Alternative Medicine

Alternative Herbal Medicine Or Herbalism

2010-06-29T23:14:00.002+08:00

Herbal medicine is an ancient practice that dates back to early centuries. This practice is based on the use of plants and plant products as well as minerals, shells and other animal parts. Parts of plants such as leaves, flowers, stems, seeds and barks are also considered herbs and are also widely used.

Herbal medicine and modern science

Herbalism is one of the most ancient of all alternative medicine practices. It is widely accepted by the medical community because of its scientific basis. It also plays an important role in the development and manufacture of many medications and dietary supplements as about 25% of all prescription drugs are derived from trees, shrubs, or herbs. Majority of these medications are mixtures of herbs, plant extracts, and other organic substances that helps the body heal by utilizing a balance of ingredients provided by nature. Herbs are as effective as drugs but without the side effects especially if used appropriately.

Some of the most common herbs and their uses

There are thousands of herbs that have various positive and healing effects on the body. Some are used to prevent illnesses while some are used to cure and others are used to enhance the appearance and general well being of one person. The Alfalfa is commonly used to detoxify and alkalize the body. It also helps in lowering the cholesterol level in the blood, ease inflammations and helps in balancing the hormones. It is also a good treatment for bleeding disorders, anemia and disorders in the bone, joint, colon, digestive system, and the skin. Another popular herb is the aloe vera which is mainly used to treat wounds and burns. It also helps in minimizing or eliminating scars by promoting cell regeneration in the skin. Other valuable properties include antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral that helps in fighting off different types of infections. Chamomile is not only popular as an herbal medicine but there are also teas that are chamomile infused. It is very popular for its calming effects that help in relieving stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia.

Risks of herbal medicine

As with any types of medications, herbs also have negative interactions with each other. It is best to inform your physician if you are taking more than one herb at the same time; either for medication or supplement. This will help your physician monitor your health and your body’s reaction to the herbs. Pregnant women should refrain from taking any herbal medication unless advised by a physician as some herbs increase the risk if getting a miscarriage.

There are many reasons to use alternative herbal medicine as a means to aid in the healing on it’s own, or with traditional medicine.

Home | Nutrition | Supplements | Ginkgo biloba helps people with dementia Ginkgo biloba helps people with dementia

2010-01-03T09:49:00.000+08:00

By David Liu

Ginkgo biloba extract preparations may not help prevent cognitive decline in elderly people who have no cognitive problems or mild cognitive impairment, according to a new study reported in the Dec 23/30 issue of Journal of American medical Association.

The trial study led by Beth E. Snitz, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues showed taking a ginkgo biloba extract did not seem to have any effect on global cognitive change and specific cognitive domains of memory, language, attention, visuospatial abilities and executive functions in elderly people.

In the trial conducted between 2000 and 2008, 3,069 men and women aged 72 to 96 were randomly given 120 mg of the herbal remedy or a placebo twice a day for an average of six years. The researchers found no evidence to suggest that taking ginkgo biloba extract may prevent cognitive decline.

It remains unknown whether the findings are applicable to people in other age groups. And also it is unknown whether the dose of the herbal supplement used in the trial is optimal. Many trials have shown that ginkgo biloba helps people with dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Joe Mercola, owner of mercola.com, reported on Nov 2, 2002 that a major review of 33 clinical trials by researchers at the Cochrane Collaboration in Oxford concluded that evidence is promising that dietary supplements with the herbal medicine Ginkgo biloba can improve memory and function in people with dementia. The remedy appeared to be safe without excessive side effects, according to the review.

A recent review of 10 randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trials led by Austrian scientists and published in the Sept 2009 issue of Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie indicates that Ginkgo biloba extract is at least as effective as commonly prescribed drugs in treating dementia.

Detoxify with ions

2008-05-12T13:53:00.001+08:00

Alternative healing and medicine have grown in mainstream popularity over the past decade. Detoxification of the body is one of the methods used in alternative medicine and is said to clear the body of its toxins.

Local salons, holistic businesses and even natural food stores are offering ionic detoxification, and one of the more popular methods is the ionic foot bath.

Ionic detoxification is the process of rebalancing the body's energy through a bio-charge, according to Bio-Cleanse, manufacturer of the Ionic Detox Foot Bath. The complex energy fields of the unit permeate the water, realigning the body's energy field. This realignment, according to Bio-Cleanse, releases the cellular-level toxins through the body's pores.

There is some skepticism surrounding the ionic detoxification process. The results are not measured in as an exact science but are based on people "feeling better," say skeptics, who include Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine, who on his Web site calls the concept of ionic detoxification "complete nonsense."
But Joni Saber of Lancaster firmly believes in its effectiveness.

Saber, who was raised by health-conscious parents, began an ionic detoxification business after she was diagnosed with Graves' disease. The thyroid condition left Saber always feeling tired.
This exhaustion prompted Saber to look into alternative health treatments, and she began her detoxification business, Joni's Health and Wellness Emporium, to help others and herself.
"The foot bath is one way to help yourself cleanse your body of toxins," Saber said. "There are toxins affecting your body all of the time from the environment, diet and even medicines."

The bottom of the foot contains 2,000 pores, according to Saber, and traditional Chinese medicine subscribes to the thought that every pore is connected to some part of your body. The ion detoxification process borrows from this idea, and advocates claim the body is cleansing itself through the feet.

Throughout the ion bath process, the water will change colors, which are said to directly relate to different areas of the body, according to Saber. If the water turns a yellow/green, the kidney, bladder, urinary tract and prostate are being detoxified. A black or dark color can mean the liver is being cleansed by the treatment, Saber said.

The cleansing is not always accomplished in one treatment, Saber said. It may take several to work on a certain area of the body, and those who perform the treatment suggest 10 to 14 visits to maintain the results of the foot baths. Saber charges $25 per session.

There are people who can not have ionic foot baths, including people with electronic devices in their bodies or who have open diabetic sores on their feet, chemo patients and pregnant women.
The foot bath is not meant to diagnose any medical problems, it is used to cleanse the system. Saber and those who give the foot baths cannot make any medical recommendations, but they do work with a client's doctor if necessary.

At the first ionic detoxification visit, Saber will ask for the person's background information, including health history and doctor's information.

During a recent foot bath at Saber's home, Saber prepared the plastic foot bath tub with a new liner and bottled water. As she poured the water in she explained that any kind of water can be used for the machine — tap, purified or spring. She does not suggest using well water because it is not filtered in any way.

The Bio-Cleanse machine reads the salt level on the person's skin and determines whether salt should be added to the water.

"The salt is needed to cause a reaction," explained Jason Wheary, who was receiving the foot bath and has had several of them performed.

Throughout the foot bath, Saber encourages clients to drink water. This helps to "move the toxins through the system," Saber explained.

The purging of the toxins happened gradually over the 30-minute session, and the water slowly took on a yellow/green tint and acquired a cloudy, milky appearance.

"That's the lymphatic system," Wheary said as he read the classifications of color for the foot bath.

Saber allows clients to read their own results then compares her findings with theirs.
"This allows them to see how the system works and evaluate the results themselves," Saber said.

The results are different with each bath, Wheary said. His last foot bath yielded orange-tinted water, Wheary said. This represents a detoxification of the joints, according to the Bio-Cleanse literature.

To Wheary this made sense, because he had worked out twice the day before and was sore and stiff on detox day. After that foot bath, he said, he felt "rejuvenated."
"My legs were not so tired; they felt refreshed."

Vital: Celebs And Their Weird Remedies

2008-04-08T18:47:00.002+08:00

Why Stars Swear By Some Of The Strangest Alternative Therapies

HAVING blood-sucking leeches attached to your body in an attempt to boost your health and well-being is just the latest celebrity craze to hit the headlines.
Actress Demi Moore revealed she recently had 45 leeches gorge themselves on her blood.
The strange "leech therapy" treatment, which she had carried out in Austria, aimed to purify and detoxify her blood by releasing an enzyme as the blood-suckers bite down.
If you think Demi's alternative therapy treatment is a step too far, here are a few more weird remedies celebrities swear by that will either leave you in disbelief or reaching for the sick bag.

CUPPING:
Back in 2004, A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow set tongues wagging when she turned up to a New York film premiere in a low-cut top that revealed circular bruises on her back.
The marks were the aftermath of abeauty treatment called "cupping", which is a type of acupuncture.
Aiming to relieve stress, cupping involves placing heated glass cups on the body as the area is treated.

TRUFFLES AND CAVIAR HAIR TREATMENT:
Ex-Darling Buds of May actress Catherine Zeta-Jones rarely washes her flowing locks using traditional shampoo and conditioner.
Instead, the Welsh stunner splashes out on a expensive treatment consisting of truffles and caviar. She claims the truffle-based shampoo and the fish eggs -which are smeared in to her hair and cost £200 a time - give her tresses an unbeatable shine.
Rumour has it, Beluga caviar is flown in from Iran five days before Zeta-Jones attends her appointment at her beauty salon.

URINE THERAPY
Perhaps the most disgusting in the list, urine therapy involves applying human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes.
Usually administered by drinking or rubbing into the skin, uropathy, as it is also known, is an ancient treatment believed to be a tonic for anumber of ailments.
Among modern celebrities, British actress Sarah Miles has drunk her own urine for more than 30 years, claiming it immunises against allergies, among other health benefits.
Rehab singer Amy Winehouse is also rumoured to have tested a "urine ointment" -mixed with her own urine - to help clear up her skin problem.

AURICULAR ACUPUNCTURE:
Sticking needles into your ears doesn't seem a very pleasant way to boost well-being but it's a fashionable procedure that has its celebrity fans sporting a tell-tale ear pin.
Cherie Blair was reported to have "ear acupuncture" - an ancient Chinese medicine - to relieve stress, while Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was pictured with a needle in his ear, reportedly to help him to lose weight.
Experts claim the treatment can help everything from addictions to insomnia and joint pain to fertility.

CRYSTAL HEALING:
Princess Diana swore by the healing power of crystals and Cherie Blair always sported a crystal pendant around her neck to ward off harmful rays from computers and mobile phones. Actress Shirley MacLaine and Latino singer Ricky Martin are also reported to have worn one. Experts claim the human conscious and subconscious can benefit from crystals.

ESKIMO DIET:
While fighting breast cancer, singer Sheryl Crow chose to dramatically alter her diet and opted for the Eskimo Diet.
The traditional Eskimo diet consists largely of meat and fish, fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates.
During the strict regime Sheryl ate a lot of fish, particularly salmon. Studies have shown that fish-eaters - such as Eskimos - have lower rates of cancer.

BIO-ENERGY HEALING:
This was the alternative therapy that pop princess Kylie Minogue tried out after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
The Aussie singer contacted a bio-energy healer before she was about to begin her radiotherapy course. During her sessions, positive energy was beamed into Kylie's body with one hand and negative energy was removed with the other.

ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE:
Multi-millionaire Paul McCartney is a fan of this alternative therapy, which teaches the skillful "use of the self" - how we move, how we stay still, how we breathe, how we learn, how we organise our awareness and focus our attention.
The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique claim this "subtle and thoughtful discipline" works by "re-establishing the natural relationship between the head, the neck and the back - the 'core' of the body supporting the strength of the limbs and which provides the structural environment for breathing and internal organs".

KLAMATH LAKE ALGAE:
This blue-green algae is dubbed a "miracle superfood". The slimy substance is a herbal medicine bursting with nutrients and anti-oxidants.
As well as her leech therapy, Demi Moore also indulges in this. She claims that stresses in her life are combated by injesting Klamath Lake algae, which is found in the volcano bed of Lake Klamath, in Oregon, USA. It boosts mental clarity, helps cell regeneration and strengthens the immune system.

BUDDHIST CHANTING:
Olivia Newton-John used buddhist chanting to help her overcome her battle with breast cancer. Rocker Courtney Love and Pirates Of The Caribbean actor Orlando Bloom are also fans. Love claimed chanting helped her with her battle for sobriety.
It's a form of musical verse that exists in just about every part of the Buddhist world. Chanting is the traditional means of preparing the mind for meditation.

eczema: herbally treated

2008-03-17T20:35:00.001+08:00

Chinese herbal remedies could combat eczema, reports the Daily Mail. A “pentaherb formulation”, a combination of five herbs, “reduced sufferers' need for conventional medicines and improved the quality of life for those being treated for atopic eczema,” the newspaper says.
The findings that the report is based on follow a study carried out last year by the same researchers. The 2007 study found that the pentaherb formulation improved “quality of life” and reduced steroid use in children compared with placebo. However, the herbs were no better than placebo at reducing the symptoms of eczema. The news reports have mixed up the methods of these two different studies.

This latest study, which was carried out in the laboratory and in 28 Chinese patients with eczema, found that the herbs had no effect on steroid use. The results of this study and the earlier one are not conclusive. Herbal medicines, if they are being suggested as treatments for skin conditions, should have their safety and efficacy tested in the same way as other medicines. More randomised controlled trials are needed in this area, particularly studies that compare tested treatments (such as steroid creams and emollients) with herbal medicines.

Where did the story come from? Dr Tin Fan Leung and colleagues from the Department of Paediatrics and Chemical Pathology and the Institute of Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong carried out this study. The research was funded by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau and by the Chinese University. It was published in the British Journal of Dermatology, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

What kind of scientific study was this? Researchers created capsules of a “pentaherbs formulation”, a common traditional Chinese mixture of five herbs. The capsules contained Japanese honeysuckle, root bark of tree peony, peppermint, the underground stem of the atractylodes herb and bark from an Amur cork tree. This herbal formulation was tested in two ways.

First, the researchers carried out a laboratory study. They isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (which are part of the immune system and are known to have abnormal responses in people with eczema) from anonymous blood samples sourced through the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service. These human immune cells were exposed in the laboratory to a steroid used to treat eczema (dexamethasone) or to the pentaherbs formulation. The researchers compared the effects on cell growth and the production of inflammatory mediators (chemicals released by the cells as part of their immune response). They determined how toxic the chemicals were to the cells.

In the second part of their experiment, 28 Chinese patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (i.e. eczema) who were aged five to 21 years were given three capsules of the pentaherb formulation twice a day for three months. Blood samples were taken at the beginning of this period and at the end so that researchers could determine the response of the immune system and perform other tests to show how safe the formulation was.

What were the results of the study? The researchers looked at the effects of the herbs on the human immune cells in the laboratory. They found that the steroid treatment suppressed the release of all the inflammatory chemicals from these cells. The herbal concoction reduced only some of these chemicals, and the concentration of the immune activating chemical ENA-78 was increased.

In their study of 28 Chinese patients, most of who were already being treated with a steroid (mometasone furoate), they found no change in the amount of steroid used over the three months. They also found that levels of two chemicals involved in inflammation (BDNF and TARC) reduced over the three months.

What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results? The researchers conclude that their laboratory studies suggest that the pentaherbs formulation has some “immunomodulatory” properties (i.e. that it has an effect on the complex reactions that occur when immune cells respond).

The effects of the herbs on inflammatory agents that have been linked to eczema suggest that the herbs may have value in treatment. The researchers call for more research into the effects of ENA-78, to help understand why the herbs apparently increased circulating levels.

CHINESE HERBS TRUMP WESTERN MEDICINE?

2007-11-04T13:26:00.000+08:00

hate to be skeptical of the study below. Where I grew up, if you were sick, you went to the doctor but if you were really sick you went to the Chinese herbalist. So I am not prejudiced against Chinese herbalism. I once used a Chinese herbal medicine to apparent good effect myself. And the study below is a Cochrane product so deserves some respect for that.

But having said all that, the reasoning below is peculiar. We are asked to believe that something of unknown and probably quite variable composition is more therapeutically efficient and side-effect-free in the given application than any known molecule. Even if true, that does not tell us much, as far as I can see. That users of Chinese medicines exhibit a particularly strong placebo effect would be my provisional interpretation of the results below. That would also explain the low rate of side-effects. I hope I will not be abused for suggesting that menstrual discomfort (which is what was studied) could be quite susceptible to placebo effects. I could only check my interpretation by re-doing the whole Cochrane study, however.

Since the authors themselves acknowledge “the poor methodological quality of the included trials”, however, I doubt that anyone needs to do that. Not much to hang your hat on there at all. Rather surprising to see it under the Cochrane aegis. Even the Cochrane project is not immune from Leftist fantasies about the wonders of non-Western cultures, it would seem. Abstract follows:

Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhoea
By X Zhu et al.

Background: Conventional treatment for primary dysmenorrhoea (PD) has a failure rate of 20% to 25% and may be contraindicated or not tolerated by some women. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) may be a suitable alternative.

Objectives: To determine the efficacy and safety of CHM for PD when compared with placebo, no treatment, and other treatment.

Search strategy: The Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group Trials Register (to 2006), MEDLINE (1950 to January 2007), EMBASE (1980 to January 2007), CINAHL (1982 to January 2007), AMED (1985 to January 2007), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library issue 4, 2006), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1990 to January 2007), Traditional Chinese Medicine Database System (TCMDS, 1990 to Dec 2006), and the Chinese BioMedicine Database (CBM, 1990 to Dec 2006) were searched. Citation lists of included trials were also reviewed.

Selection criteria: Any randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving CHM versus placebo, no treatment, conventional therapy, heat compression, another type of CHM, acupuncture or massage. Exclusion criteria were identifiable pelvic pathology and dysmenorrhoea resulting from the use of an intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUD).

Data collection and analysis: Quality assessment, data extraction and data translation were performed independently by two review authors. Attempts were made to contact study authors for additional information and data. Data were combined for meta-analysis using either Peto odds ratios or relative risk (RR) for dichotomous data or weighted mean difference for continuous data. A fixed-effect statistical model was used, where suitable. If data were not suitable for meta-analysis, any available data from the trial were extracted and presented as descriptive data.

Main results: Thirty-nine RCTs involving a total of 3475 women were included in the review. A number of the trials were of small sample size and poor methodological quality. Results for CHM compared to placebo were unclear as data could not be combined (3 RCTs). CHM resulted in significant improvements in pain relief (14 RCTs; RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.52 to 2.60), overall symptoms (6 RCTs; RR 2.17, 95% CI 1.73 to 2.73) and use of additional medication (2 RCTs; RR 1.58, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.93) when compared to use of pharmaceutical drugs. Self-designed CHM resulted in significant improvements in pain relief (18 RCTs; RR 2.06, 95% CI 1.80 to 2.36), overall symptoms (14 RCTs; RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.65 to 2.40) and use of additional medication (5 RCTs; RR 1.58, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.87) after up to three months follow up when compared to commonly used Chinese herbal health products. CHM also resulted in better pain relief than acupuncture (2 RCTs; RR 1.75, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.82) and heat compression (1 RCT; RR 2.08, 95% CI 2.06 to 499.18).

Anti-cancer herbal tonic recipe revealed

2007-10-12T15:51:00.000+08:00

Bill Haymin

October 9, 2007

By: Leslee Dru Browning

www.NewsTarget.com

Dear NewsTarget readers,

Today we bring you a powerful anti-cancer recipe from an article written by Leslee Dru Browning, a 6th-generation herbalist. This article reveals the recipe ingredients and step-by-step process for making a "blood tonic" that, in my opinion, works as potent anti-cancer medicine. (I consider it "natural chemotherapy.")

It's important to print this recipe and keep it handy because the FDA has pressured a lot of companies to avoid making or selling "blood tonic" products that actually prevent or help cure cancer. The FDA, you see, doesn't want patients curing their cancer with natural medicine. There's too much money in the cancer industry today, and conventional medicine is only interested in profiting from cancer, not curing it. Just look at the FDA's attacks on Lane Labs for selling an anti-cancer mushroom product that actually worked!

This recipe reveals a genuine cure for many cancers, in my opinion. The ingredients are nothing short of miraculous in their ability to halt the growth of cancer tumors, block the formation of blood vessels to existing tumors, cause apoptosis (cell death) of existing tumors, and boost the body's ability to stop the spread of tumors.

If you can't find the time to actually make this yourself, the closest product I know of that's available for sale is called "Blood Support" from Jon Barron's Baseline of Health Foundation: http://www.BaselineNutritionals.com, Mike Adams Health Ranger.

By: Leslee Dru Browning

Key concepts: cancer, herbs and water.

NewsTarget) Blood tonics today are used for cancer prevention; cancer treatment; liver health, viral and bacterial infections. In the days of old blood tonics were called Spring Tonics and farmers would religiously take them come Spring Time after a long sedentary winter to get their sluggish blood in shape for the upcoming season of farming. A custom that has been lost in today’s world. Why? And why aren’t blood tonics readily available for purchase from holistic healers or from health food stores? Could it be that pharmaceutical companies don’t want any competition from herbal and botanical medicines?

In Dr. Wright’s Newsletter dated September 17, 2007, he talked about Washington State's war on holistic M.D.s. Sad but true. Holistic healers are still being attacked in the USA that spouts that we are a Free Nation...except when it comes to health care, of course. The onslaught on alternative healers is brought about by Big Pharma, Big Business, the American Cancer Society, the AMA and our elected politicians who are bribed by lobbyists. They don’t want you healthy! Instead, they want the path cleared of anyone who can heal you so they can keep pushing their legal high-profit drugs. In today’s world where the propaganda mantra is “There is no cure”, holistic healers are being harassed, arrested and charged with “moral turpitude”, and put out of business simply because they can cure what ails you.

With the attacks on Natural Medicine it can be hard to find an Herbalist who can make up blood tonics for their cancer clients. Herbalists can be hard to locate, especially those who specialize in cancer treatments because they do not advertise since it is against the law in the USA for any health care practitioner to claim they can heal cancer; or any other illness for that matter, yet, it is not against the law to heal yourself. Therefore, why not learn to make your own? In this article I will give the recipe for the very first blood tonic I made.

Browning's Blended Spirits is a blood tonic I formulated years ago for an 80 year old man who had been diagnosed with Invasive Bladder Cancer that had spread to his lymph. During surgery it was found that his tumor had grown outside the wall of the bladder and the surgeon was unable to remove it all. He refused chemotherapy and radiation treatments and was given only 3-6 months to live. His family called me to see if I could help him. After hearing his case I couldn’t recommend herbal capsules because he had difficulty swallowing so I made him this blood tonic. Also included in his treatment was a Bladder and Kidney tonic along with diet changes.

His cancer was eliminated in 6 months and was verified by a cat scan his doctor did in the hospital. The doctors were mystified when they could not find any cancer in his body, yet they never asked what he did to eliminate his cancer. That alone suggested that his doctors not only didn’t care how he healed himself; but that his doctors weren’t the least bit curious about alternative medicine and how they might learn from his recovery. The gentleman is no longer living, but he did not die of cancer. He died of old age from natural causes. I continued to use this blood tonic recipe for several types of cancer and bacterial illnesses in my practice up until the day I retired.

About the Ingredients:

Browning’s Blended Spirits Blood Tonic contains a comprehensive blend of all-natural ingredients of herbs that are effective for blood purification and detoxification. The ingredients in this blend provide nutritive support to the body and are historically proven to provide both cleansing action and detoxification of the cells throughout the body including the lymph, lungs, liver, heart, colon and bloodstream. Many of the ingredients like burdock root, chaparral, poke root, red clover and yellow dock have been used for years to treat cancer.

What ingredients you will need make the tonic:

3oz each of the following dried herbs:

Anise seed (pimpinella anisum)

Blue violet (viola odorata)

Burdock root (arctium lappa)

Chaparral (larrea tridentate)

Dandelion root (taraxacum officinale),

Fennel (foeniculum vulgare),

Licorice root (glycyrrhiza glabra),

Oregon grape (mahonia aquifolium),

Poke root (phytolacca Americana),

Red clover (trifolium pretense)

Yellow dock root (rumex crispus).

40 oz of Honey or Black Strap Molasses, your choice.

16 oz of Vegetable glycerin.

4 Tablespoons of Citric acid which can be found in health food stores or from herb companies on-line.

5 gallons of distilled water

Purchase the whole herb (cut root and cut leaf) instead of the powdered herb if you can. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the powder absorbs more water leaving you with less liquid; second, the powder takes longer and is harder to strain. I purchase most of my dried herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. Their herbs are processed and handled according to strict organic standards and they will sell individual herbs in a 4oz quantity so you will not have to purchase a full pound. I am sure there are many other herb company’s and health food stores that carry the herbs you will need. Just make sure they are organic.

What cooking tools you will need:

You will also need two stainless steel or glass 20 quart pots with lids.

A large strainer.

A candy or water thermometer.

Cheesecloth.

For bottling you can use regular canning jars. If using pint jars you will need about 24 – 28 jars. If using quart jars you will need about 14 jars. This is a large recipe that will provide one year worth of tonics for the cancer patient, or, if using for a preventative go together with friends or family and share it.

How to make the tonic:

Making this tonic is like canning fruit from your garden. If you can cook you can make it. It takes a few days but is well worth it. You will not find this tonic on the market because it is time intense. The cost would be prohibitive to manufacture it, yet you can make it in your home for around $3.00 a pint. This tonic stores for up to a year if placed in a dark cool closet. They key to keeping tonics fresh is to prevent them from exposure to extreme temperature fluctuations. Don’t let them freeze and don’t let them sit in temperatures above 75*.

In one pot add:

Anise seed, burdock root, chaparral, dandelion root, fennel, licorice root, oregon grape root, poke root, yellow dock root and add 3 gallons of distilled water.

Cover with lid and set on stove on warm heat overnight so that the roots can be softened for extraction.

In the morning turn up the heat and bring the water to a low simmer for about 4 hours then bring to a boil for 15-30 minutes. After boiling turn off heat and strain the liquid into a clean container by laying a layer of cheesecloth over your strainer.

In another pot add:

Blue violet, red clover and add 1.5 gallons of distilled water. Set on counter and let soak in water over night.

In the morning place the pot on the stove on warm/medium heat to steep (not boil) the herbs like you would a cup of tea. Let them steep for at least 4 hours then strain the liquid by laying a layer of cheesecloth over your strainer.

Compost the strained herbs in your garden.

Mixing the pots:

Once the liquid is strained from both pots mix it together in one of the 20 quart pots and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

Then add

16 oz of vegetable glycerin,

40 oz of honey (or black strap molasses for those allergic to honey)

4 heaping tablespoons of citric acid

Stir and let the mixture mingle for 15 minutes or so. When ready to bottle use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the liquid. You want the temperature between 185* - 190* to prevent any bacteria to grow in the tonics. Maintain this heat temperature throughout bottling.

While waiting for your liquid to reach the accurate bottling temperature prepare your canning jars. Sterilize jars and lids.

Once your bottles are sterilized and your herbal liquid is at the right temperature add the tonic liquid to the hot jars. Fill to ½” from top of jar and cap. Let cool overnight. Check to make sure all the jars are sealed properly then store them.

Once you open a jar of tonic for use you must Refrigerate it. The tonic will last for a month in the refrigerator once it has been opened. Sediment in the bottom of the jars is normal. Give the jar a little shake or stir to mix the sediment before taking.

How much to take:

Adult Folklore Dosage: 2 Tablespoon 2 times a day for cancer, tumors, liver, viral and bacterial infections. In my practice I recommended that cancer patients take this tonic for at least a year and then drop to a maintenance dose of taking it once a day for another year. Some of my cancer patients continue to take it on and off throughout their life to keep their blood and lymph clear of toxins.

For cancer prevention use a bottle of this tonic every 3 months taking 1 Tablespoon 2 times a day.

Do use if you are pregnant. Do not use if you are taking blood thinning agents like Warfarin (also known under the brand names of Coumadin, Jantoven, Marevan, and Waran).

Disclaimer—The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your health care professional. You should not use the information in this article for self-diagnosis or to replace any prescriptive medication. You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you have or suspect you might have a health problem, suffer from allergies, are pregnant or nursing.

The Alternative Medicine – Right for You?

2007-10-07T18:46:00.000+08:00

What is alternative medicine and how would you define it as there are so many aspects and each seems to want to grab the limelight in different categories?

To write a paragraph on each of the different types of alternative medicine I would be sat at my office desk for years only to find that when I thought I had finished new lines of interest would appear. But knowing which type of alternative cure you should go for is difficult, and the only sure way a patient will know is by trying different ones themselves.

