In This Issue:

This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com
Featured Q&A
Featured Home Remedy
Genital Wart Vaccine Shows Promise
Sleep For Better Memory
Suicide Warning Strengthened For Antidepressants
Pesticides And Parkinson's Disease
TV Watchers Are More Distractible
New Guidelines For Dental Procedures
Vitamin D For Better Muscles And Balance

Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy

We are pleased to announce our new book, Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy. Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy is a how-to for consumers trying to work out which treatments, including diet, home remedies, dietary supplements and drugs, are best for what ails them. Click the link below to purchase a copy at a discount of $21.95 plus $5 shipping and handling!

Note: We are shipping single book orders Media Mail with an expected transit time of 3-9 days from shipment, and orders for two or more books by FedEx Ground. Shipping and handling is $5 per book. We also include a FREE copy of Chocolate without Guilt, regularly $14.95, autographed by Terry, with orders for three of more copies of Best Choices shipped to the same address.

http://securepp.fountainshosting.com/PPcart.asp?pg=products&specific=joppfog0

This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com:

Breast cancer rates have dropped over the past few years. This change highlights the role of hormone replacement therapy in promoting breast cancer in postmenopausal women, now that many women have decided to forgo it.
Read a short excerpt of the program or order it on CD by clicking the link below:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/radio_shows/632_health_news_update.asp

Our newspaper columns this week discuss antihistamines, treatment for stomach ulcers, alternatives to quinine, health benefits from nuts, and the decline in breast cancer:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/editorial/the_secret_behind_the_breast_cancer_decline.asp

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/dont_double_up_on_diphenhydramine.asp

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/herb_home_remedy_qa/quinine_ban_worries_leg_cramp_victims.asp

Share Your Experiences
If you have tried any of the home remedies posted on our website, we want to hear from you! Visit the home remedy page on our website and use the form provided to share your experiences. Your comments will be displayed on the page below the home remedy. You can also read the comments of other readers and find out how effective the home remedy was for them.

View a list of all home remedies posted on our website:
http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/home_remedies/index.asp

Featured Q & A

Coconut Macaroon Cookies Fight Diarrhea

Q. I am writing to you about the many articles you've written on coconut macaroon cookies since I first wrote you about them. I am amazed at the response you have gotten.

Many years ago I discovered this diarrhea remedy, and it is still working great for me. Every time an article about coconut macaroons appears in my paper I get a wonderful feeling because it also might be helping someone else. And to think it all started by accident.

If anyone asks me about the cookies I am only too happy to tell them of my experience. I always tell them that you took a chance on printing my letter back in November 1998 to get the word out. For years now I've been able to leave for work in the morning and not have to plan ahead to where the next restroom is. Thank you and keep up the good work!

A. We thank you, Donald Agar of Pittsfield, MA, for your original observation that coconut macaroons control chronic diarrhea: "I have had Crohn's disease for 40 years, and during that time I have had a never-ending battle with diarrhea. Lomotil helps some, but it doesn't eliminate the problem.

"Three months ago, I bought a box of Archway Coconut Macaroon cookies. I've been eating two a day and I have not experienced diarrhea in that time. If by chance I eat three in a day, I get constipated. Believe me, I have a new life now."

Because of your letter, many people have found relief from diarrhea. Some have written to tell us about their extraordinary experiences with coconut. A biochemist, Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., suggests the antibacterial action of lauric acid in coconut may be responsible for its benefits.

We often quote Louis Pasteur's famous saying that "chance favors only the prepared mind." And we point to you as a contemporary example of this principle.

Featured Home Remedy

Cayenne To Stop Bleeding
I have a home remedy to share with your readers. If you have a cut that's bleeding put ground cayenne pepper on it. The bleeding will stop very quickly. You can get cayenne at the grocery store.

You can read more home remedies on our website:
http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/home_remedies/index.asp

Health Headlines:

Genital Wart Vaccine Shows Promise
The new vaccine against human papilloma virus is effective for fighting off infection. Now a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that it can also reduce the risk of cervical cancer. Human papilloma viruses, or HPV, cause genital warts and are associated with cancers of the cervix. When the vaccine is administered to young women before they are exposed to HPV strains 16 or 18, it is extremely effective at preventing related cervical lesions. An editorial in the journal points out that we still need more information about the best age at which to vaccinate and how long the protection lasts, as well as about possible side effects that have not yet shown up.
[New England Journal of Medicine, May 10, 2007]
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/19/1915

Sleep For Better Memory
Students cramming for finals take note: sleep improves memory. Harvard researchers randomly assigned people to either of two groups. One group was given a list of 20 pairs of words at 9 am. Their recall of the words was tested at 9 pm that evening. The second group was given their list of word pairs at 9 pm. They studied then slept before a 9 am test. Those who had the chance to sleep between their study session and the test remembered 12 percent more of the words on the list. Even when they were distracted with a second list of words, those who'd slept after learning the first list remembered 44 percent more words than students who didn't have a chance to sleep on it. The bottom line seems to be that sleep helps consolidate memory.
[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online April 20, 2007]
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/104/18/7723

Suicide Warning Strengthened For Antidepressants
The Food and Drug Administration is requiring drug companies to strengthen their warnings on antidepressants. For years the FDA denied that there was a link between antidepressant use and suicidal thoughts or actions. In the last few years, however, the agency has required black box warnings about such a connection, especially for children and teenagers. Now the warning will expand to include young adults up to the age of 25. FDA officials admit that they cannot explain why the data seem to suggest that those over 25 are less susceptible to this problem. Dr. David Healy, a pioneering psychiatrist at the University of Cardiff in Wales hailed the new warnings as long overdue. He also expressed doubt that the risk of suicidal thinking would magically disappear at 25.

Pesticides And Parkinson's Disease
Scientists have suspected that pesticide use might be linked to a higher risk of Parkinson's disease, but they did not have a smoking gun. Now, research in people and animals has strengthened the connection. Farm workers who have used the weed killer paraquat are at double or triple the normal risk of this degenerative brain disease. In animal studies, paraquat causes an abnormal buildup of a protein linked to Parkinson's. Still another study shows that this protein selectively kills the brain cells affected in Parkinson's. According to the researchers, the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place.
[Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research meetings, April, 2007]

TV Watchers Are More Distractible
Watching a lot of television may put teenagers at increased risk of attention disorders. Epidemiologists tracked nearly 700 families in upstate New York for almost two decades. Kids who spent three or more hours a day watching television were at highest risk for attention difficulties and trouble at school. They were less likely to complete homework assignments, more likely to report being bored at school and less likely to graduate high school. If parents follow the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children limit their TV viewing to two hours a day or less they may be able to improve the likelihood that their kids will succeed in school.
[Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, May, 2007]
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/5/480

New Guidelines For Dental Procedures
The American Heart Association has just changed its guidelines for patients undergoing dental procedures. For years, many people with borderline heart conditions were told that they had to take antibiotics before seeing the dentist, even for a routine cleaning. The heart association now concludes that evidence to support that practice is marginal at best. Instead, the American Heart Association now recommends antibiotics before dental work only for patients in the highest risk categories...those who have artificial heart valves, heart transplants, congenital heart defects or a prior heart infection called endocarditis.
[Circulation, April 20, 2007]
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3047083

Vitamin D For Better Muscles And Balance
There is growing evidence that many older people don't get enough vitamin D. A study of nearly 1000 senior citizens found that three fourth of the women and half of the men had insufficient levels of vitamin D in their bloodstreams. This had an impact on muscle strength and balance. Current guidelines for vitamin D intake may be too low.
[Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, April 2007]