The seven brands of supplements were sold at the company’s store at 13105 Ramona Boulevard, Irwindale, California, Healthy People said in a Friday statement carried on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.

Five of the supplements—Mince Belle, Everlax, Ever Slim, Ever Slim Shake Mix Dietary Supplement Strawberry, and Ever Slim Shake Mix Dietary Supplement Chocolate — contain sibutramine, an appetite suppressant.

Sibutramine can increase blood pressure or heart rate and has been withdrawn from the U.S. market, the statement said. [more...]

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in skeletal muscle have been known to be important for muscle repair in response to non-physiological injury, predominantly in response to chemical injections that significantly damage muscle tissue and induce inflammation. The researchers, led by kinesiology and community health professor Marni Boppart, investigated whether MSCs also responded to strain during exercise, and if so, how.

“Since exercise can induce some injury as part of the remodeling process following mechanical strain, we wondered if MSC accumulation was a natural response to exercise and whether these cells contributed to the beneficial regeneration and growth process that occurs post-exercise,” said Boppart, who also is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I. [more...]

According to court documents, 32-year-old Keith Ashabranner of O’Fallon, Mo., pleaded guilty to buying steroids and human growth hormones from China. He is set for sentencing on May 4, 2012.

Federal prosecutors say Ashabranner and others bought the human growth hormone and steroids from China. They used some and sold the rest to other bodybuilders. He admitted spending approximately $32,483 and gained more than $30,000 after selling the drugs. [more...]

“It has been unclear whether multivitamin supplementation to cancer patients is helpful, has no effect, or is even detrimental during therapy,” commented Dr. Grant Pierce, Editor of CJPP. “This study is important because it gives some direction to cancer patients in desperate need of guidance on the value of multivitamins and minerals administered during cancer.”

The authors studied rats that were fed a high-fat diet (20% fat) over a 32 week period. The rats were divided into 6 groups, which were exposed to different combinations of supplements and carcinogens; the colon carcinogenisis induced in the study rats has characteristics that mimic human colon cancer. Rats fed a high-fat plus low-fibre diet and exposed to carcinogens developed pre-cancerous lesions; whereas, rats undergoing similar treatment, but provided with daily multivitamin and mineral supplements, showed a significant (84%) reduction in the formation of pre-cancerous lesions and did not develop tumours. [more...]

The results help explain why some people struggle when placed on a low-fat diet and may one day assist people in selecting diets that are easier for them to follow. The results also may help food developers create new low-fat foods that taste better.

“Fat is universally palatable to humans,” said Kathleen Keller, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, Penn State. “Yet we have demonstrated for the first time that people who have particular forms of the CD36 gene tend to like higher fat foods more and may be at greater risk for obesity compared to those who do not have this form of the gene. In animals, CD36 is a necessary gene for the ability to both detect and develop preferences for fat. Our study is one of the first to show this relationship in humans.” [more...]

In diseases like muscular dystrophy or a heart attack, “muscle begins to die and undergoes its normal wounding processes,” said Engler, a bioengineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. “This damaged tissue is fundamentally different from a mechanical perspective” than healthy tissue.

Transplanted stem cells might be able to replace and repair diseased muscle, but up to this point the transplants haven’t been very successful in muscular dystrophy patients, he noted. The cells tend to clump into hard nodules as they struggle to adapt to their new environment of thickened and damaged tissue. [more...]

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics agents arrested 39-year-old Christopher Dwight Foust and his wife, 33-year old Jennifer Ann Foust of 870 Fredonia Drive in Fayetteville after searching their home and finding anabolic steroids Thursday.

Along with the steroids, authorities found syringes and a manual on how to produce, prepare and process steroids.

Both are charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a Schedule III drug and maintaining a dwelling for the sale and delivery of drugs. [more...]

Massage not only feels good, it does good. It is a regular feature of locker rooms, to soothe the overworked muscles of athletes, and physical therapy sessions, to help patients recover from injuries.

Now, a new study suggests that massage may work on the cellular level in a manner similar to pain-relieving medications such as aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs.

Mark Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatric medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, led a study that tried to pinpoint the biological mechanism that gives massage its healing property.

“People have a lot of ideas about what massage does and doesn’t do.  And many of them were revolving around reduction in pain, and yet very few studies have actually been done to investigate this at the molecular and cellular level.”

Tarnopolsky’s team conducted a study involving 11 young men who exercised to the point of exhaustion on stationary bikes.  [more...]