FDA rubber stamp, Questionable drug approvals, Dr. Johnathan Edwards, Suicide prevention, Ketamine treatment, Microgreens vs mature veggies, Reality of Human Greed, Scientific study flaws, CRISPR gene editing risks, Screen time bowel issues, Clean eating addiction recovery and MORE!

Aug 18, 2023 3-5PM ET

Friday on The Robert Scott Bell Show:

Alarm as FDA fast-tracks first antipsychotic drug for agitation in dementia In trials, the antipsychotic drug brexpiprazole (Rexulti) failed to provide a clinically meaningful benefit and increased the risk of death. Yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fast tracked its approval, making Rexulti the first antipsychotic for treating agitation in elderly patients with dementia. At a cost of around $1,400 a month Rexulti’s makers, Otsuka and Lundbeck, are forecasting an additional $1 billion in annual sales, but there are serious questions about the harm-benefit balance of this drug, writes investigative journalist Robert Whitaker in The BMJ today. The decision may also reverse years of effort by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce the widespread off-label use of antipsychotics in residential care homes. Like other antipsychotics, the drug carries a “boxed warning,” FDA’s most serious type of warning, informing prescribers of increased risk of death. And in the three pre-approval trials, the FDA concluded that the death rate was four times higher in those given brexpiprazole compared to those given placebo. On efficacy, the drug showed a maximum 5.3-point improvement over placebo on a 174-point scale, far short of the 17 points considered to be clinically important. “The small benefits do not outweigh serious safety concerns,” Public Citizen health researcher Nina Zeldes told the FDA’s Advisory Committee prior to the approval. “Like other antipsychotics, this is a drug that can kill patients without providing a meaningful benefit.”

Special Guest Dr. Johnathan Edwards

Suicide.

The word captivates us, and the truth is suicide captures everyone’s attention. Suicide is a tragedy usually preceded by plenty of pain.

About 1 million go through with the act each year. Imagine if your loved one is determined to end their life, and you could get them help. After reading Revolutionary Ketamine, you will understand:

•  Suicide’s devastating cost to society and how to prevent it
•  Why children and adolescents are committing suicide
•  How ketamine stops suicide in its tracks

Suicide is the stuff of other people’s nightmares until it happens to someone you love. Time simply stops, leaving you wondering what could have been done. Suicidal ideations hijack our brains, telling us to end our lives prematurely. What if we could remove this hijacking device? Ketamine is the one drug we have today that can safely halt suicidal ideations, yet most have never heard of it. To those who say more studies are needed to know if ketamine helps with suicidal ideations and depression, I offer you this admonition before trying the drug. If you are suffering from depression and suicidal ideations, the risk versus reward is clearly in favor of using ketamine now. Don’t wait.

Dr. Edwards, the author of Revolutionary Ketamine, is committed to helping those who need never become statistics at all and will equip you with the tools to save your loved one’s life, or possibly your own.

Microgreens or mature veggies? Surprising study reveals which is better for your health Farmers may want to think about harvesting their crops a little earlier. Consuming “microgreens,” which are harvested before reaching full maturity, is more beneficial to health than eating mature vegetables, a new study explains. During a study on mice consuming high-fat diets, scientists discovered that while both mature and immature vegetables helped restrict weight gain, the microgreens had significantly higher amounts of compounds beneficial to gut health. Some of these compounds might even help protect against cancer. Microgreens, which are a stage between sprouts and baby greens, are comparable to the plant world’s toddlers and can be harvested shortly after their first leaves appear. The study, conducted by researchers working with the American Chemical Society (ACS), aimed to determine the validity of claims that microgreens, which can be easily cultivated at home, are superfoods. They also sought to compare their nutritional value with their mature counterparts. The initial focus of the research was on red cabbage. While both the mature and microgreen versions of red cabbage helped prevent weight gain in mice on a high-fat diet, their nutrient profiles varied with age. The microgreens had a notably higher concentration of glucosinolates — compounds containing nitrogen and sulfur which may offer protection against cancer.

Hour 2

The WHO, the UN, and the Reality of Human Greed The World Health Organization (WHO) is not plotting to take over the world. We need to remember what it is; an organization of fairly ordinary people, not especially experts in their field, who have landed jobs and benefits that most of us would envy. Not intrinsically nefarious, the organization is just being obedient to those who fund it and who define how those funds must be used. This is necessary if its staff are to keep their jobs. The WHO is, however, promoting a new treaty being discussed by its governing body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), aimed at centralizing its control over health emergencies. The WHA is also amending the International Health Regulations (IHR), which have force under international law, to give the WHO power to demand lockdowns, mandate vaccines for you and your family, and prevent you from travelling. ‘Health emergencies,’ in this context, are any potential risk that the Director-General determines might cause a significant problem to health. This could be a viral variant somewhere, an outbreak of information that he/she disagrees with, or even changing weather. The current DG has already insisted that all of these are major and growing threats. He even declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern after 5 people in the world died of monkeypox. The rest of the United Nations (UN), in its current desperation over impending climate Armageddon, is much the same as the WHO. As temperatures reach giddy heights that were useful for growing meat and barley in Medieval Greenland, most of its staff don’t really believe we are on the cusp of extinction. They are just ordinary people paid to say these things, and concerned about job security and promotion if they don’t.

