This page will be used to paste snippets of news from a variety of sources which may be of interest to you.
Herbal medicine and acupuncture under threat in the UK
14 October 2009 (WDDTY)
Herbal medicine, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are under serious threat in the UK. Trade bodies believe these therapies could even cease to exist in Britain within a few years.
They fear that practitioners could stop practising, and people may not be able to get hold of some of the herbal pills, capsules, tinctures and ointments that they use every day.
These threats have come about because the UK government is planning a sudden u-turn on its plans to regulate herbal and traditional medicine. Instead, it is considering a ‘lighter touch’ licensing system that will give no special legal rights to practitioners.
As a result, medical herbalists will not have access to some regulated herbal medicines, and will instead be allowed to work only with simple tinctures, extracts and dried herbs. Doctors will also not be allowed to refer patients to them.
The UK’s Department of Health has given a deadline of November 2nd for any comments to its consultative paper.
The Association of Master Herbalists, one of the bodies affected by the proposed change, is urging everyone in the UK to contact their local MP, who should pass on their concerns to Ann Keen, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health.
People can also express their concerns directly by completing the questionnaire that will feed back into the consultation document. The questionnaire can be found on the DoH website: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_103567
(Source: Association of Master Herbalists).
Isolation can make cancer worse
30 September 2009 (WDDTY)
Cancer could be made worse if you’re living an isolated life. Breast cancer tumour growth increases among those who live alone, and who rarely go out and socially mix with others.
Our social interaction could have a profound affect on a range of chronic diseases, and not just breast cancer, believe researchers. Isolation could also have a negative effect on other health problems such as obesity, type II diabetes and hypertension.
At the moment the association between community and illness has been witnessed only in studies of mice, but researchers from the University of Chicago believe it could equally apply to humans.
They discovered that mice that were isolated developed mammary gland tumours whereas those that were kept in groups remained cancer-free.
(Source: Cancer Prevention Research, 2009; September 29; doi:10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-08-0238).
One in six patients misdiagnosed, and the problem could be bigger
24 September 2009 (WDDTY)
One in six patients is being wrongly diagnosed by doctors – which means they are being given drugs or treatments that are useless while their real problem is being overlooked.
And researchers admit that wrong diagnosis could be even more prevalent than their figures suggest. Their estimates are based on cases that are reported, and many more may be going unrecorded, either because the patient or doctor does not immediately realise the misdiagnosis has happened, or because the doctor wants to cover up the mistake.
The figures are based on doctors working within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), although misdiagnosis is a universal problem. A study published in the American Journal of Medicine reported that 15 pr cent – or one in six – cases in developed countries was misdiagnosed.
Researchers from Imperial College London say the problem is more common among junior doctors, who are sometimes too quick to arrive at a diagnosis or are reluctant to consult a more senior colleague.
(Source: Daily Telegraph, September 22, 2009).
Supplement could be the first therapy to slow Parkinson's
24 September 2009 WDDTY
A vitamin supplement you can buy in pharmacies and health stores could be one of medicine’s ‘holy grails’ – it may slow the progress of Parkinson’s, the neurodegenerative disease.
Researchers are going to test if the supplement, coenzyme Q10, will be the very first therapy to actually fight the disease, instead of just masking the symptoms, which every drug at the moment does.
The Rush University Medical Center is keen to test the supplement after earlier studies found that Parkinson’s sufferers have low levels of the coenzyme, which is usually produced by the body naturally. Other research has shown that the coenzyme also protects the area of the brain that is normally damaged by Parkinson’s.
The researchers have already discovered that 1200 mg doses of the coenzyme, given to Parkinson’s sufferers, showed ‘promising results’ after 16 months.
In the new trial, the researchers will be testing the 1200 mg and a 2400 mg dose, again over a 16-month period.
(Source: Rush University Medical Center).
70 per cent of children don't get enough of the 'sunshine' vitamin
05 August 2009 WDDTY
Children are living such indoors lives that seven out of 10 American kids are low in vitamin D – which mainly comes from sunshine – and risk bone and heart disease as they get older.
The extent of the problem has shocked researchers, who thought the deficiency was relatively rare amongst children. But new data released by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reveals that up to 58 million American children either have an insufficiency, or are deficient, in the vitamin. A deficiency can lead to high blood pressure, rickets and healthy bone growth.
