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Posts in ‘alternative’

Curcumin curry’s secret agent

Nov 13

Curcumin curry’s secret agent: behind all great spices are powerful healing compounds. for the curry seasoning turmeric, that hidden gem is curcumin—a potent antioxidant that quells inflammation and keeps the mind sharp

Jack ChallemCurcumin is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory with potentially far-reaching health benefits. Based on human, animal, and cell studies, it may be helpful in rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetic retinopathy, and cancer. All of these diseases share underlying inflammation that curcumin can diminish.

ALIAS: If you have ever eaten curry or cooked with the spice turmeric (which gives curry its yellowish color), you’ve consumed curcumin. Curry uses turmeric, obtained from the roots of Curcuma longa. Curcumin, consisting of several curcuminoids, is the active constituent of turmeric. Biologically, turmeric is related to ginger.

HOW IT WORKS: Curcumin works through several well-established mechanisms. An antioxidant in its own right, it also boosts levels of glutathione S-transferase, one of the body’s principal antioxidants. It blocks the formation of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a compound that promotes inflammation within the body.

To get technical for a moment: Curcumin also inhibits activity of “nuclear factor kappa beta,” another substance involved in inflammation. In addition, it reduces the activity of cydooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX), two more inflammation-promoting enzymes. Finally, curcumin prevents mutations to DNA, in effect helping to maintain younger, healthier cells.

HEALTH BENEFITS: Supplemental curcumin can help with the following conditions and diseases:

* Rheumatoid arthritis. In a study conducted at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson, researchers used a curcumin-rich turmeric extract to treat rheumatoid arthritis in laboratory animals. The extract blocked joint inflammation and the breakdown of joint cartilage and bone. It worked by inhibiting genes involved in inflammation.

* Cancer. Curcumin holds tremendous promise in preventing cancer and as an adjunct treatment. Animal studies show that curcumin can protect against colon, intestinal, oral, and skin cancers. Its benefits derive from several mechanisms. First, it blocks the cell-growth cycle (a process called apoptosis) in cancer cells, leading to cell destruction. It also reduces free radicals and inflammation, both of which can lead to cancer-causing cell mutations.

* Liver and kidney protection. Studies have found that curcumin can protect the liver against a variety of toxic compounds–important news for people suffering from liver diseases, such as hepatitis or cirrhosis. In one recent study, researchers reported that curcumin increased the clearance of creatinine and urea, signs of improved kidney function. It also reduced liver damage from toxic chemicals and excess iron. Another study found that curcumin inhibited the activation and spread of the liver cells that play a role in the development of cirrhosis.

* Ulcerative colitis. Japanese doctors recently used curcumin, drags, or placebos to treat 89 patients with ulcerative colitis. A combination of curcumin and conventional medications led to the greatest benefits over six months of treatment. Patients took 1,000 mg of curcumin after breakfast and again after dinner.

* Other inflammatory diseases. Because inflammation is the underpinning of all chronic degenerative diseases, curcumin will likely be beneficial for many different conditions. Research so far has identified curcumin’s benefits for diabetic retinopathy, lung disorders, and such skin problems as psoriasis. A dose of 3.6 g (3,600 mg) of curcumin reduced PGE2 levels by two-thirds in just one hour. After one month of daily consumption, PGE2 levels were 57 percent lower than before supplementation began.

BACKGROUND CHECK: Turmeric, the source of curcumin, has been used as a culinary spice for at least 2,000 years. It was listed in an Assyrian herbal in 600 BC, used by ancient Greeks, and widely recommended in Ayurvedic medicine. It is native to India and other regions of South Asia.

GLEANINGS: Eating a lot of curry–rich in curcumin–may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and help maintain mental function. In a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers reported that people who often ate curry had half the risk of becoming mentally impaired. Eating curry on occasion reduced the risk of mental decline by a little more than one third.

HEADS UP: Curcumin is safe in amounts from 500 to 8,000 mg daily.

WHAT YOU SHOULD TAKE: Most supplements provide 500 mg of curcumin. Turmeric is safe in even larger amounts, but is usually limited by taste as a spice. Look for a standardized supplement containing at least 90 percent curcumin. Use curry spice to flavor homemade chicken salad.

