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Complementary
medicine
Complementary
medicine saves money
New brown rice cancer
therapy
Tai Chi relieves MS symptoms
Stinging nettle success
Negative interaction between herbal remedies and
anaesthetics
Chinese herbs for irritable bowel syndrome
Chinese herbs reverse bone loss
Magnets heal animals
Complementary
medicine saves money
When, in 1992, Dr. Roy Welford and colleagues at The Health Centre in Glastonbury introduced a Comp-lementary Health Service, his patients were delighted by the opportunity to be referred to one of five therapies (osteopathy, acupuncture, herbalism, massage or homoeopathy) funded by the National Health Service.
Now the practice's doctors are delighted too. 85% of the patients referred experienced improvements in their health and subsequently visited their doctor less often and required fewer prescriptions. The savings to the practice were more than sufficient to pay for the therapies.
Secondary referrals (e.g. for physiotherapy at a nearby hospital) also reduced, saving NHS costs. The original grant from the Somerset Health Authority has now been replaced by funding from a practice-based charitable trust. It is hoped that, once it has analysed these and results from other similar experiments, the NHS will make a variety of complementary therapies generally available.
(7107-10) Dr. Roy Welford. Positive News 1.6.00
Brown rice and cancer
After 25 years research and development, Professor AbulKalam Shamsuddin at the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore (US) believes he may have found a powerful new tool against cancer: inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), extracted from brown rice. Most of Professor Shamsuddin's work was funded by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the positive results of his initial trials have been repeated by numerous independent studies. IP6 appears to be able not only to prevent cancer but also to reduce existing tumours in rats and mice.
Full scale human-based research is now needed to confirm 15 years of animal-based studies. IP6 appears to work by helping to stop the uncontrolled cell production which leads to immature cells becoming cancerous. Cells allowed to mature normally usually return to normal functioning.
To get enough IP6 from brown rice one would need to eat several large bowlfuls a day, but the body absorbs it better in its extracted form anyway. Professor Shamsuddin recommends 15-16 capsules (6,000-7,000 milli-grams) daily for those with cancer and 4-6 capsules daily on an empty stomach for those using IP6 preventatively.
Two IP6 products are available in the UK: Cellforte, from the Nutri Centre (0207 436 5122), and ImmunAlive, (0800 8923 8923). There is also Professor Shamsuddin's book, IP6 - Nature's Revolutionary Cancer Fighter, at £5.99, available by mail order by calling 0207 323 2382, or via the Professor's own website: www.ip-6.net
(6119-22) Hazel Courteney. Planet on Sunday 5.12.99 p37
Tai Chi for MS
A pilot study suggests that Tai Chi may offer great benefits to people with multiple sclerosis. Eight individuals were given a two-month course in Tai Chi. Balance and depression levels were assessed before and after using standard measures. A check list of classic MS symptoms was also used for the test subjects to evaluate their own progress (or lack of it). Small reductions in anxiety, anger and fatigue/inertia were noted, with a 50% drop in depression. Regarding balance (measured by the number of seconds the individuals were able to stand on one leg), the average ability doubled.
In terms of other classic MS symptoms, five of the eight reported reduced stiffness in the joints and improved wellbeing, four reported increases in the distances they could walk and improved bladder symptoms, and three reported improved walking steadiness and ability to stand, reduced numbness in fingers and feet, reduced constipation and pain, and improved ability to move the legs.
The authors of the research are following up the eight individuals and hope to publish a further report soon. Exponents of Tai Chi emphasise that it often takes several months of regular practice to derive the full benefit.
(6152-54) Mills,N et al. Jnl. of Bodywork & Movement Therapies 2000;4(1):39-48
The leaves of the garden stinging nettle - taken as a tea, a soup or in cooked food - are good for chronic skin and joint conditions, eczema, asthma and hay fever. Rich in vitamins A,C,E and K, trace elements and minerals (including iron, silica, potassium and tannin), nettles are also used in the treatment of nose bleeds, heavy periods, urinary tract infections (e.g. cystitis) and high blood pressure. A 1989 double-blind study by the US National College of Naturopathic Medicine showed that they performed significantly better than a placebo (nettles 58%, placebo 37%) in relieving the symptoms of hay fever.
