|
|
 |
 |
Health
Rapid infant growth seen to lower risk of heart disease
By wire services
Published May 14, 2004
LONDON - Giving support to advocates of breast-feeding, new research bolsters the theory that rapid growth in infancy, encouraged by enriched infant formulas, might increase the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
The study, described this week in the Lancet medical journal, found the cholesterol profile was 14 percent better in adolescents who had been fed breast milk as babies, compared with those fed formula.
The conclusion is the latest to come out of 20 years of research indicating that conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes could be influenced by a baby's growth rate.
Pfizer admits bribing doctors
Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, pleaded guilty Thursday and agreed to pay $430-million to resolve criminal and civil charges that it paid doctors to prescribe its epilepsy drug, Neurontin, to patients with ailments that the drug was not federally approved to treat.
The company encouraged doctors to use Neurontin in patients with bipolar disorder even though a study had shown that the medicine was no better than a placebo in treating the disorder.
Move afoot to widen statin sales
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. - Some of the world's biggest drug companies are working behind the scenes to convince regulators to let older cholesterol-lowering drugs be sold without a prescription in low doses, as Britain has just done.
A decision is months away, but approval by the Food and Drug Administration could significantly affect the nation's biggest public health problem, heart disease, and greatly expand sales in the top-selling drug category.
Cholesterol drugs, or statins, raked in $26-billion worldwide - $14-billion in this country alone - last year, according to health data company IMS Health. By limiting buildup of artery-clogging fat deposits, they can reduce risk of heart attack by about one-third.
[Last modified May 14, 2004, 01:03:14]
World and national headlines
Another Gandhi leads party to win
She kept her head as insurance sorted out skull surgery
Inhaling soot changes mice DNA
As Israelis seek soldiers' remains, 12 Arabs killed
UFOs could be gas lights, says scientist
Evidence of ancient global extinction crater reported
Election 2004Kerry campaign quietly delves into Graham information
Bush approval ratings slip into minus range
HealthRapid infant growth seen to lower risk of heart disease
IraqRumsfeld tours problem prison
U.S.-Shiite fighting continues in Karbala
Nation in briefMexican on death row gets clemency
World in briefS. Korea court ends leader's impeachment
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
|
|