As the world tends to get smaller through modern travel and with the age of the computer more and more local alternative medicines get known. Some may have been round for years like that of Lepidium Meyenii (Macca) from Peru that helps women in their menopause time of life.

Originally this would be used for strength and fertility and only in the last few decades has it been used as an alternative medicine.

Some natural things like honey are nature’s goodness and must never be overlooked. Start taking a tablespoon full of local honey twice a day and it will help with allergies like that of hay fever, asthma and eczema. Carrot juice is another natural product, and as carrots are relatively cheap it is something you can experiment yourself without breaking the bank especially when you look at some of the high prices being charged by some health companies.

Then you might like to look at Homeopathic cures which have been used for centuries or maybe you would rather go down the route of the Supergreens as there are quite a few on the market to go for. These Supergreens do mean that you have to change your diet quite drastically but they are said to work and there are many people that swear by them.

Alternative therapy for backache 'can kill or disable'

2007-09-25T18:03:00.000+08:00

One of the most common 'alternative' treatments for backache is dangerous and can kill, says Britain's leading expert on complementary medicine, Professor Edzard Ernst.

Spinal manipulation, used by chiropractors to treat hundreds of thousands of patients a year, poses serious risks, he warns in a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

'[It] is associated with frequent, mild and transient adverse effects as well as with serious complications which can lead to permanent disability or death.'

Spinal manipulation involves sharp thrusts against a patient's spine to push individual vertebrae beyond normal levels of stress. But Ernst says that such violent therapy can seriously damage the arteries running near the spine, triggering thrombosis or a stroke.

The claim has incensed chiropractors. In letters to be published in the journal's October issue, they accuse Ernst of distortion, errors and misinterpreting data.

'The major body of published evidence points to manipulation being a safe and effective tool,' says Barry Lewis, president of the British Chiropractic Association. He accuses Ernst of 'puffing up his evidence out of all proportion'.

One case involves Frances Denoon, who was in her 20s when she pulled a nerve in her neck while exercising. She visited a registered chiropractor and recalled feeling a 'crack' when he began his treatment. 'I couldn't focus and realised I wasn't saying words clearly,' she says on the Action for Victims of Chiropractic's website. Denoon suffered a brain-stem stroke and now has poor balance and cannot write with her right hand. A court cleared her chiropractor of negligence.

Such stories are just the tip of an iceberg, says Ernst, director of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, run by Exeter and Plymouth universities. He has collected details of about 700 cases.

'I am not calling for a ban on chiropractors carrying out spinal manipulation but I think we have to think about regulating the practice far more carefully than we do at present,' he said.

A spokeswoman for the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) said 2,300 chiropractors were registered with it and that since 2001 only one had been disciplined for breaching guidelines.
Peter Dixon, the council's chairman, said the report was 'yet another research scare' story.

'This does not serve the interests of the public or those of researchers who are dedicated to improving the public's health,' he said.

Herbal remedies: not just for hippies

2007-09-18T18:32:00.000+08:00

AT his practices in Greater Manchester medicinal herbalist, Jesper Launder says less than one third of his patients are men. "Probably the most common reason is bravado," he says. "Men generally aren't good at dealing with health issues. That is the same for all therapies not just herbalism. Women are generally much more confident talking about problems even if it's of an intimate nature."The idea behind herbalism is to treat the underlying causes of illness rather than the symptoms alone. An initial consultation with a herbalist will take about an hour, during which a full case history will be taken to assess overall health and to look at the underlying causes of any health complaints.

As part of the consultation a herbalist might also check pulse, blood pressure and for some conditions, listen to your chest.Medicine is usually prescribed as a combination herbal tincture - an individually prepared remedy based on six to nine herbs. Herbal teas are sometimes used, and creams and ointments may also be given.STRESS Stress is one of the biggest health issues for men and includes related problems such as depression, fatigue, exhaustion and panic attacks."I often see men when they have reached breaking point," Jesper says.

"When they are rock bottom it takes a lot longer to recover, which is why I try to encourage people to recognise when their stress levels are getting too high so that it is easier to manage."Jesper encourages people to take steps to reduce the stress in their life and to change their response to it, such as tackling one task at a time and setting time aside to relax."Learning a relaxation technique, such as meditation or yoga, can be very helpful," he says. However, there are a number of remedies useful in treating stress and anxiety including lemon balm, scull cap, wild oats, ginseng and valerian.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART DISEASE

Heart disease accounts for one in five deaths in men under 75.It is not advisable to self-medicate for heart disease and high blood pressure, however, there are herbal remedies that you can take to help prevent the risk of future problems."Hawthorn, either berries of flowers, is one of our most useful native medicinal plants," says Jesper. "It contains large amounts of plant pigments, known as flavonoids, that have a marked antioxidant effect in our body and particularly on the cardio-vascular system."Jesper stresses, however, that, if you are already on medication for any heart or circulatory disorders, Hawthorn should not be taken as an over the counter medicine without consulting a specialist.

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Erectile dysfunction is repeated difficulty in achieving an erection and more than half of all men over 40 will experience this problem at some time.Lifestyle factors have an influence such as smoking and drinking as well as psychological factors such as anxiety, worry, stress or depression.But there are underlying medical conditions that can be linked too such as diabetes, heart and circulatory diseases or multiple sclerosis. Injury to the spine and nerve damage can also cause it."A lot of men who come to me do so for sexual complaints, although they might only mention it after a couple of sessions," Jesper says.

Jesper says that herbal medicine can often help but may take a week or so to improve the condition - there is no direct alternative to Viagra. He suggests trying ginseng, which both increases circulation and improves resistance to stress. Ginseng should not be used if you suffer from high blood pressure, have a tendency towards manic states or if you drink a lot of caffeine.

PROSTATE PROBLEMS

The prostate is a gland located between a man's bladder and urethra (the tube that takes urine from the bladder to the end of the penis). It often enlarges when men reach their mid-40s and symptoms of this, which are very common in men over 50, are, feeling that you have not completely emptied your bladder after urinating, waking up often at night to urinate, urinating often and needing to push or strain to start the urine stream.

Jesper suggests trying Saw Palmetto which has been found to be useful in the treatment of benign enlargement of the prostate gland. The medication is thought to relieve only the difficulties associated with an enlarged prostate without reducing the enlargement.

PSORIASIS

Psoriasis is a skin condition that can occur in both men and women and commonly affects about one in 50 men.Psoriasis is a vast acceleration of the usual replacement processes of the skin, which appears as raised red patches of skin covered with silvery scales. It can occur on any part of the body although elbows, knees and the scalp are the most common. The exact cause is unknown although it is thought to be linked to certain genes and this genetic tendency can then be triggered off by such things as injury, throat infection, certain drugs and physical and emotional stress."Herbalists tend to look at skin complaints like psoriasis and eczema as an external (on the skin) reflection of internal problems," says Jesper."This means that two people with very similar looking psoriasis for example might well be treated differently," he explains.For those looking to try a single herbal remedy initially, Jesper recommends sarsaparilla, which is thought of as a blood cleanser as well as being appropriate for rheumatic complaints. You can also try blue flag root, a North American member of the Iris family.

best way to cure: herbal medicines

2007-09-16T22:48:00.000+08:00

Alternative herbal medicine is one of the best ways to cure chronic or other disease, in many cases. The major benefit of herbal medicines is that it is 100% natural and does not have any side effects, if taken according to the advice of a competent doctor. Look for and use organic herbs when ever possible.

Gamma Linoleic Acid (GLA) is the wonder medicine made from primrose, borage or currant seed oil that is extremely effective for treatment of alcohol addicts. Alcohol intake in huge amounts has the chances of slowing down your brain cells. This particular effect of alcohol can be checked by Valerian herb. Another effectual herbal medicine for people suffering from emotional or physical stress is Skullcap.

The alternative herbal remedies for stress, anxiety or depression are St. John's wort, ashwagandha, valerian and hops ginseng, and Motherwort.

If one is suffering from any degree of sleeplessness, the most helpful herbal medicines are lemon balm, linden, chamomile and ginger tea. For quick relief from common ailments like the odd headache, you can go for eucalyptus or peppermint oil and lavender while for rapid pain relief or inflammation, one can take meadowsweet or willow bark instead of chemical painkillers.

Salicylic acid, the chief component of the pain-killer aspirin, is found in its salicin form in willow bark and meadowsweet. The salicin is reacted upon in the stomach and transformed to salicylic acid, which grants you instant relief from pain. Ginger, which reduces the prostaglandin levels in the body, is another useful pain reliever.

Thanks to the hectic modern style of present day living, most of us suffer from stress in different forms. Herbal medicine is a great way to counter this. Ginseng and Siberian ginseng are two of the most potent stress relievers. Herbal medicines like gingko biloba, ginseng, Siberian ginseng and gotu kola are also successful in curing partial memory loss. Hawthorn, ginseng, motherwort, valerian and pineapple are the wonder herbs that help in curing angina or irregular heartbeat.

Most herbal medicines are prepared from the major herbal ingredient along with other contents. At present, almost 80% of all the medicines have some herbal ingredients.

Although herbal medicines have been extremely successful in treating many diseases, prescription drugs still hold the fort when it comes to treating critical diseases. Thus, one should not consider alternative herbal medicine to be a competitor of prescription drugs, but as a new and effective form of medicine that works in tandem with prescription drugs to treat certain illnesses.

Another benefit of herbal medicines is that it is accessible to most everyone. Herbal treatment is not at all expensive and the herbs can even be grown in your backyard! In fact, prescription drugs are much more expensive and associated with a greater amount of risk.

Alternative medicine is cheap, effective and most importantly, natural and free from any side effects.

Tai Chi: Healing in motion

2007-09-09T19:30:00.000+08:00

The fastest- growing exercise in America, Tai Chi can help relieve everyday stress and strain, whatever your age.

Perhaps it was the Celebrex commercial, featuring nimble people in orange jackets practicing Tai Chi outdoors. Or, the thousands of baby boomers who today are looking for a healthy way to ease on down the road of life.

Maybe it’s because Tai Chi has so very many styles: Chen. Sun. Yang. Wu. Hao. Hu Lei. Zhao Bao. Whoa.

Whatever the reason, the martial art called Tai Chi has become the fastest-growing exercise in America, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association.

“Tai Chi just reached a tipping point,” said author Arthur Rosenfeld. “It is popping up everywhere.

Consider Tai Chi another tool in your fitness work chest. Proceed cautiously and take the time to understand this eclectic exercise. It could help you keep your equilibrium in the face of whatever life serves your way. It may even help you sleep.

At age 71, Patricia Honsberger finds time weekly to stand like a golden rooster, one of the Tai Chi movements that works the abdominal muscles. She heads out — like clockwork — every Tuesday morning to pick up her mother Alice Eidenier for their Tai Chi class. Honsberger thought Tai Chi would help with the arthritis pain suffered by her 94-year-old mother.

“Tai Chi has been the thing for us,” said Honsberger, who recently returned from a Tai Chi cruise to Mexico. “Otherwise, I would have to go on some quiet hikes. It’s hard looking after a mother who is in pain all the time.”

Tai Chi’s exercise involves prolonged movements, requiring muscles to keep working for long periods of time. Breathing enhances these movements and helps to increase the joint’s range of motion. When you least expect it, all of this kicks in for balance and strength — to prevent a fall, for example. That’s why this martial art has traditionally been associated with longevity and maintenance.

Cross-trainer for life

Yang, one of the slowest and least physically challenging styles of Tai Chi, accommodates people with movement problems. It is thought to be best suited to the unflexible American physique. It is also probably the most accessible style in the area. You can find Yang at many fitness outlets.
Practicing Tai Chi — Yang style — helps carry you through the day. Late-afternoon doldrums can be trumped. Early morning joint stiffness, too. Stress-induced insomnia, meanwhile, could evaporate with a five-minute breathing hit of Tai Chi. One instructor called it a cross-trainer for life.

“I figure I have another 30 years, and I want my physical body to keep up with my spirit,” said Penelope J. Klein, 60, who is also a black belt in judo and teaches physical therapy at D’Youville College. “If you think about it, Tai Chi serves many people, including caregivers.”

In our culture, the practice of Tai Chi is oftentimes associated with Jackie Chan and fighting, suggested Rosenfeld. This dilution often occurs when tradition is passed from one culture to another — or when there are small amounts of true practitioners.

The downside of the popularity of Tai Chi is that there is no regulatory body, Rosenfeld said. “It’s no problem to announce you’re a Tai Chi master by putting on some silk pajamas and all of a sudden you’re charging $40 an hour.”

When searching for a Tai Chi instructor, he said, first determine how many years of experience he or she has.

“Ask the teacher to talk about his or her lineage,” suggested Rosenfeld, the Floridabased author whose martial arts training spans more than 27 years. “These things are passed down through families. An unwillingness to discuss the specific tradition should serve as a warning flag.”
Eastern belief has a life force (chi) circulating unhindered through your body. Sickness occurs when that flow becomes disrupted. Rosenfeld believes those who practice Tai Chi are being proactive.

“Think about it. We are not a Mazda. We are mind and body together,” said Rosenfeld, during a telephone interview from his Florida home. “Our crisis in health care resulted from an abandonment in responsibility. The idea that somebody outside of you knows more than you about your body is preposterous. The doctor works for you. You are your health and happiness.”
Tai Chi people

JudyAnne Bonafede is an exercise fanatic and racewalker who moves with maximum efficiency. Her brand of Tai Chi is often best practiced with a sword, an elite straight double-edge weapon. She understands her body, how it works and how it feels when it doesn’t. She also teaches a beginner’s Tai Chi class.

“I’m enjoying exploring my body,” said the 54-year-old. “I notice a definite improvement in health and posture, a relaxed control. There is good energy when you get with Tai Chi people.”
Ken Stuczynski, 38, teaches Tai Chi at Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center. A martial artist who took up Tai Chi in 1999, he said the exercise “forces you to use muscles and not your joints to support your weight. It also teaches you to align the spine gravitationally.”

He distinguishes other styles of Tai Chi that are taught in the area:

• Eight Tigers — Distinctly different because of Japanese influence. Defined by spiritual focus and sliding feet more than stepping. Reiki influence.

• Taoist — Physical-therapy oriented. Focus on body alignment. Postures lean and are not as upright.

• Shuyun — Renamed after the grandmaster in California to differentiate it from the Wu Family style it came from. Known for “Eight-Step Preying Mantis” kung fu that is all elbows.

“Tai Chi is always better when performed in fresh air,” Stuczynski said. “Traditionally the best time to do Tai Chi is just before sunrise and an hour before the last meal of the day. People who are serious about it will practice almost daily or even more than once a day. I do a little bit here and there, but use my classes as my more structured practice.

“The ideal school accepts people with all levels of interest,” Stuczynski added, “for maintenance as well as for learning and progressing. You can get as far into Tai Chi as you want.”

Harmony Tai Chi

Harmony Tai Chi distills the essence of the Chen, Yang and Wu styles. The Chen style, one of China’s oldest, originated as a martial art and is quite dynamic. The Yang style emphasizes slow, expansive movements. The Wu style moves from a smaller stance than the others. Those who study Harmony Tai Chi combine the grace and tranquility of one school with the dynamism and agility of the others.

Astronauts test traditional medicines in space

2007-09-03T12:31:00.000+08:00

BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's astronauts have been testing new varieties of traditional Chinese medicine that could help treat osteoporosis, insomnia and improve immunity.

Doctors with the China Astronaut Research and Training Center say the new remedies will be prepared for sale after further tests during the country's third manned space program in 2008.

The medicines have been packaged in pill and capsule forms for the first time so astronauts will be able to take them in space.

The medicines were intended to improve cardiovascular and heart and blood vessel functions during short space flights or space walks, said Li Yongzhi, doctor with the center.

"We have finished human trials and the results were satisfactory," said Li.

The center has been working with a pharmaceutical factory to produce the medicine, which would undergo clinical tests by the end of the year, said the doctor, but she declined to elaborate.

"The medicine is expected to be on the market in the next two years and we hope they will not only benefit the space elite, but also the general public," she said.

Living in zero gravity could lead to cardiovascular problems, lower immunity and bone mineral loss, said Li.

"We can't say the astronauts would be ill as it is the normal physical reaction of a healthy body to an abnormal environment," said Li.

"Western medicine lacks effective remedies with no side effects, but traditional Chinese medicine offers good over-all recuperation," she added.

Li's center has applied traditional Chinese medicine to the health care of astronauts since 1997.

"Our astronauts are very healthy, so the Chinese medicine they have taken is used to improve their adaptability and endurance," said Li.

China has a team of 14 astronauts. Li and her colleagues have spent 10 years collating their physical indices during training and space flights, on which the doctors have composed different recipes for each astronaut.

"The astronauts only take traditional Chinese medicines when needed," said Li.

"The astronauts began to drink what we call 'medical tea' 90 days before the Shenzhou VI space mission in 2005. It's herbal soup," she said. "They all love it and said they slept better and were more energetic after drinking the tea."

Li said Russia and other European countries had begun research into traditional Chinese medicine for space programs.

Acupuncturist has a natural approach

2007-08-28T09:50:00.000+08:00

George also uses herbal medicine, diet to help clients' healing process

GINA SMITH BALL

Acupuncturist has a natural approach George also uses herbal medicine, diet to help clients' healing process A medical practitioner in Morganton offers an unconventional alternative to people experiencing health problems.

Helen George, a licensed acupuncturist, opened the Burke Acupuncture Clinic in downtown Morganton in October 2006.

In addition to acupuncture services, George treats clients using Chinese herbal medicine and offers advice on how to heal through diet and other lifestyle changes.

Hormones for menopause: yes or no?

2007-07-30T14:39:00.000+08:00

This post was written by Nancy Reyes on 23 July, 2007 (20:51) | All News, Medical News 125 Views

When I was in private practice, I tended to see a lot of women.

And my nurses used to laugh that when I would do a Pap smear (usual appointment time 20 minutes) I would often end up in the office an hour with a crying lady.

Yup. Another middle aged lady going through menopause.

They often would come in and start crying, saying I don’t know what’ s wrong with me, and I would hand them this and say:

Do you cry all the time? Get headaches? Feel tired all the time? Stressed out? Backaches? Bloating? Yell at your kids? Breast sore? Constipation? Hot flashes? Gaining weight?
Then I’d show them a picture similar to this:
And give them THIS handout.
Ah, the glories of Menopause. Fun, ain’t it, I’d say, and usually they would laugh.

Because most of them sort of knew the problem, but weren’t sure what to do.

Actually, about 80 percent of women get through menopause with some herbs, some TLC, and just plain common sense: Exercise, cut back the coffee, eat properly, get enough sleep, and try not to be superwoman.

There are lots of herbs that claim to help, and about 75 percent of women say they took herbs or minerals. The herbal medicine that makes most sense is soy, which has estrogenic properties. Does it work? No one is sure. And if it works it’s probably in higher dosages that have the same side effects as other estrogen/female hormones.

There are also a lot of medicines that work. All have pros and cons.

If you just are very irritable and can’t sleep, a small dose of Valium (benzodiazepam or other mild tranquilizers) might be all you need to help you sleep.

What also works is a low dose of anti depressive medicine. I tended to use Sertraline (Zoloft) because it didn’t make people as irritable as Prozac, but any of that family of medicine will work.

Yes, I know all those scare stories. But when 20 million people take a medicine and the suicide/homicide rate is the same or lower than the rest of the population, it may not be the medicine, but an exacerbation of the mental illness (depression, bipolar, untreated anger) that was behind the mood swings. And for menopause, we tend to use a smaller dose, and caution our patients they might get irritable if they stop it suddenly.

The real story is female replacement hormones. Good or bad.

The secret is: it depends.

If you have “early” menopause, you need them. If you are 65 you probably don’t.

In the last 30 years, the fad has been to put everyone on them, then everyone off, then on, then off.

Actually, a lot of it depends on the woman. HERE are the latest Guidelines.

If you have early menopause, you need the hormones until the regular age your own body would stop producing them. If you don’t take them, you’ll develop thinning of the bones, thinning/shrinkage of the vaginal area, and have an increased chance of heart disease.

If you have the hot flashes from hell, use the hormones.

If your tushie is too dry, use the hormones: Local creams work fine.

For most other people, they don’t need hormones.

With all the scare articles about strokes and heart disease, the main problem with hormones is that they make the blood more sticky, so you not only get blood clots (Phlebitis) but if you have hardening of the arteries you could end up with a stroke or heart attack by a blood clot in the narrow area of the blood vessel.

There is also the question of cancer, if the hormones cause it or just make it grow faster once you have it.

On the other hand, what might be a major problem now that we are no longer using hormones is osteoporosis.

Theoretically, the higher risk of getting a heart attack on hormones is about the same as the lower risk of getting a hip fracture. OK. You are 75 years old. Do you prefer to have a heart attack or hip fracture?

Like all stories, the actual differences between the groups on or off the medicine are low.

On the other hand, good diet, weight bearing exercise, and calcium often will prevent osteoporosis, and there are new medicines for those who are at high risk of thinning bones.

There are fancy expensive tests to screen who needs these expensive medicines (and the medicines can cause ulcers, so are not harmless).

So what should you do?

Well, just remember, life is risky. I would remind patients that even driving the car to the doctors office had some risk, and so we have to make an intelligent choice.

Female hormones up to age 55, and then only if you really need them. Medicines to be able to cope, only if you really need them.

And a healthy lifestyle never hurt anyone.

Which is why my “One hour” pap smears took so long: The important part was not handing out pills, but doing the history and the examination, arranging tests to make sure it wasn’t something else causing the symptoms, and then discussing all of the above and teaching about a healthy lifestyle.

Echinacea Helps Colds, Major Review Shows

2007-07-29T14:38:00.000+08:00

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: July 24, 2007

Echinacea helps banish colds. Echinacea has no effect on colds. The verdict seems to shift with each new scientific study of the herbal remedy.

In the latest twist, a review of more than 700 studies has concluded that echinacea has a substantial effect in preventing colds and in limiting their duration.

The paper, published in the July issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, used statistical techniques to combine the results of existing studies and reach conclusions based on the larger sample that resulted. The researchers selected only those trials that used randomized and placebo-controlled techniques: 14 studies involving 1,356 participants for the number of colds and 1,630 for the prevention of colds. The studies varied in the dosages of the herb, the duration it was taken and the species of echinacea used, and the number of participants ranged from 40 to more than 300.

The analysis concluded that echinacea reduced the risk of catching a cold by 58 percent. It also found that the herb significantly shortened the duration of a cold, but there was no general agreement about the magnitude of this effect.

“Our analysis doesn’t say that the stuff works without question,” said Dr. Craig I. Coleman, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Connecticut, and the senior author of the paper. “But the preponderance of evidence suggests that it does.”

The authors acknowledged certain weaknesses in their study. For example, they did not examine the safety of the herbal remedy, only its effectiveness.

Dr. Bruce P. Barrett, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved with the review, said he was not convinced of the value of combining the studies in a single analysis.

“If you’re testing the same intervention on the same population using the same outcome measures, then meta-analysis is a very good technique,” Dr. Barrett said. “But here every one of those things fails.” One of Dr. Barrett’s papers on echinacea was included in the analysis.

Other experts also expressed skepticism. J. David Gangemi, director of the Institute for Neutraceutical Research at Clemson University, said he found the study interesting, but added, “I think that many of the people who have dedicated their careers to clinical trials in studying these effects are not at all convinced from this analysis that there is this large reduction in incidence and duration of disease.”

Dr. Gangemi is the senior author of a 2005 study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine and included in the review, that found no benefit in the herb.

There are several possible reasons that even a carefully devised single study might fail to show an effect that actually exists. There are more than 200 species of virus that cause colds, Dr. Coleman said, and a study could test one species against which echinacea proves ineffective, while leaving open the question of whether it works for others.

In addition, some studies might not use large enough doses of the herb; others might use a species of echinacea that is less effective. Some might not have a large enough sample to find a small but statistically significant effect.

Dr. Barrett said there was probably little harm in using echinacea, and he was cautiously optimistic that the herb does have a very small positive effect.

“There’s some danger of kids getting a rash, and it would be inadvisable to give it to women in the early stages of pregnancy,” he said. “But if adults believe in echinacea, they’re going to get benefits — maybe from placebo — but they’ll get benefits.”

Dr. Coleman, who described himself as “not much of a pill taker,” hedged a bit when asked if he planned to use echinacea himself. “I’ll probably consider taking it if I feel a cold coming on,” he said. “These results have pushed me toward the idea. Whether I’m actually going to take it, well, we’ll see.”

Heavy Hearts And The Risk Of Sudden Death

2007-07-28T14:35:00.000+08:00

Science Daily — Those with heavy hearts -- in the literal not figurative sense -- long have been known to be prone to cardiac arrest and sudden death. But many are not, and who among them is subject to serious risk is a mystery. To find clues to the puzzle, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has just awarded $2 million to Sumeet Chugh, M.D., director of Oregon Health & Science University's cardiac arrhythmia center in the division of cardiovascular medicine.

he condition known as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), or a thickening and swelling of the heart wall, can be found, by some estimates, in up to 20 percent of the middle-aged population with heart disease in the United States. Some $3 billion to $5 billion worth of pocket defibrillators are being implanted under Medicare guidelines annually to jump start hearts at risk of a cardiac arrest. Yet research studies show that only one out of 15 of the devices ever will be needed to save a life, which is why pinpointing who among those with LVH is at greatest risk of cardiac arrest is a multibillion dollar priority.

The five-year NHLBI grant will provide funds for Chugh, the principal investigator and an associate professor in the cardiovascular division of the OHSU School of Medicine, along with his team of clinicians, scientists and researchers, to continue the landmark Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study (Ore-SUDS), which Chugh initiated five years ago. The Ore-SUDS study is a community-based effort that includes a partnership with the emergency medical response system (Jonathan Jui, M.D., professor of emergency medicine, OHSU School of Medicine) the state medical examiner network (Karen Gunson, M.D.) and 16 area hospitals, thus enabling a systematic study of all sudden cardiac arrests that occur in the Portland metropolitan area.

Several findings have been published earlier including the only U.S. data on the current burden of cardiac arrest obtained in a prospective manner. A separate collaborative effort with the Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at Johns Hopkins University Reynolds Cardiovascular Center (Eduardo Marban, M.D., Ph.D., director) focusing on the link between cardiac arrest and the human genome is also ongoing.

"We found in analyzing the Ore-SUDS data," said Chugh, "that if you have left ventricular hypertrophy in Multnomah County your risk of cardiac arrest is increased at least twofold and, in combination with specific other conditions such as a weakened pumping ability of the heart muscle, the risk can be much higher. But that doesn't mean everybody with the condition is at risk. Left ventricular hypertrophy is associated with high blood pressure, and lots of people have high blood pressure but not all of them are prone to cardiac arrest.

Chugh reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in March that less than a third of the sudden cardiac deaths where left ventricular dysfunction had previously been evaluated in the Ore-SUDS data had dysfunction that was severe enough to warrant implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator. "These findings support the aggressive development of alternative screening methods to enhance identification of patients at risk," Chugh wrote.

Speaking about his team's plans going forward, Chugh said: "We want to figure out what will significantly improve our ability to predict cardiac arrest," Chugh continued. "Our ultimate aim is to nip it in the bud, which for patients that will suffer cardiac arrest means averting disaster before it happens. The evaluation of information that we have gathered in Ore-SUDS combined with what we learn at the bedside from patients together with bench research we are doing on the molecular mechanisms involved represent a comprehensive approach that we think hold great promise of solving the puzzle. If we can predict who the high risk patient with left ventricular hypertrophy is, that is likely to have huge significance for our patients."

According to the American Heart Association, about 250,000 Americans succumb each year to sudden cardiac death, which is defined as death within one hour of the time a person displays symptoms such as chest pain or difficult breathing. About half have shown no prior evidence of heart disease and about 40 percent are under age 65. In most cases, cardiac arrest results from arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm. The survival rate ranges between 5 percent and 10 percent despite improvement in emergency medical services and widespread training in application of CPR.

Botswana: Indigenous Medicine - Potential And Pitfalls

2007-07-27T14:32:00.000+08:00

Walking through the door to the spa at Fordoun Hotel and Spa is a refreshing experience. The Five-Star hotel, located in the rolling landscape of Kwa-Zulu Natal's midlands, boasts a restaurant and detached quarters for accommodation and a Spa. The Spa is said to be well known across the nine provinces of South Africa, and across the international tourism sector.