A 1994 Japanese study showed that nettle root extract could help in some cases of benign prostate disease. In Germany, where nettles are popular, their use for this disease is now officially endorsed. Dr. Peter Houghton of King's College, London, states that the roots have a general stimulating effect on the immune system - rather like echinacea - but can also be used as a mild sedative.
Directions for use: Pick the leaves when young (wearing gloves). These can be chopped to make into a tea, added to a stew, or steamed or boiled and eaten like a vegetable. The taste is reminiscent of spinach. Leftover tea can be poured onto the head to strengthen hair or boost growth. It can also be applied to the skin to relieve varicose veins and haemorrhoids. Don't overdo it, Houghton advises. One side effect for some people is gastric irritation.
For more information contact: The National Institute of Medical Herbalists, 5 6 Longbrook Street, Exeter, EX4 6AH. Tel.: 01392 426022. Website:
(6024-27) Barbara Rowlands. Daily Telegraph 3.12.99
The American Society of Anaesthesiologists is so concerned about the possible negative interaction between herbal remedies and anaesthetics that they have published a leaflet advising patients to stop their herbal remedies at least two weeks before an operation. If a sudden operation comes up, they advise the patient to inform their doctor of any herbal remedies they have taken recently so that appropriate precautions/changes in procedure can be made. Feverfew, ginkgo, ginger and garlic may increase bleeding, especially in patients taking anticoagulants. Ginseng may decrease the effectiveness of some anticoagulants. Kava-kava may increase the effect of some anti-seizure medications or prolong effects of some anaesthetics.
Ed.- It is very important to tell both your GP and any complementary therapists you use what herbal or other remedies/medicines you are using. The better they are informed, the better they can work together on your behalf.
(6461-65) Marilynn Larkin. Lancet 16.10.99 p1362
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome were randomly assigned to three groups. The first group was given individualised Chinese herbal formulations, the second standard Chinese herbal formulations, the third a placebo. After 16 weeks all the patients were examined by a traditional Chinese herbalist and a gastroenterologist. The patients on Chinese Herbs experienced significant improvement compared to those on the placebo but the patients given individualised treatment did no better than those on standard preparations. However, 14 weeks after treatment stopped the results had changed. Only the patients given individualised treatments maintained the improvement.
(5916-17) Greenfiles 1.6.99 p29 Original research: Bensoussan,A et al. Journal of the American Medical Association 1998;280:18,1585-89
Chinese medicine and bone loss
Two Chinese herbal remedies - Bushen Jiangu and Bushen Migu Ye - have been found to reverse postmenopausal bone loss. After three months of the Bushen Jiangu trial at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical University, 92% of the patients taking the herb had improved and after six months 69% had significantly higher bone density of the lumbar vertebrae than before treatment. Patients in the calcium-treatment control group had actually lost bone density.
Similar results were found with Bushen Migu Ye. Confirming the measured effect, the ratio of fasting urinary calcium and hydroxyproline to creatinine was lower than before treatment showing that less calcium was leaching from the body.
(2126-27) Alternatives in Health 1.5.97 p10
Great care is taken by medical researchers to eliminate the placebo effect. This is where a therapy or drug gives benefit simply because the patient wants it to and believes it will, and can account for up to 60% of 'successes'. The principal way to minimise the placebo effect from research findings is to create a control group, as similar as possible in (e.g.) age, diet, socio-economic background to the study group, and to give them what appears to be exactly the same treatment as the study group but which is, in fact, a harmless look-alike/feel-alike. If the responses from the study group and the control group are significantly different, it is reasonable to conclude that the therapy being tested has a real effect. It is also accepted, perhaps erroneously, that the placebo effect cannot exist with animals, so when an animal responds to a therapy scientists are often more sure that the effect is real.