Researchers say the problem has been caused by sedentary lives led indoors in front of the TV or computer, and by over-use of powerful sunblocks.
Consuming more milk and fish, both rich in vitamin D, would help, as would taking supplements – but the best antidote is to get out into the sunshine, say researchers. In a message to parents, lead researcher Michal Melamed at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University said: “It would be good for them to turn off the TV and send their kids outdoors. Just 15 to 20 minutes a day should be enough. And unless they burn easily, don’t put sunscreen on them until they’ve been out in the sun for 10 minutes, so they get the good stuff but not sun damage.”
(Source: Pediatrics, 2009: published online: doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-0051).
Childhood leukemia may be caused by household chemicals
29 July 2009 WDDTY
Children may be getting leukemia from the chemicals and cleaning agents in their homes, new research suggests.
Children who develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have far higher levels of two common pesticides found in household cleaners than do healthy children.
Researchers point out that this does not on its own mean that household chemicals definitely cause childhood leukemia, but it signals a likely health hazard that needs to be investigated quickly.
The researchers profiled 41 children with ALL and compared them with healthy children. All the leukemia sufferers had higher concentrations in their urine of two pesticides, DETP and DEDTP, found in household chemicals.
Relax your way to perfect health
Cutting-edge scientific research now proves what the yogis have always known: deep relaxation can have a profound effect on a wide range of medical conditions. Anastasia Stephens reports
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 Independent
It's a piece of advice that yogis have given for thousands of years: take a deep breath and relax. Watch the tension melt from your muscles and all your niggling worries vanish. Somehow we all know that relaxation is good for us. Now the hard science has caught up – for a comprehensive scientific study showing that deep relaxation changes our bodies on a genetic level has just been published.
What researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered is that, in long-term practitioners of relaxation methods such as yoga and meditation, far more "disease-fighting genes" were active, compared to those who practised no form of relaxation.
In particular, they found genes that protect from disorders such as pain, infertility, high blood pressure and even rheumatoid arthritis were switched on. The changes, say the researchers, were induced by what they call "the relaxation effect", a phenomenon that could be just as powerful as any medical drug but without the side-effects.
"We found that a range of disease-fighting genes were active in the relaxation practitioners that were not active in the control group," explains Dr Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who led the research.
The good news for the control group with the less-healthy genes is that the research didn't stop there. The experiment, which showed just how responsive genes are to behaviour, mood and environment, revealed that genes can switch on, just as easily as they switch off.
"Harvard researchers asked the control group to start practising relaxation methods every day," explains Jake Toby, hypnotherapist at London's BodyMind Medicine Centre, who teaches clients how to induce the relaxation effect. "After two months, their bodies began to change – the genes that help fight inflammation, kill diseased cells and protect the body from cancer, all began to switch on."
More encouraging still, the benefits of the relaxation effect were found to increase with regular practice – the more people practised relaxation methods such as meditation or deep breathing, the greater their chances of remaining free of arthritis and joint pain with stronger immunity, healthier hormone levels and lower blood pressure.
Benson believes the research is pivotal because it shows how a person's state of mind affects the body on a physical and genetic level. It might also explain why relaxation induced by meditation or repetitive mantras is considered to be a powerful remedy in traditions such as Ayurveda in India or Tibetan medicine.
But just how can relaxation have such wide-ranging and powerful effects? Research around the world has described the negative effects of stress on the body. Linked to the release of the stress-hormones adrenalin and cortisol, stress raises the heart rate and blood pressure, weakens immunity and lowers fertility.
By contrast, the state of relaxation is linked to higher levels of feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and to the growth hormone which repairs cells and tissue. Indeed, studies show that relaxation has virtually the opposite effect, lowering heart rate, boosting immunity and enabling the body to thrive.
"On a biological level, stress is linked to fight-flight and danger," explains Dr Jane Flemming, a London-based GP. "In survival mode, heart rate rises and blood pressure shoots up. Meanwhile muscles, preparing for danger, contract and tighten. And non-essential functions such as immunity and digestion go by the wayside."
Relaxation, on the other hand, is a state of rest, enjoyment and physical renewal. Free of danger, muscles can relax and food can be digested. The heart can slow and blood circulation flows freely to the body's tissues, feeding it with nutrients and oxygen. This restful state is good for fertility, as the body is able to conserve the resources it needs to generate new life.
