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American Morning

Fish, Claritin and Strattera

Aired November 28, 2002 - 08:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But first, we want to break away from that for a little bit and talk turkey, actually we're going to talk fish right now. It is nutritious and heart healthy, but it could also contain dangerous levels of mercury.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is filling in for Dr. Sanjay Gupta today, and she's here with more on the big fish controversy as well as news on a couple of new medications just okayed by regulators.

Good morning -- Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, Carol, let's talk about the traditional Thanksgiving fish. This week in the "New England Journal of Medicine," two conflicting studies about mercury and your health. One study done out of Europe found that men who had high levels of mercury in their body were twice as likely to have heart attacks as men who did not have high levels of mercury. But an American study that looked at two such groups of men found no difference. So, but they did say that they can't rule out a relationship between mercury, which people get from places -- other places but also in the diet from fish, and heart attacks. So the consumers are left to pick up the pieces -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Elizabeth, should we eat fish or should we not eat fish?

COHEN: Well the bottom line is that the Food and Drug Administration says if you're not a high-risk person, and I'll get to what that means later, if you're not a high-risk person, go ahead and eat fish, don't stop. But the FDA does point out that there are four types of fish which have higher mercury levels, and you can keep that in mind when you're at the grocery store or at a restaurant.

Let's go through what those four types are. The first type is swordfish, shark and king mackerel and then tilefish all have especially high levels of mercury because they eat lots of other fish that have mercury in them and they live for a long time so the mercury has plenty of time to build up in their bodies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, so who's at high risk? Tell us about that now.

COHEN: Right, a lot of people are at high risk. For example, children are considered at high risk. Pregnant women or women trying to become pregnant or women who are breastfeeding are at high risk and these people should stop eating those four types of fish all together. The four types we just showed, according to the FDA, if you are one of these people listed here, you should not be eating those types all together. And as for other types of fish, limit it to about three to four servings per week.

COSTELLO: OK, let's switch gears for just a minute, Elizabeth, because I understand you can get Claritin over-the-counter now finally. Is that true?

COHEN: That's right, finally. Consumers have been waiting for this. The FDA just gave it the OK.

One of the reasons it took so long is that Schering-Plough, which makes Claritin, fought it for a very long time because they would have lost money. They then changed their tune and they stopped their opposition. It's going to be available over-the-counter sometime just in a couple of months.

And now when you get Claritin through a prescription, it can be over $100 a month. We don't know what it's going to be over-the- counter; but in Canada, it costs $17. And, yes, many consumers have been waiting for this. It doesn't make you drowsy. And consumers were saying to the FDA look, I can go to the grocery store or the drugstore and without a prescription get stuff that'll knock me out, how come I can't get Claritin, which doesn't make you drowsy, over- the-counter? It doesn't make sense. The FDA agreed and now you can get it over-the-counter pretty soon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I suspect generic brands of Claritin aren't far behind. Let's hope so because...

COHEN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: ... it'll be much cheaper.

Let's talk about the new Attention Deficit Disorder drug. What is that and when can we get it?

COHEN: That drug is called Strattera, and it's going to be available relatively soon, again, in the next coming months. It will be the fourth drug for AD -- the fourth major drug for ADHD. There are already three others out there, including Ritalin. The side effects of this drug are actually pretty similar to Ritalin. One of the major side effects is that it can make people lose their appetite, which is obviously a concern with children, and it's about as effective as Ritalin. That's what one study found.

But one major advantage of this drug is that it's not considered a controlled substance, and it's just going to be a little bit easier to get it. In other words, your doctor can call in a prescription to the drugstore, which he or she can't do with Ritalin because it's considered a controlled substance. It's another way of fighting ADHD, works on a different mechanism. So doctors are hoping that, for example, if some people don't do well on Ritalin, maybe they do better on this drug -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks, and happy Thanksgiving.

COHEN: Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

COSTELLO: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 28, 2002 - 08:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But first, we want to break away from that for a little bit and talk turkey, actually we're going to talk fish right now. It is nutritious and heart healthy, but it could also contain dangerous levels of mercury.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is filling in for Dr. Sanjay Gupta today, and she's here with more on the big fish controversy as well as news on a couple of new medications just okayed by regulators.

Good morning -- Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, Carol, let's talk about the traditional Thanksgiving fish. This week in the "New England Journal of Medicine," two conflicting studies about mercury and your health. One study done out of Europe found that men who had high levels of mercury in their body were twice as likely to have heart attacks as men who did not have high levels of mercury. But an American study that looked at two such groups of men found no difference. So, but they did say that they can't rule out a relationship between mercury, which people get from places -- other places but also in the diet from fish, and heart attacks. So the consumers are left to pick up the pieces -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Elizabeth, should we eat fish or should we not eat fish?

COHEN: Well the bottom line is that the Food and Drug Administration says if you're not a high-risk person, and I'll get to what that means later, if you're not a high-risk person, go ahead and eat fish, don't stop. But the FDA does point out that there are four types of fish which have higher mercury levels, and you can keep that in mind when you're at the grocery store or at a restaurant.

Let's go through what those four types are. The first type is swordfish, shark and king mackerel and then tilefish all have especially high levels of mercury because they eat lots of other fish that have mercury in them and they live for a long time so the mercury has plenty of time to build up in their bodies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, so who's at high risk? Tell us about that now.

COHEN: Right, a lot of people are at high risk. For example, children are considered at high risk. Pregnant women or women trying to become pregnant or women who are breastfeeding are at high risk and these people should stop eating those four types of fish all together. The four types we just showed, according to the FDA, if you are one of these people listed here, you should not be eating those types all together. And as for other types of fish, limit it to about three to four servings per week.

COSTELLO: OK, let's switch gears for just a minute, Elizabeth, because I understand you can get Claritin over-the-counter now finally. Is that true?

COHEN: That's right, finally. Consumers have been waiting for this. The FDA just gave it the OK.

One of the reasons it took so long is that Schering-Plough, which makes Claritin, fought it for a very long time because they would have lost money. They then changed their tune and they stopped their opposition. It's going to be available over-the-counter sometime just in a couple of months.

And now when you get Claritin through a prescription, it can be over $100 a month. We don't know what it's going to be over-the- counter; but in Canada, it costs $17. And, yes, many consumers have been waiting for this. It doesn't make you drowsy. And consumers were saying to the FDA look, I can go to the grocery store or the drugstore and without a prescription get stuff that'll knock me out, how come I can't get Claritin, which doesn't make you drowsy, over- the-counter? It doesn't make sense. The FDA agreed and now you can get it over-the-counter pretty soon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I suspect generic brands of Claritin aren't far behind. Let's hope so because...

COHEN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: ... it'll be much cheaper.

Let's talk about the new Attention Deficit Disorder drug. What is that and when can we get it?

COHEN: That drug is called Strattera, and it's going to be available relatively soon, again, in the next coming months. It will be the fourth drug for AD -- the fourth major drug for ADHD. There are already three others out there, including Ritalin. The side effects of this drug are actually pretty similar to Ritalin. One of the major side effects is that it can make people lose their appetite, which is obviously a concern with children, and it's about as effective as Ritalin. That's what one study found.

But one major advantage of this drug is that it's not considered a controlled substance, and it's just going to be a little bit easier to get it. In other words, your doctor can call in a prescription to the drugstore, which he or she can't do with Ritalin because it's considered a controlled substance. It's another way of fighting ADHD, works on a different mechanism. So doctors are hoping that, for example, if some people don't do well on Ritalin, maybe they do better on this drug -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks, and happy Thanksgiving.

COHEN: Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

COSTELLO: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com