicator, C-Reactive protein, isn’t given enough attention.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a massive study on CRP. Almost 28,000 people participated in the trial. Researchers tried to predict cardiac events like heart attack and stroke by looking at LDL cholesterol and CRP levels in the blood. They found that CRP predicted cardiac events better than LDL cholesterol did.7


Here again, folic acid is proven to reduce levels of CRP. To get the benefits from folic acid, you should take 800mcg a day. You can find it at any health food or grocery store.

Nature Has Everything You Need To Keep Cholesterol under Control
When heart patients come to see me in my office, the first thing I do is wean them off any cholesterol drugs their doctors might’ve prescribed. It’s because I know the inherent side effects that come with those drugs, including impotence, liver failure, and severe muscle pains, to name a few.

The most popular of these cholesterol-lowering drugs are statins. They work by blocking enzymes in the liver responsible for the formation of cholesterol. But again, nature already has its own substances that can lower LDL cholesterol, raise HDL cholesterol, and lessen hardening of the arteries.

And best of all, these substances are inexpensive, and free of side effects.

Four All-Natural, Powerful, And Safe Supplements to Lower Your Cholesterol
Ditch the cholesterol drugs, and use these four natural alternatives instead:

CoQ10 – You’ve heard of this one I’m sure. I’ve talked about it at length. Simply put, it’s one of the best supplements you can take to protect your heart, and raise “good” HDL cholesterol. Take 100 mg per day if you’re healthy. If you have heart problems, begin with 200mg then get your doctor to check your blood levels.

Policosanol -- This is an extract of plant waxes that naturally lowers high cholesterol. It’s just as effective as FDA-approved drugs and is free of side effects. It’s not toxic to your liver, even at extremely high doses. And it’s safe if you have diabetes or liver disease.

One study found that after 24 weeks of supplementing with it, patients lowered LDL cholesterol by up to 28%, and reduced total cholesterol by 17%.8 Other studies show it can raise your HDL cholesterol by up to 29%!9 Take 40mg daily, to achieve optimal results.

Fenugreek—This herb has been used for centuries. The Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians used it for both culinary and medicinal purposes. Studies show this herb can significantly lower total and LDL cholesterol. Take 500 mg a day to get the optimum cholesterol-lowering benefits of this herb.

Zinc— This is an underestimated, powerful anti-oxidant that can reduce plaque buildup in your blood vessels.

Researchers at the University of Singapore conducted an eight-week study in which they fed two groups of rabbits a high-cholesterol diet, but gave only one group a natural zinc supplement.
The rabbits on a diet high in cholesterol along with a zinc supplement showed a substantially lower instance of hardening of the arteries and plaque build-up without a change in their blood cholesterol levels.10

The bad news is that you’re probably not getting enough zinc from your diet alone. Sixty-five percent of Americans don't get even the minimum daily requirement. You can get zinc naturally, from eating red meat, oysters, clams, and fish. But ideally, you should also take it as a supplement, to ensure you’re getting enough. Take anywhere from 30mg-60mg per day, for optimal heart health.
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1.
http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/product/2008_0114.html
Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals Provides Results of the ENHANCE Trial
2. Turner H, Matthews A, Linardatos E, Tell R, Rosenthal R, “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy,” New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 358:252-260, Jan.17, 08, No.3
3 Chan A, Hróbjartsson A, Haahr M, Gøtzsche P,Altman G,” Empirical Evidence for Selective Reporting of Outcomes in Randomized Trials,”JAMA. 2004;291:2457-2465.
4 Vianna A, Mocelin A, Matsuo T, Morais-Filho D, Largura A, Delfino V, Soares A, Matni A,“Uremic hyperhomocysteinemia: a randomized trial of folate treatment for the prevention of cardiovascular events,” Hemodial Int. 2007 Apr;11(2):210-6.
5 Wang X, Qin X, Demirtas H, Li J, Mao G, Huo Y, Sun N, Liu L, Xu ,“Efficacy of folic acid supplementation in stroke prevention: a meta-analysis,” Lancet. 2007 Jun 2;369(9576):1876-82
6 Wald NJ, et al. Homocysteine and ischemic heart disease: results of a prospective study with implications regarding prevention. Arch Intern Med. 1998; 158:862-7.
7 Ridker P., et al. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. NEJM 2002 Nov 14; 347(20): 1557-1565
8 Castano G, et al. Effects of policosanol 20 versus 40 mg/day in the treatment of patients with type II hypercholesterolemia: a 6-month double-blind study. Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 2001;21(1):43-57.
9 Más R, Castaño G, IllnaitJ, Fernández L, Fernández J, Alemán C, Pontigas V, Lescay M, “Effects of policosanol in patients with type II hypercholesterolemia and additional coronary risk factors”, Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (1999) 65, 439–447
10 Andrew Jenner et al. Zinc supplementation inhibits lipid peroxidation and the development of atherosclerosis in rabbits fed a high cholesterol diet. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 2007; 42: 559-566