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capsule moment

TOBACCO USE CESSATION:

In mentioning “nicotine replacement” products, I was intentionally vague.  I didn’t want to mention the e-cigarettes because their legality in Canada is also vague even though you can buy the products everywhere in Canada and on-line.  The jury is still out on these products.  Granted they certainly contain less carcinogenic compounds than regular tobacco but most of them still contain nicotine, an addictive product.  Looking at the teenage group, there is some evidence that those teens who start out with e-cigs, gravitate to the tobacco products eventually.  Does that mean e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco and perhaps marijuana smoking?  Not enough evidence to prove this yet.  In researcing this comment, I read about “dips” and “chews”, alternate ways of getting the nicotine kick.  Disgusting habit and dangerous one as well.  If you put an average sized wad of this stuff in your mouth and hold it for a half hour, you are getting as much nicotine as three tobacco cigarettes.  You are also exposing mucus membranes to high concentration of chemicals that could result in oral cancer.  ‘Nuf said.  But sometime, the cold turkey method is best.  Short term pain for long term gain.

HEP-C MEDICATION COVERAGE IN CANADA:

 With the advent of new drugs like ledipasvir and sofosbuvir on the market. the future of Hep-C sufferers became a lot brighter.  But with the high cost of these drugs, provinces were a little slow to make them benefits of their drug programs.  However, saner heads prevailed and they could see how spending money now will save a bundle down the road. (See last sentence of the above Detail comment.)

SUGAR TAX:

 This idea has been bandied around for years but no one govenment has had the guts to actually do it….until now.  It’s already had some results.  The amounts of sugar in other soft drinks like Sprite, Fanta and Dr. Pepper (all owned by Coke) has been reduce as well as a new version of Fanta which contains 33% less sugar.  But the makers of Coca Cola are not going to tamper with the recipe of Coke Classic after the fiasco from the mid-80s where they changed their recipe and it failed miserably.  The tax in the U.K. is expected to raise about ￡520 million per year with the money to be spent on funding sport in primary schools.

MALE CONTRACEPTION:

 For the study, researchers evaluated three doses (100, 200 and 400mg) of a once-a-day medication called dimethandrolone undecanoate (DMAU).  Two formulations were tried inside the capsules containing either powder or castor oil.  The study was small…only 100 men divided into groups of 20 or less.  Some received placebo and others received one of the three strengths and those receiving the highest drug dose showed the best in reducing testosterone and the other two hormones…LH and FSH…known to be important in sperm production.  Much, much more work is needed so males will have to rely on the only reversible male contraceptive…the condom.