One therapy where some animals respond well is magnotherapy. Recent cases include a rejuvenated old, arthritic Labrador and a horse healed from a permanent limp suffered after breaking her cannon bone. Dr. le Fanu also gives a rare human example where the placebo effect was unlikely to have played a part. Several people with back problems have found that their problems cleared up after having a magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) scan to investigate those problems. Although it is not scientific to assume that something which helps one species will help another (cats, for instance, are poisoned by aspirin), Dr. le Fanu suggests that, where the therapy is non-invasive, it is certainly worth a try.
(5600-04) Dr. James le Fanu. Sunday Telegraph 12.9.99 p4
Orthodox
Medicine
Lead in calcium
supplements
US doctors third
leading cause of death
Autism - toxic gut syndrome
Lung damage drugs database
HRT hiding breast cancer
Short term drug tests inadaquate
Xeno-slaughter
Medicine 4th largest killer in Canada
Recovery quicker on sunny side of hospital
Scientific corruption widespread
Viagra may damage eyesight
Medicine ends up in the water supply
Antibiotic chemically modified to deactivate in light
Antibiotic resistance passed from animals to humans
Honey better for burns
Antibacterial backlash
Philip Tarr and colleagues at the Washington School of Medicine in Seattle (US) warn that treating e coli food poisoning with antibiotics may do more damage than good. 56% of those treated developed haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (in which organs fail due to toxins released by the bacteria) compared with only 8% of those who weren't given antibiotics. The scientists suspect that dying bacteria give off more toxins than live bacteria.
(7004) New Scientist 10.6.00 p21
US doctors threaten patients
A “landmark article” in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (2000:284 pp 483-85) warns that doctors have become the third
leading cause of death in the US, closely trailing heart disease and cancer.
The iatrogenic deaths (iatrogenic - due to a doctor’s activity, manner
or therapy) break down as follows (per year): unnecessary surgery - 12,000,
medication errors in hospitals - 7,000, other errors in hospitals - 20,000,
infections in hospitals - 80,000, non-error negative effects of drugs
- 106,000.
These figures only count deaths, and do not include patients who were
damaged but survived.
(7307-08) Joseph M. Mercola. Townsend
Letter for Doctors & Patients 1.10.00
Not for long term
An example of the dangers of the short-term testing
used to license major drugs has been provided by Swiss and UK researchers.
After analysing more than 100 medical trials worldwide, covering at least
200,000 patients, they have concluded that the regular, long term use
of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs - including aspirin)
is killing about 2,000 people annually in Britain alone. They advise GPs
to give patients the smallest possible doses for the shortest possible
time and, if necessary, to move patients onto albeit more expensive alternatives
which carry less risk of gastric complications.
Dr. Tramer of University Hospital, Geneva (Switzerland), leader of the
research team, reassures patients who buy NSAID’s like Nurofen, Advil
or Ibuleve over the counter that there is no need to worry if the drugs
are taken for a short time to relieve pain. “The risks are with patients
who take these drugs continuously for a couple of months or more, for
conditions such as arthritis.” The manufacturers agree that long term
use is dangerous and point to printed warnings on the packets advising
users to go to their GP if symptoms persist more than three days.
(6191-93) Independent 15.3.00 p6
Killed by medicine
Canadian researchers have calculated that adverse reactions to drugs (ADRs) have become the country’s fourth largest killer, after heart disease, cancer and stroke. Given that adverse drug reactions are notoriously under-reported, and that one should also add in “administrative errors, possible adverse reactions and overdoses”, ADRs are probably in reality higher up the killer scale. They believe the statistics would be the same in any industrialised country.
