RUSH: Look at the health news that we have learned this week. Yesterday the big news was that omega-3 fish oils increase a man’s risk for prostate cancer by 70%. Now, many people have been led to believe that omega-3 fish oils — people gobble that stuff — retards and delays or prevents, whatever, cancer. It turns out there’s a direct link in a rather large human trial sample size between omega-3 fatty acid fish oil pills and prostate cancer.

We also learn that it’s a total myth to reduce salt intake in order to promote health. It turns out it doesn’t matter, and I’ll tell you, you know, I didn’t realize this when I was talking about this yesterday. Somebody made the point to me that there are a bunch of American corporations, who, upon being pressured by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actually have reduced the salt content of their foods. The processed food industry, for the most part, have actually reduced the salt content of their foods and made them less appetizing, have made their products taste worse, all on the pressure of a big government nanny, Michael Bloomberg. It turns out now to be of no significance whatsoever when it comes to your health. It’s a matter of preference. There’s no need to be worried about salt intake.

There was a third one, I’m having trouble remembering off the top of my head what the third health realization was. What was it? Salt, fish oils, omega-3. (interruption) No, I discovered exercise is irrelevant for weight loss 35 years ago. It’s not diet soda. There was some health thing turned upside down. Anyway, I’ll remember it. Here’s the one today, and stand by. Common acid reflux drugs — we’re talking about Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, Tagamet, that kind of stuff, this is not Tums and Rolaids. (interruption) No, no, no. I’m not gonna attack Big Pharma. Once again we’re attacking a bunch of politicized health Nazis.

“An extremely popular class of drugs taken by millions of people with acid reflux, heartburn, and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) –” You ever heard of that? You ever heard of GERD? GERD is bad news. It’s like gout of the gastrointestinal, if you can visualize that. No, folks, I haven’t forgotten. I’m just stringing you along here.

“An extremely popular class of drugs taken by millions of people with acid reflux, heartburn, and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), may raise the risk of heart disease and heart attack, according to a new study published in the current issue of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. Research by John P. Cooke, clinical professor and chair of the department of cardiovascular sciences at Houston Methodist Hospital, found that stomach acid-suppressing proton pump inhibitors (brand names Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid) may cause blood vessels to constrict, reducing blood flow.

“Studying both mouse and human tissue cultures, the researchers found that PPIs led to an approximately 25 percent increase in a chemical messenger called ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine), considered a cardiovascular risk factor. ADMA suppresses blood vesselsÂ’ ability to produce nitric oxide, a relaxant that protects artery walls. Nitric oxide is so important to cardiovascular health that its discovery was honored with a Nobel Prize in 1998. In the study, PPIs –” and again, these are the drugs Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid — these are proton pump inhibitors.

“In the study, PPIs reduced the ability of mouse blood vessels to relax by an average of more than 30 percent. ‘We also found the same effect in human blood vessels,’ says Cooke. ‘This is very important because blood vessels need to be able to contract and open up to control blood flow.'”

Now, how many people have been taken these things — Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid — for heartburn, reflux, GERD, and now they find out they are exposing themselves, perhaps, to increased odds of heart disease? There’s another way of reading this, too, though. An extremely popular class of drugs taken by millions of people with acid reflux, heartburn, and GERD may not raise the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Says it might, but then it might not as well. They don’t know.

(interruption)

Well, because they got the news here, they’ve done the tests, it might, I mean, it’s a 30% thing out there. I mean, they’ve ginned up a panic. This is the way this all operates. I’m just telling you.

(interruption)

What? What are you taking? Oh, good for you. You did not take your omega acids today. I didn’t know you have been taking omega acids. You didn’t tell anybody that. You might need to go omega acid rehab now. You gotta be wary of the withdrawal from the omega acid stuff. I didn’t know you were on those things. You didn’t take it because of the news yesterday that it leads to increased risk of prostate cancer? Well, it makes sense based on the news of yesterday.

Here’s another one. This is from the researcher Cooke. “I’d tell people, if there’s something else they could be taking that would effectively control their symptoms, such as Zantac or Tagamet.” Oh, Tagamet is not included in the bad stuff here. “‘Zantac or Tagamet, maybe that would be better,’ says Cooke, who until recently was professor of cardiovascular medicine Stanford University School of Medicine and associate director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute before moving his lab to Houston.”

You know what? Tums work. Rolaids, they work. They’re not preventative. The great thing about Prilosec and that stuff, you take it once a day and you never get heartburn. It actually reduces the production of acid. Tums and Rolaids, when the acid hits, you take it, it neutralizes it. Or Alka-Seltzer. That’s what you took in the old days. In the sixties, heartburn, put some fizzy Alka-Seltzer in the glass and wait till it fizzes up and drink that and you burp the gas away. Worked every time I tried it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The other thing that we discovered this week was that Attention Deficit Disorder drugs do not improve grades. So here’s the thing. Attention Deficit Disorder drugs, Ritalin, Adderall, do not improve the grades of your hyperactive, hyperkinetic male predator little boy. You can eat all the salt you want, doesn’t matter. The omega-3 fish oils that people think are basically health supplements have a 70% increased link to prostate cancer. And of course today the news that Nexium, Prilosec, and other inhibitor type drugs for stomach acids can increase the risk of heart disease.

I’ll tell you, folks, it’s dangerous to live. It is really dangerous to be alive. It’s very risky and some are seriously considering whether it’s worth it. Do you realize all the risks out there to being alive?