First, let me apologize that this will be an abbreviated Q&A. I have many good questions sitting on my home computer. But, I am visiting friends in Richmond, Virginia, so I only have access to questions since Thursday. I will address a few questions today – and hopefully start catching up later this week.

hi, my husband cannot take statins of any kind due to the severe muscle symptoms, and the elevation of liver enzymes during a course, what are Zetia’s side effects if this drug is taken alone. His cholesterol is 9.9. and has the inherited gene.

This is a very fair question. I did not know the answer to this question, but through the genius of Google I can provide a good reference. Zetia Side Efects

For what? These are grown men. They clearly know the risk. Their own friends and colleagues have died from this supplement, and yet they continue to take it. If we were to ban ephedra somehow, they’d just find something else to take, rather than perhaps cutting down the number of pancakes they have at breakfast. I’m all for education, but when your buddy dies from a drug that you yourself are taking, don’t you think that’d be education enough?

This comment raises an interesting point. How far should we go to protect consumers? While I understand the reasoning behind her argument, I believe it to be an oversimplification.

We have many potential users of supplements. Athletes will find performance aids, legally or illegally – as Ron Dibble explains – On Steve Bechler’s death . While one would think that athletes are “grown men”, I doubt that they often act like them – but many would argue grown men may be an oxymoron. Can they really make informed decisions about supplements? I read where a baseball star argued against banning ephedra because “it is legally and OTC”.

Even if I grant you that they should be able to take the risk, what about college athletes, or high school athletes, or just anyone trying to lose weight. And what other supplements are putting us at risk. We should all know about ephedra now, but I doubt that we do. The information on bottles is imprecise and uninformative.

So, I will stand by my previous rant. We need to revisit the dietary and supplement act of 1994. We should not allow marketting of dangerous ineffective supplements.

…

Well that is it for the abbreviated Q&A. I owe the readers more answers. I will catch up. I will catch up. I will catch up.