COPYRIGHT 2007 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Complementary medicines, Eezapein, alternative, arthritis, capsaicin, curcumin, herbs, immune system, inflammation     0 Comments

Many Cancer Patients Receive Insufficient Pain Management Therapy

Oct 29

ScienceDaily (Sep. 10, 2008) — Pain is one of the most common symptoms of cancer patients, yet many of them do not receive adequate therapy for the pain caused by their disease or treatments, according to a study in the September 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

For cancer patients, pain can come from the cancer itself, chronic inflammatory changes or infections. Standard cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can also cause pain, but despite its common occurrence, pain is a frequent source of patient anxiety due to improper management.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia and the Radiation Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., sought to determine the main reasons that patients fail to receive optimal pain therapy.

Between November 2005 and April 2006, 106 radiation therapy patients responded to an Internet-based questionnaire that evaluated their medication use, pain control and attitudes toward pain medication, including prescription and over-the-counter pain medications. Fifty-eight percent reported pain from their cancer treatment and 46 percent of patients reported pain directly from their cancer, yet 80 percent of those patients said that they did not use medication to manage their pain.

Most patients said the main reason they did not take pain medication was because their healthcare provider did not recommend it. This reason was followed by a fear of addiction or dependence and the inability to pay. Some patients also reported using alternative therapies for pain relief, including physical therapy, massage and acupuncture.

“To eliminate barriers to optimal pain management for cancer patients, healthcare providers should talk with their patients about pain symptoms and pain medications,” Charles Simone, M.D., a resident at the National Cancer Institute Radiation Oncology Branch in Bethesda, Md. and lead author of the study, said. “At our institution we have taken these steps by transitioning to an electronic medical record system that has been designed to require an evaluation and documentation of patient pain levels and pain medication responses by healthcare providers at each patient encounter.”

Adapted from materials provided by American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Complementary medicines, Eezapein, achy muscles, alternative, arthritis, burning, can't sleep, cancer, chemotherapy, fatigue, fight infection, immune system, inflammation, medication, pain, pain management     0 Comments

Acupuncture And Myofascial Trigger Therapy Treat Same Pain Areas

Oct 29

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2008) — Ancient acupuncture and modern myofascial pain therapy each focus on hundreds of similar points on the body to treat pain, although they do it differently, says a physician at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville who analyzed the two techniques.

Results of the study, published May 10 in the Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, suggest that people who want relief from chronic musculoskeletal pain may benefit from either therapy, says chronic pain specialist Dr. Peter Dorsher of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Mayo Clinic.

“This may come as a surprise to those who perform the two different techniques, because the notion has been that these are exclusive therapies separated by thousands of years,” he says. “But this study shows that in the treatment of pain disorders, acupuncture and myofascial techniques are fundamentally similar – and this is good news for anyone looking for relief.”

Classic Chinese acupuncture treats pain and a variety of health disorders using fine needles to “reset” nerve transmission, Dorsher says. Needles are inserted in one or several of 361 classical acupoints to target specific organs or pain problems. “This is a very safe and effective technique,” he says.

Myofascial trigger-point therapy, which has evolved since the mid-1800s, focuses on tender muscle or “trigger point” regions. There are about 255 such regions described by the Trigger Point Manual, the seminal textbook on myofascial pain. These are believed to be sensitive and painful areas of muscle and fascia, the web of soft tissue that surrounds muscle, bones, organs and other body structures. To relieve pain at these trigger points, practitioners use injections, deep pressure, massage, mechanical vibration, electrical stimulation and stretching, among other techniques.

In the study, Dorsher analyzed studies published on both techniques and demonstrated that acupuncture points and trigger points are anatomically and clinically similar in their uses for treatment of pain disorders.

In another recent study, he found that at least 92 percent of common trigger points anatomically corresponded with acupoints, and that their clinical correspondence in treating pain was more than 95 percent. “That means that the classical acupoint was in the same body region as the trigger point, was used for the same type of pain problem, and the trigger point referred pain pattern followed the meridian pathway of that acupoint described by the Chinese more than 2,000 years before,” Dorsher says. Myofascial pain therapy has lately incorporated the use of acupuncture needles in a treatment called “dry needling” to treat muscle trigger points.

“I think it is fair to say that the myofascial pain tradition represents an independent rediscovery of the healing principles of traditional Chinese medicine,” Dorsher says. “What likely unites these two disciplines is the nervous system, which transmits pain.”

The study was funded by Mayo Clinic.

