I think the title of this post is a little misleading (although, to be fair to the OP, I do applaud you for bringing this possible problem to our attention). There was only one study (not the plural "Studies" as in the title) that indicated that a small subset of the population (African Americans over the age of 70 living in Indianapolis) showed an increase risk for long-term, mild cognitive impairment. This is far from having a mountain of evidence that "proves" a scientific theory. BTW, science can never "prove" anything; it can only disprove... You may have many studies that provide support for a given hypothesis, but it only takes one study to disprove that same hypothesis.
For example, lets imagine that a later study of Asians in their 30s living in San Francisco does
not show the increased impairment. The researchers would then have to look at other possibilities to explain why the one group showed the impairment while the second did not. Perhaps there is an environmental factor? Maybe there's something in the air over Indiana that increases a persons risk for developing the impairment when taking the medication... Perhaps there is a genetic link? The journal article did mention that a particular allele (eg a version of a gene) that if missing increases the risk of impairment for the group using those types of drugs. Maybe the African American community (or anyone with African ancestors, for that matter) tends to have more without those alleles then the Asian communities do. Perhaps the difference is due to the ages of the different groups. Maybe elderly people are not able to repair the damage that the 30-year-olds "see" as a temporary impairment thereby rendering the damage into a more serious, long-term effect.
I see the exaggeration of science articles as becoming more of a problem, especially in the Information Age. On the one hand, I do think that it is important for the general public to know what is going on in the scientific realms. If more and more studies do show that these type of drugs do have this negative side-effect, it is important that the public know about it so that they can weigh the benefits versus the side-effects of the drugs. On the other hand, journal articles like this (or rather, like the article that the OP's link links to) are sometimes used for some outside gain that may be misleading at the very least. Newspapers and the popular press may want to print something about the study more for its sensationalism. Government may use it to impose even stricter policing of OTC medications.
Even the OPs article-link is using it for their own outside gain. That site sells natural products and remedies, so of course they will try to expose any scientific articles that shows the dangers of pharmaceuticals. The dirty little secret is that those natural supplements don't have to go through nearly the rigorous studies to test for their harmful side-effects. That is why commercials will tout some "all natural" remedy as having no side-effects... They probably do have side-effects like any other substance that we put into our bodies; they just haven't tested the product enough to know what those possible side-effects are. And becuase they don't have to make such rigorous tests, they'll save all of that expense an not perform the tests. Big Nutraceutical companies are just as greedy as Big Pharmaceuticals, but because of all the testing required of pharmaceuticals and the side-effects that drugs have to list, they are seen as the big bad guys.
Any time you put something into your body, you run the risk of exposing it to a harmful side-effect. There have been cases of people relying on natural remedies that have gotten poisoned by the substance they were ingesting because they didn't realize that they actually was a harmful side-effect. Heck, even the "all natural" oxygen that we breath can cause free-radicals in the body that may cause mutations in the DNA and eventually lead to cancer. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't breath! We just need to be careful of what we do do to our bodies. We also need to weigh the balance between the benefits and risks, and make the choice for ourselves. This also means that we need more accuracy in our reporting of scientific studies so that we can keep everyone informed. Instead of "Studies Prove that These Drugs Make Your Brain Stop Working" maybe "New Study Suggests OTC Pills May Cause Memory Loss"
Part of the problem is that we are beginning to rely on technology to solve all of our problems. Instead of toiling hours away washing clothes on a scrubbing board, you can now just dump your dirty laundry into that newfangled washing machine!
Can't sleep, why just pop a pill!
With the wonders of science, anything is possible!
To quote Spiderman, "with great power comes great responsibility"; this is true in our lives as well. We can't rely solely on science to solve our problems. But that doesn't necessitate that all technology is inherently evil either. We just have to know that popping a pill (whether it be OTC or prescription; from Big Pharma or from Big Nutra) isn't going to cure all of your ills, and may actually lead to some unintended consequences.
Using OTC sleeping agents on a chronic basis may not the the most healthiest thing to do. Instead a person should try to just sleep naturally. The stress in a person's life maybe at fault for giving them sleepless nights. So yoga classes may be the key to reducing stress and thereby allowing a person to fall asleep. Or perhaps a person's circadian rhythm isn't acting correctly -- something common in the elderly population. This is why some older people may feel wide awake at 4 in the morning, but that want a nap at 2:30 in the afternoon (and unfortunately they are having to cope with a society that runs more on an 8am-8pm schedule). Conversely, maybe a person's circadian rhythm is too strong so that in the summer during the longer day-light hours, a person isn't able to get the sleep that they need. Maybe just buying heavy drapes over the bedroom windows would be enough to allow them to get their needed rest without resorting to artificial means.
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Topic: Studies Prove that These Drugs Make Your Brain Stop Working… (Read 1371 times)
July 06, 2010, 10:53:01 am