Stepping into the spa, one encounters the feathery aroma of lotions and herbs. Soft lights give objects around a soft glow. To the right is a table and on top of it a plaque with the inscription "Spa of the Month Award, May 2007. Congratulations Fordoun Hotel and Spa". There is a book on Natural Healing.

The Fordoun Spa offers an interesting amalgamation of modern health, beauty and therapy methods fused with what has come to be called indigenous methods. It has been very successful at that, visitors say.

There is a Zulu traditional herbalist in residence, too. African herbs are used in their Spa programme and for healing. A bottle of herbal tea contains mosukujane. For the skin one can have what Batswana call letsoku (clay) used for treatment. According to the owner, the Spa has managed to attract international customers and with a line of indigenous products he is now ready to export to the rest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The resident ngaka Dr Elliot Ndlovu is a Zulu traditional doctor with the benefits of a modern set-up. He has a consultation complex and a garden where all the plant species he uses for his sessions are grown. Ndlovu is also a director of Fordoun. There is a line of herbal medicines under his trade name, which are set to be sold in the region and internationally.

Walking through the door into the shack in which Ngaka Thapelo Joseph Moroka consults one needs to bend a little. The top of the doorframe is just a bit too low. The shack is made of corrugated iron sheets for the roof and the walls. Between the pieces of the corrugated iron are slits of holes.

Inside the shack are herbs; in bottles stacked on top of each other, some lying on the dusty floor, in boxes, in plastic bag wrappings, in newspaper wrappings and some uncut roots lie on the floor. Once Moroka has settled on a diagnosis, he lets his gaze span around the room. He then picks up the right herb and gives it to the patient.

Sometimes it is only a powder, which requires a small container, sometimes it is a piece of a tree bark and sometimes it is thick mixture of various powders stirred to a thick liquid that requires a small bottle.

"Setswana medicine is an interesting field. We can cure a lot more diseases than people know but on the other hand there are many more diseases that we can not cure that people think we can," explains Moroka.

Traditional healing has been consigned to the periphery of modern medicine over the years. Traditional doctors almost by a general social agreement are seen as practitioners of black magic who do not offer much to the society. However, a new movement - which seeks to adapt indigenous knowledge to the modern world - is putting traditional medicine under the spotlight.

Traditional medicine has not had a good image. Ngaka says traditional medicine has much to offer. Although he acknowledges that traditional doctors may have played a major role in the creation of their negative social image, he points a finger at colonialists.

"When white people came here they wanted our people to discard all that was true to their history. This included social practices such as bogwera and bojale. But also psychologically they created a very negative image about traditional beliefs and practices. Once our people had a negative image of all that was theirs, they could then easily adopt the white man's concept of the world," explains Ngaka.

Recent events indicate that indigenous cultures are gaining currency and recognition for the wealth of knowledge they provide. While scientists struggle with how to prove the medicinal abilities of certain plants used in traditional medicine, other sectors such as the beauty and therapy industry has jumped on the bandwagon, offering 'natural' remedies.

The recent Hoodia fiasco, in which the plant used by the San people of southern Africa to fight hunger was believed to help in dieting programmes, is a case in point.

Central to Setswana medicine is the tree. Moroka says the tree is the source of life for every living thing on the planet. Specific trees possess different medicinal properties. "Setswana medicine is not just about curing diseases, it is also about enhancing the body. We have medicine to get rid of body odours and medicine to clear the skin," explains Ngaka.

And he says that is where the secret with traditional medicine lies - that some of its methods cannot be judged simply by scientific systems. He also admits that commercialising some aspects of Setswana knowledge may pose problems because of these 'unknowns' about it.

Adverse reactions to herbal medicine, drugs often unreported: Study

2007-07-26T14:29:00.000+08:00

Mixing herbal medicines and prescriptions could pose undiscovered health risks because many negative reactions aren't being reported or tracked, a new study suggests.

The adverse effects of taking prescription drugs with natural health products are dramatically under-reported or not reported at all, so their potential risks may be underestimated by health-care professionals and the public, the study found.

"People look at risks based on what's known. If it's not being reported, it can't be known," said Dr. Sunita Vohra, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta and the study's lead author.

The study found almost half the 132 pharmacists surveyed had seen a potential adverse reaction in patients who mixed prescription drugs and natural products, but only two of them reported the incidents to Health Canada.

By contrast, 19 per cent of pharmacists said they had reported adverse events from mixing prescription and non-prescription drugs.

The finding startled the study's co-authors — researchers from University of Alberta, the University of Toronto and Health Canada.

"We didn't anticipate the number of potential natural health product-drug interactions that community pharmacists were seeing, nor did we anticipate their reporting levels," said Vohra.

Researchers suggest the health-care system needs a better method of tracking the incidents encountered by consumers using both prescription and herbal medicines.
(CBC)

Adverse events ranged from mild rashes and headaches to more serious consequences for some patients. Those on prescribed blood thinners, for example, can put their health at risk if they take natural products that they may not realize also act as blood thinners.

Researchers call for better tracking system

Vohra said a large proportion of the Canadians who use natural products also use prescription medication, and the health-care system needs a better method of tracking the incidents encountered by consumers using both products.

"We're not saying natural health products aren't safe," said Vohra. "We're not saying they are safe, or that you can't ever use them with drugs, or that you must use them with drugs. There's no way we have enough information to make those sorts of absolute statements."

Consumers need to handle natural health products with caution, Vohra said.

"Treat products with respect — if they can help you, they can potentially harm you," Vohra said.

Heather Boon, a University of Toronto pharmacy professor, said she finds it troubling that pharmacists aren't reporting adverse events, although she knows from personal experience that they are busy and often don't have time for added paperwork.

Boon said a followup study is underway looking at the under-reporting. Vohra noted consumers can also file reports on adverse reactions to Health Canada.

Acupuncturist has a natural approach

2007-07-25T14:28:00.001+08:00

George also uses herbal medicine, diet to help clients' healing process

GINA SMITH BALL

Helen George, a licensed acupuncturist, opened the Burke Acupuncture Clinic in downtown Morganton in October 2006.

In addition to acupuncture services, George treats clients using Chinese herbal medicine and offers advice on how to heal through diet and other lifestyle changes.

Herbal Supplement For Asthma

2007-07-24T14:24:00.000+08:00

Today more and more asthma sufferers are turning to use more natural ways of treating asthma rather than relying on the medications that their doctor prescribes. In the USA most herbal supplement for asthma treatment that are now available today have been both evaluated and then endorsed by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Plus you will find plenty of reports available from those who have used them and have found them to be effective in treating their asthma.

In this article I will take a closer look at some of the types of herbal supplements for asthma sufferers. However before you do start to use them it is best that you discuss matters with your doctor or health provider first and do not stop taking any medication that they have prescribed without them allowing you to.

Ma Huang (Ephedra)

This particular herb should only be used when a sufferer is closely supervised by their doctor. Although it acts as a bronchodilator so it helps to open up the airways that have become constricted it can also cause a personâ€™s heart rate to increase and some people may find that they become irritable when they use it.

Coleus Forshkholii

This herb again acts in the same way as Ma Huang but should not be used by asthma sufferers who suffer from high blood pressure and are having to take medication to treat this condition as well. Plus it should be avoided by those sufferers who are taking anti-coagulant medication for some other disorder.

Lobelia

Although powerful in treating asthma, this herb can be quite toxic and should only be used in very small doses and only when a person is being treated either by their doctor or a herbalist who is experienced and knows everything relating to herbs and their uses. Again this type of herbal supplement for asthma should not be used by sufferers who have high blood pressure or have some type of heart disease.

Reishi Mushroom

This particular herb contains properties which are anti inflammatory as well as help to boost the immune system. Also in Chinese Medicine it has been reported that this particular herbal supplement for asthma treatment is good for strengthen the lungs. You can either take reishi mushroom by preparing them within recipes of meals you are cooking or take it in its concentrated form as a tincture.

However as previously mentioned when using any kind of herbal supplement for asthma it is advisable that you discuss matters with your doctor first.

Music as an alternative medicine

2007-07-23T15:19:00.000+08:00

By SARA JEROME

For the Pocono RecordJuly 19, 2007Not every sick person holed up in Pocono Medical Center wants a bedside cello concert.When 15-year-old Stroudsburg High School student Breanna Goldner enters hospital rooms to offer a brief serenade on her cello, she hears such comments as: "I only like country music," "I'm too tired" or "Not today."

Jill Howell, a clinical therapist heading the hospital's new Complementary and Alternative Medicines program, which has brought live music to sickrooms since January, said, "Sometimes they're sleepy or they just don't like the cello."

Other offerings include art therapy, yoga classes, trained dogs for petting and more.But for every patient who declines the melodious intrusion — and there are many — several others accept. Yet according to organizers for the new CAM program, accepting these unusual services can have powerful results.

"Many studies have shown the healing power of complementary therapies," Howell said. She attested to watching a drop in stress on a patients' heart monitor readings as Goldner serenaded them."It's about focusing on something else to help reduce the pain or to relax," Howell said.Antoinette Koetteritz, a resident of Camelback Village in Tannersville, landed in the hospital after her "heart went out of control," as she explains it.

When Goldner first played for Koetteritz, the woman broke into tears in her hospital bed."That's a healer," Koetteritz said. "It made me forget about my problems. To me, it's half the healer."Howell isn't surprised by this kind of reaction. A clinical therapist with a master's degree in art therapy, Howell is a firm believer that alternative medicine can aid the healing process by working hand-in-hand with traditional medicine.

"The music goes to this deep place inside you," Howell said.But although the program may lack medical legitimacy, said program overseer Dr. Robert Morrow, the chief of the department of psychiatry, it takes up little of the budget since most of the therapies are offered by volunteers such as Goldner.

"CAM therapy has been shown to enhance a person's perspective of their hospital experience," Morrow said, emphasizing the increasingly competitive landscape of hospitals.That's where CAM comes in: If it can make a person's hospital stay a little less "traumatic," Morrow said, why not?"It's good PR for the hospital," he said. "It's good for its image."Plus, according to Morrow, there has been some evidence suggesting complementary therapies can help people recover."If your perception is more positive, that's going to have a beneficial effect in your physical function," Morrow said. A positive attitude can enhance a person's immune system, helping them fight disease and ward off infections, he added.

"There's not a lot of controlled studies, but more work is being done in that area to quantify that. At the very least, it makes people feel better," he said.In part because the healing power of complementary therapies still draws some skepticism in the medical community, the road to inaugurating CAM at the medical center wasn't always easy — especially when the dog visiting component brought pets within the sterile hospital walls.

"A lot of people were saying, why is there a dog in the hospital? They had concerns about infection control and hygiene. Now, almost everyone is comfortable," Howell said.

The music program, which also includes a harpist, received less criticism from medical staff, but that doesn't mean everyone has been receptive."Some of the people who are more progressive see the benefits," Morrow said. "More and more doctors are taking advantage when they get good patient feedback.

"Howell said progress for the program has been "slow building" since expansion is contingent on doctors requesting the service. The chief obstacle, she said, is reminding doctors that CAM is available.

"Sometimes I have to walk around and say, 'Hello! I'm here!' " Howell said.Doctors can, in some sense, "prescribe" complementary therapy for those they think would be particularly receptive, but Howell said the bulk of referrals rests with the nurses since they spend so much time with patients.Morrow emphasized that CAM is not meant to replace traditional medicine and serves only to enhance it.

"We're not going to be chanting and playing little symbols and burning incense as opposed to standard chemotherapy," Morrow said. "But if we do all that and still administer traditional chemotherapy and it makes a person feel better — great."

Proven Herbal Remedy uses Chinese Medicine to Fight Hepatitis C Liver Disease Naturally to restore overall liver health.

2007-07-23T15:10:00.001+08:00

Minister approves Herbalists for Registration

2007-07-22T15:17:00.000+08:00

Friday, 20 July 2007, 10:08 amPress Release: NZ Association of Medical Herbalists NZAMH New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists

Media Release 20th July 2007
For Immediate Release

Health Minister approves Medical Herbalists for Registration
The Minister of Health Pete Hodgson has approved Western Medical Herbalism for inclusion as a health profession within the scope of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCA Act). The New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists (NZAMH) today welcomed this move as a step forward in providing the public with greater choices in professional complementary healthcare.

"Registration of Medical Herbalism can be seen as a reflection of the New Zealand healthcare system responding to public interest and public health requirements, and will substantially improve the integration of herbal medicine into the New Zealand health care system.” Kate McConnell, President of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists said today. “As the Minister himself said recently ‘a modern health system needs to use all the tools at its disposal to make and keep people healthy and well’.”

The HPCA Act provides a framework for the regulation of health practitioners to protect the public from harm. Health professions that are currently within the scope of the Act include doctors, nurses, chiropractors, optometrists, pharmacists, osteopaths and psychologists.

Herbal Medicine is a unique modality, two of its strengths being its value in preventative healthcare and its efficacy in the treatment of chronic health disorders. Medical Herbalists work within a traditional philosophical and therapeutic framework that is inclusive of the medical sciences. Due to this Medical Herbalists support a blend of scientific and traditional values, thereby placing them in a unique position within the healthcare sector.

The decision follows the recent Budget initiative to provide funding for a new Chief Advisor in Integrated Care within the Ministry of Health.

Octogenarian doctor keeps fit by aiding the poor

2007-07-21T15:15:00.000+08:00

VietNamNet Bridge – When he reached 80 you could have forgiven Nguyen Van Thanh for deciding to take things easy. But that wasn't good enough for Thanh (now almost 88) who decided instead to set up a herbal practice on Phu Quoc island, where he treats patients for free.

"Thanh's coming was a godsend to the people of Cua Can Commune who were so poor they would sell their possessions to pay for medical treatment," says Hai Minh, Vice Chairman of Cua Can Red Cross Association.

"A bamboo clinic was built, but because Thanh didn't have enough money to pay for herbal medicines he was forced to take out a loan," he adds.

Soon his practice began to take off - on one day alone he treated 50 patients. In return for his kindness, villagers helped him build a better clinic.

He also taught them to identify medicinal herbs, which they collect for him as he is now too old to go foraging for plants himself.

"At the clinic in Cua Can, tens of thousand of people have received free treatment," says Hai Xuan, a voluntary helper at the clinic. "Thanh gives detailed descriptions to patients of their illness, which reassures them."

Thanh's relatives often visit and ask him to return home with them, but he refuses, preferring instead to get up at the crack of dawn and work through till late at night.

"If I go, then who will treat my patients?" he tells his relatives. "When there are no patients on the island, I will go with you."

Early beginnings

Thanh was born in 1920 in Cai Rang District, in the southern province of Can Tho. He began learning herbal medicine when he was seven from Hai Phuoc Tien, a renowned Taoist hermit living in That Son (Seven Mountain Range).

"At that time, That Son was beset by dangers from all sides - poisonous snakes, tigers, robbers," says Thanh.

Once, Thanh, by himself, had to fight off several robbers who had come to steal the precious herbs he'd collected over many years and used to treat villagers in That Son.
Following the attack Thanh moved to My Tho District and worked as an assistant in herbal medicine shop.

Then, medical knowledge was limited. People often treated diseases with herbs from their gardens without knowing what they were doing, and often made their illness worse," says Thanh.

Towards the end of 1999, Thanh travelled to Phu Quoc island, planning to stay a month. However, when he discovered just how poor medical care was on the island, he decided to remain.

"I'm old now and nothing is better than helping others. When a sick patient recovers I feel stronger," he says.

Research tackling anxiety

2007-07-20T15:14:00.000+08:00

IN a world-first clinical trial, researchers from the University of Queensland will use a herbal combination to treat depression and anxiety.

Volunteers are now needed for the trial to be conducted at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and supervised by a medical doctor, clinical psychologist and naturopath.

Principal researcher Jerome Sarris, a qualified naturopath and acupuncturist, said new treatment strategies were needed to combat depression and anxiety.

``While the use of complementary medicine and herbal medicine has grown in the last decade, research is becoming vital to establish which treatments work,'' Mr Sarris said.

Iran's anti-AIDS drug in Malaysia

2007-07-19T15:11:00.000+08:00

A herbal medicine produced by Iran to tackle AIDS has attracted many visitors at an exhibition held in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The exhibition, held on the sidelines of the Third International Congress of Traditional and Herbal Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, put the latest productions by the participants on display.

Iran has also showcased various herbal medicines made by Iranian specialists. Iran is the founder of the International Congress of Traditional and Herbal Medicine.

Proven Herbal Remedy uses Chinese Medicine to Fight Hepatitis C Liver Disease Naturally to restore overall liver health.

2007-07-18T15:10:00.000+08:00

June 22, 2004 — Samglo Enterprises announces the introduction of Nu-Liver, a natural herbal medicine from the Orient that reverses Hepatitis C liver disease safely and with virtually no side effects.

Doctors working in China during the past 4 decades have demonstrated scientifically that certain herbal medicine can naturally suppress the Hepatitis C virus in humans. Using this scientific discovery, they have created a powerful herbal medicine formula that combines both anti-viral and liver-protective properties. One of the major herbal medicine formulations used by many Chinese doctors to treat over 50 million Chinese patients with Hepatitis C, Nu-Liver herbal remedy is NOW available outside of China.

This herbal medicine is virtually non-toxic and eliminates the devastating side effects often experienced by those who take the standard western treatment consisting of interferon and ribavirin. Nearly all patients who take interferon for Hepatitis C will experience side effects that can potentially damage their thyroid gland, red blood cells, stomach and pancreas.

This powerful Chinese herbal medicine formulation is designed to lower the Hepatitis C viral load, reduce or normalize liver enzyme levels, and halt disease progression, without the severe side effects from ?chemical drugs? that are often worse than the disease itself. And when liver functions are normalized, patients with Hepatitis C can maintain a normal or near normal quality of life.

Vets respond to pet owners' desire for alternative medicine

2007-07-17T15:07:00.000+08:00

By GRETEL SARMIENTO
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

BOCA RATON — Nobody has it better than pets nowadays.

They have free rent, organic food and unconditional love from their owners. Now you can add massages, reiki, acupuncture and aromatherapy sessions.

Once in a while, 13-year-old Twojay feels a warm tingling feeling on her back and paws. Like any patient she becomes a little anxious at the sight of the red laser beam but during treatment she remains calm.
"She can feel when the doctor is coming," Ann Gazourian said of her female cat, who has cystitis and whose diet was changed many times before a holistic veterinarian suggested laser acupuncture sessions. She's been getting them since 2001.

During treatment, various energy points on Twojay's body are treated with an infrared spectrum to stimulate circulation and fortify flabby muscles. In Twojay's case, it's a low-frequency treatment, which varies depending on an animal's condition.

Holistic medicine for pets seems to be gaining popularity as recent pet-food recalls have turned pet owners into skeptical shoppers and more people shift to a more natural green lifestyle.
In response, more veterinarians are turning their practices into holistic animal practices. The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, with 800 members nationwide and 40 in Florida, has seen a consistent increase in the number of veterinarians using alternative treatments such as herbal medicine and homeopathy.

Dr. Carol Falck of Friendship Animal Wellness Center in Pompano Beach is one of them. Pet owners bring their cats, dogs, birds with everything from ear infections to temperament issues.
But rather than prescribing antibiotics right away, Falck said "You look at the whole picture."
That means studying an animal's diet, habits, genetics, age, size, breed and other factors to determine the source of the problem and which treatment will work best.

For instance, acupuncture, the Chinese art of using needles or a laser to release the energy flow in the body, can be used to adjust the nervous system, help the body fight disease, and regenerate the nerves and cells. And just as it works in the human body, it works on pets.

"They suffer from the same things that we suffer," said Elizabeth Brauer of Wellington, who takes her pets to Falck.

Her switch to holistic medicine happened when her basset hound nearly died after a heartworm treatment from a traditional veterinarian, Brauer said.

Since then, she relies on traditional medicine "only if absolutely necessary."
"Sure, antibiotics can get rid of bacterial infection but then why do they keep getting bacterial infection?"

Gazourian also would ask herself why Twojay's cystitis kept recurring.

Then came Ronald Johnson, a holistic veterinarian and director of Mobile Vet, Inc., a mobile clinic that makes house calls for sick animals in the Broward-Palm Beach County area.

"He took one look at what she was eating and said: This is why she has cystitis," said Gazourian, of Boca Raton.

Although traditional medicine tends to relieve symptoms, holistic medicine focuses on the root of the problem, Johnson said. And often, holistic medicine helps prevent a problem before it becomes one. By studying the animal as a whole, a holistic veterinarian can keep kidney stones, urinary conditions and other illnesses from occurring.

"We try to get ahead of all that," Johnson said. "We look at the whole animal not just a piece of lab work."

Johnson, who's also registered with the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and has practiced for 40 years, also points out holistic is not emergency-oriented nor does it dismiss traditional medicine entirely. Some of his clients take vitamins and supplements.
"We use the best of both worlds, Western and Eastern medicine," he said.

Aside from being preventive, integrative and less-invasive, another characteristic of holistic medicine is the mind-body element.

In humans, a positive attitude and optimistic thoughts are encouraged to help with the healing process. That pets don't have to make this conscious effort might actually be an advantage. Because they don't put their mind into the healing process they also don't run the risk of letting memories of trauma and abuse get in the way, as can happen with humans.
"They see positive in everything," said Brauer, a reiki practitioner.

"That's a huge part for humans. It's probably the biggest obstacle that we have. No Chinese medicine practice can help if your mind is self-destructing."

"We were looking to see how many naturopathic physicians treat children on a regular basis and found only about 15 percent do. The conditions seen by

2007-07-16T15:00:00.000+08:00

One of the realities of having asthma is that you will probably need to take some type of asthma medicine for the rest of your life. There is no known cure for asthma and controlling asthma symptoms generally requires you to take asthma at least on an as needed basis for flare-ups.

Most people need to take preventive, or controller, asthma medicine every day, or even twice a day.

However, a recent research study offers validation for an alternative asthma therapy that's been around since the 1960s. It's called the Papworth Method.

This integrated breathing and relaxation technique has been used by physical therapists for decades, but its merits have never been proven scientifically. But, a study reported in the April 6th issue of Thorax journal by Elizabeth Holloway, a Research Physiotherapist in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College London, involved 85 patients divided into a control group and a treatment group.

Results were obtained via questionnaires, both after the Papworth Breathing was taught and 12 months later. Patients in the treatment group had significantly lower scores, meaning their breathing was much more relaxed. So, researchers concluded that the Papworth method appeared to lessen asthma symptoms and improve mood compared with usual asthma care (i.e., the control group).

This study was a small one, and larger controlled studies are needed to confirm these initial findings. Still, it's encouraging to think there may be non-medical solutions to treating asthma.

Natural Herbs and Herbal Medicine for Anxiety Treatment

2007-07-15T13:33:00.000+08:00

Alien Sheng

The use of natural herbs for anxiety to ease the often paralysing and uncomfortable sensations that go with this condition are not uncommon. Anxiety disorder is the most prevalent mental health issue in many western countries and using herbal medicine for anxiety has attracted much attention in recent times.

Herbal treatments for anxiety tend to have fewer side effects, are less likely to cause dependency and are cost effective. Care should be taken when altering any medications or adding supplements and close attention to drug interactions should be made before taking any herbal remedy. The cause of anxiety must be investigated thoroughly with your practitioner with herbs viewed as part of a holistic approach to better health.

Herbs for Natural Anxiety Treatment
St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)

The mild action of this antidepressant herb has led to it being one of the most popular of all medicinal herbs and is the most reliable herb to consider for treating anxiety. St John’s Wort has the added benefit of being a gentle sedative and can assist in treating insomnia.

The St John’s Wort’s flowers contain hypericin, and hyperforin both considered to be vital components in the mood lifting action of this herb. The action of these compounds is enhanced by the flavenoid glycosides naturally found in this plant and a good supplement will have standardised amounts of hypericin and flavenoid glycosides.

Caution is warranted if you are taking warfarin, digoxin and some drugs used to treat HIV (indinavir and nevirapine), chemotherapy medications such as irinotecan, and antihistamines, benzodiazepines and simvastatin. Consulting your health care practitioner is advisable before beginning any new medication and in the case of St. John’s Wort, it is recommended to discontinue for seven days before a general anaesthetic.

Passion flower (Passiflora incarnata)

Passion flower has a tranquilising affect on the nervous system and is indicated specifically for anxiety and insomnia. With a reputation as non habit forming medication for anxiety, passionflower has been indicated in preparations for alcohol, nicotine and opiate withdrawal.

This herb is extremely gentle in its action and should be considered for insomnia associated with anxiety before using valerian.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)

Valerian root is possibly one of the most pungent herbs in use. This strong smelling herb is famous for being the plant that Valium was derived from. It is one of the more potent calmatives in use and care should be taken when using valerian for more than three weeks for insomnia associated with anxiety. Valerian can cause drowsiness and prolonged use may disrupt deep sleep which can lead to tiredness, even after a full nights sleep.

Hops (Humulus lupulus)

This herb is primarily a sedative and is often combined with passion flower to enhance its action to treat nervous tension and insomnia. A recent German study concluded that as a substitute to benzodiazepines, hops and valerian provided a viable alternative. Caution should be used when prescribing hops for anxiety if depression is thought to be involved.

The Use of Herbal Medicine and Supplements to Treat Anxiety

Like all medication, any herbal treatment for anxiety must be taken as part of an overall approach to recovery. Natural herbs for anxiety are gentle in their action and the added bonus is that a herbal remedy for anxiety is less inclined to cause dependency, or side effects.

When looking to use a herbal remedy for anxiety, it is essential to investigate whether or not there is also depression; so that an appropriate formula can be prescribed.

Overwork, poor diet and stress all contribute to anxiety and often simple measures to break the cycle of what is causing anxiety can lead to a big improvement in your sense of well being.

Naturopathy an Option for Some Kids

2007-07-08T22:12:00.000+08:00

About one in six naturopathic physicians include pediatric patients in their practice in the state of Washington, new research finds.

The study, which is published in the July issue ofPediatrics, also found that almost 30 percent of children seen by a naturopathic doctor visit them for overall health supervision, and almost 20 percent received their immunizations from a naturopathic doctor.

"We were looking to see how many naturopathic physicians treat children on a regular basis and found only about 15 percent do. The conditions seen by naturopathic doctors are similar to what pediatricians see," said study author Wendy Weber, a naturopathic doctor and a research associate professor at the School of Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Wash., north of Seattle.

Weber was quick to point out, however, that her study was done only in the state of Washington, one of only 14 states that licenses its naturopathic practitioners, and that its findings would likely be different in other states.

Naturopathic medicine focuses on treating the whole person, not just an illness, with natural means such as diet, exercise, vitamins and herbal products. People with chronic illnesses, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, asthma and Crohn's disease, often seek the advice of naturopathic doctors. Prevention and self-care are important components of naturopathic medicine. In some states that license naturopathic doctors, they can also prescribe medications, such as antibiotics and hormone therapy, and they can administer vaccines.

Naturopathic physicians must be licensed in the following states and territories: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"Washington is one of the far more liberal and open-minded states. [Naturopathic medicine in Washington] would probably be the example or a model of what naturopathic medicine should be," said Dr. David Steinhorn, medical director of the Judith Nan Joy Integrative Medicine Initiative at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

To get a better idea of how many naturopathic physicians included children in their practices, Weber and her colleagues reviewed surveys completed by 204 naturopathic physicians from Washington. Just 31 of those (15 percent) saw more than five children per week.

Of those who saw children, pediatric patients comprised 28 percent of their practice, according to the study.

Nearly one-third of the pediatric visits were children under 2, and 58.5 percent were children over 6. Health supervision visits made up 27.4 percent of pediatric visits, while 21 percent of the visits were for infectious diseases. Mental health conditions were responsible for another 13 percent of the visits by children.

Youngsters under 3 received immunizations during 19 percent of the health supervision visits, and 27 percent of those between the ages of 2 and 5 were immunized during their health supervision visits.

"There definitely are naturopathic physicians out there who see children on a regular basis and are likely the primary source of care for children," said Weber.

