Researchers at Osher Institute at Harvard investigated the effectiveness and cost-of-care based on patients’ choice of acupuncture, chiropractic, or massage therapy compared with usual care to treat acute low back pain.
Category Archives: CAM Politics
Collaborative healthcare in Italy
In a previous Acupuncture and TCM now regulated in Ontario
Last year, legislation was submitted in Ontario, Canada that would regulate acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in that province.
The deed is done.
Continue reading Acupuncture and TCM now regulated in Ontario
The winner in CAM for 2006
Winner: If you can stick a pin in it, researchers are eager to study acupuncture.
Libertarian perspectives on anti-trans fat legislation
Last week, New York City became the first city in the US to ban trans fats.
Good news? Here are some other points of view.
Continue reading Libertarian perspectives on anti-trans fat legislation
NYC is first to ban trans fats
According to WABC radio, New York City just passed the ban on using trans fats for cooking in NYC eateries.
Louisville councilman proposes to ban trans fats
Councilman Dan Johnson says he plans to file an ordinance to ban using trans fatty acids in 2,600 Louisville Kentucky eateries.
Food chains that have recently decided to ban trans fatty acids from their foods on their own include the following.
- Arby’s
- KFC
- Taco Bell
Lots of others are listed on other entires on this blog.
Continue reading Louisville councilman proposes to ban trans fats
The growth of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine in North America
Legislation has been submitted in Ontario, Canada to regulate acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. This is the culmination of an ongoing process that started in Canada in 1994. The proposed legislation would create a self-governing regulatory college, and restrict the practice of acupuncture to members of the profession who would be able to use title, doctor.
In North America, it’s the latest event in the growth of acupuncture, which was virtually unknown here until 1972 when China opened its doors to the West.
Continue reading The growth of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine in North America
New York City moving to outlaw trans fats
The movement to ban trans fats in restaurants and fast food outlets picked up more support earlier this week. The New York City Board of Health voted to move forward with plans to prohibit the city’s 20,000 restaurants from serving food that contains more than a minute amount of trans fats.
The next steps are a public hearing on October 30th and a final vote in December. The board is authorized to adopt the plan without the consent of any other agency. So, it’s likely that life in NYC will be come a bit healthier by 2007.
You can track back to other related posts starting here.
9/26/06 23:22 JR
Good news about marijuana
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that the ongoing decline in the use of marijuana among young people (age 12 to 17) continued in 2005. The report is Do artificial sweeteners make you fat?
Around 1990, two studies here and here suggested that artificial sweeteners had little satiating capacity compared to glucose or sucrose. It raised the question, if they didn’t make you feel full (or keep you feeling full) compared to sugar, how could they help lose weight?
This is the source of the rumor that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain.
A decade later, the controversy was resolved.
China poised to dominate nutraceuticals market
The food and supplements ingredients market will grow by 5.8% annually to $15.5 billion in 2010, according to new research from Ohio-based analyst The Freedonia Group.
“However, because of outsourcing trends, the US will relinquish its longstanding top position in the global production of nutraceutical ingredients to China within the next few years.”
Two thoughts on this.
- Considering the growth and size of this market, isn’t it time to insist on large scale clinical trials to prove their worth?
- Considering the lack of quality control in the chinese herbals industry, does this mean we can look forward to poorer quality controls and greater contaminants?
Illustration: Natural Healing Clinic
8/22/06 17:51 JR
Medscape. CAMophobic?
Dr. Wallace Sampson rants on about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the latest video editorial at Medscape. With so much going on in medicine today, why does Medscape use valuable bandwidth to restate, and promote his well-known disregard for CAM?
Is Medscape CAMophobic? Why would this organization allow Dr. Sampson to state that TCM is worthless because it was “developed in a tradition of an authoritarian culture?”
Does anybody really believe that?
More criticism of NCCAM
Earlier this year a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine reported, “saw palmetto did not improve symptoms or objective measures of benign prostatic hyperplasia.” The results were interesting in light of the fact that the weight of the medical literature supports the value of saw palmetto for this condition.
CAMophobia at NEJM
The New England Journal of Medicine published an article in 1999 that made an erroneous association between poorer psychological outcomes in women post breast cancer surgery and their use of CAM.
Here’s the summary quote (my italics). Note the emphasis in the NEJM study on assessment before surgery, while others focus on post surgical assessment results.
“Mental health scores were similar at base line among women who decided to use alternative medicine and those who did not, but three months after surgery the use of alternative medicine was independently associated with depression, fear of recurrence of cancer, lower scores for mental health and sexual satisfaction, and more physical symptoms as well as symptoms of greater intensity.”
