It’s the world’s biggest drug experiment–and you’re invited to be a part of it.

An FDA panel has voted to approve a new diet drug despite potentially deadly risks, but don’t worry. They have a plan for that: They also voted to keep studying the drug once it’s on the market.

Approve first, ask questions later–but the FDA is expected to sign off on the plan just the same.

The new drug is called Contrave, but it’s actually not all that new. It’s a combination of two older drugs: the antidepressant drug Wellbutrin, and the anti-addiction drug naltrexone.

Both meds are known to cause weight loss, which is how they find themselves in this medication marriage–but that’s not the only side effect they share. Both drugs can also cause high blood pressure, putting patients at risk for heart attack and stroke.

How much of a risk? No one knows, because it hasn’t really been studied… but that little fact didn’t stand in the way of the panel, which voted 13-7 to approve it.

The same panel voted 11-8 to keep studying it, by the way.

I don’t know what’s worse–that 13 panelists signed off on this med despite the risk, or that eight of them don’t even think those risks need to be studied.

And high blood pressure isn’t the only potential risk.

Patients who took the med in the clinical trials experienced more seizures than those on the placebo–despite the fact that researchers excluded anyone with a history of the condition.

The drug can also cause nausea, headaches, constipation and a faster pulse–making it pretty easy to see why 40 percent of the patients in clinical trials dropped out.

And even those who stuck with it to the end didn’t necessarily get much of a reward: In one study, Contrave patients lost an average of a little more than 4 percent of their body weight.

That’s it.

That’s even below the FDA’s own threshold for “effectiveness,” which is set at a laughably low 5 percent.

Some patients did lose more, but even that’s hard to celebrate–because researchers believe the weight will stay off only as long as the patient takes the med.

In other words, like so many other drugs on the market today, it’s not a short-term cure… it’s a lifelong commitment.

Usually, I say there are no shortcuts when it comes to weight loss… but in this case, losing weight through lifestyle changes such as a healthy low-carb diet really is a shortcut– because it won’t take a year to see real results.

Sometimes, the right way is actually the easier way–if you’re ready to commit to it.

Tricyclic antidepressants are so awful they’re not even used for depression anymore–but millions of people still take them anyway, because they’re commonly used off-label to treat chronic pain.

Now, a new study finds that the meds themselves can put you in a world of hurt: They can increase your heart risk by more than a third.

Researchers examined data on nearly 15,000 participants in the Scottish Health Survey who were at least 35 years old, had no history of heart disease and were tracked for an average of 8 years.

They found those who used tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline and clomipramine were 35 percent more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease than patients not on the meds, according to the study in the European Heart Journal.

The study doesn’t show why tricyclic users are more prone to heart disease, but it’s not too hard to figure out: These meds are already linked to increased blood pressure, weight gain and diabetes.

It’s like metabolic syndrome in a pill–and once you put it all together, you’ve got heart disease.

The researchers say the risk didn’t apply to the newer SSRI antidepressants, but that doesn’t make them a better choice for depression. SSRIs have been liked to personality changes, bleeding problems, sexual disorders, headaches, nausea, diarrhea and even suicide.

Like the tricyclics, they’re not very good for depression either–SSRIs are routinely beaten in studies by exercise, talk therapy, St. John’s wort and more.

And just like you don’t need SSRIs for depression, you don’t need tricyclics for any of the other conditions they’re used to treat, including insomnia, headaches and back pain.

There are safe and natural alternatives for all of these problems–and I’ve told you about many of them.

If you’re looking for a way to sleep better or beat the pain, you can start your search for answers on my Web site.

And for even more great natural health tips, visit the free online library at the Health Sciences Institute. Just enter your condition in the “Find a Cure” box, and you’re on your way to a drug-free solution.

It sounds too delicious to be true: You can beat hypertension and even eliminate blood pressure drugs by simply enjoying a little oatmeal every day.

But it is true–because a new study confirms again that the healthiest whole grains can dramatically lower your blood pressure levels.

Scottish researchers randomly assigned more than 233 volunteers to eat three servings a day of either whole grains–in the form of whole wheat and oats–or refined cereals.

Each serving was a single slice of bread or half a cup of oats– and other than that, the volunteers enjoyed their normal diets.

After three months, the volunteers who ate the whole grains had lowered their systolic blood pressure by 6 mm Hg–or roughly in line with the drop many people get from meds, according to the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The whole grains group also lowered their pulse pressure by 3 mm Hg.

Extrapolating their numbers, the researchers say those three servings of whole grains a day can reduce the incidence of stroke by 25 percent and heart attack by 15 percent.

There’s just one caveat here: If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll want to limit whole grains, especially whole-grain bread. Carbs–even healthier carbs like these whole grains– can slow, stop or even reverse your weight loss.

Since losing the weight is the fastest and easiest way to reduce your blood pressure and improve overall health, make that your first priority.

But if you’re already at or near your ideal weight and ready to work some healthy whole grains into your diet, then start out with the best whole grain of all: that oatmeal I mentioned earlier.

Just make sure it’s real whole-grain steel-cut oatmeal like McCann’s and not a pouch of processed sugar-filled “instant” junk food.

Then, boost the flavor with cinnamon instead of sugar. As I mentioned recently, cinnamon can help keep your blood-sugar levels in check and lower your blood pressure.

And don’t stop there.

Sprinkle in some antioxidant-rich berries, such as blueberries. They’re great for your heart, and they can also help lower blood pressure. Nuts, flax seed and bananas can also enhance flavor and boost your health at the same time.

Once you’ve put it all together, it’s no longer an ordinary winter breakfast–it’s a true anytime superfood.

There’s an easy way to improve your blood pressure and cut down or even eliminate meds… and you can do it right now, by yourself, in your own home.

All you need is an inexpensive blood pressure monitor.

A new analysis confirms what I’ve told you before: People who take their own readings at home often find lower overall BP levels than those who only get them done at the doctor’s office.

What’s more, the analysis published in Hypertension finds that patients who used blood pressure monitors at home were twice as likely to cut down on meds than those who only got readings at the doctor’s office.

Researchers looked at data on nearly 10,000 men and women with hypertension who participated in 37 clinical trials in which patients were randomly assigned to either home blood pressure monitors, or BP checks only during office visits.

Overall, the patients with home monitors shaved between two and three points off their BP levels. What’s more, the researchers found that a quarter of patients with blood pressure devices at home were able to cut down on meds, versus just 11 percent of those without.

The reason for those differences is something called white coat hypertension. Some people are just so nervous around doctors–or so annoyed over yet another $20 copay–that their BP levels spike once they’re in the exam room.

Regular readings at home can eliminate the effect and help your doc make better decisions–but only if you do it right.

The device won’t help much if you rarely use it… and it won’t help at all if you don’t track your results and take them to your doctor. Some machines will print them for you–and the next generation of devices will even be able to send the data right to your doctor.

But there’s no need to get fancy–a basic BP monitor that costs around $40 will usually do the trick. Stick to the easy-to-use automatic devices–and if you have vision problems, make sure it has a large display.

Some of them can even “talk”–telling you not only what your blood pressure levels are, but how they stack up to mainstream normals.

Just make sure your BP device is part of a larger strategy to keep your levels down without drugs.

And if you keep reading, I’ll tell you how a bowl of oatmeal can help.