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Medicine 101: Advertising vs. reality
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Advertising is seductive. It's meant to be. Its purpose is to sell you something. If it's a new tie or a new dress, OK, not much harm done. If it's a new drug, be careful. The drug may even do what it claims, but not help you in the long run. Plus there is the risk of side effects.
Two recent cases in point. Homocysteine is an amino acid, a component of many proteins in your body. It was observed decades ago that people with high blood levels of this amino acid had a higher rate of heart attack. Cause and effect were assumed. Time went by and someone else discovered you could lower the blood level of homocysteine by taking folic acid, a B vitamin, in amounts more than the body otherwise needed. Great! End of story? No.
What we were really after was lowering the rate of heart attack. That didn't happen. And folic acid is not a free ride: it can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, it can mask a serious form of anemia, and possibly increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
Another example, ezetimibe, a drug used to lower bad cholesterol (LDL). Combined in a single pill with simvastatin, a statin drug also used to lower bad cholesterol, they are marketed as Vytorin (a brand name, copyright Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals). This was initially advertised to lower bad cholesterol more than statin drugs alone. It did. End of story? Again: No.
Another study showed the combined drug Vytorin did not reduce arterial blockage any more than simvastatin alone. This study didn't go far enough either. What you really want to know, of course, is the impact on heart attack and stroke rates. This is now being studied. Point: the two drugs together did further reduce LDL cholesterol. But we still don't know the ultimate effect of taking it. on your chances of having a heart attack. And of course, there are potential side effects (see link above).
You want to get a benefit to accept a risk: an actual benefit, not just better numbers on a lab report.
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