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What Doctors Don't Tell You is the complete review of health problems and safer, proven ways of treating them. WDDTY is a monthly journal - described as the best in the world - it's a research database, and it's a portal for you to share your health experiences.

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Nicotine patches: no patch on cold turkey

Nicotine skin patches have been widely sold as the answer to an addiction to smoking. In the UK, you don’t need a prescription to buy them but, in California, they have only become available over the counter in the last five years.

Yet, despite a threefold increase in sales, Californian cancer experts have been disappointed not to see a corresponding rise in the numbers of ex-smokers. Nicotine patches, they reported in a recent survey, 'were not associated with a clinically meaningful long-term improvement in successful cessation'.

However, the pharmaceutical companies who make the patches had their marketing licences granted only because they had produced clinical-trial data showing that the patches were a useful aid to quitting smoking. The question is: why haven’t the patches worked in the real world?

The answer has implications for medicine in general. As the cancer experts have gently phrased it, 'The efficacy of pharmaceutical aids observed in clinical trials may not extend to effectiveness in the general population' (JAMA, 2002; 288: 1260-4).

Nicotine patches - Q:How safe are the nicotine patches for stopping smoking? Do they really work? J McB, Washington, DC....... ...

Nicotine patches: heart disease - Smokers who rely on nicotine patches or chewing gum to help them kick the habit may continue to run an increased risk of heart disease. ...

Quitting smoking: it's never too late - Even if you are well into middle age, giving up cigarettes will greatly reduce your risk of getting cancer, according to UK researchers. ...

That's nice: well it is for the pharmaceutical companies, at any rate - NICE isn t supposed to be not to pharmaceutical companies at least NICE which stands for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence is the t...

Us pharmaceutical companies target consumers direct - US drug companies have decided to take their wares directly to the people. ...

Hair dyes: They do cause cancer, experts conclude - Hair dyes may cause cancer – and hairdressers and barbers could especially be at risk because of their daily contact with the colourants.

Nicotinell - Nicotinell is one of the leading licensed brands of nicotine patches, used to help people smoking. Introduced in 1992, it is manufactured by Geigy Pha...

Nicotine patch goes up in smoke - Nicotine patches are ineffective in the long term as an aid to stop smoking, concludes a new study. Originally intended to assess the safety of the pa...

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