2002 May

The most common procedure to investigate upper gastrointestinal symptoms like peptic ulcers is called endoscopy. This is an uncomfortable process that requires a narrow tube to be inserted into the stomach down through the mouth. But there is a simpler, non-invasive test that can detect h. pylori infection, and now, a new study from Scotland shows that this test may be just as effective as endoscopy.

For many generations the people of coastal North Carolina have cultivated the muscadine grape to make wine, pies, jellies and jam. The "tar heels" called these grapes scuppernongs, and if they suspected that the foods they made from these grapes had healthy benefits, they certainly had no idea just how healthy they were.

"Consumption of antioxidant vitamins in the amounts contained in this product may reduce the risk of certain kinds of cancer." If this exact statement were to appear on a dietary supplement label with no disclaimer from the FDA, who would it hurt? Would you and I, health consumers be put at risk as the FDA has insisted time and again?

At least 125,000 people each year die from prescription drugs their doctors never should have given them – because they had pre-existing conditions that are clearly contraindicated in the drugs' packaging.

Last March, the European Parliament passed the "European Union Directive on Dietary Supplements," which classifies vitamins as medical drugs rather than food supplements. Many supplements and vitamins will no longer be available over the counter, and the ones that are will be available only in very small doses.