Chinese medicine, Complementary medicines, alternative, myofascial pain, pain     0 Comments

How Stress Affects the Immune System

Sep 26

We have known for some time that stress affects our immune systems. Many studies have shown that stress can suppress the immune system, but other studies have shown boosts in the immune system under stress. A July 2004 meta-analysis of 293 studies conducted over the past 30 years puts the pieces of the puzzle together. Psychologists Suzanne Segerstrom, Ph.D., and Gregory Miller, Ph.D. found the following:

  • Stress does indeed affect the immune system in powerful ways.
  • Short-term stressors boost the immune system. It seems that the “fight or flight” response prompts the immune system to ready itself for infections resulting from bites, punctures, scrapes or other challenges to the integrity of the body.
  • Chronic, long-term stress suppresses the immune system. The longer the stress, the more the immune system shifted from they adaptive changes seen in the “fight or flight”1 response to more negative changes, first at the cellular level and later in broader immune function. The most chronic stressors – stress that seems beyond a person’s control or seems endless – resulted in the most global suppression of immunity. Almost all measures of immune system function dropped across the board.
  • The immune systems of the elderly or those already sick are more subject to stress-related changes.

In reaching these conclusions the authors looked at the effects of the various stressors on different immune responses, such as “natural” and “specific” immunity. They summarized the results of the studies that looked at each of these types of stress:

Natural immunity produces quick-acting, all-purpose cells that can attack many pathogens; they bring fever and inflammation.

The body takes a few days to mount a more specific attack on particular invaders with specific immunity. This response includes lymphocytes (T-cells and B cells). Specific immunity has both cellular responses, which fight pathogens that get inside cells (such as viruses), and humoral responses, which fight pathogens that stay outside cells, such as bacteria and parasites. Segerstrom and Miller were able to assess how different types of immune response correlated with different types of stress because researchers have identified the blood markers of these different immune responses.

They divided stressors into different types:

Acute time-limited stressors: lab challenges such as public speaking or mental math.

Brief naturalistic stressors: real-world challenges such as academic tests.

Stressful event sequences: a focal event such as loss of a spouse or major natural disaster gives rise to a series of related challenges that people know at some point will end.

Chronic stressors: pervasive demands that force people to restructure their identity or social roles, without any clear end point – such as injury resulting in permanent disability, caring for a spouse with severe dementia, or being a refugee forced from one’s native country by war.

Distant stressors: traumatic experiences that occurred in the distant past yet can continue modifying the immune system because of their long-lasting emotional and cognitive consequences, such as child abuse, combat trauma or having been a prisoner of war. Much of their analysis goes on to review the similarities and differences among the 293 studies that they examined. These studies included a total of 18,941 subjects. “Stressful event sequences” appeared to be weakly associated with different immune consequences, depending on the type of event. There appeared to be different patterns for grief than for trauma, for example, but the associations weren’t strong enough for the authors to make new claims. They recommended further study.

The authors did find that the most chronic stressors - those which change people’s identities or social roles, are more beyond their control and seem endless - were associated with the most global suppression of immunity. In such situations almost all measures of immune function dropped across the board. The longer the stress, the more the immune system shifted from potentially adaptive changes (such as those in the acute “fight or flight” response) to potentially detrimental changes, at first in cellular immunity and then in broader immune function. This analysis suggests that stressors that turn a person’s world upside down and appear to offer no hope for the future probably have the greatest psychological and physiological impact.

The authors also found that age and disease status affected a person’s vulnerability to stress-related decreases in immune function. It seems that illness and age make it harder for the body to regulate itself.

This is a ground-breaking meta-analysis that helps us understand the complex relationship between stress and the immune system. It should lead to new treatments and to better stress management programs, especially for patients with HIV or other disorders that compromise immunity.

Reference: Segerstrom & Miller, 2004. Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry Psychological Bulletin, 130, 4.

This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit: http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/stress/a/stressimmune604.htm

©2008 About.com, Inc., a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.

Complementary medicines, Relazovac for sleep, Relazovac for stress, Uncategorized, alternative, antidepressants, can't sleep, exercise, side effects, sleeping trouble, stress     0 Comments

Cancer survivors: Take care of your body after treatment

Sep 26

From MayoClinic.com
Special to CNN.com

After your cancer treatment, you were eager to nurse your body back to health. But beyond your initial recovery, you might be interested in ways to improve your long-term health so that you can enjoy the years ahead as a cancer survivor.

The advice for cancer survivors is no different than the advice for anyone who wants to improve their health: Exercise and improve your diet. But for cancer survivors these strategies have added benefits — research shows these simple steps can improve your quality of life, smoothing your transition into survivorship. Follow this guide to what you can do to take care of your body after cancer treatment.

