The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Yoga benefits in heart failure reported

    Among other things, yoga improved exercise tolerance, according to this study from Georgia State University in Atlanta.

    First, the details.

    • 19 people with chronic heart failure (ranging from mild to marked) were randomly assigned to yoga treatment or standard medical therapy.

    And, the results.

    • Exercise time and heart work (measured by VO2 peak) significantly improved with yoga vs standard medical care.
    • There were statistically significant reductions in serum levels of IL-6 (interleukin-6; pro-inflammatory protein) and hsCRP (C-reactive protein; test for risk of heart attack) and an increase in extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD; detoxification of reactive oxygen species) with yoga.
    • Quality of life scores improved 26% with yoga group vs 3% in the standard care group.

    The bottom line?
    In addition to exercise tolerance, there were improvements in a range of laboratory test, consistent with benefits for the heart.

    But it’s a very small group of patients with a range of heart dysfunction, and earlier studies in small groups show inconsistent results here and here.

    6/10/08 11:08 JR

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