Overdosed America Paperback Edition Available

"Some of the nation's worst drug dealers aren't peddling on the street corners, they're occupying corporate suites. Overdosed America reveals the greed and corruption that drive health care costs skyward and now threatens the public health. Before you see a doctor, you should read this book." - Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble

Excerpts: Introduction | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

Forbes Article - Eat Your Statins

Matthew Herper with Robert Langreth 11.16.08, 6:00 AM ET

Want to avoid a heart attack? Stop taking your vitamins and switch to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug instead.
...
One statin critic not backing down is John Abramson, author of Overdosed America. He points out that patients on Crestor had the same rate of serious illnesses requiring hospitalization as those on placebo. "You haven't improved their net health," says Abramson. Instead, he argues, you're trading heart attacks and strokes for other serious illnesses. And he contends that not offering weight-loss counseling to an overweight population created an "artificial situation" that exaggerated the benefits of the drug. He's not alone. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's fake news show The Colbert Report joked the study was "a great breakthrough in the battle to find things to prescribe to people who don't need them."

http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/15/statins-crestor-jupiter-biz-healthcare-cx_mh_rl_1116statins.html

Labels: ,