Asthma Herbal Remedy

2007-07-03T19:29:00.000+08:00

Ricky Lee

If you feel that you are suffering from asthma, then the first thing you should be doing is making an appointment with your doctor so that they can provide a proper diagnosis. However once you have been diagnosed with asthma, then normally your doctor will prescribe medication which can help to control rather than cure the condition. However, if you are looking for an alternative then why not try asthma herbal remedy.

In this article we will be taking a closer look at certain asthma herbal remedy treatments that people who suffer from this condition may want to consider using alongside the medication prescribed by their doctor.

Butterbur

This shrub which grows perennially and can be found in not just the USA, but also Europe and Asia can be quite effective. It contains active ingredients called petasin and isopetasin which are believed to help reduce muscle spasms as well as having an anti inflammatory property to it.
However there are some side effects associated with this particular type of herbal remedy.

Namely it can cause indigestion problems, headaches, fatigue, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea and constipation in some people. Plus this particular herbal treatment should not be used by women who are either pregnant or those people who suffer from either liver or kidney disease.

Boswellia

This is more commonly referred to as Salai Guggal in Indian Ayurvedic medicine and in studies that have been carried out, it has been found to restrict the production of leukotrienes in the body. Leukotrienes is the compound when able to be released in to the lungs will cause the airways to become narrowed and so a person’s breathing becomes much more difficult and labored.

Currently it is not clear as to just how safe or effective this particular asthma herbal remedy is and just how it reacts when used with other kinds of asthma treatments. However again there are some side effects associated with using this particular herb and these include nausea, acid reflux, diarrhea and may cause problems to a person’s digestive system.

Certainly, there are lots of asthma herbal remedy and supplements available for being to use in order to treat the symptoms associated with asthma. However more studies need to be carried out before anything firm can be established. Asthma sufferers seeking an alternative such as asthma herbal remedy should discuss matters with their doctor first before taking any asthma herbal remedies.

P'au d'arco

2007-07-02T12:20:00.000+08:00

Pau d'Arco (Tabebuia avellanedae) is a phytomedicine made from the bark of the South American trumpet tree. ("tajy," meaning to have strength and vigor) by the Guarani and Tupi tribes in South America.

Growing as tall as 125 feet, there are 100 species of the tree native to tropical America. Pau d'Arco, also referred to as alapacho,a is used by herbalists to treat various bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections.

You may be familiar with lapacho, a dense, extremely hard tropical wood. It makes beautiful, fine-grained furniture, but by woodworking standards, itas a challenge. Lapacho resists sawing and bending.

To put a nail in it, you have to prebore a hole. It doesnat take paint well and is impermeable to most wood preservatives. In the wild, lapacho is practically indestructible, yielding to neither termites nor decay.

The tree's resilience in the midst of the damp South American rain forest may have been what first attracted the attention of natives to its medicinal properties.

The medicinal use Pau d'Arco dates back thousands of years to the native Indians of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

It was used broadly to kill germs, relieve pain, increase urine flow,treat colitis, dysentery, snakebite, wounds, sore throats, ulcers, cancer, and a number of other ailments. Caribbean folk healers used the leaves in addition to the bark to treat toothaches and backaches.

Pau D'Arco is an exceptional herb that can be used for a plathora of diseases. While many health claims for Pau d'Arco have not been substantiated including the far-reaching assertion that it can "cure" various forms of cancerathere are several positive findings.

Research shows that it contains a natural antibacterial agent, cleanses the blood, and kills viruses. It builds the immune system, and increase resistance to disease.

Pau D'Arco has been shown to help the following conditions: all infections, blood builder, bronchitis, cancer candidiasis liver disease pin skin sores, varicose views warts, diabetes, eczema and lupus.

Reports have surfaced that the herb is even effective against certain illnesses such as diabetes. The herb has also been reported to aid treatment of Hodgkins disease and Parkinsons disease.

Today, plant scientists have identified two primary active constituents in Pau d'Arco that contain infection-fighting properties: Lapachol and Beta-lapachone. Pau d'arco is a rich source of iron, which contributes to the elimination of wastes from the body and the assimilation of nutrients.

Lapachol is known to support the immune system, and it also has antifungal, antibacterial and antibiotic properties. It has been used to treat immune deficiency disorders, cardiovascular problems and high blood pressure.

Some herbalists also recommend Pau d'Arco to strengthen immunity in the presence of such ailments as cancer, HIV or AIDS, chronic bronchitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

The Phytochemical Database housed at the U.S. Department of Agriculture has documented lapachol as being antiabscess, anticarcinomic, antiedemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antiseptic, antitumor, antiviral, bactericide, fungicide, insectifuge, pesticide, protisticide, respiradepressant, schistosomicide, termiticide, and viricide.

Besides lapachol, Pau D'Arco contains at least 20 other active constituents that are attributed to its other actions.

It has clearly demonstrated broad clinical applications against a large number of disease causing micro-organisms which explains its wide array of uses in herbal medicine. Its action seems to come from increasing oxygen supply at the local level, destroying bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.

Its antimicrobial properties were clinically demonstrated in several clinical trials, demonstrating strong activity against various gram-positive bacteria and fungi including, Candida, Staphylococcus, Trichophyton, Brucella, tuberculosis, pneumonia, strep, and dysentery.

Pau D'Arco and it's constituents have demonstrated antiviral properties against various viruses including Herpes I and II, influenza, poliovirus, and vesicular stomatitis virus.

It's anti-parasitic actions against various parasites including malaria, Schistosoma, and Trypansoma have been clinically validated. Bark extracts of Pau D'Arco have demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity and have been shown to be successful against a wide range of inflammations.

Lapachol and beta-lapachone are known collectively as napthaquinones. Laboratory tests indicate napthaquinones to have extremely potent anti-fungal properties.

Scientists have theorized that Pau d'Arco anti-viral effects are a result of beta-lapachoneas effectiveness in inhibiting certain enzymes that viruses require to spread and grow. Pau da'rco also contains the potent flavonoids quercitin and xloidone.

Coupled with the infection-fighting napthaquinones, these flavonoids make Pau da'rco a threat to the opportunistic fungus called Candida albicans. When the immune system is weak, the candida fungus can grow uncontrollably.

The fungus normally occurs on the skin or in the mouth, respiratory tract, or vagina. Pau da'rco anti-fungal constituents have been shown to be highly beneficial in treating this condition,
as well as for fighting the fungi responsible for athlete's foot, jock itch, and other common fungal skin infections.

Additionally, laboratory studies have demonstrated that Pau d'Arco has anti-fungal properties on par with a common anti-fungal prescription drug (ketoconazole).
Use as tea and topically in ointments.

Emu Oil Offers Hope to Diabetics

2007-07-01T22:29:00.000+08:00

Some Physicians Using Emu Oil To Assist In Diabetic Wound Care

San Angelo, Texas - Diabetic wound care has been of great concern to physicians for many years and with good cause. Even simple wounds take twice as long to heal and they always have the potential to deteriorate into something severe. Over 150 million people worldwide have diabetes and the number is expected to double by 2010. Of these, it is estimated that at least 15% will develop foot ulcerations and that related complications will require 3% to have a lower limb amputation. However, some physicians are finding that the addition of emu oil to the treatment regime for diabetic wound care offers some hope in the battle to save limbs.

Dr. Robert Winston, a Jackson, TN physician, states that his use of emu oil has shown promise. “I have treated several diabetic wounds with antibiotics using emu oil as a transport from the outside in,” the doctor said. “The results have been amazing.”

The use of emu oil as a carrier for antibiotics may offer diabetic patients and attending physicians some hope in the battle to promote healing and find ways to lessen the extent of the prolonged and painful traditional treatments usually involved in the treatment of decubes. Dr. Winston will be a guest speaker at The 2006 Emu Oil Seminar for Medical Professionals on July 15. The seminar is being held in conjunction with the American Emu Association National Convention, held this year at the Madison West-Marriott Hotel in Middleton, Wisconsin. Area medical professionals are invited to attend the event which takes place from 1 to 5 PM.

A board certified internal medicine practitioner at the Eastside Medical Center in Jackson, Tennessee, Dr. Winston has practiced medicine for over 25 years. He enjoys staff privileges at Regional Hospital of Jackson, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and Meharry Medical College Dept. of Continuing Education.

For more information about the AEA National Convention, contact the Wisconsin Emu Association (WIEA) at 866-608-8224 or check out their web site at www.wiea-emu.org .
The American Emu Association is a non-profit trade association representing the emu industry. The emu industry is an alternative agricultural industry, dominated by the small farmer, who is devoted to humane and environmentally positive practices that will produce beneficial products for society. For more information about the American Emu Association (AEA) or the emu industry visit http://www.aea-emu.org or call 541-332-0675.

Herbal aphrodisiac banned

2007-06-25T16:25:00.000+08:00

ABU DHABI — The health authority in Abu Dhabi, has banned, with immediate effect the sale of the herbal drug ‘Tongkat Ali’, and asked the public to be careful when buying medical and medicinal products, specially herbal ones.

Ziad Al Suksuk, director of the health regulation sector at the authority, urged the public to seek information about the medicines prescribed to them.“Laboratory analysis showed that the drug, illegally sold as a herbal medicine for increasing sexual ability, contained a banned substance,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Al Khair, director of medicinal and medical products department at the authority.

Alternative therapy may have led to deaths

2007-06-24T19:00:00.000+08:00

COUNTRYSIDE Women with MS who drowned thought hot water might help: families
May 2, 2007

BY LESLIE BALDACCI AND BEN GOLDBERGER Staff Reporters

Two friends from Riverside with multiple sclerosis -- who drowned last week in a hotel hot tub -- were mourned Tuesday as their families drew some comfort that a determination of suicide was withdrawn.

As a funeral was held for Karen Lee, 68, and a wake for Nancy DeLise, 63, the Cook County medical examiner reclassified their deaths as due to drowning "pending further studies."

"Some documents found in the room kind of misled me to believe it was suicide because it mentioned God, doing certain ritual things, and one mentions hot tubs," said Dr. Joseph Cogan, the pathologist who performed the autopsies.

Family members of both women insisted they were pursuing alternative therapies when they died.

"She would meet her friends for lunch, she would go out to dinner, she loved to go shopping in Oak Brook, she took her grandkids horseback riding every week, she drove, she basically did everything," said Lee's daughter, Kimberly Fedorski. "She would never have killed herself."

Aside from the motorized scooter she used to get around, the grandmother of six and former hospital secretary led an active life, Fedorski said. After retiring from the family furniture business, DeLise was active with the Fillmore Center in Berwyn and the Frederick Law Olmsted Society. Bridge partners said she showed no MS symptoms.

"If there were two 20-year-olds who died in the hot tub, they never would have said it was suicide. The fact that they're a little bit older and the fact that they have MS, I think, contributed to the immediate dismissal that they must've killed themselves," Fedorski said. "It's not true."

"There's dignity in death and they did not honor that," said Mariano "Mike" DeLise, husband of Nancy.

Dr. Scott Denton, acting chief medical examiner, said he overruled the finding of suicide after hearing more details. Denton said the initial ruling stemmed, in part, from finding empty pill bottles and literature on holistic and spiritual healing and alternative medicine. Toxicology tests are pending. There were no witnesses and there was no surveillance of the hot tub.

Nancy DeLise swore that drinking colloidal silver mixed with Gatorade had helped reverse some of her MS symptoms. She supplied it to Lee, DeLise's husband said. The two women took the remedy with them last Thursday when they checked into the Countryside Holiday Inn for a soak in the hot tub -- another alternative therapy DeLise believed was helping. It was the first time Lee went with her, Fedorski said.

"Nancy DeLise has done this therapy a lot of times and thought it would be good for my mother, so my mom wanted to try it," Fedorski said. "They were dear friends and Nancy gave my mom a lot of hope."

The two were found by hotel staff in the hot tub by the pool, said Countryside Police Deputy Chief Scott Novak.

"Whatever happened, no one can explain," Mike DeLise said. "Maybe one got in trouble, the other tried to help."

A September 2000 article in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology said people with MS, "if immersed in hot water, develop motor weakness, which may be so severe as to prevent them from getting out of the water."

A hot tub "is definitely not something our help line consultants would recommend," said Amanda Bednar, a Multiple Sclerosis Association of America spokeswoman.

"It was controversial what she did," said Mike DeLise. "This woman wanted to live."

RELIED ON ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT

Nancy DeLise began using colloidal silver to treat her multiple sclerosis in 2000. She had lived with MS, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system, for over 30 years, but in 1995 it morphed from relapsing remitting MS to the more severe secondary progressive MS. She described this as "my long road of decline." Below are excerpts from her journal at www.testimonials.silvermedicine.org from 2000 to 2002.

BEFORE COLLOIDAL SILVER

"My right had [sic] is numb, my feet, especially my toes are numb. When I get hot or tired my right leg does not lift well. It drags when I walk. After a day at work, I practically have to crawl to my car. I must hold on to a wall at all times. ... I cannot even go up a curb without holding on to someone or something. ...

"If I sit on the floor for any reason, like play with my grandchildren, I must first get on my knees, then on all fours, then finally I can get up. Just like a cow. ...
"I have night paralysis. I must throw my body in order to turn to another side. My legs are locked in the fetal position."

BEGINS TAKING COLLOIDAL SILVER

"Week 10, Seem to have small changes every day. Again my toes ached for several days, then I had more feeling in my toes. It's as though I have a non feeling pad at the bottom of my feet, but feeling all the way around. Like an animal's paw with the padded bottom. It seems I hurt for a few days, then something feels better."

"Week 20: Christmas Week. I had 16 people for dinner Christmas Eve. I had 7 people for dinner Christmas day, I worked 11 hours the day after Christmas, and I had 14 people for dinner the next day. That is four days out of four I entertained at my house. I can't remember when I did something like that. I still have night paralysis, but not nearly as bad as it used to be. ...
"TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY: No more MS, no more symptoms."

(Many experts say colloidal silver has no health benefits. The FDA prohibits making therapeutic claims for colloidal silver products.)

Compound May Hold Clues to Prostate Cancer Prevention

2007-05-31T16:00:00.000+08:00

Media Contact: Ann Blackford, (859) 323-6363

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 30, 2007) − A University of Kentucky researcher has received funding to investigate an herbal compound used in Indian medicine that may have anti-prostate cancer mechanisms.

The National Institute for Health (NIH) has awarded Damodaran Chendil, assistant professor at the UK College of Health Sciences, Division of Clinical and Reproductive Sciences, $1.1 million to investigate the compound.

In previous studies, Chendil reported that the herbal preparation Rasagenthi Lehyam (RL), an herbal formulation used in Indian medicine, is an effective treatment for prostate cancer in an animal model. The most potent compound of RL is psoralidin, which proved to have more potent anti-cancer effects in prostate cancer cells compared to the other isolated compounds identified in RL. The action of psoralidin inhibits cancerous cell growth and tumor survival.

Importantly, Chendil found psoralidin targets cancer cells without causing significant toxicity to normal prostate cells.

The focus of Chendil's current research will be to study how psoralidin functions to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells and tumors. The results of the study may lead to the identification of biomarkers for prostate cancer and the development of chemotherapeutic and/or chemopreventive strategies for prostate cancer. Very little is known about psoralidin and Chendil's research is the first to study its action on prostate cancer cells.

"Treatment for cancer usually involves physically intense and expensive drug therapy, often with unwanted side effects," Chendil said. "Some scientists suggest that cures for cancer and other diseases can be found in nature and such treatments may produce less harmful side effects. I am excited about the potential this natural compound holds in helping to combat one of the most deadly cancers.

"Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the U.S. and many Western countries. African-American men have had higher incidence and at least double the mortality rates compared to men of other racial and ethnic groups.

Although early diagnosis of prostate cancer has improved significantly in recent years, there is a need for more effective treatment strategies for patients presenting with advanced or metastatic disease. Risk factors for prostate cancer include: age, since 65 percent of cases diagnosed occur in men over 65, race and family history of the disease.Symptoms of prostate cancer may include but are not limited to:

-Frequent urination, especially at night
-Difficulty or inability to urinate
-Painful or burning urination

Men who experience any of these symptoms are encouraged to seek advice from a urologist. For more information about prostate health, go to the UK Urology Prostate Cancer website

Reiki's Healing Touch

2007-05-30T17:30:00.000+08:00

By Danielle Sonnenberg

Who says that hands alone can't heal? Undergo reiki, and you may see the possibilities of touch, from offering deep relaxation to restoring your energy. Reiki originated in Japan, but there is not one definitive story of how this alternative medicine was developed. Most believe Mikao Usui, a Japanese physician and monk, started the practice in the mid-19th century after a period of isolated meditation.

E*TRADE FINANCIALThe word reiki derives from rei, meaning universal life or spirit, and ki, or energy. Also known as qi or chi, this energy is believed to exist in all living beings, and has been addressed for centuries through traditional Chinese medicine and practices like acupuncture. Allegedly, qi's flow can be interrupted by negative thoughts and feelings; the blockage can then manifest itself in physical health problems.

But by placing their hands on or near a patient's body, reiki practitioners can manipulate this energy. Many positive effects -- including reducing stress and chronic pain, improving mental clarity and lowering one's heart rate -- are often reported.

Reiki can be practiced anywhere -- hospitals, alternative medicine clinics, spas or private homes. The sessions usually range from about 30 to 90 minutes. While the process itself is spiritual, it is important to remember that reiki is not a religious practice. It is also noninvasive, and very safe.
Usually the patient is fully clothed, and can either lie down or sit in a chair, whichever is most comfortable.

The hands are the sole instruments of this medicine, and they can be used on many parts of the body including the head, chest, abdomen or back for a few minutes at a time. If a patient is suffering from headaches or a cold, for instance, the practitioner may place his or her hands near the back of the head.

Most reiki does not involve actual touching, though. The hands are held at a distance, usually a few inches or more, from which the practitioner proceeds to manipulate the patient's energy. One of the most important aspects of the practice is the intent and a mindset of both people.
After the session, most patients feel very refreshed and some experience a warmth or tingling sensation.

Page 1 2 NEXT PAGE >

Herb May Cure Bladder Infections

2007-05-24T13:55:00.000+08:00

Forskolin, an herbal medicine made from the Asiatic coleus plant, may help treat urinary tract infection.
That’s according to preliminary tests done in mice.

The researchers who conducted those tests included Duke University microbiologist Soman Abraham, Ph.D.

They note that forskolin has been used for centuries in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine to treat various ailments, including painful urination.

The scientists tested forskolin in female mice with bladder infections caused by E. coli bacteria, which cause most urinary tractinfections.

Twenty-four hours after the mice were infected with E. coli, the researchers injected forskolin directly into the mice’s bladders or their belly.

For comparison, the scientists injected saltwater into the bladders of otherfemale mice with E. coli bladder infections.

One day after treatment, the mice in the forskolin group had less E.coli bacteria in their bladders than the mice that got the saltwatershot.

The forskolin group also had lower levels of inflammatory chemicals in theirurine, the study shows.

“This type of treatment strategy may prove beneficial for patients with recurrent urinary tract infections,” Abraham says in a Duke University news release.

He notes that antibiotics get rid of most bacteria that cause urinary tract infections, but some bacteria may hide in the bladder’s lining. Forskolin may force those hidden bacteria out of the bladder’s lining, where they could be targeted by antibiotics.

“Ideally, use of this herb would expel the bacteria, where it would then be hit with antibiotics. With the reservoir of hiding bacteria cleared out, the infection should not occur,” Abraham says.
The researchers didn’t test forskolin on people.
The study appears online in Nature Medicine.

Ginkgo Biloba? Forget About It

2007-05-08T14:50:00.000+08:00

A history of the top-selling brain enhancer.

By Brendan I. Koerner

Remedies designed for the infirm seldom aid the healthy, too. Donning bifocals won't turn 20/20 eyesight into X-ray vision, and wearing a hearing aid can't endow a nonmusician with the gift of perfect pitch. It's a little baffling, then, that so many consumers assume ginkgo biloba will sharpen their memories.

Reputable medical researchers generally agree that ginkgo pills and powders, extracted from an ornamental tree whose seeds smell like rancid butter, show promise for treating Alzheimer's disease and other cases of age-related dementia. But scant scientific evidence supports the notion that ginkgo can also increase mental acuity among the young and fit. Even so, Nutrition Business Journal estimates that Americans spent $109 million on ginkgo in 2005, making it the nation's best-selling herbal brain booster, ahead of such rivals as gotu kola, Bacopa monnieri, and Siberian ginseng.

Native to East Asia, the ginkgo biloba tree likely existed during the Mesozoic Era; Charles Darwin referred to it as a "living fossil." Its seeds and leaves have been part of Chinese medicine for centuries, used to treat everything from coughs to bladder infections to unwanted freckling.
Though the ginkgo biloba tree has long been appreciated by American botanists, its medicinal properties were largely unheralded in the United States until the late 1980s. The same cannot be said of Europe, however, where German pharmaceutical company Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. launched its first ginkgo product, an extract formally called EGb 761, more than 30 years ago. Studies had shown that ginkgo was effective at increasing blood flow, so Schwabe marketed EGb 761, known commercially as Tebonin or Rokan, as a prescription medicine for the treatment of minor circulatory ailments. In 1988 alone, West German doctors wrote 5.24 million prescriptions for EGb 761 products.

As ginkgo's popularity increased throughout the 1980s, so, too, did the medical establishment's interest in its potential uses. Some practitioners of alternative medicine hailed ginkgo as an anti-aging remedy or as an antidote to kidney yang deficiency. Based on a study of 224 patients, one Berlin doctor pronounced ginkgo inhalations as the cure for the common cold. Dementia researchers, meanwhile, speculated that increased blood flow to the brain might help counter memory loss, a hypothesis lent credence by several small-scale West German and French studies.

Harvard University chemist Elias James Corey learned of ginkgo's promise in the late 1980s, and set his research team loose to synthesize ginkgo's active ingredient, ginkgolide B. They hoped the compound, once properly studied, could help treat toxic shock, asthma, and Alzheimer's disease. When Corey won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1990 for his work on organic synthesis, he name-checked ginkgolide B in his Nobel lecture, though nothing he said could be construed as an endorsement of its benefits.

Nevertheless, Corey's shout-out was a boon to Schwabe, which was just starting to market EGb 761 in the United States. Once relegated to obscure health-food stores, ginkgo broke mainstream. Schwabe first supplied EGb 761 to Nature's Way, an herbal products company based in Springville, Utah. (Utah is to supplements what Silicon Valley is to computers; Mormons are unusually keen on herbal remedies, thanks to Joseph Smith's doubts about conventional medicine.) Nature's Way sold EGb 761 as Ginkgold, the "World's #1 Selling Ginkgo." Though Ginkgold's packaging listed other benefits like its ability to reduce blood viscosity and protect against free radicals, the bold type first and foremost proclaimed it a mind sharpener. This marketing angle resonated with early 1990s health-food consumers, who were then obsessed with smart drinks and nootropics.

Virtually no peer-reviewed evidence supported Ginkgold's assertion that it could enhance memory in the otherwise healthy. But ginkgo's success in Europe, paired with Corey's inadvertent seal of approval, was enough to convince many consumers of the supplement's value. And since ginkgo was marketed as an over-the-counter supplement in the United States, the memory claim didn't need to be evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. According to Nature's Way, Ginkgold would go on to outsell all other ginkgo biloba supplements combined in the United States. Schwabe was able to take a more direct roll in ginkgo's stateside sales starting in 1992, when it acquired a financial stake in Nature's Way; three years later, it obtained an American patent for EGb 761.

Meanwhile, clinical researchers (many funded by Schwabe) remained excited by ginkgo's potential in the fight against dementia. In 1997, a Schwabe-sponsored study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that EGb 761 "appears capable of stabilizing and, in a substantial number of cases, improving the cognitive performance and the social functioning of demented patients for 6 months to 1 year."
#pagination a:hover {background-color:#FF0;}

PAGE: 12 NEXT »

12 ESSENTIAL HERBS

2007-05-03T14:30:00.000+08:00

By Michael Castleman

herbs safely and effectively.
By Michael Castleman

Do you use herbal medicine Whether or not youre aware of it, the answer is yes. Ironically, even vocal critics use medicinal herbs all the time usually without realizing it, says Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council, a nonprofit herb education organization.
Thats because many foods have medicinal properties from ginger, which helps soothe upset stomachs, to garlic, which can help control cholesterol and reduce the risk of some cancers. Its also true that an estimated 25 percent of todays pharmaceutical drugs have plant origins. That includes aspirin, which originally came from white willow bark, and the cancer drug taxol, which is derived from the Pacific yew tree.

Herbs are also the most popular form of alternative medicine in the United States, according to a recent Harvard study which found that 38 million Americans collectively spend $4.2 billion on herbal medicine every year. Understanding more about how medicinal herbs work can help people treat common ailments more effectively.

Herbs Hiding in Plain Sight

One reason we dont recognize many herbal medicines is that theyre already so familiar to us. For example, coffee is an herbal medicine a powerful stimulant thanks to the caffeine it contains. In addition to being Americas favorite pick-me-up, coffee also opens your bronchial passages, according to botanist James Duke, author of The Green Pharmacy. Coffee can help treat the chest congestion of the common cold and asthma, Duke says. Recent studies show that coffee also may help prevent gallstones and Parkinsons disease, and that it boosts the pain-relieving power of ibuprofen.

Two other popular drinks, Coca-Cola and ginger ale, have medicinal uses both can calm upset stomachs. Coke, developed by Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886, contains an extract of the tropical cola nut, which was widely used in the 19th century to improve digestion, reduce fatigue, strengthen the heart and even treat alcoholism. As for ginger ale, recent studies show that ginger helps prevent the nausea and vomiting of motion sickness.

Ginger is the herb for nausea, says Linda White, a physician and co-author of Kids, Herbs and Health. I use it and give it to my kids.

Then there are the herbs and spices in your kitchen. Before refrigeration, Blumenthal explains, they were mainstays of food preservation. Most culinary herbs and spices are useful not just for seasoning, but because they have antimicrobial properties that retard spoilage.

Using Herbs Safely

In the United States, herbal medicines are not regulated as strictly as pharmaceuticals because they are treated as foods, not drugs. Some critics contend that herb users are flying blind, but extensive research is available on many herbs. Two good sources for learning more about the latest research on herbal medicine are the American Botanical Council (www.herbalgram.org) and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (www.mskcc.org).

Its also helpful to know that the number of adverse reactions attributed to herbs is relatively small. The American Association of Poison Control Centers publishes an annual review of the nations toxic exposures. In 2003 the most recent year for which complete figures are available acetaminophen (used in Tylenol and other painkillers) killed more than 100 Americans. For the same year, only seven deaths were blamed on the misuse of herbs. Although these deaths are tragic, it would be a mistake to suggest that medicinal herbs are a frequent cause of death.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations strict regulation of drugs in no way guarantees their safety. University of Toronto researchers reviewed serious drug side effects among U.S. hospital patients from 1966 to 1996. The study did not look at overdoses or prescription errors, just at serious side effects from drugs taken as prescribed. The researchers estimated that more than 2 million hospital patients a year suffer serious side effects, and that more than 100,000 of them die.

All medicines should be used cautiously, and that includes herbal medicines. Just because theyre natural doesnt mean theyre safe, Blumenthal says. Some of the worlds most potent poisons are herbal for example, poison hemlock, which looks like parsley, and Amanita death cap mushrooms.

To use herbs safely, always take the following steps:

Tell your doctor which herbs you take and why. Do not substitute an herbal medicine for a prescribed medication without consulting your physician.

Pregnant women, children and those with chronic medical conditions should not take herbs or drugs without consulting a medical professional.

Do not duplicate drug effects with herbs. If you take a pharmaceutical antidepressant, dont take an herbal antidepressant, too.

Find out about any potential side effects before you begin taking the herbal medication. When using commercial preparations, follow the directions on the label.

Some herbs should not be taken before surgery because they slow blood clotting. Stop taking anticoagulant herbs notably garlic, ginkgo, ginseng and white willow at least two weeks before surgery.

Herbs for Wellness

Some herbs are beneficial to almost everyone when taken regularly. They include the following:
Garlic for Cholesterol Control and Cancer Prevention. Researchers at Penn State University gave men with high cholesterol either garlic or a placebo. The herb lowered their total cholesterol by 7 percent, which reduced their risk of heart attack by 14 percent. The majority of garlic studies show that garlic reduces cholesterol and helps prevent heart disease.

