Book Promoted by Hugh Downs Makes Ridiculous Health Claims

One would think that ever since TV anchorman Dan Rather got discredited for his false story about George Bush and the National Guard, that TV broadcasters like Hugh Downs would be more careful about lending their prestige and their media influence. Nevertheless, advertisements for The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets abound all over the internet, typically featured at The Weather Channel's website, using pictures of "legendary newscaster, Hugh Downs." Please understand that the ad for this "monumental volume" of a tome, containing 563 pages, refers to Mr. Downs as "legendary." Regardless of whether any truth can be found within the 563 pages containing the "2,617 staggering breakthroughs," from the "medical super team" assembled to put this book together, the lengthy pitch for this book is definitely not short on effusive praise for its contents.

Claiming to have "joined forces with the greatest medical team ever assembled," Health Secrets claims to prevent anyone from "dying of cancer...never have another stroke or heart attack." But Health Secrets doesn't stop there. Included in the mix of infirmities that this book can either prevent or cure, are osteoporosis, emphysema, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases. If this book can help people suffering from Parkinson's, why hasn't the actor Michael J. Fox purchased a copy of this book?

Apparently, in reading the come-on for this book, the script reads, "Never fall victim to Alzheimer's Parkinson's or Dementia." So if you already have one of these diseases, someone like Michael J. Fox couldn't benefit from any of the staggering medical breakthroughs the book has promised. This also comes in handy when it comes time to prevent any legal liability, as we will soon see, when some of these alternative cures don't work.

Let's take a brief look at one of the members of this medical "super team" that was assembled for the production of this amazing book of health care disease prevention tips. Let's take a look at Nobel Prize winning Dr. Louis Ignarro. One common theme running throughout the sales ad for Health Secrets is that many of the medical "super team" members "made a special appearance on the Hugh Downs broadcast." Gee, what a coincidence! Touting the benefits of a "miracle molecule," that could eliminate the need for "bypass surgery, angioplasty, and blood pressure drugs," it's significant to note that that "miracle molecule" is not mentioned in the pitch for Health Secrets. Just what is that "miracle molecule?" Nitric oxide. If this is such a "staggering breakthrough," why not mention it here? Dr. Ignarro's work is published on this subject. To the uninitiated, the "nitric oxide" molecule is a gaseous molecule made up of one part nitrogen and one part oxygen, and is not to be confused with "nitrous oxide," the latter of which is better known as "laughing gas."

At this point, if the miracle molecule Dr. Ignarro refers to is nitric oxide, which is the subject of books that have been written in connection with his Nobel Prize winning work on heart disease, how is it that the same "miracle molecule" that can eliminate the need for bypass surgery can make you "crazy, ripped?" In case the "crazy, ripped" phrase escapes you, just look at a number of sports websites hawking a product called Force Factor, in which a number of muscle-bound men are displayed showing off their "six-pack abs." Force Factor doesn't hide it's "miracle ingredient" to help men get that "crazy, ripped," or "muscle-bound" body designed to excite the women: nitric oxide. Many of the webpages at ESPN feature display ads of male body builders that are "crazy, ripped," and who claim that Force Factor gave them that kind of a body.

One could question Dr. Ignarro's impartiality or unbiased scientific opinion when it was reported that he received $1,000,000 in compensation for promoting Herbalife products, when it led to purchases of a product sold by Herbalife known as Shapeworks. Published by an organization known as the Fraud Discovery Unit, based in San Diego, a study of Shapeworks concluded that it contained "four times more than the amount of lead allowed per day," without a health label on the side of the product warning about the lead content. This product led to the resignation of a Dr. Mario Z. Rozenberg from the Medical Advisory Board of Herbalife, who was subsequently charged with "47 counts of felony health care fraud (http://www.eworldwire.com/pressreleases/18622)." For a book like Health Secrets promising to eradicate heart disease, stroke, and cancer, the book's endorsement from Dr. Ignarro should be questioned, given this type of a scandal with Herbalife.

One really deadly claim in this ad for Health Secrets is the claim that "big money medicine" is somehow "killing" the awareness of this "miracle molecule." Think about how many people there are, suffering from some of these diseases who find it difficult to afford the treatment, that are induced to buy a book like this with unsubstantiated claims of results and promising miracle cures. The "secret," which is nothing more than "nitric oxide," isn't even revealed in the advertisement, and isn't really a secret. And yet the sellers of Health Secrets claim it "could be saving millions of lives, and nobody even knows it exists." Wow! This claim just doesn't have a ring of truth to it, and if the claim about the "secret" is bogus, then what about the rest of the claims made in this advertisement?

Another potentially deadly claim made by the promoters of Health Secrets is that to treat a stroke, a "breakthrough drug called TPA must be administered within the first three hours." While some medical authorities agree that the drug works, there are others within the medical community, "some 40% of emergency room physicians," who would not use this drug on stroke patients because of a risk of "brain bleeding (www.medicalnewstoday.com)." Even ten years after FDA approval, "only 10% of patients are eligible to receive it and it is used in 2% of patients." As for brain bleeding, aka intracranial hemorrhaging, there is a 1-in-15 risk of it occurring, and when it does, it's fatal. How could Health Secrets tout this type of drug, which the medical community already knows about, and guarantee, through the use of TPA, that you will "never die from a stroke?"

After making bold claims about curing heart disease with nitric oxide and strokes with TPA, the disclaimer at the bottom of the lengthy ad for Health Secrets states,

"The information published in this Special Report is not intended as a substitute for personal medical advice. Before making any decision regarding your health, please consult a physician or other qualified health-care practitioner." Lest anyone forgets, the pitch for Health Secrets is presented as a "Special Report" from "broadcasting legend, Hugh Downs," as if to convey the impression that this was some sort of special investigative journalism. It's interesting to note that after slamming the medical profession as "killing" the awareness of these "miracle cures," and after including in their "special offer," a book entitled, 100 Most Common Medical Blunders, that the 563-page Health Secrets book is setting itself up as a type of higher authority than "big money medicine." Health Secrets may appeal to the desperation some people have who don't have the means or access to medical treatment, but the constant promises of "never dying from a heart attack or a stroke," simply are too outrageous as well as dangerous to put any faith in believing, given the known risks of using either nitric oxide or TPA. As a final comment on nitric oxide, it is reported at www.buzzle.com, that nitric oxide "was discovered in 1980," and that "people suffering from heart and liver problems should avoid the use of nitric oxide supplements as it is toxic for them." Given the risks involved with the type of treatments Health Secrets is recommending for "three installments of $13.33 a month," or $39.99, the promises of not dying from the deadly diseases don't seem to add up in the face of what is already known about these "medical breakthroughs," which appear to be at the very least, risky, and at the very worst, fatal.