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Jan Canadian Pharmacy News
Issue #6, January 2004
Happy New Year from the Staff at MediSave
Do Carbs Make You Fat?
One of the most popular diets these days is low-carb, high protein like those promoted by "The Atkins Diet Revolution," "Enter The Zone," and "Sugar Busters," just to name a few. With all the diets out there and this latest low-carb trend, you may be wondering:Do carbs really make you fat?
What ARE Carbs Anyway?
If you're confused about carbohydrates, you're not alone. Carbs are one of the six nutrients used by the body for energy and 1 gram=4 calories. Carbs are important because they:
- Are the main main source of fuel for the body
- Are quickly and easily used by the body for energy
- Can be stored in the muscles for exercise
- Provide lots of vitamins, minerals and fiber
- Help your body function properly without fatigue
The trick is to choose the right kinds of carbs and, of course, eat a reasonable amount of them.
Simple Carbs
Simple carbs such as candy, sodas and juice are quickly digested and can be used immediately for energy. However, they also spike blood glucose levels, which inevitably leads to a crash when your blood sugar drops. Simple carbs (such as honey) can be an ideal choice just before an intense cardio workout like sprints, but they're not a great choice for snacks or meals since they can leave you hungry and tired.
Complex Carbs
Complex carbs take longer to digest and come from things like whole grain products, vegetables, and fruits. They are slowly released into the body, unlike simple carbs, so you don't get that sugar rush followed by the painful sugar crash.
Regardless of the type of carbs you eat, all are treated the same way in your body--they are all broken down into sugars during digestion. But, complex carbs are almost always the best choice because they are naturally low in fat, high in fiber and provide tons of vitamins and minerals.
The Thinking Behind Low-Carb
Every low-carb diet is different and requires varying amounts of carbs, protein and fat. However, the common theme is this: eating high-carb causes an overproduction of insulin which leads to overeating, obesity and insulin resistance.
Here's how carbs work:
1. High-carb foods cause a rapid rise in blood sugar
2. This blood sugar causes the body to produce insulin which carries nutrients to cells
3. Our cells use this sugar for energy
4. If there's too much sugar, it is stored as fat
Proponents of low-carb diets believe that when you eat too many carbs, insulin becomes less effective at carrying sugar to the cells which results in more sugar being stored as fat.
Scientists aren't sure if this is true and some researchers believe that this insulin insensitivity is only true for people who eat too many calories in the first place. So, who's right? We don't know. There's no proof that a high-carb diet causes overweight and there's an ongoing debate on the value and science behind low-carb diets.
So what is 'low-carb'?
- The National Academy of Sciences recommends no less than 120 grams of carbs per day
- The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 300 grams of carbs per 2000 calories (about 60% of total calories)
- Atkins initially recommends 20 grams per day (less than 5%)
- Protein Power recommends about 12-15% of calories should be carbs
- The Zone advises keeping carbs at 40% of total calories
While we don't know which, if any, recommendation is right, recent studies in the New England Journal of Medicine report that participants who successfully followed low-carb plans for six months lost more weight than those who ate low-fat. Those on the Atkins diet raised their levels of 'good' HDL cholesterol.
Note: Almost half the participants dropped out of their programs and, after a year, the Atkin's followers regained up to a third of the pounds they lost.
There's no question that people lose weight on low-carb diets, but are they safe? Is it possible to stick to them?
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Seniors Group
Files Lawsuit Over Canada Imports
By Tom Scheck - Minnesota Public Radio
A group of Minnesota seniors has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court against nine pharmaceutical companies. The plaintiffs allege that those drug companies have conspired to prevent U.S. consumers from buying prescription drugs from Canada, creating high drug prices in the United States. This is the latest action taken in Minnesota to allow for the reimportation of Canadian medicine. They argue that Americans unfairly pay the highest drug prices in the world.
St. Paul, Minn. ?The suit claims the drug companies are conspiring to limit drug sales to any Canadian pharmacy that sells prescription drugs to Americans. Chicago-based attorney Marvin Miller filed the suit with the help of the Minnesota Senior Federation. He's asking the court to make it a class action suit, so it would include all affected consumers, not just the three plaintiffs named in the filing. He says consumers would benefit if drug companies allowed cross-border sales because of increased competition between American and Canadian pharmacies. Miller says he's seeking attorneys' fees, unspecified damages and a stop to the companies' anti-import efforts.
"We believe that they did meet, that they did confer and that they implemented a policy or policies to threaten to cut off the supply of pharmaceuticals to Canadian wholesalers and pharmacies when those prescription drugs would come back into the United States," Miller says.
Miller says drug companies have cut off drug supplies to certain Canadian pharmacies to keep cross-border sales from eating into profit margins. Drugs in Canada are less expensive because of government price controls. Many Canadian Internet pharmacies say the boycott has caused their supplies to dwindle in recent months. Some say they could run out of certain popular drugs in the next six months.
Officials with Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, say they can't comment on the lawsuit because they haven't seen it. But Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins defends the company's limits on Canadian sales. He read a statement saying the company's tactics are legal and are meant to protect U.S. consumers from importing unsafe or counterfeit medicine.
"We're confident our distribution practices not only comply with U.S. law and FDA regulations, but they're also in the best interests of patient safety. The simple truth is that the importation of pharmaceutical products into the U.S. from Canada is not only illegal, but it's also dangerous.," Haskins said.
Pfizer claims cross-border sales increase the opportunities to introduce counterfeit or unapproved drugs into the supply chain. Officials with GlaxoSmithKline and the other drug companies were unavailable to comment for this report. Glaxo officials have said in the past that their actions in Canada are independent of any other drug company.
Glaxo is currently involved in a court battle with Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch over the issue of reimportation. Hatch is investigating to see if Glaxo conspired with other drug companies to cut off supplies to Canadian pharmacies. He's seeking company documents from Canada and Great Britain to see if Glaxo violated the state's anti-trust laws. Hatch says the recent lawsuit will continue to put pressure on drug companies and the federal government to allow for reimportation of prescription drugs.
"There's a lot of litigation involving the pharmaceutical industry right now and its unfortunate. We shouldn't have to have hundreds of lawsuits filed by consumers and citizens in America just trying to get a major industry like this is conduct itself in an appropriate fashion," Hatch says.
But some argue that it may be difficult for Hatch or anyone else to prove a conspiracy. Bert Foer, with the American Antitrust Institute in Washington D.C., says antitrust cases can be time-consuming and difficult to prove. He says finding significant evidence or documents necessary to make a case will be difficult.
"Presumably, acts which are known to be illegal are not done out in the open. They're very likely to say this was an independent action on our part and we were acting unilaterally not as part of any conspiracy," he says.
Gov. Pawlenty, who supports reimportation of Canadian drugs, issued a statement applauding the lawsuit
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We Are Open on Memorial Day - May 31st
Medisave Canada Pharmacy will be open:
Memorial Day - May 31st
8:00AM ?:00pm pst (10:00am?9:00PM est)
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Prescription
Drugs on Sale
Lipitor - Cholesterol - Pfizer - Order
Now!
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Norvasc - Blood Pressure - Pfizer - Order
Now!
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Spiriva - Respiratory - Boehringer - Order
Now!
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