The problem with the study was that these 480 patients with newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer were recruited from a Massachusetts statewide cohort of women participating in a study of how women choose treatment for cancer.
Even back then it was recognized that the response to surgery varies among women. Some experience a strong sense of loss and need time to grieve. Others need time to adjust to an altered body image. Many patients feel a sense of relief following surgery, but worries about the long-term prognosis and follow-up therapy can cause added anxiety.
More recently, investigators found that the process of “denial coping” following surgery is a powerful predictor of future health fears. They concluded that there is a need to identify the interventions that can decrease this denial, and whether this then decreases health fears in the aftermath of breast cancer surgery.
7/30/06 16:44 JR
Who is Matthias Rath, and why is he in trouble with the law?
The trial of alternative medicine practitioner Dr. Matthias Rath started last week in Hamburg. Dr. Rath advocates a vitamin treatment to cure cancer. In this case a 9-year-old boy with bone cancer died after he [Dr. Rath] convinced the boy’s parents to use a “miracle cure” rich in vitamins and to reject conventional medical treatments.
The child’s mother, Anke Feld, tells a bizarre story of conspiracy among physicians, conventional medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry in which her son was a pawn. She believes her son “died as a result of the numerous clinical and medical errors and the negligence with which our son was treated in the different hospitals.”
Dr. Rath, whom Ms. Feld thanks for his support and guidance, is the founder of Cellular Medicine, which his website describes as a groundbreaking concept that identifies nutritional deficiencies at the cellular level as a root cause of many chronic diseases. A critical view of him is provided here.
7/28/06 15:32 JR
Follow-up: Becoming trans fat free
Earlier this month this site discussed trans fats, including the initiative to make Chicago the first major city in the country to go trans fat free. Now, The New York Times has published an article on alderman Edward Burke and his proposal.
Chicago’s representatives are a “progressive” lot. They forbid restaurants from selling foie gras and may force cabbies to dress better. However, one major obstacle stands in the way. Mayor Richard Daley thinks it’s one rule too many. With such formidable opposition, Mr. Burke’s proposal may languish.
If you have an opinion contact the mayor at his office via facsimile: 312-744-8045. Or, send an email.
7/23/06 09:35 JR
Wyeth questions the role of pharmacists to compound HRT
 In April, Wyeth Labs renewed its request (submitted last October) for increased FDA regulation of compounding pharmacies that prepare hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Wyeth markets the HRT called Premarin and asserts that the HRT medicines prepared by compounding pharmacies can pose serious health risks.
Here is some historical perspective. Prior to the 1950s, when commercially prepared drugs became widely available, compounding prescriptions to be taken by mouth or inserted rectally was the main function of community pharmacists. In fact, as late as the 1970s (at least in New Jersey), compounding was part of the licensing exam for pharmacists.
In the 1970s, with the advent of total parenteral nutrition, preparation (compounding) of injectables increased by hospital pharmacists. In the 1980s there was a resurgence of compounding in community pharmacies.
In an excellent review, Dr. David Newton states, “Since the early 1990s, most national pharmacy practitioner organizations have asserted compounding is an intrinsic professional practice to be regulated by state boards of pharmacy.” The FDA usually defers to state boards to oversee this practice. Yet, state boards lack inspectors to enforce compounding practice standards, and most boards of pharmacy do not examine the compounding proficiency of their licensure candidates.
The implications of Wyeth’s anticompetitive petition according to the International Association of Compounding Pharmacists, is the “end to the option of prescribing bio-identical hormone replacement therapy for those patients that need it.”
The FDA is reviewing Wyeth’s request.
7/16/06 10:40 JR
Cannabis club banned at Fisherman’s Warf
This site reported previously about the growing resistance to medical cannabis clubs in San Francisco. Apparently, it is having an effect.
Now, The New York Times reports, “Marijuana cannot be sold alongside the cracked crab and souvenirs of Fisherman?s Wharf, the San Francisco Planning Commission decided late Thursday.” One commissioner stated, “the neighborhood was adamantly opposed to the dispensary?.
The cracked crabs will appeal.
7/14/06 09:30 JR
Chinese medicine gaining credibility in the U.S.
The San Francisco Chronicle published an article last week on the integration of Chinese medicine (eg, acupuncture, tai chi chuan, meditation and others) into Western healthcare institutions. The American Hospital Association states that 20% of the nation’s hospitals offered complementary medical services in 2004 ? more than double the number in 1998. Continue reading Chinese medicine gaining credibility in the U.S.