Alternative Medicine
Studies presented at the North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine point to the medical establishment’s growing interest in alternative therapies. I personally believe they have few remaining options in the matter. They have tried to deride and to undermine and have attempted to usurp control. With the medical establishment’s credibility at quite low levels and countless satisfied consumers of alternative medicine, their attempts have all failed. They are not yet ready to let go of tactics that seek to undermine or control but they increasingly seem to recognize that a more successful future rests in embracing alternative therapies, at least at some level.
Continue reading about Nutraceuticals Research Presented at Canadian Medical Conference
In a speech on May 23, 2006 Prince Charles told the World Health Organisation in Geneva that alternative medicine should have a more prominent place in health care. The Prince urged every country to come up with a plan to integrate conventional and alternative medicine into the mainstream. Prince Charles heads his own Foundation for Integrated Health.
A report published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine held that use of herbal medicines in the UK is amongst the lowest in Europe, and few GPs prescribe them. However other European countries have significant alternative medicine users.
Continue reading about UK Prince Charles Supports Alternative Medicine
The commonly used spice cinnamon could lower blood pressure in hypertensive people, researchers report. The new placebo-controlled, double-blind study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (Vol. 25, pp. 144-150), supplemented the sucrose and non-sucrose containing diets of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with whole cinnamon, a cinnamon extract, or chromium.
After three to four weeks of the experiment, the researchers found that the presence of whole cinnamon or cinnamon extract in the diet reduced the systolic blood pressure of the rats.
Continue reading about Cinnamon Extends Virtues to Lowering Blood Pressure
A new study, part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), followed 521,457 subjects in 10 European countries with an average age of 52. It has been described as the largest cohort study on fruit and vegetable intake and the incidence of stomach (gastric) cancer in Western countries and the first to look at adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus. The findings indicate that garlic and onions could help protect against stomach cancer but total fruit and vegetable intake has no benefit for this disease.
These findings are quite interesting. They appear in the International Journal of Cancer (Vol. 118, pp. 2559-2566) where lead author, Carlos Gonzalez, states: “We observed no evidence of association with fresh fruit intake or with total vegetable intake, even though a protective effect of total vegetables and onion and garlic was suggested for intestinal [cancer].â€
Usual dietary intake over the previous year was measured using a country-specific validated questionnaire. Most countries used a self-administered technique with questionnaires typically containing between 88 and 266 food items.
Continue reading about Some Foods Protect Against Stomach Cancer
Regular readers know that I have no time for the nonsense relating to imagined bird-flu pandemics. However. I regarded the following item of sufficient novelty to be of some interest. You may judge its merits for yourself.
Research suggests certain natural foods may be as effective against virus H5N1 as commercial antivirals.
(PRWEB) May 10, 2006 — A Biology teacher from Australia, named Stephen Jones, has done extensive research into the H5N1 virus and compiled a list of natural foods that are effective against it and listed others that are detrimental.
The list may come as a surprise to many people since foods such as spirulina and echinacea are listed as detrimental. This strange occurrence is largely due to the fact that the virus is immune to 2 cytokines that the body produces (TNF-a and IL-6). Cytokines are compounds produced by the body’s immune system that attack and remove foreign bodies. The problem is that when a foreign body is immune to certain cytokines, the body sees that its immune response is not working and tries even harder, which can lead to what is called a cytokine storm, where the body becomes flooded with these compounds and they eventually destroy the body itself. Foods such as Echinacea actually stimulate the production of these specific cytokines; hence consuming it is not a good idea if one suspects they may have the virus.