While relaxation techniques can be very different, their biological effects are essentially similar. "When you relax, the parasympathetic nervous system switches on and that is linked to better digestion, memory and immunity, among other things," explains Jake Toby. "So as long as you relax deeply, you'll reap a variety of rewards."
But, he warns, deep relaxation isn't the sort of switching off you do relaxing with a cup of tea or lounging on the sofa. "What you're looking for is a state of deep relaxation where tension is released from the body on a physical level and your mind completely switches off," he says. "The effect won't be achieved by lounging round in an everyday way, nor can you force yourself to relax. You can only really achieve it by learning a specific technique such as self-hypnosis, guided imagery or meditation."
The relaxation effect, however, may not be as pronounced on everyone. "Some people are more susceptible to relaxation methods than others," cautions Joan Borysenko, director of a relaxation programme for outpatients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, US. "Through relaxation, we find that some people experience a little improvement, others a lot. And there are a few whose lives turn around totally."
The health benefits of deep relaxation
The next time you tune out, switch off and let yourself melt, remind yourself of all the good work the relaxation effect is doing on your body. These are just some of the scientifically proven benefits...
Immunity Relaxation appears to boost immunity in recovering cancer patients. One study at Ohio State University, in the US, found that progressive muscular relaxation, when practised daily, reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In another study at Ohio State, a month of relaxation exercises boosted natural killer cells in elderly people, giving them more resistance to tumours and viruses.
Fertility A study at the University of Western Australia found that women are more likely to conceive at periods when they're relaxed rather than stressed. Another study at Trakya University, Turkey, found that stress reduces sperm count and motility, a finding that implies that relaxation may boost fertility in men, too.
Irritable bowel syndrome When patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome practised a relaxation meditation twice daily, symptoms such as bloating, belching, diarrhoea and constipation improved significantly. The method was so effective that the researchers at the State University of New York at Albany, recommended it as an effective IBS treatment.
Blood pressure A study at Harvard Medical School found meditation lowered blood pressure by making the body less responsive to stress hormones, in a similar way to blood pressure-lowering medication. Meanwhile, a report in the British Medical Journal found that patients trained to relax had significantly lower blood pressure.
Inflammation Stress leads to inflammation, a state linked to heart disease, arthritis, asthma as well as skin conditions such as psoriasis, say researchers at Emory University in the US. Relaxation can play a role in preventing and treating such symptoms by switching off the stress response. In this way, one study at McGill University in Canada found meditation clinically improved symptoms of psoriasis.
Take a deep breath... How to relax deeply
So how can you access relaxation's healing powers? Harvard researchers found that yoga, meditation and even repetitive prayer and mantras all induced the relaxation effect. "The more regularly these techniques are practised, the more deeply-rooted the benefits will be," says Jake Toby. Have a go at one or more of the following for 15 minutes once or twice a day.
Body scan Starting with your head and working down to your arms and feet, notice how you feel in your body. Taking in your head and neck, simply notice if you feel tense, relaxed, calm or anxious. See how much you can spread any sensations of softness and relaxation to areas of your body that feel tense. Once your reach your feet, work back up your body.
Breath focus Sitting comfortably, become aware of your breath, following the sensation of inhaling from your nose down to your abdomen and out again. As you follow your breath, notice your whole body and let tension go with each exhalation. Whenever you notice your mind wandering, come back to your breath.
Mantra repetition The relaxation response can be evoked by sitting quietly with eyes closed for 15 minutes twice a day, and mentally repeating a simple word or sound such as 'Om'.
Guided imagery Imagine the most wonderfully relaxing light, or a soothing waterfall washing away any tension or worries from your body and mind. Make your image as vivid as possible, imagining the texture, colour and any fragrance as the image washes over or through you.
A spice that counters the cancer risks of HRT
23 July 2009 WDDTY
Women worried about the cancer-causing effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can reduce their risks by taking a spice that’s often used in Indian food.
Scientists have discovered that curcumin, a spice from the turmeric root, has the ability to slow and even stop the development of cancerous tumours in the breast – and this may offset the risk for post-menopausal women taking a combined estrogen and progestin HRT drug.
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that the spice countered the cancer-causing effects of HRT by blocking the production of molecules that helped increase the blood supply to tumours in the breast. Animals that were given the spice had fewer tumours, and any that they did have grew and developed more slowly.