Exercise

Regular exercise increases your sense of well-being after cancer treatment and can speed your recovery. Cancer survivors who exercise often experience:

  • Increased strength and endurance
  • Stronger immune systems
  • Fewer signs and symptoms of depression
  • Less anxiety
  • Reduced fatigue
  • Less difficulty sleeping
  • Improved mood
  • Higher self-esteem

Adding physical activity to your daily routine won’t take a lot of extra work. Focus on small steps to make your life more active. Take the stairs more often or park farther from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Check with your doctor before you begin any exercise program.

With your doctor’s approval, start slowly and work your way up. The American Cancer Society recommends adult cancer survivors exercise for at least 30 minutes five or more days a week. As you recover and adjust, you might find more exercise makes you feel even better.

Sometimes you won’t feel like exercising, and that’s OK. Don’t feel guilty if lingering treatment side effects, such as fatigue, keep you sidelined. When you feel up to it, take a walk around the block. Do what you can, but know that rest is important to your recovery as well.

While exercise has many benefits, there’s no evidence that exercise can keep your cancer from coming back. Many cancer survivors are concerned about cancer recurrence and want to do all they can to avoid it. It’s not clear why cancer recurs in some people but not in others. Exercise won’t stop your cancer from recurring, but it can make you feel better and help prevent other diseases, such as heart disease.

Eat a balanced diet

Vary your diet to include lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains. When it comes to selecting your entrees, the American Cancer Society recommends that cancer survivors:

  • Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day
  • Choose healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids, rather than saturated fats or trans fats
  • Select proteins that are low in saturated fat, such as fish, lean meats, eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes
  • Opt for healthy sources of carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables

This combination of foods will ensure that you’re eating plenty of the vitamins and nutrients you need to help make your body strong.

While it may be tempting to supplement your diet with a host of vitamin and mineral supplements, resist that urge. Some cancer survivors think that if a small amount of vitamins is good, a large amount must be even better. But that isn’t the case. In fact, large amounts of certain nutrients can hurt you. If you’re concerned about getting all the vitamins you need, ask your doctor if taking a daily multivitamin is right for you.

No special diet is known to prevent cancer from recurring. However, some preliminary research in breast cancer survivors indicates that a low-fat diet may reduce the chance of breast cancer recurring. In this study, which has yet to be completed, it isn’t clear whether the slight reduction in breast cancer recurrence was from women eating less fat or from women losing weight on the restricted diet. It also isn’t clear if a low-fat diet has any application to other cancer survivors.

Maintain a healthy weight

You may have gained or lost weight during treatment. Try to get your weight to a healthy level. Talk to your doctor about what a healthy weight is for you and the best way to go about achieving that goal weight.

For cancer survivors who need to gain weight, this will likely involve coming up with ways to make food more appealing and easier to eat. You and your doctor can work together to control nausea, pain or other side effects of cancer treatment that are preventing you from getting the nutrition you need. Losing even more weight can reduce your quality of life and make recovery more difficult.

For cancer survivors who need to lose weight, take steps to lose weight slowly — no more than 2 pounds a week. Control the number of calories you eat and balance this with exercise. If you need to lose a lot of weight, it can seem daunting. Take it slowly and stick to it. Any amount of weight loss can help you feel better about yourself and improve your health.

Stop using tobacco

Kick the habit once and for all. Smoking or using chewing tobacco puts you at risk of several types of cancer. Stopping now could reduce your risk of cancer recurrence and also reduce your risk of developing a second type of cancer (second primary cancer).

If you’ve tried quitting in the past but haven’t had much success, seek help. Talk to your doctor about resources to help you quit.

Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all

If you choose to drink alcohol, keep it to a minimum. At most, women and anyone over 65 should drink no more than one drink a day, and men should drink no more than two drinks a day.

Alcohol does have health benefits in some people — for instance, consuming a drink or two a day can reduce your risk of heart disease. But it also increases the risk of certain cancers, including those of the mouth, throat, liver and breast. While it isn’t clear whether drinking alcohol can cause cancer recurrence, it can increase your risk of a second primary cancer.

Weigh the risks and benefits of drinking alcohol carefully and talk it over with your doctor.

Do what you can

While you may fear it will take an entire overhaul of your lifestyle to achieve all these goals, do what you can and make changes slowly. Easing into a healthy diet or regular exercise will make it more likely that you’ll stick with these changes for the rest of your life.

