‘You are not a horse': Alarm as antivaxers buy worm paste to cure cancer
When vaccine-sceptic Americans began ingesting an anti-worm paste designed for farm animals in an attempt to ward off Covid-19, regulators issued a sharp rebuke.
'You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it,' the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted on social media at the time.
Four years later, the drug ivermectin is again being widely touted on social media, once more without hard evidence, as a cure for a different deadly disease: cancer.
Google searches for 'ivermectin' rose to their highest level since the pandemic in January, days after the actor Mel Gibson joined The Joe Rogan Experience podcast to espouse the merits of the drug. The Oscar-winning actor and director claimed that a cocktail of ivermectin and other
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Bombshell research shows weight-loss drugs like Ozempic don't work as well as companies boasted
Blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic might not work as well as advertised, a bombshell study reveals. A Cleveland Clinic study found patients taking semaglutide and tirzepatide - the active ingredients in Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro - lost up to 50 percent less weight than what drug companies reported in clinical trials. They were also 40 percent more likely to go off the drugs within a year than patients in trials for reasons such as side effects being too severe. In the new study, researchers looked at nearly 8,000 obese Americans who were prescribed either semaglutide or tirzepatide for a year. One in five stopped taking the drugs within three months and nearly one in three stopped before the end of the year. Patients in the new study lost anywhere from four to 12 percent of their body weight in a year depending on how long they stayed on the drugs. But in the drugs' clinical trials, they lost between 15 and 21 percent of their weight. The researchers said the disparity could be due to higher rates of patients stopping the drugs and patients using lower doses than those in clinical trials. Patients also complained of high drug costs and harsh side effects, which have included stomach paralysis and blindness in severe cases. Dr Hamlet Gasoyan, lead study author and researcher at Cleveland Clinic's Center for Value-Based Care, said: 'Our study shows that patients treated for obesity with semaglutide or trizepatide lost less weight on average in a regular clinical setting compared to what is observed in randomized clinical trials. 'According to our data, this could be explained by higher rates of discontinuation and lower maintenance dosages used in clinical practice, compared to randomized clinical trial settings.' About one in eight Americans report taking a GLP-1 agonist like Ozempic or Wegovy at some point in their lives. And recent research shows their popularity has soared 600 percent since 2019. The study, published Tuesday in Obesity Journal, looked at 7,881 adults patients obese patients using electronic health data. The majority (6,109) received semaglutide while the remainder took tirzepatide. It's unclear if they took specific brand names like Ozempic or Wegovy. The average participant age was 51 and three in four patients were women. Their average body mass index (BMI) was 39, which is considered 'severe obesity.' Any BMI over 30 is obese. Of those patients, 1,320 had prediabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes that affects 100million Americans, most of whom don't know they have it. Participants began taking semaglutide or tirzepatide for obesity between 2021 and 2023. Those that stopped taking the drugs within three months were considered 'early' discontinuers and those who stopped in three to 12 months were 'late' discontinuers. Researchers found about 20 percent of participants stopped taking the GLP-1 drugs early and 32 percent stopped late. Additionally, 80 percent were on lower maintenance doses than when they started. This was the equivalent of 1 mg or less of semaglutide or less than 7.5 mg of tirzepatide. A maintenence dose is the amount needed to sustain weight loss. After one year, people who stopped taking the drug early had a four percent weight reduction compared to seven percent for those who stopped late. The above graph shows weight reductions in patients who stopped taking weight loss drugs within three months, in three to 12 months and who never stopped Those who stayed on the drugs for the full year lost 12 percent, and participants who kept with the drugs and took higher maintenance dosages lost 14 percent body weight on semaglutide and 18 percent on tirzepatide. In semaglutide and tirzepatide's clinical trials, patients lost between 15 and 21 percent of their weight after one year, up to 50 percent less than those in the new study who stayed on the drugs for a year. The researchers believe participants lost less weight than those in clinical trials promoted by drug companies because they were more likely to stop taking the drugs, hampering their progress. They cited clinical trials showing patients discontinued the drugs at a rate of 17 percent, up to 40 percent less often. Patients in clinical trials were also more likely to take higher doses. Dr Gasoyan said: 'Our findings about the real-world use patterns of these medications and associated clinical outcomes could inform the decisions of healthcare providers and their patients on the role of treatment discontinuation and maintenance dosage in achieving clinically meaningful weight reductions.' The team found patients most commonly stopped taking weight loss drugs due to high costs, issues with insurance coverage, risk of side effects and medication shortages.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The game-changing new test that can spot a severe condition endured by millions of women early - and spare them from years of agony
It affects one in ten women, causes severe pain and can reduce the chances of having a child. And yet it can take years for endometriosis – where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other parts of the body – to be diagnosed; some women suffer for almost a decade before it is identified.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Study finds link between teenage sleep habits and adult heart health
A study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that teenagers with better sleep habits at age 15 showed improved heart health seven years later. Healthy sleep habits include falling asleep and waking up earlier, spending less time awake in bed, and having less variability in total sleep time and sleep onset. The study, backed by the National Institutes of Health, analysed data from 307 adults, mainly girls, using wrist devices to measure sleep variables at age 15 and assessing cardiovascular health at age 22. Cardiovascular health was evaluated based on diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, BMI, and measurements of blood fats, blood sugar, and blood pressure, scored using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8. Dr. Gina Marie Mathew, the lead data analyst, emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach to sleep health, highlighting the importance of earlier sleep timing, higher sleep maintenance efficiency, and lower sleep variability for long-term heart health.
