Category: Nutritonal Supplements

  • Why the Pharmacy OTC Section Will Be a Growing Target for Evidence Based Medicine Trolls

    The front store of the pharmacy has traditionally been where the pharmacist and patient relationship grows to a level beyond where it would be with just prescription counseling alone. It affords to pharmacists a selection of products that empowers the lay public to take some sort control of their health in almost any way they…

  • The Continuum of Evidence Based Medicine

    Should Pharmacists be blasted for selling what some call alternative therapies or products that are not “evidence based”? These criticisms can blindside unsuspecting Pharmacists trying to do what they can for their patients regardless of the fact that they are making a profit from it or not. What makes it more difficult is the way…

  • In Case You’ve Just Thrown Out All Of Your Supplements.

    Just in case you are being drawn in by the overwhelming attempt to draw you away from anything that is labeled as a supplement, be weary of one red flag: a claim that “there are no studies showing any effectiveness”. No studies. Not even one. Not a single, solitary inkling of any positive outcome in…

  • Your Pharmacy is Most Likely an Alternative, Complimentary, Off Label, Patient Centred One

      Most Pharmacists rely on the foundation that their “evidence-based” mantra is being followed. A simple Google search shows us that: “Alternative medicine is any practice that is put forward as having the healing effects of medicine, but does not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, is not part of biomedicine, or is…

  • Zinc levels and Erectile Dysfunction and Low Libido

    With the erectile dysfunction (ED) market expected to reach 3.4 billion dollars (USD) by 2019, this is a lucrative area to invest in, and not much grabs the attention of a guy watching a commercial during a Monday night football game than the promise to easily cure this problem with one pill as needed.  But…

  • What’s worth more? A favorable statistical p value or clinical results?

    With the recent talk of p-values and their value in scientific journals it brings to light an important interpretive tool in efficacy of therapies, clinical experience.  P value is the chance of getting a positive response in a scientific study when there is no real effect after all, also known as a false positive.  The…

  • What causes “expensive urine”? Vitamins or the Prescription drugs that deplete them?

    Perhaps one of the biggest blanket statements against the nutraceutical/supplement movement is the claim that “vitamin and mineral supplements do nothing more than cause expensive urine”.  This is a claim most of us have heard before and certainly for busy pharmacists, physicians and the public in general that may not have the time to fully…

  • Rebuttal of MacLean’s Article on Vitamins

    Nothing wakes up my sense of rebuttal more than an article that tries to sway the population in a way that misleads them.  After a stint away from writing on my blog to cover some more important issues (not that writing on a blog is unimportant) with my Pharmacies, this article was revealed to me. …

  • 6 Medications you should revisit with your doctor

    Modern medicine is a field that involves following guidelines. As pharmacists, we see a lot of repetition. Eighty per cent of our day seems to involve the same classes of drugs as the previous day. With added pressures of extra duties over the last few years, it can become a busy environment where you struggle…

  • Agave Nectar Practice Safe Sweetening

    Agave Nectar – The Biggest Lie In “Health” Food Sugar is bad… yeah, yeah. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is even worse… yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard all that and most of us are well programmed by now to look for “healthier” options. One such sweetener that’s been heavily promoted in recent years as a…