Garlic also helps prevent several types of cancer. In the Iowa Womens Health Study, researchers followed 41,387 middle-aged women for five years. Those who ate the most garlic had the lowest risk of colon cancer. In general, fruit and vegetable consumption helps prevent cancer, but in this study, of all the plant foods analyzed, garlic yielded the greatest preventive benefit. Other studies show that garlic also helps prevent prostate, esophageal, stomach and bladder cancer.

Dosage: Most studies have used approximately the equivalent of one clove a day. Garlic works best when its raw or only slightly cooked. Garlic supplements are another option (deodorized brands are available); they have similar cholesterol-lowering effects. Follow label directions.

Cautions: Garlic impairs blood clotting. If you notice increased bruising, stop taking it and consult a doctor. Stop taking medicinal doses of garlic two weeks before any planned surgery.

Ginkgo for Mental Sharpness. Ginkgo increases blood circulation through the brain, and it is best known for its potential to slow the progression of Alzheimers disease. Ginkgo also enhances memory in healthy adults of all ages, according to several studies. In one, the greatest memory enhancement occurred in those taking 120 milligrams once a day.

Dosage: Ginkgo leaves contain only trace amounts of the medicinal compounds. Use commercial preparations, which concentrate these compounds. Look for standardized extracts that contain 24 percent flavonoid glycosides. Take 120 milligrams daily.

Cautions: Ginkgo has an anticoagulant effect, so stop taking it at least two weeks before any surgery or if you notice bruising. Otherwise, side effects are rare, though upset stomach, headache and allergic reactions are possible.

Tea for Heart Health and Cancer Prevention. For centuries, tea was just considered a mildly stimulating beverage, but no longer. Both black and green tea are high in antioxidants, which help prevent both heart disease and cancer. A five-year Dutch study of 3,454 older adults showed that compared with nondrinkers, those who drank two cups of tea each day had a 46 percent less risk of heart attack.

Drinking tea also reduces cholesterol and improves survival odds after a heart attack. University of California at Los Angeles researchers surveyed 1,100 Asian women, half of whom had breast cancer. They found that those who were cancer-free drank the most tea. Japanese researchers have discovered that as breast cancer survivors tea consumption increases, their risk of recurrence decreases. Tea also appears to protect against cancers of the colon, rectum, pancreas and esophagus.

Note: Both green tea and black tea come from the leaves of the same plant. Drying the leaves produces green tea. Fermenting them yields black tea. Both green and black tea help prevent heart disease and cancer, but for reasons that remain unclear, only green tea has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Dosage: One to four cups a day, or as much as you can tolerate. A cup of tea has approximately half the caffeine of a cup of instant coffee, and one-third the caffeine of a cup of brewed coffee.
Cautions: Tea contains caffeine that may cause insomnia and irritability.

Herbs To TreatCommon Complaints

Although herbal medicine is not the answer for every ailment, herbs can be used effectively to treat many health conditions, including those below.

Black Cohosh for Menopausal Discomforts. For 40 years, Europeans have used black cohosh to treat hot flashes. During the past decade, this herb has become popular in the United States.

Several studies have questioned its benefit, but a clear majority have shown that black cohosh is effective. Its also safe for women who cant take hormones, such as those with a history of breast cancer.

Dosage: Products vary, so follow the label directions.

Cautions: Side effects are rare, but may include stomach distress. Black cohosh should not be used by pregnant women.

Cranberry for Urinary Tract Infection. Cranberry juice and the dried berries and extract prevent bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall long enough to cause infection. Many studies confirm cranberrys value in preventing urinary tract infection. Canadian researchers gave 150 women one of three treatments: cranberry juice (three cups per day), cranberry tablets (three per day) or a placebo. A year later, the women who took cranberry had experienced significantly fewer infections than the placebo group. Cranberry juice and dried cranberries are available at supermarkets. Capsules containing cranberry extract are available at health food stores and most pharmacies.

Dosage: If you use cranberry juice cocktail, drink at least three cups a day. If you use dried cranberries, munch on a handful or two a day. For commercial cranberry extract, be sure to follow the label directions.

Cautions: None.

Echinacea for Colds. The root and sometimes the aboveground portions of this daisylike flower have been shown to bolster the immune system and help the body fight colds. Some studies have shown no treatment benefit, but most show that echinacea minimizes cold symptoms and speeds recovery. The most comprehensive investigation of echinaceas cold-fighting effectiveness was a University of Wisconsin analysis of nine studies. Eight showed significant treatment benefit milder symptoms and briefer colds.

Dosage: Take the dosage recommended on the product label. Typical directions are to take it several times a day at first, and then taper off as you begin to feel better. Echinacea is available in teas, capsules and tinctures.

Cautions: A mildly upset stomach is possible with the tincture. Echinacea is safe for most people, but because it stimulates the immune system, it is not recommended for those with auto- immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and several others), or for transplanted-organ recipients. It should also be avoided by those allergic to closely related plants, such as chamomile and ragweed.

Ginger for Motion Sickness and Morning Sickness. Australian researchers gave 120 pregnant women either a placebo or capsules containing 11/2 grams of ginger powder. From the first day of treatment, the ginger group experienced significantly less nausea. Several studies show that the herb also wards off motion sickness. Danish researchers tested it on 80 naval cadets in heavy seas. Compared with those who took a placebo, the ginger group experienced 72 percent less seasickness. To keep motion sickness at bay, take a capsule containing 1,000 milligrams of powdered ginger root about an hour before you embark, and every two hours during your journey.

Dosage: Start with 1,000 milligrams. If that doesnt provide sufficient relief, try 1,500 milligrams. You can also brew ginger tea using 2 teaspoons of fresh grated root per cup of boiling water, or drink ginger ale just check the label to make sure it contains real ginger and not artificial flavoring.

Cautions: Some people report heartburn after taking ginger capsules.

Horse Chestnut Seed Extract for Varicose Veins. Because of genetics, aging or long periods of standing, the walls of leg veins can weaken. Blood pools in the calves and fluid leaks into surrounding tissue, causing unsightly varicose veins. Horse chestnut seed contains a compound (aescin) that strengthens vein walls, which decreases this fluid leakage. Several studies show that its an effective treatment for varicose veins. German researchers gave 240 people with varicose veins either compression stockings or horse chestnut (50 milligrams of aescin twice a day). After 12 weeks, both groups experienced equal relief.

Dosage: Studies showing benefits have used 50 milligrams of aescin once or twice a day.
Cautions: Horse chestnuts from the tree are toxic: Ingestion has killed children. Commercial extracts are detoxified and safe.

Milk Thistle for Liver Disease. Mainstream medicine doesnt have any miracle drugs for liver disease (hepatitis, cirrhosis), but milk thistle seeds can help. They contain three compounds collectively known as silymarin that have a remarkable ability to protect and heal the liver.

Italian researchers have shown that milk thistle speeds recovery from hepatitis. Several studies have shown that the herb helps treat alcoholic cirrhosis. Milk thistle also helps prevent liver damage from powerful drugs. Most remarkably, this herb has been shown to treat Amanita mushroom poisoning better than mainstream medical treatments. Swiss researchers analyzed 452 cases of mushroom poisoning. Among those who received standard treatment, 18 percent died. But among those treated with silymarin, the death rate was only 10 percent.

Dosage: A typical recommended dosage is 140 milligrams of silymarin three times a day.
Cautions: Side effects are rare, but can include headache, stomach distress, nausea, hives, itching and joint pain.

St. Johns Wort for Depression. While some studies suggest otherwise, the vast majority show that St. Johns wort, in capsules or tablets, works as well as Prozac and Zoloft for relieving mild to moderate depression. Researchers in Montreal gave 87 depression sufferers either the herb (900 to 1,800 milligrams/day) or a standard dose of Zoloft (50 to 100 milligrams/day). After 12 weeks, both groups showed the same mood elevation based on standard psychological tests.

However, the herb caused fewer side effects. Furthermore, a German study shows that the herb is as effective as Prozac but with fewer side effects. Twenty-three percent of those in the Prozac group experienced significant side effects, but in the herb group, only 8 percent reported serious side effects.

Dosage: Follow label directions. Studies showing benefits have used 600 to 1,800 milligrams/day. Most studies have used 900 milligrams/day.

Cautions: St. Johns wort can cause an upset stomach, increases sensitivity to sunlight and reduces the effectiveness of birth control pills. It also interacts with many other drugs, possibly reducing their effectiveness. If you take medication regularly, its important to consult your physician or pharmacist before using St. Johns wort.

Valerian for Insomnia. Valerians centuries-old reputation as a sleep aid has been validated by many studies. It often works as well as a pharmaceutical sleeping aid. German researchers gave 202 chronic insomniacs either valerian or a pharmaceutical sedative. After six weeks, both treatments were equally effective. But unlike many sleeping pills, valerian is not addictive.
Dosage: Follow label directions.

Cautions: Raw valerian root smells and tastes terrible. Use a commercial preparation. Some include other safe tranquilizing herbs such as hops or lemon balm.

Vitex (chaste tree berry) for PMS. Ripe seeds from Vitex angus castus, also called chaste tree, help balance levels of estrogen and progesterone, which minimizes the mood swings, breast tenderness and bloating of premenstrual syndrome. Many studies have found that chaste tree is effective. When 1,634 German PMS sufferers took the herb for three months, 93 percent reported relief from mood upsets. In tests that recorded two other popular PMS treatments vitamin B6 and Prozac chaste tree worked almost as well as the popular antidepressant and better than the vitamin.

Dosage: Available in pills, capsules and tincture. Follow label directions.

Cautions: Some women report stomach distress, headache and increased menstrual flow. Should not be used by pregnant women.

San Francisco-based writer Michael Castleman is the author of 12 consumer medical guides, including The New Healing Herbs.

For more information about medicinal herbs, including free access to extensive reference information from the American Botanical Council, go to www.HerbsForHealth.com.

All articles in this Archive are reprinted just as they were originally published; the publication date is shown in the URL address at the top of the page. Source listings, addresses and prices have not been updated; some details may have changed and terminology may be outmoded.In some cases the scanning software used to create the digital articles has introduced typos into the text. In particular, the software often translated fractions incorrectly, i.e. "1/2" now reads as "112". We are working to correct these errors.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE -- Finding magnets attractive

2007-05-01T13:48:00.000+08:00

By DERRIK J. LANG - The Associated Press

Magnetic kneepads. Magnetic insoles. Magnetic hairbrushes. Magnetic bed sheets.

You may have seen these alternative pain-relieving products online, or heard your grandmother raving about such remedies. But do they work?

QUESTION: Can magnets cure ailments?
---
ANSWER: Research findings so far do not firmly support claims that magnets are effective for killing pain, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
However, that doesn't mean they're totally without use in medicine.

Magnets have been used in surgery to remotely direct instruments. And Robert Campbell, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at Northeastern University's Bouve College of Health Sciences in Boston, recently developed a way to deliver drugs to better attack malignant tumors using external magnets.

In the laboratory, Campbell found that using an external magnet helps chemotherapeutic drugs get to the tumor and stay there longer.

"The magnets that we're using are small, not bigger than a dime," he says.

Really? So does this mean you can grab one off your fridge and use it when you've got a boo boo?
Nope. The magnets Campbell has been using in his cancer research are about 100 times stronger than the household variety - or those found in magnetic kneepads, insoles, hairbrushes and bed sheets.

Herbal remedy shown to have anti-cancer effect

2007-04-26T14:29:00.000+08:00

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: April 2007

A widely used herbal supplement taken to aid digestion has been found to have powerful anti-cancer properties. Triphala, made from the dried and powdered fruit of three plants, is the most popular Ayurvedic remedy in India. It is used to stimulate the appetite, treat intestinal disorders and act as a laxative.

Indian scientists have claimed for years that Triphala has value as a detoxifying and anti-cancer agent. Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute say they have shown that it can prevent or slow the growth of pancreatic cancer tumours implanted in mice.

Millions of cancer patients turn to herbal supplements and vitamin pills in the hope that they can boost their immune systems and help fight the disease. Many take them out of disaffection with conventional medicine but doctors warn that exaggerated claims are being made for their effects.

The latest findings, presented to the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research in Los Angeles yesterday, suggest some herbal preparations may have genuine anti-cancer action.

Mice grafted with human pancreatic tumours were fed one to two milligrams of Triphala for five days a week. By the end of the study, their tumours were half the size of those in a control group of mice fed saline (salt solution) only.

Sanjay Srivastava, the assistant professor in pharmacology who led the study, said: "We discovered that Triphala fed orally to mice ... was an extremely effective inhibitor of the cancer process. Triphala triggered the cancerous cells to die off and significantly reduced the size of tumours without causing any side effects."

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death and is one of the most aggressive cancers.

The study found that the herbal remedy caused the pancreatic cells to die through the process known as apoptosis - the body's normal method of disposing of damaged or unwanted cells. Apoptosis is often disrupted in cancer cells with the result that they continue to replicate and grow, forming a tumour.

In a separate study published yesterday, researchers in the UK revealed that Chinese herbs can help women with breast cancer. A review of seven randomised trials involving 542 women with breast cancer found that the herbal preparations can successfully counteract the side effects of chemotherapy. The report from the Cochrane Library, which systematically reviews research findings, says 60 per cent of women experience side effects from chemotherapy, ranging from nausea and vomiting to inflammation of the gut lining and decreased numbers of red and white blood cells.

Interest in traditional Chinese medicine is growing in the West while it is declining in China. But doctors warn that many herbal remedies are untested in trials and can interact with conventional medicines in unexpected and sometimes dangerous ways.

Edzard Ernst, the professor complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, said therapies such as massage, aromatherapy, reflexology and relaxation could improve the quality of life of cancer patients and some, such as acupuncture for the nausea caused by chemotherapy, could combat its ill effects. But others, marketed as cures, were dangerous. "Several of these alleged cures are associated with significant risks, including ... contamination [and] interaction with prescribed drugs," he said.

An aid to digestion

In India, the capacity for the Ayurvedic remedy Triphala to care for the internal organs of the body is compared to a mother's care for her children. A popular folk saying is : "No mother? Don't worry so long as you have Triphala."

Triphala is a combination of equal parts of amalaki (Emblica officinalis), bibhitaki (Terminalia belerica), and haritaki (Terminalia chebula). It is taken with water and is said to combine nutritional and cleansing actions. It works as a gentle laxative and boosts red blood cells and removes fat from the body. It is also claimed to clear headaches, maintain normal blood sugar levels, and improve skin tone and colour.

Each of the three herbal fruits from which Triphala is made is said to take care of the body by "gently promoting internal cleansing of all conditions of stagnation and excess" while at the same time improving digestion and assimilation.

Several reports from Indian universities have suggested that Triphala can reduce tumour incidence and promote cancer cell death. Antioxidant studies conducted at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai revealed that all three constituents of Triphala are active.

SOYA could stop prostate cancer..

2007-04-21T14:52:00.000+08:00

According to an article in the Biology of Reproduction, US researchers believe that soy isoflavones could help to treat baldness and could help to prevent men from developing prostate cancer. These findings could explain why Japanese men, who eat a lot of soy, rarely have prostate cancer.

Eqoul blocks dihydrotestosterone

Dr Kenneth Setchell and his team at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found that equol, a molecule derived from soy isoflavones, can limit the action of the hormone dihydrotestosterone. Equol does not limit the production of dihydrotestosterone but it does stop dihydrotestosterone form functioning. Dihydrotestosterone is known to be a factor in the development of prostate cancer and male baldness. Equol reduces the harmful effects of dihydrotestosterone without influencing the beneficial effects of male hormones.

The study was carried out on rats which were injected with equol. They found that equol reduces the size of the prostate. When the testes of male rats were removed, there was no production of dihydrotestosterone. When the rats were injected with DHT their prostate grew. This shows a correlation between dihydrotestosterone and prostate size. When these rats were injected also with equol the prostate did not grow that much.

These findings are very important because blocking the action of dihydrotestosteron has been seen by the pharmaceutical industry as a strategy for treating prostate cancer.

This news could make tofu, soymilk, tempeh, miso soup and other soy products part of the male diet.

(Source BBC News 12 April 2004)

benefits of GOJI(wolfberry)

2007-04-20T16:46:00.000+08:00

Wolfberry is also another name for the western snowberry, Symphoricarpos occidentalis.

Wolfberry is the common name for the fruit of two very closely related species: Lycium barbarum (Chinese: 宁夏枸杞; pinyin: Níngxià gǒuqǐ) and L. chinense (Chinese: 枸杞; pinyin: gǒuqǐ), two species of boxthorn in the family Solanaceae (which also includes the potato, tomato, eggplant, deadly nightshade, chili pepper, and tobacco). Although its original habitat is obscure (probably southeastern Europe to southwest Asia), wolfberry species are now grown around the world, including in China.[1]
It is also known as Chinese Wolfberry, Red Medlar, Bocksdorn, Cambronera,[2] Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree,[3] or Matrimony Vine.[4] The name Tibetan goji berry is in common use in the health food market for berries from this plant.

The benefits of Goji Juice are many, feedback from Goji Juice drinkers has shown that it may help assist with;

-Dissipation of aching and discomfort in muscles and joints

-Improvement in vision

-Increased flexibility

-Improved quality of sleep

-Sharper memory and a more focused train of thought

-Heightend energy levels

-Quicker recovery from excercise and physical acitivity

Therefor, this kind of berry, like so many other berries, have undeniably health benefits if taken. But for patients with other complications, better see your doctor first.

Hydrotherapy

2007-04-15T10:05:00.000+08:00

Definition

Hydrotherapy, or water therapy, is the use of water (hot, cold, steam, or ice) to relieve discomfort and promote physical well-being.

Purpose

Hydrotherapy can soothe sore or inflamed muscles and joints, rehabilitate injured limbs, lower fevers, soothe headaches, promote relaxation, treat burns and frostbite, ease labor pains, and clear up skin problems. The temperature of water used affects the therapeutic properties of the treatment. Hot water is chosen for its relaxing properties. It is also thought to stimulate the immune system. Tepid water can also be used for stress reduction, and may be particularly relaxing in hot weather. Cold water is selected to reduce inflammation. Alternating hot and cold water can stimulate the circulatory system and improve the immune system. Adding herbs and essential oils to water can enhance its therapeutic value. Steam is frequently used as a carrier for essential oils that are inhaled to treat respiratory problems.

DescriptionOrigins

The therapeutic use of water has a long history. Ruins of an ancient bath were unearthed in Pakistan and date as far back as 4500 B.C. Bathhouses were an essential part of ancient Roman culture. The use of steam, baths, and aromatic massage to promote well being is documented since the first century. Roman physicians Galen and Celsus wrote of treating patients with warm and cold baths in order to prevent disease.

By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, bath-houses were extremely popular with the public throughout Europe. Public bathhouses made their first American appearance in the mid 1700s.

In the early nineteenth century, Sebastien Kneipp, a Bavarian priest and proponent of water healing, began treating his parishioners with cold water applications after he himself was cured of tuberculosis through the same methods. Kneipp wrote extensively on the subject, and opened a series of hydrotherapy clinics known as the Kneipp clinics, which are still in operation today.

Around the same time in Austria, Vincenz Priessnitz was treating patients with baths, packs, and showers of cold spring water. Priessnitz also opened a spa that treated over 1,500 patients in its first year of operation, and became a model for physicians and other specialists to learn the techniques of hydrotherapy.

Water can be used therapeutically in a number of ways. Common forms of hydrotherapy include:

-Whirlpools, jacuzzis, and hot tubs. These soaking tubs use jet streams to massage the body. They are frequently used by physical therapists to help injured patients regain muscle strength and to soothe joint and muscle pain. Some midwives and obstetricians also approve of the use of hot tubs to soothe the pain of labor.

-Pools and Hubbard tanks. Physical therapists and rehabilitation specialists may prescribe underwater pool exercises as a low-impact method of rebuilding muscle strength in injured patients. The buoyancy experienced during pool immersion also helps ease pain in conditions such as arthritis.

-Baths. Tepid baths are prescribed to reduce a fever. Baths are also one of the oldest forms of relaxation therapy. Aromatherapists often recommend adding essential oils of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) to a warm to hot bath to promote relaxation and stress reduction.

-Adding Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) or Dead Sea salts to a bath can also promote relaxation and soothe rheumatism and arthritis.

-Showers. Showers are often prescribed to stimulate the circulation. Water jets from a shower head are also used to massage sore muscles.

-Moist compresses. Cold, moist compresses can reduce swelling and inflammation of an injury. They can also be used to cool a fever and treat a headache. Hot or warm compresses are useful for soothing muscle aches and treating abscesses.

-Steam treatments and saunas. Steam rooms and saunas are recommended to open the skin pores and cleanse the body of toxins. Steam inhalation is prescribed to treat respiratory infections. Adding botanicals to the steam bath can increase its therapeutic value.

-Internal hydrotherapy. Colonic irrigation is an enema that is designed to cleanse the entire bowel. Proponents of the therapy say it can cure a number of digestive problems. Douching, another form of internal hydrotherapy, directs a stream of water into the vagina for cleansing purposes. The water may or may not contain medications or other substances. Douches can be self-administered with kits available at most drug stores.

Preparations

Because of the expense of the equipment and the expertise required to administer effective treatment, hydrotherapy with pools, whirlpools, Hubbard tanks, and saunas is best taken in a professional healthcare facility, and/or under the supervision of a healthcare professional. However, baths, steam inhalation treatments, and compresses can be easily administered at home.

Bath preparations

Warm to hot bath water should be used for relaxation purposes, and a tepid bath is recommended for reducing fevers. Herbs can greatly enhance the therapeutic value of the bath for a variety of illnesses and minor discomforts.

Herbs for the bath can be added to the bath in two ways—as essential oils or whole herbs and flowers. Whole herbs and flowers can be placed in a muslin or cheesecloth bag that is tied at the top to make an herbal bath bag. The herbal bath bag is then soaked in the warm tub, and can remain there throughout the bath. When using essential oils, add five to 10 drops of oil to a full tub. Oils can be combined to enhance their therapeutic value. Marjoram (Origanum marjorana) is good for relieving sore muscles; juniper (Juniperus communis) is recommended as a detoxifying agent for the treatment of arthritis; lavender, ylang ylang (Conanga odorata), and chamomile (Chamaemelum nobilis) are recommended for stress relief; cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), clary sage (Savlia sclaria), and myrtle (Myrtus communis) can promote healing of hemorrhoids; and spike lavender and juniper (Juniperus communis) are recommended for rheumatism.

To prepare salts for the bath, add one or two handfuls of epsom salts or Dead Sea salts to boiling water until they are dissolved, and then add them to the tub.

A sitz bath, or hip bath, can also be taken at home to treat hemorrhoids and promote healing of an episiotomy. There is special apparatus available for taking a seated sitz bath, but it can also be taken in a regular tub partially filled with warm water.

Steam inhalation

Steam inhalation treatments can be easily administered with a bowl of steaming water and a large towel. For colds and other conditions with nasal congestion, aromatherapists recommend adding five drops of an essential oil that has decongestant properties, such as peppermint (Mentha piperita) and eucalyptus blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus). Oils that act as expectorants, such as myrtle (Myrtus communis) or rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), can also be used. After the oil is added, the individual should lean over the bowl of water and place the towel over head to trap the steam. After approximately three minutes of inhaling the steam, with eyes closed, the towel can be removed.

Other herbs and essential oils that can be beneficial in steam inhalation include:

-tea tree oil (Melaleuca alternaifolia) for bronchitis and sinus infections

-sandalwood (Santalum album), virginian cedarwood (Juniperus virginiana), and frankincense (Boswellia carteri) for sore throat

-lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) for cough

Compresses

A cold compress is prepared by soaking a cloth or cotton pad in cold water and then applying it to the area of injury or distress. When the cloth reaches room temperature, it should be resoaked and reapplied. Applying gentle pressure to the compress with the hand may be useful. Cold compresses are generally used to reduce swelling, minimize bruising, and to treat headaches and sprains.

Warm or hot compresses are used to treat abscesses and muscle aches. A warm compress is prepared in the same manner as a cold compress, except steaming water is used to wet the cloth instead of cold water. Warm compresses should be refreshed and reapplied after they cool to room temperature.

Essential oils may be added to moist compresses to increase the therapeutic value of the treatment. Peppermint, a cooling oil, is especially effective when added to cold compresses. To add oils to compresses, place five drops of the oil into the bowl of water the compress is to be soaked in. Never apply essential oils directly to a cloth, as they may irritate the skin in undiluted form.

Precautions

Individuals with paralysis, frostbite, or other conditions that impair the nerve endings and cause reduced sensation should only take hydrotherapy treatments under the guidance of a trained hydrotherapist, physical therapist, or other appropriate healthcare professional. Because these individuals cannot accurately sense temperature changes in the water, they run the risk of being seriously burned without proper supervision. Diabetics and people with hypertension should also consult their healthcare professional before using hot tubs or other heat hydrotherapies.

Natural Coconut Oil for AIDS and Other Viral Infections

2007-04-05T19:48:00.000+08:00

On July 19, 1995, Enig was quoted in an article published in The HINDU, India's National Newspaper as stating that coconut oil is converted by the body into "Monolaurin" a fatty acid with anti-viral properties that might be useful in the treatment of AIDS. The staff reporter for The HINDU wrote about Enig's presentation at a press conference in Kochi and wrote the following:

"There was an instance in the US in which an infant tested HIV positive had become HIV negative. That it was fed with an infant formula with a high coconut oil content gains significance in this context and at present an effort was on to find out how the 'viral load' of an HIV infected baby came down when fed a diet that helped in the generation of Monolaurin in the body."

The reporter commented on Enig's observations that "Monolaurin helped in inactivating other viruses such as measles, herpes, vesicular stomatitis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and that research undertaken so far on coconut oil also indicated that it offered a certain measure of protection against cancer-inducing substances. "

In another article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept., 1995, Dr. Enig stated:
"Recognition of the antimicrobial activity of the monoglyceride of lauric acid (Monolaurin) has been reported since 1966. The seminal work can be credited to Jon Kabara. This early research was directed at the virucidal effects because of possible problems related to food preservation.

Some of the early work by Hierholzer and Kabara (1982) that showed virucidal effects of Monolaurin on enveloped RNA and DNA viruses was done in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control of the US Public Health Service with selected prototypes or recognized strains of enveloped viruses. The envelope of these viruses is a lipid membrane."

Enig stated in her article that Monolaurin, of which the precursor is lauric acid, disrupted the lipid membranes of envelope viruses and also inactivated bacteria, yeast and fungi. She wrote: "Of the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has greater anti-viral activity than either caprylic acid (C-10) or myristic acid (C-14). The action attributed to Monolaurin is that of solubilizing the lipids ...in the envelope of the virus causing the disintegration of the virus envelope." In India, coconut oil is fed to calves to treat Cryptosporidium as reported by Lark Lands Ph.D. in her upcoming book "Positively Well".

While HHV-6A was not mentioned by Enig, HHV-6A is an enveloped virus and would be expected to disintegrate in the presence of lauric acid and/or Monolaurin. Some of the pathogens reported by Enig to be inactivated by Monolaurin include HIV, measles, vercular stomatitis virus (VSV), herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), visna, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Influenza virus, Pneumonovirus, Syncytial virus and Rubeola. Some bacteria inactivated by Monolaurin include listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Groups A, B, F and G streptococci, Gram-positive organisms; and gram-negative organisms, if treated with chelator.

Enig reported that only one infant formula "Impact" contains lauric acid while the more widely promoted formulas like "Ensure" do not contain lauric acid and often contain some hydrogenated fats (transfatty acids). A modified ester of lauric acid, Monolaurin (available in capsules), is sold in health food stores and is manufactured by Ecological Formulas, Concord, CA.

Effects of Coconut Oil on Serum Cholesterol Levels and HDLs

2007-04-04T11:11:00.000+08:00

The following article is taken from Report 14, Keep Hope Alive.

Dr. Mary Enig MS (Nutritional Sciences), Ph.D. did original research that showed a positive link between vegetable oil and cancer and a negative correlation for animal fat. She originated comprehensive analysis of transfatty acid components of over 200 foods. transfatty acids are formed when vegetable oils are hydrogenated or heated to high temperatures.