16 Reasons Why Most Studies Are Wrong In a previous article, I highlighted Americans’ lamentable lack of health literacy and challenged readers to take a quiz to assess their Health IQ. But one of the reasons for confusion over fundamental health issues (Is moderate drinking healthy? Is coffee good or bad for you? Does consuming eggs up your risk for heart disease?) is that many studies contain fundamental methodological flaws. Even doctors, who are supposed to studiously evaluate the latest research and interpret their conclusions for patients, are ill-equipped to cut through the confusion. We all had to take basic courses in statistics and data analysis, but the complexity of scientific studies often renders them too tough to properly critique by all but the most wonky bio-statisticians. In fact, in a celebrated 2005 paper, Dr. John P. A. Ioannidis explained: “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False”. Among his assertions are “The greater the financial and other interests and prejudices in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true,” and “The hotter a scientific field (with more scientific teams involved), the less likely the research findings are to be true.” So, what’s a person to do?

CRISPR Gene Editing: New Evidence of ‘Potentially Irreversible Safety Risks’ The latest in a long series of papers has been published, detailing the unintended effects of CRISPR gene editing. The new review summarises the many types of serious unintended on-target (at the intended edit site) DNA damage resulting from CRISPR/Cas gene editing. The review appears as the European Commission and the U.K. government maintain their pretense that gene editing is a precise, predictable and controllable technique and that food plants made with this technology are therefore as safe as those produced by conventional breeding. The authors of the new paper, from Rice University in the U.S., reviewed the literature on CRISPR gene editing in human, primate and mouse cells. They found that CRISPR-induced double-strand breaks in the DNA caused numerous large unintended on-target genetic damages, including large and small deletions and insertions and chromosomal rearrangements of genetic material. And they note that even large on-target gene modifications are not detectable by standard methods. As we’ve come to expect, the authors of the new review are from the clinical gene therapy arena rather than the agricultural genetic engineering arena. As an example of the widespread concern about CRISPR’s imprecision in the clinical arena, a recent article in Forbes warns that gene editing “comes with potentially irreversible safety risks.” Because the unintended effects of CRISPR gene editing highlighted in the new review are on-target mutations at the intended edit site, improving the targeting of the editing tool isn’t going to solve these problems, as GMWatch has warned before.

Can your screen time affect your bowel movements? In a recent study published in the Scientific Reports journal, researchers employed Mendelian randomization analyses of large-scale genome-wide association studies to investigate the causal relationship between leisure screen time (LST) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Their results establish the association between increased leisure screen time and irregular bowel movements in Europeans, paving the path for future investigations into the biological mechanisms underlying computed correlations. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic condition affecting the gastrointestinal tract (GI). It is characterized by abdominal cramping, pain, bloating, diarrhea or constipation, or both. The altered bowel patterns associated with the condition are common, affecting 10-20% of the world’s population, with an additional incidence of 1-2% per year. The pathology and etiology of the disease are multifaceted, with genetics, infection, intestinal motility, and chronic inflammation assumed to contribute to IBS. The severity of IBS varies between individuals, with coexisting conditions including poor lifestyle and health behaviors and emotional or mental stress amplifying disease symptoms. There is currently no unambiguously effective treatment for the condition, making studying the causal underpinnings of the disease essential. A growing body of literature identifies extended sedentary behaviors, especially leisure screen time (LST), contributing to chronic illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. However, few studies have investigated the associations between LST and IBS risk.

From Detox To Diet: How Clean Eating Supports Addiction Recovery And Healthy Living For individuals struggling with addiction, proper nutrition often takes a backseat to the craving for the substance of choice. Alcoholics, for instance, may tend to draw a significant portion of their daily calorie intake from alcoholic beverages, resulting in vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Similarly, those addicted to other substances may display erratic eating habits, either consuming too little due to suppressed appetite or resorting to unhealthy choices for quick energy. Over time, these unhealthy choices can lead to poor health, a weakened immune system, compromised organ functions, deteriorated bone health, and a heightened risk of infections. As individuals embark on their recovery journey, detoxifying their bodies from harmful substances becomes a priority. But detox is only the beginning. To truly rebuild, the body requires proper nutrition. Enter clean eating—a beacon of hope in the recovery landscape. Clean eating, which focuses on whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, emerges as a potent ally. It replenishes the body with essential nutrients lost during periods of substance abuse. What’s more, it sets the foundation for sustained healthy living. As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” As such, eating clean and opting for a nourishing diet might be the keystone to a new, healthier life for those in recovery.

Questions of The Day!

Hi Robert, thank you for your knowledge that you have provided to me over the years. You actually started my health journey 8 years ago when my son was born and I saw one of your videos on youtube about vaccines. It really woke me up from my slumber. My question is, my son has been waking up in the morning with stomach pains and then sometimes followed by his heart racing. He’s been tested for pretty much everything under the sun and nothing is coming up. He eats pretty much 100% organic and 99% of his meals are homemade. He does get fermented foods/probiotics and a mega foods multi vit. We did the silver/aloe protocol about 1 year ago. Never had any antibiotics, he did have three “shots” when he was around 3-6 mos of age then we stopped. We are at a loss on what is bothering him. Thank you! Oh yes, going back a little bit in time I am a dude. – Carmen

Hi Robert,
How are you?
I notice in The Truth About Cancer, A Global Quest you mention a whole food form of Selenium and Chromium, as well as silica in tablet form, for preventing and treating cancer.
Does this treat all types and stages of cancer? Do you have a link to these forms?
I also read in The Senior’s Guide to Metabolism that people absorb chromim picoinate and chromium polynicotinate better than chromium.  It also said that chromium can increase depression in some people.
The book also mentioned that hexavalent chromium is carcinogenic.
Do you have any feedback on the above?
Thanks much,
Karen