· Cancer survivors: What to expect with follow-up care

· On the job with cancer: Managing common workplace challenges

· Cancer survivors: Relationships with family and friends after treatment

· Cancer survivors: Late effects of cancer treatment

· Cancer survivors: Managing your emotions after cancer treatment

· Sexuality after cancer treatment: What women can expect

· Sexuality after cancer treatment: What men can expect

· Cancer recurrence: What it means and how to cope

October 05, 2005

Complementary medicines, Uncategorized, alternative, anti-cancer food, antioxidants, appetite change, excercise, herbs, immune system, insomnia, men, natural healing, nervous system, prevention, sleeping trouble, survival, vitamin C, whole grains, women     0 Comments

Cancer fighter: ginseng boosts immune function, combats stress and fatigue, and even helps fight breast cancer

Sep 26

Michael Castleman
IN ASIA, ginseng has been revered for centuries as a total-body health enhancer. But the mounting excitement in the West is focused on a very specific benefit. “Many studies show that ginseng helps prevent and treat breast cancer,” says Christine Homer, M.D., author of Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner’s Program to Protect Against and Fight Breast Cancer (Basic Health Publications, 2005).

One clinical vote of confidence occurred last spring when researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville concluded that Panax ginseng increases both the length and quality of life for women with breast cancer. Among 1,455 women followed for six years after a breast cancer diagnosis, regular ginseng users had 30 percent less risk of dying from the disease and 29 percent less risk of dying from any other cause, compared with nonusers. The 2006 study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, noted that those women who consumed the most ginseng reported the greatest improvement in quality of life.

Scientists believe that ginseng counteracts the cancer-stimulating action of the body’s own estrogen. The herb is actually a phytoestrogen that binds to estrogen receptors in the body, locking out its hormonal counterpart; by itself, ginseng is too weak an estrogen to spur breast cancer.

Beyond the breast

Ginseng’s Latin name, Panax, comes from the Greek word for “panacea,” and its effects are impressively diverse. “The Chinese consider ginseng a tonic, something that strengthens the whole body,” says Efrem Korngold, O.M.D., a Chinese medicine practitioner in San Francisco and a Natural Health advisor. “Western medicine has been skeptical of ginseng, as though it’s too good to be true. The skeptics should study the research.”

In addition to breast cancer, ginseng may discourage a range of cancers. Researchers at the Korea Cancer Center in Seoul tracked ginseng use in 4,634 subjects for five years. Compared with those who used no ginseng, those who took it regularly had 60 percent less risk of developing any cancer. The results were published in 1998 in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Overall, there seems to be a particularly positive effect on immune function. In the journal Pharmacy Research in 1996, University of Southern California researchers noted that ginseng increases production of interferon, the body’s own antiviral compound. In a related study in 2002, published in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, Korean researchers discovered that ginseng also enhances the ability of white blood cells to manufacture pathogen-devouring cells called macrophages.

By boosting immune function, ginseng may improve the efficacy of vaccinations. According to a 1996 study in Drugs in Experimental and Clinical Research, Italian researchers gave 227 volunteers a placebo or 100 milligrams of ginseng daily. A month later, everyone received flu shots; 42 placebo takers caught the flu, but only 15 ginseng patients became sick–a highly significant difference.

Several studies also indicate that ginseng’s immune-friendliness may help prevent the common (and always aggravating) cold. In 2006, University of Connecticut researchers gave 43 adults over age 65 a placebo or 400 mg of ginseng per day. For the first two months, both groups caught the same number of colds. But during months three and four, the ginseng group became sick only half as often (32 percent versus 62 percent), and their cold symptoms lasted less than half as long (six days compared to 13 days).

Total impact

In keeping with its reputation as an adaptogen, e r whole-body tonic, ginseng has been found to enhance both mental and physical performance, aid fertility and virility in men, reduce fatigue, and lower blood sugar in diabetics.

INTELLIGENCE. In a 1996 Danish study, 112 middle-aged adults were given cognitive-function tests before and after taking a placebo or 400 mg per day of ginseng for eight weeks. The placebo group showed no change in brainpower, while those who took ginseng demonstrated significant improvement. British researchers conducted a similar study in 2002 using the same dose of ginseng, which again seemed to enhance memory and attentiveness.

STAMINA AND FATIGUE. When Italian researchers tested 50 male gym teachers, ages 21 to 47, on a treadmill, those taking ginseng had greater stamina than did the placebo group; another Italian study found that ginseng improves reaction time. And a 1999 Japanese study in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics showed that the herb helps relieve the fatigue some women experience during menopause.

DIABETES. In a 2000 study published in Archives of Internal Medicine, University of Toronto researchers gave ginseng (a relatively high dose of three grams) to diabetics before a meal. Blood sugar typically rises after eating, but 40 minutes after the meal, the ginseng takers showed a decrease in blood sugar levels.

