A $6 billion industry is about to get a serious run for its money – and it’s about time, too.

There’s nothing worse than a Big Pharma med that takes advantage of a captive audience – like the drugs many Parkinson’s patients take that really only offer one kind of relief: they relieve the patients of their money.

But a major new study just getting under way will look at whether coenzyme Q10 can do what even those drugs can’t – and slow the progression of this degenerative disease.

This over-the-counter substance is cheap, readily available, and already showing some great promise. It’s also been linked to everything from heart health and immune system function to easing migraine headaches.

And while it’s great that they’re finally ready to take a closer look at this one, there’s every reason to believe it will deliver on the promise of Parkinson’s relief. Previous research has found that it protects the areas of the brain ravaged by this disease – and that Parkinson’s patients have low levels of it.

One study in 2002 found that patients who took 1,200 mg each day had 44 percent less decline in cognitive and motor function, and were much better able to carry out daily tasks than those who took smaller doses (or none at all).

The best part of all is that, despite its science-fiction name, coenzyme Q10 is a completely natural substance that already exists in your body. Even when it causes side effects, they’re nowhere near as bad as those of many Parkinson’s drugs, which can include psychosis, hallucinations, and delusions.

So when this new study confirms what we already know – and I have no reason to think it won’t – all those pricey Parkinson’s drugs will seem like a bad hallucination.

I’ll be keeping tabs on this new study for you – and I’ll let you know if it reveals anything new or unexpected. But in the meantime, if you or someone you love is suffering from Parkison’s, work with your doctor on adding coenzyme Q10 to the daily routine.

Is it possible for a single vitamin to do everything?

Maybe not – but if I had to pick one all-purpose must-have nutrient, I’d go with that dazzling D. It’s about as close to perfect as a single letter can be.

And now, two new studies add to the already impressive body of evidence for this wonder vitamin: It may help you control your blood pressure, and even lower your risk of dying from heart disease.

The first study, published in Nature Reviews Cardiology, finds that the sunshine vitamin is especially good at helping people who already have hypertension to lower their blood pressure levels.

The second one, carried out by researchers at the University of Colorado, Denver and Massachusetts General Hospital, found that patients who don’t get enough D are three times more likely to die from heart disease and 2.5 times more likely to die from any cause.

That fits in with other studies that have shown that vitamin D can help reduce your overall risk of death. And that’s in addition to research showing how D can help keep your bones healthy and lower your risk of fracture, reduce your risk of cancer, increase muscle strength, improve your immune system, and so much more.

The best source of D is the sun. Our bodies can make it naturally if we get enough of the right kind of sunlight.

But most of our bodies aren’t doing a very good job of it these days.

No, they’re not protesting the sweaty working conditions. We’re simply not getting enough sun – and when we do, it’s often not the right kind.

Your clothes, sunblock, cloud cover, and the seasonal angle of the Earth are all factors in the quality of your sunlight, and whether or not your body is able to turn it into that all- important D.

In most cases, it can’t… and as a result, we’re D-ficient. That means a high-quality supplement is your best chance of ensuring that you get enough of your daily D. Forget the U.S. RDA, which badly understates how much you need of so many nutrients. Follow that pointless chart, and you’ll end up with 400 IUs daily. In reality, we need much more than that.

Even Harvard University – not exactly known for its acts of nutritional rebellion – places the optimal intake at around 2,000 IUs for most of us, and suggests that many people – including folks with darker skin and people who get little direct sunlight – can use up to 4,000 IUs daily.

That’s up to 10 times the U.S. government’s recommendation!

So if you’re not taking a D vitamin, check your multivitamin closely. If it says you’re getting “100 percent” of what you need, you’re simply not getting enough, and you probably want to add a separate D supplement to your regimen.

A lot of companies will try to sell you a miracle pill – but D is the real deal.

It’s time to end one of the most questionable practices in medicine: removing a healthy breast out of fear alone.

Sounds crazy, right?

Yet that’s what’s happening at an alarming rate. In fact, the number of breast cancer patients who are choosing to remove both breasts – even though there’s cancer in just one – has doubled over the past decade, according to a new study in the journal Cancer.

Hold on, you’re thinking. There must be some reason they’re doing this, right? Maybe some evidence that this will benefit survival?

“There’s not much evidence that contralateral prophylactic mastectomy will benefit survival,” Dr. Shawna Willey, a prominent Washington, D.C. breast cancer surgeon was quoted as saying.

So why are an increasing number of women going through with it?

“For a woman, it’s often a knee-jerk emotional reaction when they’re told they have breast cancer, especially if they’re told they need to have a mastectomy,” Dr. Willey said.

I wish more people in this industry would be as direct and forthcoming as Dr. Willey. Because if they were, we wouldn’t be seeing this kind of increase in a surgery that amounts to little more than doctor-sanctioned self-mutilation.

It’s akin to someone asking a doctor to remove a healthy lung in order to reduce the risk of lung cancer.

Sure, it’ll reduce the risk – but at what cost?

You can reduce the risk of plenty of things if you start hacking away at body parts. Afraid of bunions? Chop off some toes!

It’s simply not sound medicine – and it speaks to some pretty questionable ethics that so many surgeons are just playing along, maybe even quietly encouraging it.

I’d venture to guess that most of them are considering their bank accounts more than their patients’ charts. After all, these needless surgeries also happen to be pretty profitable.

Remember, these surgeries represent so much more than just the removal of a breast. They change a woman’s life, and can affect how she feels about herself and her body.

They also come with risks and complications of their own – and in some cases, those complications could end up undermining the treatment of the breast that really does have cancer.

Let’s get back to some basics when it comes to surgery, starting now. No procedure should be performed unless there’s a direct benefit – like increased survival or a better quality of life.

Anything less is bad medicine.

There’s some great news on the prevention of one of the most common forms of cancer.

The latest research suggests that women can dramatically lower their risk of colorectal cancer by simply getting more folate. In fact, folate can decrease your risk by nearly two- thirds!

The South Korean study followed more than 1,000 patients. Nearly 600 of them were colorectal cancer patients, while just over 500 of them were healthy. And the researchers found that while drinking, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and a family history of the disease all played a role, the healthy women had more folate.

Women who got more than 300 micrograms of folate each day were 64 percent less likely to get the disease than women who got less than 200 micrograms daily, according to the study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

There’s been a shocking rise in the number of colorectal cancers in South Korea – with a six-fold jump in deaths over the past 25 years.

Researchers there believe the rapid switch to a more Western diet may be behind those horrifying stats – and if they’re right, what does that say about us? After all, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer – and the third most common cause of cancer deaths – here in the United States for men and women alike.

It doesn’t take a huge leap to make the connection between our diets and these cancers – after all, fresh vegetables have fallen out of favor as prepackaged convenience meals take over the dinner table.

And those fresh vegetables that should be on the table with every meal – especially the folate-rich leafy greens like spinach – have practically become exotic fare. Even when we do eat them, we tend to sauté the nutrients right out of the food.

The good news is, this is an easy enough habit to change. Eat more fresh vegetables, raw or lightly cooked, or take a folate supplement.

The bad news is strictly for the men – while there are lots of other great reasons for you to make sure you get enough folate, colorectal cancer prevention isn’t one of them. The researchers found the benefit applies only to women.

Sorry guys – but eat your spinach anyway. Popeye says so.