The Most Important MEDICINE You'll Ever GROW

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COX-2 Inhibitors can ease pain and fight cancer - naturally.

We live in a painful world. An estimated 40 million people suffer from osteoarthritis (OA), and between 2 and 3 million more suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). For decades the pain interventions of choice for these ailments - and a host of aches and pains - have been nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin, ibuprofen and Naproxen.

Virtually every human being has taken one form or another of these medicines during in their lives. Moderate doses for short periods of time are effective and relatively benign, but long-term use of these medications can increase the risk of serious side effects, including kidney and liver damage and peptic ulcers. In fact, geriatrics on NSAIDs experience significantly more ulcers, gastrointestinal irritation (GI) and kidney failure than the overall population. Each year, as many as 9% of geriatric NSAID users require hospitalization due to serious GI toxicity, and RA patients who chronically use NSAIDs are believed to increase their risk of GI-related hospitalizations sixfold. An estimated 107,000 people every year are hospitalized due to problems resulting from the use of NSAIDs, and as many as 16,500 people died in 1999 from NSAID complications; approximately the same number of people died from AIDS-related complications last year.

In addition, more than 100,000 people die every year from unanticipated reactions to prescription pharmaceuticals. The General Accounting Office (GAO) reported in 1990 that more than half of the drugs newly approved by the FDA in one decade had "serious post-approval risks, including heart failure, birth defects, kidney failure, blindness and convulsions." That alone is reason enough think twice about the risks we may be taking when we introduce new medicines into our lives.

In 1971, Sir John Vane was the first to figure out exactly how aspirin relieves pain. Vane, who won the 1982 Nobel Prize in medicine for his ground-breaking work, discovered that aspirin decreases the production of the prostaglandins that are generated by the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme. Unfortunately, NSAIDs, some more than others, also inhibit the balance and protective features of the COX en zyme, which is essential for proper kidney function and for protecting the stomach. Scientists and pharmacists warn that if you were to inhibit all COX activity, which can happen with long-term use of NSAIDs, you may well run the risk of endangering some vital organs and systems.

The antidote to the serious side effect of long-term pain reliever use, however, may still be right under our noses. In their new book, Beyond Aspirin: Nature's Answer to Arthritis, Cancer & Alzheimer's Disease (Rohm Press, 2000), authors Thomas M. Newmark and Paul Schulick have become some of the first health experts to talk about the miracles of natural cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, better known as COX-2 inhibitors or COX-2-Is. Their book introduces readers to the concept that the COX-2-Is found in nature, in such medicinal herbs as ginger and turmeric, can spare a great deal of pain and many fatalities. They also found that the new pharmaceutical COX-2-Is - namely Celebrex and Vioxx - may work even more dramatically.