Critics take a dim view of ads for eyelash enhancer

In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved Latisse to treat "hypotrichosis," a disease of deficient eyelashes. But Allergan Inc. advertised Latisse as "an historic innovation in eyelash enhancement."

At least, it did until the FDA made the company correct its "misleading" promotions and stop omitting risks. Now, ads for the prescription drug warn that it may make eyes itchy and red, turn blue eyes brown, cause unwanted hair growth, and darken eyelids. (Jeepers creepers, where'd you get those peepers?)

Even so, Consumer Reports' health blog last week joined others that have criticized - or parodied - Latisse ads featuring actress Brooke Shields, an unlikely poster girl for skimpy lashes.

Consumer Reports criticized Allergan - the company that made Botox a beauty product - for "taking a legitimate medical condition and broadening it to the point where it could apply to almost anyone."

Latisse began as Lumigan, a glaucoma drug approved in 2001 that turned out to have a desirable side effect - lusher, darker eyelashes.

However, when users quit $100-a-month Latisse, their eyelashes return to a less glamorous state. - Marie McCullough

Heartburn medicines may be too readily used

With millions of patients taking proton pump inhibitors to reduce the production of acid-causing reflux, two researchers comment in the medical journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery that many patients are taking the drugs, such as Nexium, before trying other approaches, such as diet and lifestyle changes.

Kenneth W. Altman of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and James A. Radosevich of the University of Illinois-Chicago note that recent studies have raised the possibilities that the drugs are linked to various unexpected consequences such as more hip fractures and serious infections from Clostridium difficile bacteria.

Altman and Radosevich note that while many patients benefit from the use of proton pump inhibitors, in others the medicines could mask other causes of reflux disease and lead to more problems.

The researchers suggest that doctors and patients, who can purchase some of these drugs over the counter, consider "a more holistic approach that includes diet and lifestyle modification" to address heartburn. - Josh Goldstein

Fish oil could have wider use against inflammatory ailments

In a new study published in Nature, researchers spelled out how the body converts DHA - a fish-oil ingredient - into an anti-inflammatory chemical called Resolvin D2.

They then tried administering Resolvin D2 to mice, and found it was effective against sepsis - reducing the amount of bacteria in the blood and sharply increasing survival rates.

This anti-inflammatory may work better than others that have been tried against sepsis because it seems not to suppress the immune system, the authors wrote. - Tom Avril

Vitamin D deficit possible cause of blacks' kidney failure

The "sunshine" vitamin has been found in recent years to play a role in conditions ranging from hypertension to depression and cancer. And while many people no longer get enough of it - most Vitamin D is produced in the skin in reaction to sunlight - dark-skinned people in northern latitudes get less because their ancestors evolved in sunnier parts of the world.

So researchers pulled data from Medicare records and a national health survey to compare Vitamin D levels in blacks with and without end-stage renal disease. After controlling for differences in income, various medical conditions and other factors, they found that blacks with very low levels of Vitamin D were nearly 60 percent more likely to develop kidney failure.

The study was not set up to determine cause and effect. Still, the authors wrote in a paper published online last week in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, a low Vitamin D level among blacks in the study "seems to explain a substantial proportion of their excess risk." - Don Sapatkin