(5125) What Doctors Don’t Tell You
1.6.98 p9
Wait and watch
A fifth of all new drugs licensed in the US are later found to have serious
or life-threatening side effects. These were unknown to or undisclosed
by the manufacturer when the drug was approved. The implications are frightening.
In the case of five drugs withdrawn during the twelve months September
’97 - ’98, 20 million patients (10% of the US population) had
already been exposed. The study also reported that half of the side effects
show up within seven years of a new drug’s approval for use.
Adopting the precautionary principle, health research group Public Citizen
recommends people to wait five years before taking any new drug.
(9268) Ecologist 1.7.02 p6
NSAIDS delay bone-mending
According to Dr. Patrick O’Connor and colleagues at New Jersey’s
University of Medicine & Dentistry, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) can weaken and delay, or almost halt, bones healing:
• Ibuprofen and indomethacin delay
• Vioxx and Celebrex almost halt healing.
In many cases the new bone was merely a weak shell.
The research was rat-based so needs to be repeated on humans. Professor
Jeremy Saklatvata from London’s Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology
warned anyone with healing bones to steer clear of all drugs and felt
that the finding could have implications for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
(9344) James Chapman. Daily Mail 6.6.02 p29
Pharmaceutical companies
must prove safety
On August 1st 2002 German law changed regarding compensation for patients
believing that they have been damaged by a pharmaceutical drug. Providing
the patient can produce medical evidence that the drug could cause the
adverse effect they have experienced, it is down to the pharmaceutical
company to prove that the drug cannot. Patients will have the right of
enquiry about side effects. The manufacturer and licensing agency are
bound to give full disclosure.
(9425) Lancet 10.8.02
UK hospitals most dangerous in Europe
A European Commission study concludes that patients are most likely
to contract the multiple-antibiotic-resistant bug methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the UK’s hospitals. The bug, which
can kill through pneumonia, meningitis or heart or blood problems, accounted
for 46% of hospital infections. This compares to 44% in Israel, 38% in
Greece, and less than 3% in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
On average, two of every ten patients catches a bug during their stay
in a UK hospital. One of these catches MRSA, which can now only be treated
by very strong antibiotics of last resort.
(8937) Beezy Marsh. Daily Mail 15.3.02 p1
Lung damage drugs database
Dijon University’s medical centre has compiled a database of 310
prescription drugs which can cause lung damage. Few doctors are aware
of the potential link because:
• lung damage is instantly obvious in some cases, but can take years
to show in others
• many of the drugs which can cause lung damage are prescribed for
non-lung-related illnesses
• only some people get damaged.
Professor Phillipe Camus warned that herbal medicines could also cause
damage and that far too little research had been done on their side-effects,
especially when patients are taking conventional drugs at the same time.
The database is available on their website: www.pneumotox.com
(7177) Sarah Boseley. Guardian 31.8.00
p4
On the sunny side
Professor Peter Hayes of the University of Alberta
(Canada) analysed the records of 628 first heart attack patients and found
that those in rooms on the south side of a hospital’s cardiac intensive
care unit tended to fare much better than those treated on the north side.
This was particularly noticeable in women patients. The study showed that
39% of patients on the north side (which was much darker with less sunshine)
failed to survive compared to 21% on the sunnier south side. This confirms
other research which has shown that lack of daylight affects women’s mental
health more significantly than men’s.
Alternatives in Health’s editor, Adam Jackson, points out that organisations can combat the adverse effects of lack of sunshine (termed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)) by installing full spectrum lighting and suggests Outside-in (Cambridge) Ltd. as a supplier (Tel: 01954 211955).