With high temperatures, transfatty acids are fats that are twisted, which alter their natural "cis" shape. She studied how the transfatty acids from foods affected the liver's mixed function oxidase enzyme system that metabolizes drugs and environmental pollutants in the body.

An important finding of this latter study was that laboratory animals fed experimental diets containing transfatty acids have altered activity of this enzyme system. These results were partly responsible for the review of the "Health Aspects of Dietary transfatty Acids" held by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Life Sciences Research Office, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration.

Mary Enig has had 17 articles published in scientific journals since 1976. In 1986, she was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to the "State Advisory Council on Nutrition." She was contributing editor to "Clinical Nutrition" magazine and consulting editor for the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition." She has given over 50 seminars and lectures on since 1979 on foods and nutrition topics.

In an article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept., 1995, Dr. Enig stated that "Ancel Keys is largely responsible for starting the anti-saturated fat agenda in the United States." She quoted Keys as saying that "All fats raise serum cholesterol; saturated fats raise and polyunsaturated fats lower serum cholesterol; Hydrogenated fats are the problem; Animal fats are the problem." Enig stated: "As can be seen, his findings were inconsistent."
Enig also stated: "The problems for coconut oil started four decades ago when researchers fed animals hydrogenated coconut oil that was purposely altered to make it completely devoid of any essential fatty acids... The animals fed the hydrogenated coconut oil (as the only fat source) naturally became essential fatty acid deficient; their serum cholesterol increased.

Diets that cause an essential fatty acid deficiency always produce an increase in serum cholesterol levels as well as in increase in the atherosclerotic indices. The same effect has also been seen when other ...highly hydrogenated oils such as cottonseed, soybean or corn oils have been fed; so it is clearly a function of the hydrogenated products, either because the oil is essential fatty acid (EFA) deficient or because of transfatty acids."

What about studies where animals were fed unprocessed coconut oil? Enig wrote: "Hostmark et al (1980) compared the effects of diets containing 10% coconut oil and 10% sunflower oil on lipoprotein distribution in male Wistar rats.

Coconut oil feeding produced significantly lower levels (p=0.05) of pre-beta lipoproteins (VLDL) and significantly higher (p=<0.01) alpha-lipoproteins (HDL) relative to sunflower feeding." (Editor's note: HDLs are considered the good cholesterol as they prevent deposits of LDL cholesterol on artery walls.) She also cited a study by Awad (1981) on Wistar rats fed a diet of either 14% (natural) coconut oil or 14% safflower oil. She stated:"Total tissue cholesterol accumulation for animals on the safflower diet was six times greater than for animals fed the [unhydrogenated] coconut oil.

A conclusion that can be drawn from some of the animal research is that feeding hydrogenated coconut oil devoid of essential fatty acids (EFA) ...potentate the formation of atherosclerosis markers.

It is of note that animals fed regular coconut oil have less cholesterol deposited in their livers and other parts of their bodies." Enig also referred to epidemiological studies done by Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) on coconut eating societies who found that "available population studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease.." It is noteworthy that hydrogenated coconut oil was not consumed by these coconut eating societies; they only consumed natural coconut oil.

Kaunitz and Dayrit noted in 1989 that Mendis et al reported when Sri Lankan males were changed from their normal diet of natural coconut oil to corn oil, their LDL cholesterol declined 23.8% which is good news, but their HDL cholesterol declined 41.4% which is bad news.

This created a more unfavorable LDL/HDL ratio meaning that on the corn oil diet there would be more cholesterol depositing on the artery walls than on the coconut oil diet. In plain English, a diet using liquid corn oil will lead to cholesterol deposits faster than a diet using natural coconut oil. Natural coconut oil, by increasing the good HDL cholesterol, may help prevent atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Enig cited several other studies in her article that showed that natural coconut oil (not hydrogenated coconut oil) had health benefits markers indicating that coconut oil was more beneficial in preventing heart disease than most vegetable oils.

Enig also cited the research of Tholstrup et al (1994) on natural (NOT hydrogenated) palm kernel oil which is high in lauric acid and also contains myristic acid. Tholstrup found that with palm kernel oil, "HDL cholesterol levels increased significantly from baseline values."

Enig reported in her article that the effects of coconut oil on persons with low cholesterol levels was the opposite of persons with high cholesterol levels. Of persons with low total cholesterol counts, she wrote that "there may be a rising of serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and especially HDL cholesterol." In persons with high cholesterol levels, "there is lowering of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol."

The studies she cited showed that in both groups the LDL/HDL ratio moved in a favorable direction.

In persons with AIDS or immune-compromised from other causes, the conclusions of this research are profound. It means everything the public has been told about vegetable oils on television for the past 15 years has been half truths and leading the public to the wrong conclusions. The public has been led to believe that tropicals will clog your arteries and cause heart disease.

In fact, the opposite is true; natural tropical oils will help prevent hardening of the arteries while most liquid vegetable oils will increase hardening of the arteries! In a phone call to Mary Enig in April, 1997, she told me that the worst oil to use for any purpose is Canola oil. When used in cooking, it produces the very high levels of transfatty acids.

Coconut Oil and Cancer

2007-04-02T19:50:00.000+08:00

Lim-Sylianco (1987) has reviewed 50 years of literature showing anticarcinogenic effects from dietary coconut oil. These animal studies show quite clearly the nonpromotional effect of feeding coconut oil.

In a study by Reddy et al (1984) straight coconut oil was more inhibitory than MCT oil to induction of colon tumors by azoxymethane. Chemically induced adenocarcinomas differed 10-fold between corn oil (32%) and coconut oil (3%) in the colon. Both olive oil and coconut oil developed the low levels (3%) of the adenocarcinomas in the colon, but in the small intestine animals fed coconut oil did not develop any tumors while 7% of animals fed olive oil did.

Studies by Cohen et al (1986) showed that the nonpromotional effects of coconut oil were also seen in chemically induced breast cancer. In this model, the slight elevation of serum cholesterol in the animals fed coconut oil was protective as the animals fed the more polyunsaturated oil had reduced serum cholesterol and more tumors. The authors noted that "...an overall inverse trend was observed between total serum lipids and tumor incidence for the 4 [high fat] groups."
This is an area that needs to be pursued.

Should coconut oil be used to prevent coronary heart disease?

2007-04-01T00:56:00.000+08:00

There is another aspect to the coronary heart disease picture. This is related to the initiation of the atheromas that are reported to be blocking arteries. Recent research is suggestive that there is a causative role for the herpes virus and cytomegalovirus in the initial formation of atherosclerotic plaques and the recloging of arteries after angioplasty. (New York Times 1991) What is so interesting is that the herpes virus and cytomegalovirus are both inhibited by the antimicrobial lipid monolaurin; but monolaurin is not formed in the body unless there is a source of lauric acid in the diet. Thus, ironically enough, one could consider the recommendations to avoid coconut and other lauric oils as contributing to the increased incidence of coronary heart disease.

Perhaps more important than any effect of coconut oil on serum cholesterol is the additional effect of coconut oil on the disease fighting capability of the animal or person consuming the coconut oil.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE STUDY SHOWS LAUGHTER HELPS BLOOD VESSELS FUNCTION BETTER

2007-03-31T22:36:00.000+08:00

Volunteers were shown funny and disturbing movies to test the effect of emotions on blood vessels

Using laughter-provoking movies to gauge the effect of emotions on cardiovascular health, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that laughter is linked to healthy function of blood vessels. Laughter appears to cause the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, to dilate or expand in order to increase blood flow.

When the same group of study volunteers was shown a movie that produced mental stress, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. That finding confirms previous studies, which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels.

The results of the study, conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center, were presented at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology on March 7, 2005, in Orlando, Florida.

The endothelium has a powerful effect on blood vessel tone and regulates blood flow, adjusts coagulation and blood thickening, and secretes chemicals and other substances in response to wounds, infections or irritation. It also plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease.

“The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so, given the results of our study, it is conceivable that laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” says principal investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “At the very least, laughter offsets the impact of mental stress, which is harmful to the endothelium.”

The study included a group of 20 non-smoking, healthy volunteers, equally divided between men and women, whose average age was 33. The participants had normal blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Each volunteer was shown part of two movies at the extreme ends of the emotional spectrum. They were randomized to first watch either a movie that would cause mental stress, such as the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan” (DreamWorks, 1998), or a segment of a movie that would cause laughter, such as “King Pin” (MGM, 1996). A minimum of 48 hours later, they were shown a movie intended to produce the opposite emotional extreme.

Prior to seeing a movie, the volunteers fasted overnight and were given a baseline blood vessel reactivity test to measure what is known as flow-mediated vasodilation. For that test, blood flow in the brachial artery in the arm was restricted by a blood pressure cuff and released. An ultrasound device then measured how well the blood vessel responded to the sudden increase in flow.

Volunteers watched a 15-minute segment of the movie while lying down in a temperature-controlled room. After the movie was shown, the brachial artery was constricted for five minutes and then released. Again, ultrasound images were acquired. Changes in blood vessel reactivity after the volunteers watched a movie lasted for at least 30 to 45 minutes. A total of 160 blood vessel measurements were performed before and after the laughter and mental stress phases of the study.

There were no differences in the baseline measurements of blood vessel dilation in either the mental stress or laughter phases. But there were striking contrasts after the movies were seen.

Brachial artery flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 volunteers following the movie clips that caused mental stress. In contrast, beneficial blood vessel relaxation or vasodilation was increased in 19 of the 20 volunteers after they watched the movie segments that generated laughter. Overall, average blood flow increased 22 percent during laughter, and decreased 35 percent during mental stress.

Several volunteers had already seen “Saving Private Ryan,” says Dr. Miller, but even so, some of them were among the 14 with reduced blood flow.

“The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium is similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise,” says Dr. Miller. “We don’t recommend that you laugh and not exercise, but we do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system.”

Dr. Miller says this study was not able to determine the source of laughter’s benefit. “Does it come from the movement of the diaphragm muscles as you chuckle or guffaw, or does it come from a chemical release triggered by laughter, such as endorphins?” he asks. Dr. Miller says a compound called nitric oxide is known to play a role in the dilation of the endothelium. “Perhaps mental stress leads to a breakdown in nitric oxide or inhibits a stimulus to produce nitric oxide that results in vasoconstriction,” says Dr. Miller.

The current study builds on earlier research Dr. Miller conducted on the potential benefits of laughter, reported in 2000, which suggested that laughter may be good for the heart. In that study, answers to questionnaires helped determine whether people were prone to laughter and ascertain their levels of hostility and anger. Three hundred volunteers participated in the study. Half of them had suffered a heart attack or had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery; the other half did not have heart disease. People with heart disease responded with less humor to everyday life situations than those with a normal cardiovascular system.

Dr. Miller says certain factors in the earlier study may have affected the results. For example, he says it may be that people who have already had a coronary event are not as laughter-prone as those who do not have heart disease.

He says the current study sought to eliminate that uncertainty by using volunteers whose cardiovascular system was healthy. The results of the brachial artery blood flow measurements, which are precise and objective, appear to make the connection between laughter and cardiovascular health even stronger, according to Dr. Miller.

Other researchers in the study included Charles Mangano, R.D.M.S; Young Park, M.D.; Radha Goel, M.D.; Gary Plotnick, M.D. and Robert A. Vogel, M.D., all from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and a Veterans Affairs Merit award to Dr. Miller.

Soy's Thyroid Dangers

2007-03-29T14:30:00.000+08:00

A Look at the Dangers of Soy to the Health of Your Thyroid

Health and nutrition magazines tout the benefits of soy as a cure-all for women's health, hormonal problems, cancer prevention, weight loss, and many other problems. The reality, however, is that promotion of soy may be more a matter of business and marketing, rather than recommendations based on sound scientific evidence.

Isoflavones, the key components of soy that make them so potent as a posible substitute for hormone replacement, mean that soy products, while touted as foods and nutritional products -- often are used and act as like a hormonal drug.

If you have a diagnosed or undiagnosed thyroid problem, or a history of autoimmune disease, overconsumption of soy isoflavones can potentially trigger a thyroid condition. Soy foods can worsen an existing diagnosed thyroid problem in many people.

In both cases the symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, and depression or moodiness are often overlooked and hard to diagnose.

A recent study found that as millions of Americans -- perhaps as many as more than 10 million -- have an undiagnosed thyroid condition. The vast majority of thyroid patients are women over 40. This is the same group that, responding to marketing claims that promote soy as helping to prevent breast cancer, reducing the risk of high cholesterol or heart disease, or as a treatment for symptoms of menopause, are turning to soy foods and isoflavone supplements in vast numbers.

Here is more information regarding soy and its relationship to the thyroid.

FDA's Soy Experts Speak Out Against Soy

"there is abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones found in soy, including genistein and equol, a metabolize of daidzen, demonstrate toxicity in estrogen sensitive tissues and in the thyroid. This is true for a number of species, including humans.

Additionally, isoflavones are inhibitors of the thyroid peroxidase which makes T3 and T4. Inhibition can be expected to generate thyroid abnormalities, including goiter and autoimmune thyroiditis. There exists a significant body of animal data that demonstrates goitrogenic and even carcinogenic effects of soy products. Moreover, there are significant reports of goitrogenic effects from soy consumption in human infants and adults."

Official Letter of Protest to the FDA Letter of protest from researchers Daniel Doerge and Daniel Sheehan, two of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) key experts on soy, to the FDA, protesting the health claims approved by the FDA on soy products

America's Foremost Alternative Doctor Warns Re: Soy

America's leading alternative doctor, Dr. Andrew Weil, has said about soy, at his Ask Dr. Weil website

"…you're unlikely to get too many isoflavones as a result of adding soy foods to your diet -- but you probably will take in too much if you take soy supplements in pill form. At this point, I can only recommend that you avoid soy supplements entirely."

Study Shows That Too Much Tofu Induces Brain Aging

From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

"A Hawaii study shows a significant statistical relationship between two or more servings of tofu a week and 'accelerated brain aging' and even an association with Alzheimer's disease, says Dr. Lon White. "...these are not nutrients. They are drugs. They will have some benefits and some negative things."

From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Black Tea Soothes Away Stress

2007-03-28T14:13:00.000+08:00

Science Daily — Daily cups of tea can help you recover more quickly from the stresses of everyday life, according to a new study by UCL (University College London) researchers. New scientific evidence shows that black tea has an effect on stress hormone levels in the body.

The study, published in the journal Psychopharmacology, found that people who drank tea were able to de-stress more quickly than those who drank a fake tea substitute. Furthermore, the study participants – who drank a black tea concoction four times a day for six weeks – were found to have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood after a stressful event, compared with a control group who drank the fake or placebo tea for the same period of time.

In the study, 75 young male regular tea drinkers were split into two groups and monitored for six weeks. They all gave up their normal tea, coffee and caffeinated beverages, then one group was given a fruit-flavoured caffeinated tea mixture made up of the constituents of an average cup of black tea. The other group – the control group – was given a caffeinated placebo identical in taste, but devoid of the active tea ingredients. All drinks were tea-coloured, but were designed to mask some of the normal sensory cues associated with tea drinking (such as smell, taste and familiarity of the brew), to eliminate confounding factors such as the ‘comforting’ effect of drinking a cup of tea.

Both groups were subjected to challenging tasks, while their cortisol, blood pressure, blood platelet and self-rated levels of stress were measured. In one task, volunteers were exposed to one of three stressful situations (threat of unemployment, a shop lifting accusation or an incident in a nursing home), where they had to prepare a verbal response and argue their case in front of a camera.

The tasks triggered substantial increases in blood pressure, heart rate and subjective stress ratings in both of the groups. In other words, similar stress levels were induced in both groups. However, 50 minutes after the task, cortisol levels had dropped by an average of 47 per cent in the tea drinking group compared with 27 per cent in the fake tea group.

UCL researchers also found that blood platelet activation – linked to blood clotting and the risk of heart attacks – was lower in the tea drinkers, and that this group reported a greater degree of relaxation in the recovery period after the task.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, says: “Drinking tea has traditionally been associated with stress relief, and many people believe that drinking tea helps them relax after facing the stresses of everyday life. However, scientific evidence for the relaxing properties of tea is quite limited. This is one of the first studies to assess tea in a double-blind placebo controlled design – that is, neither we nor the participants knew whether they were drinking real or fake tea. This means that any differences were due to the biological ingredients of tea, and not to the relaxing situations in which people might drink tea, whether they were familiar with the taste and liked it, and so on.

“We do not know what ingredients of tea were responsible for these effects on stress recovery and relaxation. Tea is chemically very complex, with many different ingredients. Ingredients such as catechins, polyphenols, flavonoids and amino acids have been found to have effects on neurotransmitters in the brain, but we cannot tell from this research which ones produced the differences.

“Nevertheless, our study suggests that drinking black tea may speed up our recovery from the daily stresses in life. Although it does not appear to reduce the actual levels of stress we experience, tea does seem to have a greater effect in bringing stress hormone levels back to normal. This has important health implications, because slow recovery following acute stress has been associated with a greater risk of chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University College London.

Protein discovery may help treat cancer

2007-03-27T21:00:00.000+08:00

Ottawa, March 21 (Xinhua) Canadian researchers have found a key protein to treat metastatic breast and ovarian cancers, making 'smart' therapies possible for these diseases.

A protein called podocalyxin, which hides on the surface of tumour cells, may be an accurate predictor of metastatic cancer, researchers from University of British Columbia (UBC) said.

Metastatic cancer is invasive cancer that spreads from the original site to other sites in the body.

'Since it lies on the surface of cells we can target the antibodies to, or find a way to prevent its action,' said Dr. Kelly McNagny, a stem cell expert with the UBC Biomedical Research Centre.

McNagny said the finding is a 'small but important step' to develop so-called 'smart' molecules in blocking the protein's function.

The researchers said information from this discovery might speed up the development of new therapies within 10 years.

'The ultimate goal is to generate new targeted, non-toxic treatments, different from the standard slash and burn chemotherapy,' said Calvin Roskelley, an associate professor of cellular and physiological science.

The Public Library of Science has published the findings online.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that approximately 2,300 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed and about 1,600 women died of the disease last year.

Traditional Chinese medical beliefs still relevant in Beijing

2007-03-25T20:30:00.000+08:00

Traditional Chinese medical beliefs continue to have an impact on oral health in Beijing, China, says Jacqueline Hom, a dental student at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (Boston, MA, USA), who reports her findings today during the 85th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research.

Over a two-month period, she gathered ethnographic data from 67 respondents, including patients, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) professionals, and dental practitioners. Each of the respondents used the concept of shang huo (rising heat) to describe oral health problems.

When patients had symptoms of shang huo, such as tooth pain, gingival swelling, and a sore throat, they sought 'purging fire´ herbal medicine from the pharmacy or visited the dentist.

TCM doctors regarded the concept of huo (fire) as excessive or deficient and described the consequences of patients taking inappropriate medication for huo. Chinese dentists often teach themselves TCM concepts and treatments to better serve patients with the chief complaint, "I am shang huo."

Various perspectives on shang huo illustrate how multiple medical traditions can interact within a single oral health culture. Understandings the existing oral health culture in Beijing, such as shang huo, can aid in the development of future oral health programs and assist oral health-care practitioners in serving their patients better.

Tea Reduces Bacteria In Meats

2007-03-21T19:53:00.000+08:00

Science Daily — Take a serving of extracts from green tea or Jasmine tea, mix in some wildflower dark honey and you have something more useful than a drink. It’s actually a scientific mixture that can be used to reduce pathogenic bacteria in meats.

“Our results indicated that Jasmine tea with honey and green tea with honey had the highest antimicrobial activity,” said Daniel Fung, the Kansas State University food science professor who supervised the research for the Food Safety Consortium.

The tests were first conducted in a liquid medium and found that the tea extract and honey treatments caused significant reductions of Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. “That’s not surprising,” Fung said. “In liquid medium, it’s easier for the compounds to interact with the organisms in liquid.”

Then Fung, working with KSU researchers Beth Ann Crozier-Dodson and Laura Munson, moved on to food, which can be a more difficult medium when seeking to cause the type of reaction among the compounds that will inhibit pathogens.

The results were good. Treating turkey breast slice with combinations of Jasmine tea extract and wildflower dark honey reduced Listeria monocytogenes by 10 to 20 percent. Similar reductions of the pathogen were recorded when applied to hot dogs.

One of the beneficial side effects of the treatment is shelf life. Fung noted that the experiments showed the hot dogs were still showing reduced levels of pathogens 14 days after the application.

With such favorable results from the tests, Fung is thinking ahead to future possible applications as a surface wash for meat during processing as well as way to improve the safety of ready-to eat meats and vegetables.

“We’re thinking of using tea to wash carcasses because of its natural compounds,” he said. “”If you can use tea or honey to wash carcasses instead of lactic acid, you can use a natural compound on the surface of meat.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium.

Tomato Nutrition Facts

2007-03-20T15:19:00.000+08:00

The tomato not only thrills the taste buds and brightens the dinner table, it also helps fight disease.

A review of 72 different studies showed consistently that the more tomatoes and tomato products people eat, the lower their risks of many different kinds of cancer. The secret may lie in lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes red, said Dr. Edward Giovannucci, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among the studies he reviewed, 57 showed that the more tomatoes one ate, the lower the risk of cancer. “The evidence for benefit was strongest for cancers of the prostate, lung, and stomach,” he reported.

Processed tomatoes (e.g. canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup) contain even more lycopene because cooking breaks down cell walls, releasing and concentrating carotenoids. Eating tomatoes with a small amount of fat enables lycopene to be better absorbed.

In one study, 10 healthy women ate a diet containing two ounces of tomato puree each day for three weeks, either preceded by or followed by a tomato-free diet for three weeks. The researchers measured blood levels of lycopene and evaluated oxidative damage to cells before and after each phase. They found that cell damage dropped by 33% to 42% after consuming the tomato diet.

The tomato is also an excellent source of vitamin C (one medium tomato provides 40% of the RDA) and a good source of vitamin A (20% of the RDA).

On the minus side, as a nightshade relative, tomatoes contain glycoalkaloids, which some people believe contribute to arthritis symptoms. Research, however, has not backed this up.

Benefits of aloe vera

2007-03-18T13:59:00.000+08:00

Aloe vera has been used around the world for thousands of years! Learn its many benefits, how it works, how it helps with healing and more!

Aloes have been used worldwide for more than 3,500 years. They are desert lilies and there are more than 200 varieties. Aloe vera is an aloe plant. Aloe vera, which means “true aloe” in Latin, is generally the most widely used and most effective species of aloe.

The aloe vera plant has long, spiked leaves, which are thick-skinned and contain a clear gel-like substance. It is used today in many products, including cosmetics, skin lotions and moisturizers, burn gels and even sun screen creams.

Juice is also taken from the aloe vera leaves. The bitter juice is often prepared as a flavored drink and is used to help with digestive problems.

Aloe vera contains numerous vitamins and minerals, enzymes, amino acids, natural sugars and agents which may be anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial. The combination and balance of the plant's ingredients are what purportedly gives it its healing properties.

-----------

Many ancient works, including the Bible, refer to the use of aloe. One of the first documented users of aloe vera was Cleopatra, who lived from 68 to 30 B.C. She is said to have used the gel on her skin as protection from the sun, and to have thought the gel helped to keep her skin young-looking. In fact, the Egyptians may have used aloe vera in their embalming of bodies, among other uses.

About the year Six B.C., Dioscorides, a Greek physician, discovered aloe vera was effective in treating a wide range of ailments, from kidney problems and constipation, to severe burns of the skin.

Today aloe vera continues to be widely used around the world. Studies have shown that aloe vera speeds the healing process, particularly in burns, including those from radiation. It is also used by dermatologists to speed healing after facial dermabrasion, which removes scars from the skins top layers.

-----------

The possible benefits from the use of aloe vera gel and juice include:

1. May help sooth skin injured by burns, irritations, cuts and insect bites.

2. May help moisturize and soften the skin.

3. May help speed the healing of skin wounds, burns and other injuries.

4. May help (when taken internally)with constipation, diarrhea and other intestinal problems.

5. May speed and improve general healing when taken internally.

6. May relieve itching and swelling of irritated skin.

7. May help kill fungus and bacteria.

8. May improve the effectiveness of sun screen products.

------------

Although not conclusive, studies have been done which indicate aloe vera may have some value in the treatment or prevention of some cancers and arthritis. Other trials have been conducted and preliminary evidence shows aloe vera may be useful in treating diabetes, immune system problems and psoriasis.

Aloe vera plants are readily available and some people keep a potted plant in the kitchen. A leaf spike may be cut open and the gel applied directly to a cut or burn. For other uses, particularly for internal use, commercial gels and juices, which are processed under strict controls, can be found at most health food stores as well as many supermarkets.

It is always recommended that one consult a physician before self-treating a medical condition.

-----------

this is.... aloe vera's wonders....!

CASTOR OIL: MODERN USES FOR AN OLD FOLK REMEDY

2007-03-17T23:27:00.000+08:00

My first encounter with the amazing healing powers of castor oil took place during a business trip to Amsterdam, Holland, nearly 20 years ago. As I got off the plane from Toronto, I felt a sharp pain in my lower back, radiating down into my leg. Whether it was triggered by the long hours of sitting crunched up in an uncomfortable airplane seat or by the heavy suitcase I was carrying, I'll never know. By the time I got to my hotel room, I was in agony, barely able to stand up straight. Even lying down on the bed was painful.

What was I to do? I didn't know anyone in the city, and I was scheduled to attend some important meetings the following day. The staff at the hotel reception desk couldn't tell me how to locate a chiropractor. I wasn't interested in going to a doctor for a prescription painkiller or muscle-relaxant. I remembered that "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Cayce had often suggested castor oil packs for various aches and pains, and I remembered having read of this remedy's effectiveness in cases of sciatica.

I managed to take a cab to a nearby drugstore, where I purchased a bottle of castor oil. No doubt the pharmacist thought that I was bent over because of constipation!

Back at the hotel, I soaked a towel in the oil and wrapped it around my lower back. In a proper castor oil pack, a cloth of wool or cotton flannel is folded in several layers, then saturated with warm castor oil, and placed on the affected area. But I had to make do with a hotel towel and room-temperature oil. I also didn't have access to a heating pad or hot water bottle to add the prescribed warmth to the pack. The idea is that heat allows the oil to penetrate the skin and work its way deep into the tissues. I figured that the heat generated by my body would have to do. Finally, I cut open some plastic bags and spread them on the bed before lying down, to avoid getting oil on the sheets.

Tired from the overnight flight, and exhausted from the pain, I drifted off into a deep sleep. When I woke up a few hours later, I was drowsy with jet-lag, but the pain was gone! It had completely disappeared, and I was able to sit, stand, and walk normally. An impressive result for a clumsy first attempt with makeshift tools!

Since that time, I have witnessed the powerful healing force contained in castor oil on numerous occasions. My family and I have successfully used castor oil packs and rubs for various kinds of abdominal complaints, headaches, inflammatory conditions, muscle pains, skin eruptions and lesions. Castor oil is a staple item in our medicine cabinet at home, and whenever we travel, we pack a small bottle of castor oil.

The Palma Christi

Castor oil is extracted from the seed of the castor oil plant, whose botanical name is ricinus communis. While it was Cayce who brought castor oil packs to fame in the 20th century, the oil has a long and varied history of use as a healing agent in folk medicine around the world. According to a research report in a recent issue of the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, castor bean seeds, believed to be 4,000 years old, have been found in Egyptian tombs, and historical records reveal the medicinal use of castor oil in Egypt (for eye irritations), India, China (for induction of childbirth and expulsion of the placenta), Persia (for epilepsy), Africa, Greece, Rome, Southern Europe, and the Americas. In ancient Rome, the castor oil plant was known as Palma Christi, which translates into hand of Christ. This name is still sometimes used today.

A book about the Vermont style of folk medicine by D.C. Jarvis published in 1958 lists numerous conditions which respond well to the topical application of castor oil, including irritation of the conjunctiva of the eye; to promote healing of the umbilicus in a newborn; and to increase milk flow in lactating women when applied to the breasts. As a nursing mom, I can attest to the effectiveness of castor oil applied to sore, irritated, or inflamed nipples. It works faster than any commercial salve, and I don't have to worry about washing it off before the next nursing. Any trace of the oil that my son may get in his mouth is definitely not going to harm him!

