News Release

Annals of Internal Medicine tipsheet for September 19, 2000

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American College of Physicians

Wine Associated With Lower Death Risk, Compared to Beer or Other Alcohol

Wine drinkers had a lower risk for death from heart disease and cancer than those who did not drink wine, a new study found (Article, p. 411). The long-term study of records of 24,523 adults in Denmark compared the level of intake of beer, wine and spirits with causes of death. Even heavy drinkers whose intake included wine had a lower death risk than heavy drinkers who did not drink wine.
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Garlic Lowers Cholesterol Slightly But Is Not an Efficient Treatment

A meta-analysis of 13 existing trials found that garlic is slightly better than a dummy pill in lowering cholesterol (Article, p. 420). However, the six most methodologically significant trials found only negligible difference between garlic and placebo groups. The authors conclude that "garlic use is not an efficient way to decrease total serum cholesterol level."
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Measuring CD4 Counts and Viral Load Have Different Prognostic Values But Both Should Continue to Be Used To Evaluate Anti-HIV Therapy (Article, p. 401; Editorial, p. 471).
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FDA Researchers Say Placebo-Controlled Trials are Ethical and Often Scientifically Necessary (Medicine and Public Issues, Part 1, p. 455; Part 2, p. 464, Editorial, p. 474)

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Annals of Internal Medicine is published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM), an organization of more than 115,000 physicians trained in internal medicine. The following highlights are not intended to substitute for articles as sources of information. For an embargoed fax of an article, call 1-800-523-1546, ext. 2656 or 215-351-2656. Full content of the issue is available on the Internet at http://annals.org on September 19, 2000.



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