Last July, charges were brought against alternative medicine practitioner Matthias Rath for allegedly breaking German law on advertising drugs. Dr. Rath advocates a vitamin treatment to cure cancer. Background on the case is summarized here.
Now the case has been dropped.
Back in August this young man went to court to avoid a second round of conventional cancer treatment for Hodgkin’s disease in favor of CAM.
Here’s an update.
Continue reading Update on Abraham Cherrix and his cancer treatment
People with the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk for heart disease. Taking fish oil reduces this risk and improves rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Here are the reported benefits in 18 people who took fish oil compared to 13 who did not.
Continue reading Fish oil is good for the heart in people with arthritis
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a “chronic pain illness characterized by widespread musculoskeletal aches, pain and stiffness, soft tissue tenderness, general fatigue and sleep disturbances.” Approximately 3% to 6% of the U.S. population have FM, with women at greatest risk.
Successful treatment often requires combined therapies, and the results of this study in the The Mayo Clinic Proceedings support acupuncture in this regard.
Fall-related injuries are the leading cause of injury, deaths, and disabilities among adults older than 65 years. Minimizing the fall risk is a practical approach to reducing these serious injuries.
One strategy is balance training.
Continue reading Balance training to prevent falls in the elderly
It”s illegal for supplements to be promoted as a “treatment” for a disease. They can “support” health, or “boost” the immune system, or use other vague claims. But before any product can legally state that it can treat a specific disease it must pass US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for drugs.
The dietary supplements listed below have crossed the line by claiming to treat cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and seizures.
Continue reading Advertising claims for more dietary supplements “cross the line”
The Centers for Disease Control has just published the latest data on the prevalence of diabetes in the US.
Is it any wonder that so many CAM therapies are studied in people with diabetes?
A quick listing of CAM entries for diabetes on this blog is provided below. Or, click the button on the right sidebar to see all of the diabetes entries.
In an earlier post, Director David Lynch’s plan to fund the inclusion of transcendental meditation TM in the classroom was discussed.
Here’s an update.
A natural substance in red wine, known as resveratrol (RSV), offsets the unhealthy effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their life span, according to an article published in The International Herald Tribune, and in The Washington Post.
In this study, mice fed the high-calorie diet became “tubby,” while those who got the high-fat diet plus RSV did not. The full study is online at the journal, Cell. (Vol 127, #4, November 16, 2006)
What are the implications?
This is the question being studied by Dr. Lirio Covey at the Smoking Cessation Program at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
Continue reading Should ADHD treatment be combined with smoking secession treatment?
Who says we”re not making progress in Iraq.
Here, from the outpatient Clinic of Dermatology and Venereology in Baghdad Teaching Hospital, are the results of a study of 25 patients with rosacea.
Here are the highlights of the discussion on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and probiotics during the recent American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology meeting, thanks to Medical News Today.
Continue reading Status of TCM and probiotics to treat asthma
Just to keep the tally up to date, Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals reports that Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has joined the “growing list of food companies, retailers, and government bodies to move against trans fats by announcing plans to phase them out in its 5,500 US restaurants by April 2007.”
More here.
11/15/06 18:22 JR
The entry on breast cancer at Wikipedia asserts, “Folate intake counteracts breast cancer risk associated with alcohol consumption” This is based on research at the Mayo Clinic in 2001.
New data dispute that conclusion.
Continue reading Does folate lower your risk of breast cancer?
These data are from a telephone survey of more than 2500 randomly sampled noninstitutionalized Americans, which was published in 2002. The tables can also be found here. Continue reading The most commonly used vitamins and herbals
A study presented recently during the Society of Integrative Oncology’s Third International Conference in Boston showed that taking antioxidant supplements during external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer has no effect on PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels.
Continue reading Antioxidants are safe during external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer
Confections are not viewed as products you use to get health benefits.
Substituting non-caloric sweeteners makes candy less bad for you. But we’re interested in making candy healthy.
Continue reading Using prebiotics to improve the health benefits of candy
Now it’s official. The tipping point for trans fats has been reached.
As Disney’s 10-year deal to promote its films through McDonald’s comes to an end, Mickey and Pluto will appear only with foods that meet limits for calories, fat, saturated fat, and sugar.
An agreement between ingredient suppliers and supplement manufacturers, when implemented, should raise the confidence of consumers that the dietary supplement they buy actually contains what is stated on the label.
Continue reading Improving the quality of dietary supplements
A public hearing is scheduled for December 5th to debate what role, if any, the agency should play in defining and regulating functional foods. Details are provided here.
Continue reading What should be the FDA’s role in regulating functional foods?