No one could claim more experience with the clinical application of castor oil than Dr. William A. McGarey, Chairman of the Board of the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. In the course of his medical career spanning over several decades, Dr. McGarey has published numerous articles and books covering treatments with various Cayce remedies. In his recently revised and updated book about castor oil, entitled The Oil That Heals, Dr. McGarey recounts being told a story in 1965 by a man who, some years earlier, had travelled to a Virginia mountain town to visit his sister. This man "had developed an intensely inflamed finger." writes Dr. McGarey. "A local physician advised him to go to a larger city to have a surgeon work on it. He was about to leave at once, for the finger was very painful, when his sister influenced him to show the finger to 'Aunt Minnie', who lived up the hills and who was a midwife. As soon as she saw it, she told him to wrap a flannel cloth soaked in castor oil around the finger and leave it there. He followed her advice and direction, and by morning most of the inflammation and all of the soreness were gone. By the morning of the second day, all the swelling and inflammation had gone, and a grain of sand (acquired while he was bathing on the seashore one week earlier) was discovered under the edge of the fingernail. This came out with the castor oil bandage, and the finger was healed."

Dr. McGarey has successfully used the castor oil packs in a clinical setting for numerous conditions, including liver and gall bladder disturbances, abscesses, headaches, appendicitis, epilepsy, hemorrhoids, constipation, intestinal obstructions, hyperactivity in children, and to avert threatened abortions in pregnant women. In The Oil That Heals, Dr. McGarey says that Edgar Cayce described at least thirty different physiological functions that could be changed for the better through the use of castor oil applied topically, mostly by the use of the packs.

Help for Women's Problems

In The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health through Drugless Therapy, the late Dr. Harold J. Reilly, who worked with the information provided in the Cayce readings for forty-five years, recalls the case of a woman who had been suffering from excessive bleeding of the uterus for thirteen years. By the time she came to see Dr. Reilly, her problem was threatening to disrupt her career as an opera singer, as well as her ability to function normally in her personal life as a wife and mother. Four leading gynecologists whom she had consulted had all recommended some kind of surgery, from a simple D&C to a total hysterectomy. Dr. Reilly put her on a regimen that began with colonic irrigations and castor oil packs four nights on, three nights off. The woman later reported that "after the first two nights of the castor oil packs ... the spotting stopped, and this was remarkable, because it was just after my menstrual period, and usually that went on and on. By the end of the week, I sang in a concert and felt fine."

In her popular book Take Charge of Your Body, Canadian physician Dr. Carolyn DeMarco recommends the application of castor oil packs at night for the relief of pain and swelling associated with varicose veins. And in a 1994 article in Health Naturally magazine, Dr. DeMarco writes about the recommendation of American gynecologist Dr. Christine Northrup to apply castor oil packs to the lumpy, painful breasts of women who suffer from cystic breast disease.

Susun Weed, author of the book Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, says that in traditional midwifery, castor oil is used internally and externally to stimulate the uterus, soften the cervix, and help initiate labour. She suggests rubbing castor oil on the belly and covering with a warm towel if the cervix is ripe and labour seems near. Some midwives rub castor oil on the feet to help labour along.

How Castor Oil Works on the Body

A country doctor whom Dr. McGarey quotes in The Oil That Heals, once said: "Castor oil will leave the body in better condition than it found it." But the physiological workings of castor oil's interaction with the body remain somewhat elusive. Dr. McGarey says: "We still have no explanation why ..... a pack using this oil will help restore normalcy to a hyperactive child, or speed up the healing of hepatitis, or help to get rid of gallstones, or even help heal abrasions and infections. Perhaps [the explanation] is to be found in the nature of the human body and the secret capabilities of the substances God gave us here on the earth for our use and benefit."

Dr. McGarey is very humble in his statement, for he does present a plausible hypothesis relating to Edgar Cayce's suggestion that castor oil packs can strengthen the Peyer's Patches, which are tiny patches of lymphatic tissue in the mucosal surface of the small intestine. According to Cayce, the Peyer's Patches produce a substance which facilitates electrical contact between the autonomous and the cerebrospinal nervous system when it reaches those areas via the bloodstream. Dr. McGarey thus understands Cayce to say that the health of the entire nervous system is, to an extent, maintained through the substance produced by the Peyer's Patches when they are in good health. Although the Peyer's Patches were discovered in 1677, it is only recently that medical science has begun to recognize them as constituents of the body's immune system.

Current research appears to confirm Dr. McGarey's theory. A double-blind study, described by Harvey Grady in a report entitled Immunomodulation through Castor Oil Packs published in a recent issue of the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, examined lymphocyte values of 36 healthy subjects before and after topical castor oil application. This study identified castor oil as an anti-toxin, and as having impact on the lymphatic system, enhancing immunological function. The study found that castor oil pack therapy of a minimal two-hour duration produced an increase in the number of T-11 cells within a 24-hour period following treatment, with a concomitant increase in the number of total lymphocytes. This T-11 cell increase represents a general boost in the body's specific defense status, since lymphocytes actively defend the health of the body by forming antibodies against pathogens and their toxins. T-cells identify and kill viruses, fungi, bacteria, and cancer cells.

Castor oil packs are a simple home therapy which often produces astounding results. When we consider the Cayce statement quoted in Dr. McGarey's book, "There's as much of God in a teaspoonful of castor oil as there is in a prayer!", we may begin to appreciate the powerful healing potential of the "Palma Christi".

Castor Oil Pack Instructions

(excerpted from The Oil That Heals by William A. McGarey, M.D.)

Prepare a flannel cloth which is two or three thicknesses when folded and which measures about eight inches in width and ten to twelve inches in length after it is folded. This is the size needed for abdominal application - other areas may need a different size pack, as seems applicable. Pour castor oil into a pan and soak the cloth in the oil. Wring out the cloth so that it is wet but not drippy with the castor oil (or simply pour castor oil onto the pack so it is soaked). Apply the cloth to the area which needs treatment. Most often, the pack should be placed so it covers the area of the liver.

Protection against soiling bed clothing can be made by putting a sheet underneath the body. Then a plastic covering should be applied over the soaked flannel cloth. On top of the plastic, place a heating pad and turn it up to "medium" to begin, then to "high" if the body tolerates it. It helps to wrap a large towel around the body to hold the pack snugly in place, using large safety pins on the towel. The pack should remain in place between an hour to an hour and a half.

The skin can be cleansed afterwards, if desired, by using water which is prepared as follows: to a squart of water, add two teaspoons of baking soda. Use this to cleanse the abdomen. Keep the flannel pack wrapped in plastic for future use. It need not be discarded after one application, but can usually be used many times.

Note: Always use a high-quality, cold-pressed castor oil, available in health food stores.
copyright simone gabbay 1999
REFERENCES:

THE OIL THAT HEALS - A Physician's Success with Castor Oil Treatments
by William A. McGarey, M.D.A.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

EDGAR CAYCE AND THE PALMA CHRISTI
Dr. McGarey's first volume on castor oil,now superseded by The Oil That Heals

IMMUNOMODULATION THROUGH CASTOR OIL PACKS
by Harvey GradyThe Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, Volume 7, Number 1

THE EDGAR CAYCE HANDBOOKFOR HEALTH THROUGH DRUGLESS THERAPY
by Dr. Harold J. Reilly and Ruth Hagy BrodA.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR BODY -Women's Health Advisor
by Dr. Carolyn DeMarcoThe Well Women PressWinlaw, BC

WISE WOMAN HERBAL FOR THE CHILDBEARING YEAR
by Susun S. WeedAsh Tree PublishingWoodstock, New York, USA

Virgin Coconut Oil and Viruses

2007-03-14T18:12:00.000+08:00

The antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties of the medium chain fatty acids/triglycerides (MCTs) found in coconut oil have been known to researchers since the 1960s. Research has shown that microorganisms that are inactivated include bacteria, yeast, fungi, and enveloped viruses. Much of this research is highlighted in the writings of Dr. Mary Enig Ph.D.

There is growing consensus that man-made antibiotics produced by pharmaceutical companies are over-used today, creating a whole new host of problems for modern societies. Michael Murray N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno N.D. write...

There is little argument that, when used appropriately, antibiotics save lives. However, there is also little argument that antibiotics are seriously overused. While the appropriate use of antibiotics makes good medical sense, using them for such conditions as acne, recurrent bladder infections, chronic ear infections, chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, and nonbacterial sore throats does not. The antibiotics rarely provide benefit, and these conditions can be effectively treated with natural measures. The widespread use and abuse of antibiotics is becoming increasingly alarming, not only because of the chronic candidiasis epidemic, but also due to the development of "superbugs" that are resistant to currently available antibiotics. According to many experts, such as the World Health Organization, we are coming dangerously close to arriving at a "postnatibitoic era," in which many infectious diseases will once again become almost impossible to treat.

To read more about fungal infections like Candida, and how coconut oil can help, click here.

Even if you are not taking antibiotics from your doctor, there is a good chance that you are getting plenty of pharmaceuticals through the foods you eat. There are just as many (if not more) antibiotics sold and given to animals for meat production in the US, as there are for human medicine. You say you're vegetarian? Pesticides used on crops today can also cause mutations in micro-organisms similar to antibiotics. Pharmaceutical companies today produce many of the seeds used in agriculture, and they have pesticides manufactured right into them via genetic modification. Ronnie Cummins of the Campaign for Food Safety states:

When gene engineers splice a foreign gene into a plant or microbe, they often link it to another gene, called an antibiotic resistance marker gene (ARM), that helps determine if the first gene was successfully spliced into the host organism. Some researchers warn that these ARM genes might unexpectedly recombine with disease-causing bacteria or microbes in the environment or in the guts of animals or people who eat GE food, contributing to the growing public health danger of antibiotic resistance -- of infections that cannot be cured with traditional antibiotics, for example new strains of salmonella, e-coli, campylobacter, and enterococci. EU (European Union) authorities are currently considering a ban on all GE foods containing antibiotic resistant marker genes.....Gene-splicing will inevitably result in unanticipated outcomes and dangerous surprises that damage plants and the environment. Researchers conducting experiments at Michigan State University several years ago found that genetically-altering plants to resist viruses can cause the viruses to mutate into new, more virulent forms. Scientists in Oregon found that a genetically engineered soil microorganism, Klebsiella planticola, completely killed essential soil nutrients. Environmental Protection Agency whistle blowers issued similar warnings in 1997 protesting government approval of a GE soil bacteria called Rhizobium melitoli.

Instead of relying on man-made pharmaceuticals for everything, many are now turning to natural methods to boost the body's immune system and resist harmful viruses and micro-organisms naturally. Coconut oil is truly one of nature's best "germ fighters."

Lauric Acid

Lauric acid is the most predominant MCT found in coconut oil. Regarding lauric acid, Mary Enig Ph.D writes:

Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid-coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria, including listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid.

Lauric acid is also prominent in the saturated fat of human breast milk, giving vital immune building properties to a child's first stage of life. Outside of human breast milk, nature's most abundant source of lauric acid is coconut oil.

From 1999 - 2000 a study was done at San Lazaro hospital in Manila by Conrado S. Dayrit, MD, and the affect of coconut oil and monolaurin on the viral load of HIV patients. It was found that lauric acid did bring down the viral load of HIV patients. You can read more about this study here. Dr. Dayrit is now conducting similar studies on the SARS virus, since the coconut oil consuming Philippines population was relatively unaffected by the recent SARS outbreak in China and other countries.

References

1. Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D. Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine (Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA 1998) p.301

2. Ronnie Cummins, "Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops: Why We Need A Global Moratorium " Motion Magazine, August 29, 1999

3. Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. “Health and Nutritional Benefits from Coconut Oil: An Important Functional Food for the 21st Century” Presented at the AVOC Lauric Oils Symposium, Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, 25 April 1996

Tai Chi and Stress

2007-03-13T13:23:00.000+08:00

Stress is competing demands, overabundant choices, too much to do in too little time. Stress is modern living, the American way, Life in Silicon Valley. Chronic stress is bad because it makes the body focus on short-term emergencies, at the expense of long-term regeneration. Chronic stress undermines the body's ability to fix itself. Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky received a MaCarthur Award for his research on stress, and codified much of the work in Why Zebras Don't get Ulcers (© 1994, W.H.Freeman and Company), a primer on stress and its consequences. Sapolsky contrasts the appropriateness of the stress response in the case of a lion chasing a zebra across the savanna with stress in the face of "modern" stressors:

"If you are that zebra running for your life, or that lion sprinting for your meal, your body's physiological response mechanisms are superbly adapted for dealing with such short-term physical emergencies. When we sit around and worry about stressful things, we turn on the same physiological responses--and they are potentially a disaster when provoked chronically for psychological or other reasons. A large body of convergent evidence suggests that stress-related disease emerges, predominantly, out of the fact that we so often activate a physiological system that has evolved for responding to acute physical emergencies, but we turn it on for months on end, worrying about mortgages, relationships, and promotions."

The stress response is designed to get you out of immediate danger: Your body mobilizes energy and delivers it where it's needed most. Glucose and amino acids are released from storage in your fat cells, your liver, your muscles. Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rates go up. Blood supply is shunted from the organs (except for the heart and lungs) to the skeletal muscles. Pain is suppressed, and the mind achieves a peculiar clarity. Digestion shuts down, regenerative processes are put on hold, reproductive urges and capabilities dwindle, and, for some as yet unexplained reason, the body starts actively dismantling the immune system. Sapolsky goes on:

"During an emergency, it makes sense that your body halts long-term, expensive building projects. If there is a tornado bearing down on the house, this isn't the day to repaint the kitchen. Hold off until you've weathered the disaster. Thus, during stress, digestion is inhibited--there isn't enough time to derive the energetic benefits of the slow process of digestion, so why waste energy on it? You have better things to do than digest breakfast when you are trying to avoid being someone's lunch. Similarly, growth is inhibited during stress, and the logic is just as clear. You're sprinting for your life: grow antlers or extend your long bones some other day."

That the stress response itself can become harmful makes a certain amount of sense when you examine the things that occur in reaction to stress. They are generally shortsighted, inefficient, and penny-wise, and dollar-foolish, but they are the sorts of costly things your body has to do to respond effectively in an emergency. If you experience every day as an emergency, you will pay the price.

If you constantly mobilize energy at the cost of energy storage, you will never store any surplus energy. You will fatigue more rapidly, and your risk of developing a form of diabetes will even increase. The consequences of chronically over-activating your cardiovascular system are similarly damaging: if your blood pressure rises to 180/140 when you are sprinting away from a lion, you are being adaptive, but if it is 180/140 every time you see the mess in your teenager's bedroom, you could be heading for cardiovascular disease. If you constantly turn off long-term building projects, nothing is ever repaired."

If you constantly turn off long-term building projects, nothing is ever repaired. This is the bodily cost of chronic stress, life as we know it. We make it hard for our bodies to fix themselves. Anything we can do to dissipate stress is time and energy well spent. Tai Chi is a great way to reduce stress. The mental focus of the mind leading the movement, thinking only of the movement, the slow, flowing shifts of balance, the regular, deep breathing, the harmonious turning of the limbs, the circular openings and closings of the Tai Chi form make it one of the best stress reducers in the human repertoire.

Science and Tai Chi

2007-03-13T13:20:00.000+08:00

Tai Chi cultivates health benefits beyond those studied by western medicine. Tai Chi conditions the sleaves between muscles and nerves, the films that separate and support the organs, the facia. The acupuncture meridians of Chinese Medicine run through the facia. By conditioning these boundary layers between tissues, Tai Chi reduces chemical cross-linking, cellular rust. Move it or lose it, the Taoists say. The turning of the trunk flexes the spine, producing some of the same benefits as twists in Yoga (improved spinal flexibility, release of tension on the perispinal muscles, alleviating imbalances that can lead to back pain while improving blood flow to the discs). And like Yoga, Tai Chi conditions the psoas, that deep muscle of balance that underlies the lower abdominal organs and mediates the relationship of the spine to the pelvis and legs. Proper Tai Chi practice places certain demands on the body: The sinking of the weight, over time, tells the legs to add muscle and bone mass, while the turning of the body, in conjunction with deep abdominal breathing, "wrings out" the organs, flushing blood out as they're compressed and allowing it to flow back in when the movement compresses another part of the torso. This flexing and unflexing reduces pockets of stagnation in the various organ systems.

Physical strength peaks in the mid-twenties, declines modestly to age 50, and steeply thereafter. Studies show a loss of one-third of lower extremity strength by age 70. In advanced age, few people are able to stand on one leg for more than a few seconds. Premature decline need not be the case. Tai Chi exercises all the joints and major muscle groups in a slow, rhythmic, mindful way, priming the body for whatever demands the day may make. Leg strength increases with practice, which pays off every step you take, every time you stand in line, every time you climb a flight of stairs. Your joints stay loose and flexible, so everyday chores around the house and garden don't take as much out of you. When you practice Tai Chi in the morning, it's just easier to move for the rest of the day, and concentrate on what you have to do. You waste less energy and attention on body static, so you have the stamina to ride out crazy days and long hours at work and still have something left for your family, your mate, your art. Tai Chi is for anyone who wants to move with greater strength, grace, and ease as they get older.

In the U.S., studies have shown that even people in their 70's and 80's can learn a simplified series of Tai Chi forms, and benefit tremendously: Study subjects show a marked decrease in injurious falls, reductions in blood pressure, and improved measures of balance and confidence. If Tai Chi can do this for geriatric beginners, think of what it can do for someone who starts a few decades sooner, and stays with it.

Health Benefits of Tai Chi

2007-03-13T13:14:00.000+08:00

Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese system of slowly flowing movements and shifts of balance that strengthens the legs while conditioning the tendons and ligaments of the ankles, knees, and hips, increasing their range of motion and making them more resilient, less prone to injury. The constant weight shifts train balance and body awareness, leading to confident ease of movement within the form and in everyday life. Tai Chi is a physical exercise that focuses the mind, while conditioning the body. Practicing twenty minutes a day dissipates stress and reduces stress-related debilities, increases stamina, and strengthens the body and will.

Western Science recognizes the following benefits of practicing Tai Chi: increased oxygen uptake and utilization (more efficient breathing), reduced blood pressure, slower declines in cardiovascular power, increased bone density, increased strength and range of motion of joints, greater leg strength, knee strength, and flexibility, reduced levels of stress hormones during and after practice, improved immune function, and heightened mood states.

Energy(life force) Healing

2007-03-12T14:30:00.000+08:00

What is "life force?"

The "life force," often called "energy" in Western culture, is an entity that permeates and bonds all. It is sometimes referred to as the "vital force." In China, it is called Qi; in India it is called prana. It is believed the "life force" extends throughout the universe and that the individual is part of an indivisible whole. Most Eastern philosophies share this common theme of universal spirit and wholeness. Individuals who practice such alternative medical approaches as meditation, yoga or tai chi do so not only because it decreases stress and anxiety and promotes general well-being, but also because it helps them connect with the "life energy" within and around them. The belief is that because the "life force" permeates everything, an individual is unavoidably affected by external events and energies. Thus, treatment of the individual should consider the mind/body/spirit interaction as well as an overall connection to the universe.

What is energy healing?

Energy healing is based on the belief that our "life force" creates energy fields that are unbalanced during emotional or physical disease. Because our energy fields are part of an interconnected whole, the use of focused intention by one individual can aid in the health and well being of another. Many individuals use their own individual means of directing their intention to heal. Others practice according to schools such as Reiki. In the West, a common form of energy healing is Therapeutic Touch, which has been taught to thousands of nurses across the United States.

Healers operate in many different ways. For example, they visualize, send intentions for diseased cells to die, send intentions for cells to revert to their optimum state of health, or simply send loving energy. A common theme is the intention for the well-being of the client. Another is focusing on being a conduit for a loving, universal life force.

An interesting feature of energy healing is that it may be performed over distances of thousands of miles. The "life force" claimed to be transmitted by energy healers does not have the properties of any known form of energy. A comparable practice to energy healing that is used frequently in the West is prayer. A 1996 survey showed that 82 percent of Americans believed in the healing power of prayer. A survey of patients in American Cancer Society support groups for breast cancer found that 88 percent experienced beneficial effects of spiritual and religious practice.

Blending of paradigms

The idea that an energy can be transmitted from one person to affect the health of another, especially from a distance, does have some scientific merit. This idea is quite compatible with theories of quantum physics, in which there are no time/space barriers. In quantum physics, subatomic particles communicate instantaneously, and theoretically, particles can affect each other at far ends of the galaxies.

It has been about 80 years since Einstein introduced his theory of relativity and quantum mechanics was born. This represented a complete paradigm shift that still has not been incorporated into medicine. However, as the science provides more and more indications that there may be realities and energies that are beyond our current comprehension, the interest in performing scientific research to detect the effects of such energies is increasing.

Research into energy healing

In an effort to incorporate Western sciences' need for physical proof, studies have been performed on the impact of energy healing on living, isolated cells as opposed to human subjects. Many of the studies on isolated cells are inadequately controlled, are published as incomplete reports, or are published in non-reviewed journals. Thus, while existing evidence provides enough positive indications to warrant further investigation, there is a great need for more rigorous studies from experienced investigators.

Of 23 clinical trials involving energy healing that did meet a rigorous criteria requiring adequate design, control and review procedures, 57 percent have shown a beneficial effect. This caused authors reviewing the studies to conclude that the "evidence thus far merits further study."

Indeed there is growing interest and evidence for alternative health exploration based on a "life force," wholeness, and interconnections. The National Institutes of Health has established a Center that is devoted to research in the area of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The budget is growing rapidly and research into areas such as energy healing and prayer is being encouraged. Several large clinical trials, especially on the effects of prayer, are now underway in major academic institutions across the country. Through science, researchers eventually hope to better understand how energy healing practices may be incorporated into Western medical practices.

Coconut Oil.. An HIV/AIDS cure?

2007-03-12T14:15:00.000+08:00

Can coconut oil reduce the viral load of HIV-AIDS patients? "Initial trials have confirmed that coconut oil does have an anti-viral effect and can beneficially reduce the viral load of HIV patients", University of the Philippines' Emeritus professor of pharmocology Dr. Conrato S. Dayrit said.

A minimum of 50 ml of coconut oil would contain 20 to 25 grams of lauric acid, which indicates that the oil is metabolized in the body to release monolaurin which is an antibiotic and an anti-viral agent. Among the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has the maximum anti-viral activity, he said. Based on this research, the first clinical trial using monolaurin as monotherapy on some of the HIV patients was conducted recently. Dr. Dayrit's conclusions after the study:

"This initial trial confirmed the anecdotal reports that coconut oil does have an anti-viral effect and can beneficially reduce the viral load of HIV patients. The positive anti-viral action was seen not only with the monoglyceride of lauric acid but with coconut oil itself. This indicates that coconut oil is metabolized to monoglyceride forms of C-8, C-10, C- 12 to which it must owe its anti-pathogenic activity."

The entire results of Dr. Dayrit's study can be found here in PDF format.

On July 19, 1995, Dr. Mary Enig, noted biochemist and nutritionist, was quoted in an article published in The HINDU, India's National Newspaper as stating that coconut oil is converted by the body into "Monolaurin" a fatty acid with anti-viral properties that might be useful in the treatment of AIDS. The staff reporter for The HINDU wrote about Enig's presentation at a press conference in Kochi and wrote the following:

"There was an instance in the US in which an infant tested HIV positive had become HIV negative. That it was fed with an infant formula with a high coconut oil content gains significance in this context and at present an effort was on to find out how the 'viral load' of an HIV infected baby came down when fed a diet that helped in the generation of Monolaurin in the body."
The reporter commented on Enig's observations that "Monolaurin helped in inactivating other viruses such as measles, herpes, vesicular stomatitis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and that research undertaken so far on coconut oil also indicated that it offered a certain measure of protection against cancer-inducing substances."

The reporter commented on Enig's observations that "Monolaurin helped in inactivating other viruses such as measles, herpes, vesicular stomatitis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and that research undertaken so far on coconut oil also indicated that it offered a certain measure of protection against cancer-inducing substances."
Enig stated in an article published in the Indian Coconut Journal, Sept. 1995 that Monolaurin, of which the precursor is lauric acid, disrupted the lipid membranes of envelope viruses and also inactivated bacteria, yeast and fungi. She wrote: "Of the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid has greater anti-viral activity than either caprylic acid (C-10) or myristic acid (C-14). The action attributed to Monolaurin is that of solubilizing the lipids ..in the envelope of the virus causing the disintegration of the virus envelope."

Being HIV positive myself, and having things very under control, there are a couple of concerns I have and questions. The Virgin Coconut Oil? Absolutely amazing stuff! It has given me back the energy and feeling good that the antivirals can knock out of you. Bill from The Coconut Diet Forums in answer to someone else's request for information on coconut oil and AIDS.

Dr. Mary Enig has also written a book entitled "Nutrients and Foods in AIDS," and one of the chapters is published on her website here. (Frequently unavailable - if so try at a later date)

In a July 1997 newsletter entitled "Keep Hope Alive" an interview with Chris Dafoe was recorded. Chris Dafoe of Cloverdale, IN who, based on his lab numbers, thought the end was near in September, 1996. His HIV viral load was over 600,000, CD4 count was 10 and CD8 at 300. He prepaid his funeral and decided to take his last vacation in the jungles of South America with an Indian tribe in the Republic of Surinam. Around October 14, 1996, he began eating daily a dish of cooked coconut which was prepared by the local Indians. By Dec. 27th, 1996, a mere 2 and 1/2 months later, his viral load was at non-detectable levels and he had gained 32 lbs and was feeling great. He had some other people he knew with HIV try using coconuts in their diet, and they experienced the same results. The entire interview is recorded here.

A woman named Betty buys Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil uses it in her ministry to the sick. She shares the following story of her friend with HIV that wishes to remain anonymous:

My friend B... is an HIV patient. He was dying in the hospital for 3 years and his body was covered with acne. There was also one dollar size boil on his left hip. When I got my first order of Virgin Coconut Oil , I gave him a quart of the oil to try. The result was amazing! After my friend took it for less than 2 weeks, the acne disappeared. The big boil on his hip started to heal and at this time is completely gone. After more than a month on coconut oil, his skin is now baby silk. You would think he is a different person. His recent blood test showed great improvement. The helper cells ( T- cells) which were at level 60 are now at a higher level of 608 after about one and a half months of taking the oil consistently. He is taking the minimum amount of 3.5 tablespoons per day. The viral load is now down to 50. That was almost on the 100 level before he used the oil. My friend is not completely healed yet but he has come a long way from where he was before because of this amazing oil. I will keep on introducing this amazing oil to my friends!

Recently the PATA International-Potato and Products Aid Alliance To Africa committed to distribute Virgin Coconut Oil to Africa for distribution among HIV - AIDS sufferers. They state:

"AIDS is the modern day Black Plague. Millions have all ready died from this disease, leaving behind millions of orphans. Millions more will follow in death, unless a low cost way of controlling this illness is found quickly.

Several long term world studies sponsored by various health organizations have found that the high content of lauric acid in unrefined coconut oil can prolong the lives of AIDS patients by dissolving the covering of the virus itself. This same action has been found effective against other infectious, tropical based diseases as well."

If the results from the smaller studies duplicate themselves in the clinics in Africa, PATA intends to extend the distribution of Virgin Coconut oil in Africa.

Was diagnosed Hiv+ 6 months ago.I started using VCO (3 tablespoons, three times a day) 2 months ago.Viral load went down from 15,500 to 6,000. CD4 count went up from 615 to 705. I am obviously very excited about these results.
Nicola - South Africa, reported on The Coconut Diet Forums

Palm oil: a healthful and cost-effective dietary component.

2007-03-11T23:34:00.000+08:00

Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Palm oil is an excellent choice for food manufacturers because of its nutritional benefits and versatility. The oil is highly structured to contain predominantly oleic acid at the sn2-position in the major triacylglycerols to account for the beneficial effects described in numerous nutritional studies.

