Simply “adding 1 or 2 healthy items to a menu is essentially the worst thing you can do,” according to researchers from Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina in a press release.
What are the implications for school food programs? Continue reading The limits of choice in selecting healthy meals
 For these healing disciplines where the interaction between therapist and patient are so closely entwined and it’s difficult to show consistent benefit over sham or placebo, I propose we stop testing these treatments.
We would do better to test the therapists. Continue reading Stop testing Chinese and homeopathic treatments
 The prevailing view (not shared by me) is that better research in CAM requires more funding.
All righty then. Here are a few opportunities to get the big bucks, thanks to the recent stimulus bill. Continue reading NIH stimulus funds
 Increased drinking of liquid calories from beverages has paralleled the obesity epidemic in the US.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland examined how changes in beverage consumption affect weight change in adults. Continue reading Contribution of liquid calories to weight control
 Here’s the link to a brief review written by Dr. Jonathan Silver from New York University School of Medicine.
You need read no further than the first paragraph to see the bias. Continue reading CAMophobia at Medscape
STEP stands for “Saw palmetto for Treatment of Enlarged Prostates.†Continue reading The STEP report on saw palmetto safety
Rationing is being introduced in Scotland to control rising demand for free personal care for older people. Continue reading Unintended consequences of government-run healthcare
 Peter Frishauf (photo), the founder of Medscape, videotaped an editorial.
He has 2 predictions. Continue reading The end of peer review medical journals?
As an update to yesterday’s discussion about undeclared ingredients in medicine and other products from China, here’s the latest FDA advisory, warning the public not to consume certain dairy products because of possible melamine contamination.
A list of the products and a brief discussion of the dangers of melamine follows. Continue reading More contaminated foods from China
Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar is the former Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research in India.
During the Second World Ayurveda Congress he shared his thoughts about bhasmas — the Ayurvedic “supplements” with the highest reported heavy metal (lead, tin, iron, arsenic) content. Continue reading Making ayurveda an international medical system
A negative review of homeopathy published in 2005 reverberates still in blogs, journals, and press releases.
A reader comments, and I wax philosophical. But let’s start with summary of the issues. Continue reading Cooking the books against homeopathy?
The New York Times reports there’s “a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.” Continue reading Feeling ill? Google “flu”
 Stamford Hospital in Connecticut has launched its Center for Integrative Medicine & Wellness at the Tully Health Center. Continue reading Integrative medicine at Stamford Hospital
 Three people have died in southwest China after receiving an injection of Siberian ginseng extract.
It’s another example of the chaos that passes for the Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Continue reading Deaths due to Siberian ginseng injections
 The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (the “Regulations”) came into force on May 26, 2008. Douglas McLachlan writes on The Journal website that it represents “the most extensive modernization and simplification of the consumer protection framework for 20 years.”
But what’s the CAM connection? Continue reading Has the UK quietly outlawed “alternative” medicine?
HemOnc Today interviews experts… and me.
They should have asked Dr. Stanton…read on. Continue reading Does mainstream medicine suppress “natural” cures?
I was shocked by a recent Cochrane Review that concluded, “There was no evidence that the Chinese medicinal herbal treatment caused harm” in women with breast cancer.
Anyone who has followed the pet food recalls or reviewed the safety literature on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and traditional Indian medicine (TIM) would come to a different conclusion. Continue reading A critical review of traditional Chinese and Indian medicine
 Why have chiropractors been unable to establish themselves as a well-respected, highly used group of professionals who are recognized by the public as offering essential services to society?
Chiropractic practitioners from around the country weigh in.
Continue reading Making chiropractic mainstream
The London Free Press has an interesting article on the history of ginseng cultivation in Ontario, Canada and ongoing collaborative efforts by growers, academia, and industry to quantify and improve its properties. Continue reading Going commercial with Ontario ginseng
Dr. Hans Baer from the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia thinks he knows.
It might be a window on what would occur with government funded universal healthcare in the US. Continue reading Why does the Australian government support CAM?