(3612-13) Alternatives in Health 1998;3:2,5
Corruption widespread
A survey by the Institute of Professionals, Managers and Specialists has found that the corruption of science by commercial interests is widespread. A third of scientists working for Government quangos or newly-privatised laboratories admit that they have been asked to adjust their research conclusions to suit their funder. 17% of these said that the adjustment had been requested to suit the funder's preferred outcome, 10% to win further contracts, and 3% to discourage publication of the research findings. The editor of the British Medical Journal, Richard Smith, gives two examples of suspicious research:
• research into alleged blood clotting by third generation oral contraceptives finds no evidence when funded by pharmaceutical companies but evidence of risk when funded by other sources
• research into the risks of passive smoking tends to find no risk when funded by the tobacco industry. The BMJ now insists that authors of research papers declare their source(s) of funding and whether they have any competing interests.
(6355-57) Liz Lightfoot. Daily Telegraph 14.2.00 p8
Jen check supp for that article
Unforeseen circumstance
Opthalmologists are concerned that users of the anti-impotence drug Viagra may damage their eyesight. Viagra works in the penis by blocking the enzyme phosphodiesterase. If its effect reaches throughout the body it may also block a similar enzyme in the cone of the eye which is responsible for colour vision. People with congenitally abnormal phospho-diesterase suffer irreversible damage to their retina over time. Given that a common cause of impotence is diabetes, which can also damage the retina, diabetics may run a double risk.
Research paper: Acta. Odont. Scand. 1994;52:257-59 (3784) Greenfiles 1.9.98 p2
When a human or animal is given a drug, 50-90% is excreted unchanged. The remainder is excreted in the form of metabolites, (substances produced by the body’s interaction with the original drug). Some of these metabolites are more persistent in the environment than the original drugs. German research published in Science News (21.3.98) found that traces of 30-60 drugs could be detected in a typical water sample. The concentrations of some of the drugs found were comparable to typical pesticide levels. Research in 1992 detected clofibric acid (CA) in water supplies, (CA is frequently prescribed in large quantities to reduce cholesterol levels). Subsequent research in Germany, Sweden and Denmark found that the whole of the North Sea contained levels indicating that it contained 48-96 tonnes.
The long term effect of drinking, day by day, a dilute cocktail of pesticides, antibiotics, painkillers, tranquillisers and chemotherapy agents are, of course, unknown. It is beyond our science to sort out the many potential chemical reactions which could occur but one thing is certain: the increasing presence of antibiotics in the environment can only result in bacteria becoming resistant which, in turn, renders more and more of our antibiotics useless.
(3812-14) Nexus 1.12.98 p9
Antibiotics do not get broken down in the human or animal gut, but get excreted still active into sewers and the soil, where they promote antibiotic resistant bacteria through natural selection. The threat of widespread resistance to all of the antibiotics devised by humans to date has galvanised the medical research world into action. Mobashery and colleagues of Wayne State University (US) believe they may have found an answer for one antibiotic. They have chemically modified beta-lactam so that it deactivates after several hours exposure to sunlight.
(6459-60) Nature Medicine 1.2.00 p142
The burns and the bees
The nutritional value of honey is well known, but how many people know that pollen, stored by the bees in their hives, is an extraordinarily strong source of vitamins and minerals, that propolis (plant resin collected by bees) has antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and even anti-cancer properties, and that honey is safer and more effective for burns than silver sulfadiazine, the standard treatment. In tests comparing natural honey, artificial honey and silver sulphadiazine, natural honey was significantly best at treating burns:
• Sterility: after seven days, wounds treated with natural honey were still 91% sterile compared to only 7% sterile using silver sulfadiazine.
• New tissue growth: wounds treated with natural honey took, on average, 7.4 days to begin to develop new tissue, 13.4 days with silver sulfadiazine.
• Healing: wounds treated with natural honey were 87% healed in 15 days, compared to only 10% using silver sulfadiazine.
Honey’s antimicrobial properties are well known. Honey has been used for thousands of years (see Egyptian documents, the Talmud and the Koran) to treat wounds and burns, by keeping them clean, moist, and free from microbes and the damaging effects of oxygen.
(3373-75) Prof. Avshalom Mizrahi. Positive Health 1.2.98 p41
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