Lyle Hurd: It’s a pleasure to welcome Dr. Hyla Cass back. Dr. Cass would you tell us a little bit about your book, Supplement Your Prescription, and what does that mean?\ Dr. Hyla Cass: Supplement Your Prescription refers to the fact that many of the drugs that people are taking, many of the prescription medications, actually interfere with certain nutrients—vitamins and minerals that we need in our body in order to function properly. And that means that some of the side effects from these drugs are actually due to the depletion. And that means also that we can replete, we can restore balance by giving these nutrients along with the drugs. One of the big cases in point, that I think many people would recognize, is coenzyme Q10, [which should] be taken along with the statin drugs. The research that the drug companies did when they were researching statins showed that it depleted coenzyme Q10, which is an essential, essential nutrient for energy in the cells. It works in the mitochondria, the energy factory in each cell. What’s really ironic is that people on statin drugs, these are the cholesterol lowering drugs, Lipitor, Zocor and so on, when they’re on these drugs it’s for a heart condition; high cholesterol is related to heart disease and the incidence of heart failure has gone way up since people have been on these statin drugs. So it’s very, very important, if you are on a statin drug to be taking coenzyme Q10, something like a 100 milligrams twice daily along with the medication. Lyle Hurd: Give us a couple of other examples? Dr. Hyla Cass: Well a really serious example is Vioxx, remember the Vioxx scandal? Lyle Hurd: Uh-hmm Dr. Hyla Cass: Vioxx was taken off the market because it was causing serious heart attacks and strokes, and that’s because it too, was depleting nutrients. I’m not saying it should come back on the market and then we can add in the nutrients and we’ll be okay but it was definitely depleting the B vitamins, for one thing, among others. We really have to be much more aware of what a drug does. Drugs have many side effects, and this is one of them. One way to protect yourself is if you are taking any kind of medication, to begin with taking a multivitamin because most people are already deficient in vitamins and minerals. So do that as a base line; it’s just…basic good insurance against any depletion. And then look up the specific category of drug and the specific name of the drug in Supplement Your Prescription and find out what specifically you need for that particular prescription that you’re taking. Lyle Hurd: Is that going to become a matter of course now when they’re developing new drugs and putting them on the market or is that just going to be when people realize that people taking these drugs need? Dr. Hyla Cass: Unfortunately people are pretty much on their own. I think it’s unfortunate that physicians are not advising their patients at the time they’re prescribing the drugs, nor are the pharmacies doing that, and I, for one, am really trying to educate physicians and pharmacists about this. There are certain ones who do know this, but this really has to be a much larger awareness on the part of doctors, and really, the population at large because it’s ultimately going to be up to you, you who are taking the prescription, to go to your doctor, ask about nutrient depletion or look it up and start to take supplements yourself. Otherwise, you can really be at risk for some quite serious health problems. Lyle Hurd: Well, thank you, Dr. Cass. I’d suggest that everybody get a hold of that book and really take a good look at whether it means something that they need to know.