(Source: University of Missouri-Columbia).
A few beans could reduce your risk of heart attack
09 July 2009 WDDTY
Just adding a few beans to your daily diet could be enough to reduce your blood pressure, and lower your risk of heart disease.
Scientists have discovered that a 4 per cent increase of glutamic acid – found in beans, pasta, whole grain rice or tofu – reduces systolic blood pressure (measured when the heart beats), and may take it out of the danger zone. Across the US, this small dietary change would save 8,600 lives a year from stroke, and 17,800 lives from heart attack.
In a study of 4,680 people aged between 40 and 59, researchers found that a 4.72 per cent increase in glutamic acid – which accounts for a quarter of the protein in vegetable protein – lowered systolic blood pressure by 1.5 to 3 millimeters of mercury (mmHg), and average diastolic blood pressure, when the heart rests, fell by 1 to 1.6mmHg.
(Source: Circulation, July 6, 2009: doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.839241).
Coffee May Cure Alzheimer's Disease
A few cups of coffee a day may be all that is needed to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests.
Scientists have uncovered powerful evidence that caffeine not only helps to stave off the disease but can treat it.
They hope soon to follow up the initial results from animal experiments with human patient trials.
US neuroscientist Dr Gary Arendash, who led the research, said: "The new findings provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a protective strategy.
"That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people. It easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process."
A key aspect of Alzheimer's is sticky clumps of abnormal protein in the brain called beta amyloid plaques.
Mice with a rodent equivalent of the disease showed a 50% reduction in levels of amyloid protein in their brains after scientists spiked their drinking water with caffeine.
The change was reflected in their behaviour as the mice developed better memories and quicker thinking.
Humans receiving an equivalent dose for their body weight would be consuming 500 milligrams of caffeine - or five eight ounce cups of ordinary coffee - a day.
The same amount of caffeine can be obtained by drinking two cups of strong "coffee shop" coffee, 14 cups of tea, or 20 cola drinks.
Dr Huntington Potter, director of the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre (ADRC) in Tampa, where the studies were conducted, said: "Our goal is to obtain the funding needed to translate the therapeutic discoveries in mice into well-designed clinical trials."
The new research was reported in two studies published online today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "This research in mice suggests that coffee may actually reverse some element of memory impairment."
Scientists finally discover how white bread causes heart disease
01 July 2009 (What Doctors Don't Tell You)
White bread, cornflakes and other foods high in carbohydrates can cause heart disease – and now scientists know why.
Processed ‘white’ foods and drinks such as sodas have a high glycemic index, and they put stress on the arteries for several hours afterwards. Over time, the arteries’ elasticity weakens, and it can lead to heart disease or even sudden death from heart attack.
Researchers from the Tel Aviv University proved how high-glycemic foods affect artery health when they gave different foods to four groups of volunteers. They were either given cornflakes, sugar, bran flakes or water, and only those who drank the water had normal arteries afterwards. The rest suffered poorer arterial functioning, and for several hours. Arterial stress was especially evident in those who had been given the cornflakes or the sugar, both high-glycemic foods.
(Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2009; 53: 2283-7).
Pesticides could be cause of health problems in older children
01 July 2009 (WDDTY)
If your child has a health or a developmental problem, it could be caused by pesticides. Scientists have discovered this week that the pollutants can affect children up to the age of seven – five years longer than they have thought.
This means that children are being exposed to pesticides in the home when they are still vulnerable, and it could also account for a health or developmental problem.
Scientists have advised government agencies that children over the age of two had immune systems that could cope with pesticides, but a new study has discovered that many who were aged seven were still sensitive. Children are up to five times more susceptible than adults to the organophosphates in pesticides.
The new study, among 458 children living in rural areas, found that the body’s ability to detoxify still hadn’t kicked in at the age of seven, though scientists believed it did so from the age of two. They thought the detoxifying enzyme, paraoxonase 1 (PON1), started to develop from the age of two, but they discovered it was still at very low levels in children aged as old as seven.
This means there could be a major overhaul of safety standards on products that are allowed in the home, and on pesticides used on farms. It also means that doctors now have to look for toxins as a possible cause of health and developmental problems in children up to the age of seven.
(Source: University of California, Berkeley).
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