Coping: Lyle Alzado, Vitamin B-50 & Vitamin Testing

To borrow a station promo from WOAI in San Antonio overnight (1200 AM if you’re in the area) “Don’t take new vitamin B-50 unless you want to end up like Lyle Alzado.”  The station is running special reports this morning on the vitamin, if I follow correctly.

Here’s what we can “dot-connect” here:  Lyle Alzado was one hellavah fine football player – and also one of the first to admit taking anabolic steroids and fessing up publicly (details may be found here).  He died at age 43 of brain cancer – which he attributed to steroids.

Fast forward to this week and we have a warning from the Food and Drug Administration that certain B-50 compounding may contain steroids.  From the official press release…

“…the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers that they should not use or purchase Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50, marketed as a vitamin B dietary supplement. A preliminary FDA laboratory analysis indicated that the product contains two potentially harmful anabolic steroids—methasterone, a controlled substance, and dimethazine. These ingredients are not listed in the label and should not be in a dietary supplement.

“Products marketed as a vitamin but which contain undisclosed steroids pose a real danger to consumers and are illegal,” said Howard Sklamberg, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The FDA is committed to ensuring that products marketed as vitamins and dietary supplements do not pose harm to consumers.”

The FDA has received reports of 29 adverse incidents associated with the use of Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50.  These reports include fatigue, muscle cramping, and myalgia (muscle pain), as well as abnormal laboratory findings for liver and thyroid function, and cholesterol levels. Females who used this product reported unusual hair growth and missed menstruation, and males who used the product reported impotence and findings of low testosterone.

Consumers using Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50 who experience any of these symptoms should consult a health care professional and report their experience to the FDA. Using anabolic steroid-containing products may cause acute liver injury. Some of the cases reported have resulted in hospitalization, but there were no reports of death or acute liver failure….”

I’m one of those people who believes that moderate use of vitamins and nutrient supplementations over time can improve one’s health, but as always we recommend regular blood work and close coordination with your healthcare professional. 

My own daily vitamin/nutrient regimen  consists of celery seed, lots of vitamin C, magnesium, L-arginine, black cherry extract, turmeric, huperzine, and bilberry/lutein.  On top of this is a good solid multi-vit plus zinc and a baby aspirin with a meal.  Every other day a small amount of boron and a B-complex formulated for allergies. 

This is not a recommendation – again, see your health professional.  It does, however, seem to work for me.  I think the way to test vitamins is to add one to your regimen, use it for a month, and note any difference in weight and how you feel.  Blood pressure and periodical blood work-ups periodically, too.

My collection of “additives” works well:  The celery is a mild diuretic which works excess salt through the system.  The magnesium is to hedge against heart disease. That’s more a preventative strategy because we get so much calcium in our diets. The L-arginine is written up here (see all tabs).

Since I am very conscious about eyesight, the difference is optically noticeable between being on vitamin C, bilberry, and lutein for me.  Many of the popular “eye improvement” compounds use these, and other ingredients.  

Black cherry extract seems to improve gout (though it may be partial offset by the L-arginine) while turmeric has reported effects fighting osteoarthritis and last year a study suggested it may lower risk of type 2 diabetes.  The huperzine A may be useful in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and it also has a documented effect improving memory.

The multi-vit and baby aspirin are based on heart-health studies. 

I have experimented with a lot of vitamins and supplements over time.  But when I add a new one, like Ecklonia Cava, I use it for a month and try to discern any noticeable improvement in health, clarity of thinking and so forth.  In that case, I didn’t, so after showing promise, I couldn’t see any discernable difference…but again, YMMV (your mileage may vary!).

Likely the next one on my personal vitamin trials list will be gingko biloba which is reviewed here for dealing with cognitive impairment and a related discussion of potential drug interactions here is something you should always look at (with your healthcare providers) when trying new additives.

The only regret I have about my personal vitamin “trials” is that I didn’t start the process 30-years ago…the results are not quite like the difference between driving a Chevy and a Porsche, but something along those lines in terms of how the brain and the body respond to performance demands.

European Solar BS

We’ve got a small solar installation, by most standards…putting out only about 3.5 kW of grid-interactive solar at best.  Still, while most of our neighbors are paying $300 (and on up) for really comfortable A/C settings, our bill for last month was only $161 and we left the servers and A/C on while we were traveling. 

So, you can imagine how ticked I was to read about how in Spain this month, energy outfits “owns the sunshine” that falls on private property!

These thieving rotten bastards didn’t even allow a vote on it, near as I can find.

Not that the US if perfect, although we haven’t started taxing Sun yet:  ON the other hand, we may be the world leader in taxing rain water, as this Google search lets on.

Near as I can figure it, bureaucrats aren’t very smart.  Faced with outraged publics who don’t like being spied on and taxed to death, do you think increasing tax burdens and “making up” new things to tax will settle down the herd?  No sir!  Just piss ’em off more, you can be certain of that.

With any luck, a lot of these horrible EU tax ideas (and things like bail-ins test-run in Cyprus) will stay away from our shores.  But, thanks to plenty of fluoride in the water, and psychoactive medications, only a few genetically advanced sheeple are likely to notice, thus ensuring that a bad idea one place, like Spain, will eventually become a bad idea everywhere.

I keep this poem handy for stories like this one:

“Tax his land, tax his wage,

Tax his bed in which he lays.

Tax his tractor, tax his mule,

Teach him taxes is the rule

Tax his cow, tax his goat,

Tax his pants, tax his coat.

Tax his ties, tax his shirts,

Tax his work, tax his dirt

Tax his chew, tax his smoke,

Teach him taxes are no joke.

Tax his car, tax his grass,

Tax the roads he must pass

Tax his food, tax his drink,

Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his sodas, tax his beers,

If he cries, tax his tears

Tax his bills, tax his gas,

Tax his notes, tax his cash.

Tax him good and let him know

That after taxes, he has no dough

If he hollers, tax him more,

Tax him until he’s good and sore.

Tax his coffin, tax his grave,

Tax the sod in which he lays

Put these words upon his tomb,

“Taxes drove me to my doom!”

And when he’s gone, we won’t relax,

We’ll still be after the inheritance tax “

Most of these taxes didn’t exist 100-years ago.  Which brings me to a rather obvious question:  Has public education gotten better of worse, you think?

Near as I can figure it, when teacher pay started coming from taxes, the education community responded with a long-term “teach them to love taxes” strategy. 

The old management axiom holds:  What gets rewarded gets done.

Reader’s Writes

Reader Crisp gets a nod this morning for properly anticipating one of today’s news stories…the one upcoming about Fearless Leader heading to Tennessee today…

“It will be interesting to see how Obama uses his appearance (Tuesday 7-30) at one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers (Chattanooga TN) to communicate his talking points to Amazon/public on jobs and the economy. 

After several months of continued  bad press on jobs in the U.S. and some articles stating more people have gone on food stamps than have landed a new job during his five years in office what is his purpose with visiting Amazon?  

Perhaps it has something to do with the national media attention given last week to Amazon announcing it would be hiring 7000 workers soon, that’s good news correct? 

Well this happens every year with not only Amazon but all online retailers, late July is the start of the recruitment kickoff to staff up on temporary workers for the holiday shopping season. 

I don’t like to say Christmas shopping season  because sales really start in mid-October with Halloween related items going through Thanksgiving, black Friday and into Christmas.  Almost 40% of most online retailers sales are squeezed into the fourth quarter of the year, can you imagine how much merchandise has to be stocked ahead of time to get ready for this, but I digress…..  

Could Obama give a nice little “look how well Amazon is doing” speech tomorrow trying to ride their coat tails on his favorable business climate resulting in 7000 new jobs for them? I can see him pandering to Bezos and Amazon’s liberal leaning officers on how more businesses “should” be successful and resourceful like Amazon, use some ingenuity.

Remember these 7000 jobs are temp jobs throughout Amazon’s 12-14 centers, evaporating on Dec 24th in the early morning hours after third shift is through shipping next day air for all those orders placed by procrastinating males.

If Obama tries to spin this, as I suspect he will, it will remind me of the recession of 1991 when jobs were tough to come by and Dan Quayle is riding in some town and asks the limo driver to stop immediately in front of a burger king. 

He had a small press corps with him I can’t remember where it was or all of the details.  Dan walks up to the fast food joint and shows the press/camera’s a help wanted sign on the front door. He genuinely starts laughing and says “see there are jobs in the U.S. you just have to go find them”. 

I am paraphrasing on his quote but it so reviled me at the time being an unemployed construction worker watching this out of touch buffoon laughing about a minimum wage job.

From that day I began to buy in to the intense criticism Quayle got from not only the media but several republicans in DC.  

My point is “out of touch” in DC is it the norm or is it purposeful?   As the old saying goes the more things change, the more they sure as hell seem to stay the same.  

Keep em’ straight George,   Regards,   Crisp”

Yup….though it’s more than a full-time job. 

Tomorrow:  Peoplenomics readers get a lesson in “The Color of Money” – and our usual rambunctiousness will recycle some more electrons here again Thursday. 

Write when you get rich…

George Ure (george at ure dot net)

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