Yes. Legitimate pharmacy sites on the Internet provide consumers with a convenient, private, way to obtain needed medications, sometimes at more affordable prices. The elderly and persons in remote areas can avoid the inconvenience of traveling to a store to purchase medications. Many reputable Internet pharmacies allow patients to consult with a licensed pharmacist from the privacy of their home. Moreover, Internet pharmacies can provide customers with written product information and references to other sources of information like the traditional storefront pharmacy. Finally, the increasing use of computer technology to transmit prescriptions from doctors to pharmacies is likely to reduce prescription errors.

Fake online pharmacies are scams that use the internet and spam emails to offer drugs and medicine at very cheap prices or without the need for a prescription from a doctor. These scams can cause both financial and health problems.Most spam email offers selling medicines or drugs are designed to steal your credit card details or to download damaging files onto your computer.Even if you actually do receive the products that you order, there is no guarantee that they are the real thing. In some cases, the medicines or other products may even damage your health.Remember that there are legitimate online pharmacies. These businesses will have their full contact details listed and will also require a valid prescription before they send out any medicine that requires one.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has ordered a consumer level recall of 38 bottles of Vital brand Vitamin B complex capsules because the folate content of the products is one tenth of the strength that is marked on the bottles.Vital Health Foods Australia Pty Ltd of NSW advised the TGA in late October that they had found one batch of their vitamin B complex, which had been labelled as containing 400 micrograms of folic acid (folate), to only contain around 40 micrograms of folate.

After finding the mistake the company contacted all of its retail outlets and has advised the TGA that they have located and recalled all of the product except for 38 bottles which had been sold to consumers.The TGA is very concerned about the breach because many women of child-bearing age and those who are pregnant often take the recommended dose of 400 micrograms or more of folate supplement a day to assist in the prevention of birth defects of the brain or spinal cord such as neural tube defects.

While the capsules in question are not specifically indicated for the prevention of neural tube defects, the label states supplementation is recommended 'whenever the body is low in nutrients and when bodily needs are increased such as during stress, pregnancy, dieting and exercise'.

King, a professor of family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, is one of several researchers who have proven in recent years that it's never too late to get healthy -- and that adopting better habits even in midlife translates to less disease and a longer life.

King led a recent study that evaluated the cardiovascular effects of adopting healthier habits in middle age -- what he calls the "turning back the clock study."

And surprise! It works. What's more, you don't have to be fanatical, but the more healthy habits you adopt, not surprisingly, the healthier you become.

King and his colleagues evaluated almost 16,000 men and women who were between the ages of 45 and 64 when the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study began. The researchers looked specifically at four heart-healthy habits: eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day; exercising at least 2.5 hours a week; keeping a healthy weight; and not smoking.

During four years of follow-up, the researchers found that those who adopted the four healthy habits were 40 percent less likely to die and 35 percent less likely to suffer heart problems than those who did not adopt the beneficial habits. The findings were published in The American Journal of Medicine.

Stephanie Chiuve, a research associate at Harvard School of Public Health, and her colleagues led a similar study that included almost 43,000 middle-aged and older American men who were part of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The goal: to see if a healthy lifestyle is linked with a lower risk of heart disease, even among those who take high blood pressure medication or cholesterol medication.

The researchers looked at basically the same collection of healthy habits that King evaluated in his study, with some additions. "We looked at whether the diet was rich in not only fruits and vegetables but also whole grains, fish, chicken and other poultry and unsaturated fats -- like vegetable oils and nuts," Chiuve said. They also looked at whether participants smoked; got exercise for 3.5 hours a week at a moderate pace; consumed alcohol moderately; and kept a healthy body weight.

All were free of chronic heart disease in 1986, when the study began, and the men were ages 40 to 75.

Like King's team, Chiuve's team found that healthy habits make a big difference. Men who adopted healthy habits during the study period, from 1986 to 2002, had a lower risk of heart disease compared to men who didn't change their overall number of healthy habits.

"For each additional habit you added, the benefit increased," Chiuve said. Men who adopted one healthy habit had a 54 percent lower risk of heart disease, for instance, while those who embraced four had a 78 percent reduction in risk, she said.

"For the men who followed all five, they had an 87 percent lower risk of heart disease than the men who followed none," Chiuve said. The study was published in the journal Circulation.