REPRODUCTION AND SEX. While an Italian study showed that ginseng boosts sperm count, two Korean studies–published in 2002 in the Journal of Urology and in 1995 in the International Journal of Impotence Research–confirmed the herb’s reputed aphrodisiac effect. Apparently, ginseng increases production of nitric oxide, which plays a key role in sex-related blood flow into the genitals; taking 900 mg three times per day helped restore faltering erections.

WITH SO MANY BENEFITS, it’s no wonder that ginseng users taking as little as 200 mg daily continually report improved quality of life, mental health, and social functioning. After University of Connecticut investigators reviewed research on the herb as it relates to quality of life, their 2003 report, published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy & Therapeutics, found improvement in eight out of nine studies.

Those are darned good odds for a naturally healthier life.

Photograph by DAWN SMITH

RELATED ARTICLE: How to take it.

Asian or Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng) and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) are botanically the same, while Siberian ginseng is a different plant. To use it in a healing tea, simmer one to three grams of the sliced root in 24 ounces boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes; the tea is traditionally cooled and served at room temperature, but you can drink it hot. if you want to try it in capsule form: Nationally recognized surgeon Christine Homer, M.D., recommends 200 to 400 milligrams daily, though daily doses of up to 600 mg are common. For health maintenance, ginseng should be taken in cycles, e.g., daily for two or three weeks followed by a two-week abstention.

Ginseng is distributed in both white and red varieties: The white is unprocessed root, while the red is steamed, then dried. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), red ginseng is considered “hot,” with stronger restorative action for disease recovery. The milder, white ginseng is “warm” and is thought to be preferable for long-term use. Western research draws no distinction between white and red ginseng; if you can’t decide which variety to take, consult a TCM practitioner. The herb causes no significant side effects, though caffeinelike jitters are possible; people with high blood pressure are advised to avoid ginseng without the guidance of a qualified herbalist.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning



Complementary medicines, Ginseng, alternative, anti-cancer agents, anti-cancer food, breast, breast cancer, cancer, cancer studies, chemotherapy, chronic fatigue, diabetes, herbs, immune system, men, side effects, tired, women     0 Comments

Complementary Medicines Can Help Mild Depression And Premenstrual Syndrome, But Report Warns Not All Products Are Harmless

Aug 22

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2008) - Complementary medicines can help mild depression and premenstrual syndrome. Not all dietary supplements and “alternative” products are harmless though. German Institute urges consumers to be more critical of health claims.

Many people use “alternative” or complementary products because they see them as a more gentle form of medicine. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care has now analysed the latest research on several products and released the results along with a guide for consumers.

St John’s wort (hypericum), for example, could help ease mild depression, but it does not help with severe depression. It also probably cannot help with the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). However, calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) might help relieve PMS. On the other hand, evening primrose oil has not been proven to help.

Herbal medicines and dietary supplements can also have risks

According to the Institute, conflicting research results in recent years have caused confusion and controversy about St. John’s wort. It concluded this is partly because the effects vary from product to product, and the effect depends too on how severe depression is. The controversy highlights the importance of looking at all clinical trial results to gain a better picture of health care treatments.

“Consumers need to be more critical of all health claims,” according to the Institute’s Director, Professor Peter Sawicki. “This is as true of dietary supplements and complementary medicines as it is of prescription medicine. Just because a product is made from a plant or vitamins, it does not mean it is necessarily safe in very high doses or for frequent use. And not all medicinal products can provide as much relief as patients expect.” The growing evidence that high doses of some vitamins and antioxidants can cause cancer or earlier death is an important reminder that dietary supplements are not necessarily harmless.

All treatments and products should face the same scientific standards for effectiveness and safety

Patients need to consider several questions before choosing any treatment, including a dietary supplement. Professor Sawicki: “Doctors and patients need to know whether treatments have been proven to work in enough good clinical trials that measured benefits large enough to matter to the patient. Whether a medicine is made from a plant or manufactured in a laboratory, the same scientific standards apply if you want to know which treatment might be the best for you.”

To help consumers, the Institute also published a new guide for consumers considering using dietary supplements or complementary medicine products. The fact sheet lists key questions that could help people make decisions for or against a particular treatment.

The fact sheet, along with research results on a range of treatments, is available at  www.informedhealthonline.org.


Adapted from materials provided by Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care

Complementary medicines, alternative, depression, safety of herbs     0 Comments