Avandia Heart Risks News

Doctor Oz: Avandia: Dangerous Diabetes Drug Causes Heart Attacks

- Drozfans.com

11/30/2010 - Doctor Oz did a segment on Avandia, a highly popular Diabetes drug that was recently heavily restricted in America and banned entirely in Europe. GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia may have caused 100,000 people to have heart attacks or to die. Dr Oz said that Diabetes is so widespread that it touches 1 out of 4 people and 57 million people have Pre-Diabetes. You can often manage Type 2 Diabetes through diet or exercise, but sometimes medicine is necessary.

Avandia was one of the most popular Diabetes drugs because it was shown to help your own natural insulin work better. Studies showed that Avandia was very successful and by 2006 it was the top selling Diabetes drug in the world.

GlaxoSmithKline reported $3 billion in sales of Avandia. Dr Steven Nissen at the Cleveland Clinic did his own analysis on data that GlaxoSmithKline was forced to make public, and he found that patients who took Avandia had a 43% higher risk of heart attacks than people taking other Diabetes medications.

Even worse, GlaxoSmithKline apparently already knew about this as early as 1999. The FDA has now limited Avandia in America and only 600,000 people are still taking it today.

Dr Nissen told Dr Oz that he believes the FDA should ban Avandia altogether, but that they are not doing that because the people who approved it in the first place do not want to admit that they were wrong.

Avandia does increase your risk for heart disease and for getting heart attacks, so it is a bad deal even if it does help decrease your blood sugar. Rita Kalvani said that patients taking Avandia are coming in and asking what their risk for heart disease is now.

When there are 12-13 drug alternatives to Avandia, Nissen and Kalvani do not think Avandia is necessary or worthwhile.

Dr Oz said that a big belly, as we all know, can cause a raging fire with many problems in our body. Avandia, while it may lower blood sugar, simultaneously it seems to increase inflammation and makes other changes to our bodies that we are not even aware of yet.

Rita Kalvani said that diet and exercise has always been the foundation for any effective Diabetes treatment. It is recommended to do at least 100 minutes of exercise per week. Steven Nissen said that the problem is that most people with Diabetes do not even know they have it until it is too late for diet and exercise alone to work.

Steven Nissen told Dr Oz that patients should try to stay as informed as they can. If a new drug comes out, there is often something we do not know about it yet. Nissen suggested that if a good alternative that has been around for a long time will work for you, then try that instead of new drugs.

There are two other classes of drugs that Nissen is worried about. ADHD drugs are stimulants and derivatives of amphetamines, which can raise blood pressure and cause heart arrhythmia. Nissen’s second drug class that he is concerned about is tranquilizers used to treat depression, which may also cause Diabetes.

Dr Oz said that most people can prevent Diabetes without taking a pill. By losing 10 pounds, you can decrease your diabetes risk by 60%. Dr Oz posted a message on the screen that said to move 10 minutes a day, but at the same time the advice to exercise 100 minutes a week was given… so I would be on the safe side and try to squeeze in all 100 minutes of exercise weekly!

Avandia Side Effects Cases Still Being Accepted: