Why Your Multivitamin is Useless

Perhaps I'm taking a bit of dramatic license with that title, however it isn't a hugh exageration to say that, whatever vitamin you're taking, it probably has a host of flaws. In fact, every major vitamin I have seen sold in a drug store, or in the medicine cabinet of my friends and family, suffers from at least three major flaws, detailed below. Aside from the fact that every one of them seems to be a once-daily formula (you can't even fit all the magnesium you need in a day in one pill, let alone everything else) they also contain cheap and ineffective forms of many nutrients. I have outlined a few of these issues with many modern multivitamins in this article. Also, even though this is a blog, I will cite sources for all of my claims relating to specific issues with the science of vitamins and minerals, from reliable, scientific journals and government authorities.

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Editoral: Let the Dems Govern

From The Huffington Post: Obama Vows to use Reconciliation to end the Bank Subsidized Loan Program

The  of the FFEL student program program needs to end. Bush and the 2000 era republicans though it was a good idea to give the student loans to banks, guarantee the loans with federal dollars while giving banks the profit; this had the effect of increasing the cost of the loans. Direct Lending is a far better idea that saves students money and gives the profit back to the government for reinvestment in education.

Critics of Obama and the Congressional Democrats argue that these measures should be done with Republican support in a bipartisan way. Obama and congress are planning on using the same reconciliation process for health care unless Congress is able to come up with legislation by October 15th. Obama is doing what he was elected to do: fix this country.

Issues such as these and others, like energy policy, are too critical to leave to compromise in the form of watered-down, Republican-influenced legislation. Democrats need to realize that this is the time to take action and govern the country on the reform agenda we were elected on in 2006 and again in January.

America is the only western democracy where the party in charge is asked to let the opposing party block their initiatives under the umbrella of bipartisanism. It's time to let the democrats govern and push our country forward.

Scholastic Receives Exclusive Rights to W. Memoirs: Exclusive Report

NEW YORK, NY - April 10th 2009 - Officials for former US president George W. Bush announced today that Scholastic will receive the exclusive publishing rights to the former president's memoirs. Mr. Bush, in addition to his work at the George W. Bush Public Policy Institute and his international talks, has begun writing his memoirs. "Scholastic is a clear choice for Mr. Bush as they cater to a population most likely to relate to his way of thinking, namely, middle school students," said David Walsh, a representative for the former president. "We are very excited about the partnership between President Bush and Scholastic, and believe that the Scholastic Book Clubs will open an untapped market for Mr. Bush's memoirs."

"Scholastic Corporation is the world's largest publisher of children's books and a leader in educational technology and media," said Kathy Martell, a Scholastic spokesperson, in an interview over the phone. "Scholastic's proprietary delivery channels such as our book clubs and fairs in middle schools throughout the country, as well as our reputation for excellence in children's publishing, will provide key channels for the former president's market."

Scholastic officials also say that the same illustrator who worked on a popular Scholastic book series, Clifford the Big Red Dog, will also provide the illustrations for Mr. Bush's memoirs. The illustrator was unavailable for comment. A popup book structure is also being considered. "A popup book will provide Mr. Bush another means in which to express himself, in addition to the crayon text and large drawings," added Walsh. "And it is a major boon to Mr. Bush getting the Clifford illustrator, since that is his favorite book."

(Parody; Not True News)

The SSRI Problem: Moving Past Monoamines

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors have been the first-line treatment for depression for nearly two decades now, with the introduction of Prozac, which often gets the credit as the first SSRI, though it was merely the first marketed SSRI, not the first discovered SSRI (zimelidine holds that honor), it still holds the title as the drug that reolutionized psychopharmacological treatment of depression and, twenty years later, other disorders such as anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and others. SSRIs have a modest side effect profile (though not too modest, as we will see), and produce symptom relief in about 55% or more of patients, an acceptable, though not stellar, efficacy profile.

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My New Space

Welcome to my new Squarespace, which will hopefully be an extension of my online presence which right now seems to focus on my professional advancement more than expression. You will notice that my home page is essentially an extended resume; prior to the launch of my new Squarespace blog, my Movable Type blog was dormant for quite a long time.

Hopefully my desire to play with Squarespace (amazing product, I must say) will lead me to actually maintain this blog for longer than three months. Its not as though I'm not capable of maintaining a blog; my first active blog had updated every day or so with a stream of visitors of about ~800 uniques per week and growing with a large number of repeat visitors. So let's hope I can get that momentum going again.