Oil quality and nutritional benefits have been assured for the variety of foods that can be manufactured from the oil directly or from blends with other oils while remaining trans-free. The oxidative stability coupled with the cost-effectiveness is unparalleled among cholesterol-free oils, and these values can be extended to blends of polyunsaturated oils to provide long shelf-life.

Presently the supply of genetic-modification-free palm oil is assured at economic prices, since the oil palm is a perennial crop with unparalleled productivity. Numerous studies have confirmed the nutritional value of palm oil as a result of the high monounsaturation at the crucial 2-position of the oil's triacylglycerols, making the oil as healthful as olive oil.

It is now recognized that the contribution of dietary fats to blood lipids and cholesterol modulation is a consequence of the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of the fats. Lipolytic hydrolysis of palm oil glycerides containing predominantly oleic acid at the 2 position and palmitic and stearic acids at the 1 and 3 positions allows for the ready absorption of the 2-monoacrylglycerols while the saturated free fatty acids remain poorly absorbed. Dietary palm oil in balanced diets generally reduced blood cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides while raising the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

Improved lipoprotein(a) and apo-A1 levels were also demonstrated from palm oil diets; an important benefits also comes from the lowering of blood triglycerides (or reduced fat storage) as compared with those from polyunsaturated fat diets. Virgin palm oil also provides carotenes apart from tocotrienols and tocopherols that have been shown to be powerful antioxidants and potential mediators of cellular functions.

These compounds can be antithrombotic, cause an increase of the prostacyclin/thromboxane ratio, reduce restenosis, and inhibit HMG-CoA-reductase (thus reducing) cholesterol biosynthesis). Red palm oil is a rich source of beta-carotene as well as of alpha-tocopherol and tocotrienols.

The Cholesterol Myths

2007-03-10T21:23:00.001+08:00

Uffe Ravnskov, MD,PhD

The idea that too much animal fat and high cholesterol are dangerous to your heart and vessels is nothing but a myth. Here are some astonishing and frightening facts.

If you think this is written by another internet crackpot, take a look at Dr. Ravnskov's credentials and the reviews of his book.

Read about New Cholesterol Guidelines for converting healthy people into patients

Or read Dr. Ravnskov´s thought-provoking paper "High cholesterol may protect against infections and atherosclerosis" It was published in Quarterly Journal of Medicine and has been the-most-read article in that journal for several months. You can even choose the popular-scientific version The Benefits Of High Cholesterol

Here are the facts! Click on the blue arrows if you want the scientific evidence!

1 Cholesterol is not a deadly poison, but a substance vital to the cells of all mammals. There are no such things as good or bad cholesterol, but mental stress, physical activity and change of body weight may influence the level of blood cholesterol. A high cholesterol is not dangerous by itself, but may reflect an unhealthy condition, or it may be totally innocent.

2 A high blood cholesterol is said to promote atherosclerosis and thus also coronary heart disease. But many studies have shown that people whose blood cholesterol is low become just as atherosclerotic as people whose cholesterol is high.

3 Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

3 Your body produces three to four times more cholesterol than you eat. The production of cholesterol increases when you eat little cholesterol and decreases when you eat much. This explains why the ”prudent” diet cannot lower cholesterol more than on average a few per cent.

4 There is no evidence that too much animal fat and cholesterol in the diet promotes atherosclerosis or heart attacks. For instance, more than twenty studies have shown that people who have had a heart attack haven't eaten more fat of any kind than other people, and degree of atherosclerosis at autopsy is unrelated with the diet.

5 The only effective way to lower cholesterol is with drugs, but neither heart mortality or total mortality have been improved with drugs the effect of which is cholesterol-lowering only. On the contrary, these drugs are dangerous to your health and may shorten your life.

6 The new cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, do prevent cardio-vascular disease, but this is due to other mechanisms than cholesterol-lowering. Unfortunately, they also stimulate cancer in rodents, disturb the functions of the muscles, the heart and the brain and pregnant women taking statins may give birth to children with malformations more severe than those seen after thalidomide.

7 Many of these facts have been presented in scientific journals and books for decades but are rarely told to the public by the proponents of the diet-heart idea.

8 The reason why laymen, doctors and most scientists have been misled is because opposing and disagreeing results are systematically ignored or misquoted in the scientific press.

9 The Benefits Of High Cholesterol

mind over matter (stops the pain?)

2007-03-10T12:16:00.000+08:00

Among the most marvelous, most frightening and certainly most unbelievable possibilities suggested by psychic folklore is that human beings may be able to exert an observable influence upon the physical world -- simply through the power of conscious intention; or unconscious intention, or; by some accounts, through the assistance of spiritual intelligences; or as a result of a mysterious principle known as synchronicity. Some scholars -- such as Stephen Braude, professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland -- take such reports very seriously, claiming that no honest person can examine the case study reports and easily dismiss them.

Professor Stephen Braude

I have spent more than five years carefully studying the non-experimental evidence of parapsychology -- in fact, just that portion of it which is most contemptuously and adamantly dismissed by those academics....I started with the expectation that the received wisdom would be supported, and that my belief in the relative worthlessness of the material would merely be better-informed. But the evidence bowled me over.

The more I learned about it, the weaker the traditional skeptical counter-hypotheses seemed, and the more clearly I realized to which extent skepticism may be fueled by ignorance. I was forced to confront the fact that I could find no decent reasons for doubting a great deal of strange testimony. It became clear to me that the primary source of my reluctance to embrace the evidence was my discomfort with it. I knew that I had to accept the evidence, or else admit that my avowed philosophical commitment to the truth was a sham.

I am hardly comfortable about announcing to my academic colleagues that I believe, for example, that accordians can float in mid-air playing melodies, or that hands may materialize, move objects, and then dissolve or disappear....But I have reached my recent conclusions only after satisfying myself that no reasonsable options remain.

Skeptics (as well as most psi researchers) adamantly insist that it is absurd to give any credence to such reports until they meet the highest scientific standards. (Ironically, why would anyone bother to expend the large amounts of time and money required for meticulous scientific testing of such claims unless they were to give some credence to the non-scientific accounts?)

An interesting insight into the psychological dynamics of such events is provided by the great Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung -- who developed the concept of synchronicity as an acausal explanatory principle. In 1909, Jung visited his mentor Sigmund Freud in Vienna, and at one point asked him his opinion of psychic phenomena. Although Freud later changed his mind on the subject, at that time he dismissed the likelihood that such events could occur. Jung narrates an uncanny incident that occurred in the course of this conversation.

While Freud was going on in this way, I had a curious sensation. It was as if my diaphragm was made of iron and becoming red-hot -- a glowing vault. And at that moment there was such a loud report in the bookcase, which stood right next to us, that we both started up in alarm, fearing the thing was going to topple over us. I said to Freud: "There, that is an example of a so-called catalytic exteriorisation phenomenon."
"Oh come," he explained. "That is sheer bosh."

"It is not," I replied. "You are mistaken, Herr Professor. And to prove my point I now predict that in a moment there will be another loud report!" Sure enough, no sooner had I said the words than the same detonation went off in the bookcase.

To this day I do not know what gave me this certainty. But I knew beyond a doubt that the report would come again. Freud only stared aghast at me. I do not know what was in his mind, or what his look meant. In any case, this incident aroused his mistrust of me, and I had the feeling that I had done something against him. I never afterwards discussed the incident with him.

The theme of mistrust characterizes the entire history of macro-psychokinetic claims. It is probably fair to state that no one, since Jesus Christ, has ever made such claims and been trusted (and there are many who distrust the supposed miracles of Christ). Furthermore, although mistrust may well blind us against considering vital possibilities, it is clearly warrantged by the simple fact that numerous cases of fraud have been exposed in this area.

Perhaps, at a deeper level, both the fraud and the mistrust which it justifiably produces are part of an underlying protective mechanism developed within the collective unconscious (to use a Jungian term) of humanity. For, given our present level of ethical development, what awesome horrors might be wreak upon ourselves if we were able to harness psychokinesis in a disciplined manner? There are reasons to think that, if psychokinesis is real, it is a Pandora's box that is best left unopened by humankind -- even if the price for this is our ignorance.

I personally feel comfortable with our lack of progress in this area. As a result of personal experiences that I shall recount, I accept the possibility of large-scale psychokinesis. I am also convinced that our planetary culture must demonstrate a willingness to solve the obvious problems of hunger, pollution, political inequality and war before we will be capable of responsibly wielding the full power of our own minds. The following examples provide some hints as to what that full power might possibly entail.

D. D. Home -- The Greatest Medium Who Ever Lived

D. D. Home

Perhaps the greatest ostensible physical medium who has ever lived was Daniel Dunglas Home. He was born in 1833 near Edinburgh, Scotland. However, at an early age he went to New England to live with his aunt who adopted him. At the age of seventeen he had a vision of the death of his mother, which was soon verified. After that time the household was frequently disturbed with loud raps and moving furniture. Declaring that he had introduced the devil to the household, his aunt threw him out. He began living with his friends and giving seances for them.

Among those who were convinced of his abilities in this early period were Judge John Edmunds of the New York State Supreme Court and Robert Hare, an ameritus professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Home never accepted any payments for his seances. He exhibited religious reverence for the powers and knowledge that manifested through him along with a scientific curiosity to seek rational explanations. He did, however, accept presents from his wealthy patrons. Napoleon III of France provided for his only sister. Czar Alexander of Russia sponsored his marriage. He conducted seances with the kings of Bavaria and Wurtemburg as well as William I of Germany and assorted nobility throughout Europe. Noted literati also consulted with him.

To Lord Bulwer Lytton's satisfaction, Home called up the spirit that influenced him to write his famous occult novel, Zanoni. He conducted a seance for the poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband Robert. Although his wife protested, Robert Browning insisted that Home was a fraud and wrote a long poem called "Mr. Sludge, the Medium," describing an exposure that never took place. In fact, throughout his long career, Home was never caught in any verifiable deceptions -- although there were some apparant close calls.

In 1868, Home conducted experiments with Cromwell Varley, chief engineer of the Atlantic Cable Company and afterwards before members of the London Dialectical Society, who held fifty seances with him at which thirty persons were present. Their report, published in 1871, attested to the observation of sounds and vibrations, the movements of heavy objects not touched by any person, and well-executed pieces of music coming from instruments not manipulated by any visible agency, as well as the appearance of hands and faces that did not belong to any tangible human being, but that nevertheless seemed alive and mobile. This report inspired Sir William Crookes to investigate Home for himself.

Crookes conducted two very ingenious experiments with Home in which he tested alterations in the weight of objects and the playing of tunes upon musical instruments under conditions rendering human contact with the keys impossible. For the first experiment, Crookes developed a simple apparatus measuring the changes in weight of a mahogany board.

One end of the board rested on a firm table, whilst the other end was supported by a spring balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand. The balance was fitted with a self-registering index, in such a manner that it would record the maximum weight indicated by the pointer. The apparatus was adjusted so that the mahogany board was horizontal, its foot resting flat on the support. In this position its weight was three pounds, as marked by the pointed of the balance.
Crookes and eight other observers including Sir WIlliam Huggins, a physicist and member of the Royal Society, observed Home lightly place his fingertips on the end of the board and watched the register desccend as low as nine pounds. Crookes noted that, since Home's fingers did not cross the fulcrum, any tactile pressure he might have exerted would have been in opposition to the force that caused the other end of the board to move down. This experiment was conducted many times. On some occasions, Home never even touched the board: he merely placed his hands three inches over it. In other experiments, Crookes used a recording device to make a permanent record of the fluctuations in the weight. This was done to confute the argument that he himself was a victim of hallucinations.
In order to test the stories about music being played on the instrument, Crookes designed a cage in which to place an accordion he purchased specifically for these experiments (see illustration). The cage would just slip under a table, allowing Home to grasp the instrument on the end opposite the keys, between the thumb and the middle finger. Again many witnesses were present:

Mr. Home, still holding the accordion in the usual manner in the cage, his feet being held by those next to him, and his other hand resting on the table, we heard distinct and separate notes sounded in succession, and then a simple air was played. As such a result could only have been produced by the various keys of the instrument being acted upon in harmonious succession, this was considered by those present to be a crucial experiment. But the sequel was still more striking, for Mr. Home then removed his hand altogether from the accordion, taking it quite out of the cage, and placed it in the hand of the person next to him. The instrument then continued to play, no person touching it and no hand being near it.
Crookes submitted his experimental papers to the Royal Society in order to encourage a large-scale investigation of the phenomena, which he felt were caused by a psychic force. However, the secretary of the society rejected his papers and refused to witness his experiments.
Crookes also testified to having seen many other phenomena with Home, including levitation of Home's body, levitation of objects, handling of hot coals, luminous lights, and apparitions.

Home himself bitterly resented any fraud or deception. In his book, Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, written in 1878, he took an aggressive stance against phony mediums or even those who were unwilling to cooperate with scientists. Unlike most mediums, Home was always willing to be tested under well-lit and closely supervised conditions.

Sir William Crookes' Researches

Sir William Crookes

Despite the rejection of his psychical research by the scientific establishment, Crookes asserted the validity of his work throughout his life. In 1913, he was elected president of the Royal Society, but unfortunately he had by then long since abandoned his experimental work with mediums and found it wise not to discuss his work often in public. The phenomena that Crookes reported have been beyond the experience of almost all researchers before or since his time. Often his experimental reports were inadequate by contemporary standards since he simply assumed that his own word was sufficient to establish general acceptance of a phenomenon. We cannot hastily conclude that Crookes was deluded or duped, for he was at the height of his intellectual creativity at the time he conducted this research. In the words of his friend, Sir Oliver Lodge, "It is almost as difficult to resist the testimony as it is to accept the things testified." His most amazing experiments were conducted with a medium named Florence Cook.

Florence Cook
Ostensible Katie King Materialization

Cook's ostensible ability to materialize the forms of various spirits had caused a stir among spiritualists. The most notable spirit to appear identified herself as Katie King, the daughter, in a former life, of the buccaneer Henry Morgan.

The phenomena of spirit materialization had actually attracted public attention a few years earlier through a Mrs. Samuel Guppy, the protegee of Alfred Russell Wallace, a prominent spiritualist who was also noted as one of the discoverers with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution. Mrs. Guppy introduced into her work the use of a tightly sealed cabinet in which she was placed in order to build up sufficient "power" for the construction of a spirit form which could then stand the scrutiny of the light outside the cabinet. The cabinet also provided, of course, an ideal opportunity for subterfuge on the part of the medium, which was undoubtedly taken advantage of on many occasions, for rarely were any medium and her spirit seen together at the same time.

Crookes attended seances with Florence Cook for a period of over three years and studied her intensively for several months in a laboratory in his own home. He also made numerous observations of Katie King and took more than forty photographs of her. On several occasions he had the opportunity of seeing both Florence and her spirit, Miss King, at the same time and even of photographing them together. Katie appeared quite solidly before the guests at the seance, sometimes staying and conversing with them for a s long as two hours. Crookes even reports having embraced and kissed her. At other times she seems to have vanished instantaneously and soundlessly. It is difficult to believe that an accomplice could have continued such an intimate masquerade, in Crookes own home, for several months without detection. He gives several reasons why he feels Florence Cook could not have committed fraud:

During the last six months, Miss Cook has been a frequent visitor at my house, remaining sometimes a week at a time. She brings nothing with her but a little handbag, not locked; during the day she is constantly in the presence of Mrs. Crookes, myself, or some other member of my family, and, not sleeping by herself, there is absolutely no opportunity for any preparation....I prepare and arrange my library myself as the dark cabinet, and usually, after Miss Cook has been dining and conversing with us, and scarcely out of our sight for a minute, she walks direct into the cabinet, and I, at her request, lock its second door, and keep possession of the key all through the seance.
Katie's height varies; in my house I have seen her six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night, with bare feet and not "tip-toeing," she was four and a half inches taller than Miss Cook. Katie's neck was bare last night; the skin was perfectly smooth to touch and sight, whilst on Miss Cook's neck is a large blister, which under similar circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the touch. Katie's complexion is very fair while that of Miss Cook is very dark. Katie's fingers are much longer than Miss Cook's, and her face is also larger.

Crookes also indicates that Miss Cook was willing to submit to any test he wished to impose. Ironically enough, on two occasions, in 1872 and in 1880, individuals claimed to have exposed Florence Cook fraudulently masquerading as her spirit.
It is not unreasonable to suggest any of several contradictory hypotheses: (1) that Crookes himself may have been deluded or enchanted by Florence Cook, (2) that while Crookes himself did observe genuine phenomena, Cook sometimes lost her abilities and resorted to fraud, (3) that the alleged exposures were not genuine, or (4) that Crooke's accounts were fraudulent. Psychical phenomena have always had an ironic and paradoxical nature, and Crookes' experimental methodology was certainly not sufficient to answer all of the questions one might like to ask.

It is so difficult to maintain that a man of Crookes' scientific caliber could have been taken in by cheap tricks, some of his critics have assumed that he himself was in on the fraud. They have claimed that Crookes had been involved in a romantic affair with Florence Cook, and that he testified to her phenomena in order to shield her reputation and hide his own emotional entanglement with her. However, even if it were so, other matters would remain quite unresolved. If Crookes was involved with Miss Cook, who was only fifteen years old at the time, this hypothesis cannot account for the phenomena he reported with both Home and Miss Fox. Nor does it begin to explain the research on the same phenomena reported by a number of other eminent scientists. Nevertheless, the accusation of experimenter fraud still continues to haunt psychical researchers, and will continue to do so as long as people are reinforced in their expectation of fraud by periodic publicly exposed episodes.

Marthe Beraud

Another extraordinary physical medium whose ectoplasmic materializations were observed and photographed by many investigators was Marthe Beraud. Nobel laureate physiologist Charles Richet described the production of a phantom, called Bien Boa, under experimental conditions that he felt negated the possibility of theatrical props or accomplices:

Ostensible Ectoplasmic Bien Boa Materialization

He seemed so much alive that, as we could hear his breathing, I took a flask of baryta water to see if his breath would show carbon dioxide. The experiment succeeded. I did not lose sight of the flask from the moment I put it into the hands of Bien Boa who seemed to float in the air on the left of the curtain at a height greater than Marthe could have been even if standing up...
A comical incident occurred at this point. When we saw the baryta show white (which incidentally shows that the light was good), we cried "Bravo." Bien Boa then vanished, but reappeared three times, opening and closing the curtain and bowing like an actor who receives applause.

However striking this was, another experiment seems to me even more evidential: Everything being arranged as usual....after a long wait I saw close to me, in front of the curtain which had not been moved, a white vapour, hardly sixteen inches distant. It was like a white veil or handkerchief on the floor; it rose up still more, enlarged, and grew into a human form, a short bearded man dressed in a turban and while mantle, who moved, limping slightly, from right to left before the curtain. On coming close to General Noel, he sank down abruptly to the floor with a clicking noise like a falling skeleton, flattening out in front of the curtain. Three or four minutes later...he reappeared rising in a straight line from the floor, born from the floor, so to say, and falling back on it with the same clicking noise.

The only un-metapsychic explanation possible seemed to be a trap-door opening and shutting: but there was no trap door, as I verified the next morning and as attested by the architect.

Several photographs were taken....The softness and vaporous outline of the hands are curious; likewise the veil surrounding the phantom has indeterminate outlines....A thick, black, artificial-looking beard covers the mouth and chin....Bien Boa would seem to be a bust only floating in space in front of Marthe, whose bodice can be seen. Low down, between the curtain and Marthe's black skirt, there seem to be two small whitish rod-like supports to the phantom form.

Paraffin Hands

The most impressive evidence for ectoplasmic materializations comes from the molds of "spirit hands" made in paraffin. Richet reports his careful studies:

[Gustav] Geley and I took the precaution of introducing, unknown to any other person, a small quantity of chelesterin in the bath of melted paraffin wax placed before the medium during the seance. This substance is insoluble in paraffin without discolouring it, but on adding sulphuric acid it takes a deep violet-red tint; so that we could be absolutely certain that any moulds obtained should be by the paraffin provided by ourselves....
During the seance the medium's hands were firmly held by Geley and myself on the right and on the left, so that he could not liberate either hand. A first mould was obtained of a child's hand, then a second of both hands, right and left; a third came of a child's foot. The creases in the skin and veins were visible on the plaster casts made from the moulds.

By reason of the narrowness of the wrist these moulds could not be obtained from living hands, for the whole hand would have to be withdrawn through the narrow opening at the wrist. Professional modellers secure their results by threads attached to the hand, which are pulled through the plaster. In the moulds here considered there was nothing of the sort; they were produced by a materialization followed by dematerialization, for this latter was necessary to disengage the hand from the paraffin "glove."

The plaster casts from these molds – including a cast of intertwining hands are still available for inspection at the Metapsychic Institute in Paris. A physiologist of the first order, Richet sums up his research on ectoplasmic materializations:
There is ample proof that experimental materialization (ectoplasmic) should take definite rank as a scientific fact. Assuredly we do not understand it. It is very absurd, if a truth can be absurd.
Spiritualists have blamed me for using this word "absurd"; and have not been able to understand that to admit the reality of these phenomena was to me an actual pain; but to ask a physiologist, a physicist, or a chemist to admit that a form that has circulation of the blood, warmth, and muscles, that exhales carbonic acid, has weight, speaks, and thinks, can issues from a human body is to ask of him an intellectual effort that is really painful.

Yes, it is absurd; but not matter – it is true.

Eusapia Palladino

Eusapia Palladino

One of the most extraordinary physical mediums in the history of psychical research was Eusapia Palladino, a rough peasant woman from Naples. She came to the attention of the learned world through seances held with the eminent Italian sociologist Cesare Lombroso. These seances continues to be held in Italy until 1894 when the French physiologist Charles Richet invited her to his private island to attend seances with Frederick Myers and Sir Oliver Lodge as well as J. Ochorowicz, a Polish researcher. It was Richet's belief he would be able to prevent Eusapia from using props or accomplices while she was on the island. The group witnessed most of the phenomena that had been previously reported: levitations, grasps, touches, lights, materializations, raps, curtains billowing, scents, and music. At all times the researchers were holding Eusapia's hands and feet.

The following excerpts are from the published account of one of these sessions:

Richet held both arms and one hand of E., while M. held both feet and her other arm. R. then felt a hand move her his head and rest on his mouth for some second, during which he spoke to us with his voice muffled. The round table now approached. R.'s head was stroked from behind....The round table continued to approach in violent jerks....A small cigar box fell on our table, and a sound was heard in the air as of something rattling....A covered wire of the electric battery came on to the table and wrapped itself around R.'s and E.'s heads, and was pulled till E. called out....The accordion which was on the round table got on the floor somehow, and began to play single notes. Bellier [Richet's secretary] counted 26 of them; and then ceased counting. While the accordion played, E.'s fingers made movements in the hands of both M. and L. in accord with the notes as if she was playing them with difficulty....Eusapia being well held, Myers heard a noise on the round table at his side, and turning to look saw a white object detach itself from the table and move slowly through the clear space between his own and Eusapia's head....Lodge now saw the object coming past Myer's head and settling on the table. It was the lamp-shade coming white side first....The "chalet" [music box] which was on the round table now began to play, and then visibly approached, being seen by both Myers and Lodge coming through the air, and settled on our table against Myers' chest....During the latter half of the sitting, Eusapia had taken one of Myers' fingers and drawn some scrawls with it outside Richet's flannel jacket, which was buttoned up to his neck. Myers said, "She is using me to write on you," and it was thought no more of. But after the seance, when undressing, Richet found on his white shirt front, underneath both flannel jacket and high white waistcoat, a clear blue scrawl: and he came at once to bedrooms to show it.
Myers, Lodge and Richet were convinced of the genuineness of the phenomena that they reported and soon arranged for Eusapia to repeat her performance before SPR members in Cambridge. Again a number of phenomena were noted. Protuberances observed coming out of Eusapia's body and the billowing of curtains were particularly hard to explain away. However, at Hodgson's insistence the Cambridge group relaxed their controls over Eusapia's hands and feet to see if she would cheat if given an opportunity. Under these conditions, Eusapia conducted several seances producing nothing but fraudulent phenomena, whereupon Hodgson insistged that none of her other phenomena could be trusted. Other investigators acknowledged that she would cheat if given a chance, but that nevertheless, under controlled conditions she did produce authentic phenomena.
The SPR maintained a firm policy of rebuffing the phenomena of any mediums who have ever been found guilty of systematic fraud. Members were urged to ignore any future reports of experiments with Eusapia.

Reports concerning Eusapia, however, continued to flow in. In 1897, the noted French astronomer Camilla Flammarion reported on a series of seances in which "spirit" impressions were made in wet putty. Flammarion gives us a description of the event:

I sit at the right hand of Eusapia, who rests her head upon my left shoulder, and whose right hand I am holding. M. de Fontanay is at her left, and has taken great care not to let go of the other hand. The tray of putty, weighing nine pounds, has been placed upon a chair, twenty inches behind the curtain, consequently behind Eusapia. She cannot touch it without turning around, and we have her entirely in our own power, our feet on hers. Now the chair upon which was the tray of putty has drawn aside the hangings, or portieres, and moved forward to a point above the head of the medium, who remained seated and held down by us; moved itself also over our heads, – the chair to rest upon the head of my neighbor Mme. Blech, and the tray to rest softly in the hands of M. Blech, who is sitting at the end of the table. At this moment Eusapia rises, declaring that she sees upon the table another table and a bust, and cries out, "E Fatto" ("It is done"). It was not at this time, surely, that she would have been able to place her face upon the cake, for it was at the other end of the table. Nor was it before this, for it would have been necessary to take the chair in one hand and the cake with the other, and she did not stir from her place. The explanation, as can be seen, is very difficult indeed.
Let us admit, however, that the fact is so extraordinary that a doubt remains in our mind, because the medium rose from her chair almost at the critical moment. And yet her face was immediately kissed by Mme. Blech, who perceived no odor of the putty.

Finally, in 1909, the SPR did publish a report of another series of seances with Eusapia conducted by a group of experimenters known for their exposure of other fraudulent mediums – the Hon. Everard Fielding, Hereward Carrington, and W. W. Baggally. They observed a number of levitations and materializations under good lighting conditions. These seances occurred in the middle room of a three-room hotel suite they had rented for the purpose in order to rule out the possibility of confederates. Their account is quite detailed and thorough, having been dictated minute by minute to a professional stenographer. They were favorably impressed with what they had observed. However, the following year Eusapia's abilities, whatever they were, seem to have faded and it was simply too late to conduct further research with her.

Psychic Photography

One interesting technique for measuring psychokinesis is thought-photography. Claims of spirit photographs, where extra faces appear on developed film, go back as far as the history of photography itself. Some have even claimed to photograph actual human thoughtforms. Photography of this sort almost inevitably provoked accusations of fraud that were difficult to disprove. In 1910, Dr. Tomokichi Fukurai, a professor of literature at the Imperial University of Tokyo, conducted a series of experiments in thoughtography. The publication of his findings aroused such hostility among Japanese scientists that he was forced to resign his position. He then continued his work at a Buddhist university associated with a temple of the esoteric Shingen sect of Buddhism on top of Mt. Koya. His works were translated into English in 1931 in a book titled Spirit and Mysterious World. Although it showed a carefully planned scientific investigation, even the psychical researchers of the time were not ready to deal with this type of data, embedded as it was in Buddhist philosophy.

It was not until the late 1950s that a claim for psychic photography was taken seriously by researchers. The special gift for creating these photographs was discovered in Ted Serios, a Chicago Bellhop who had little formal education. The phenomena began when Serios allowed a friend to hypnotize him just to pass away the time. Serios claimed to be able to describe the locations of buried treasure. The friend then suggested that he concentrate on making photographs of the locations when he pointed a camera at a blank wall and triggered the shutter. They did not find buried treasure, but to their amazement, actual images appeared on the Polaroid prints of things that were not visible in the room.

The phenomena came to the attention of members of the Illinois Society for Psychic Research who eventually persuaded a Denver psychiatrist, Dr. Jule Eisenbud, to observe one of Ted's demonstrations. After a long string of failures, Serios managed to produce a striking success for Eisenbud, who, although he had engaged in previous psychical exploration with the context of psychoanalysis, was unprepared for phenomena of this sort. After a sleepless night, he invited Serios to Denver for further study. Eisenbud spend two years conducting well-controlled studies with Serios. He was quite aware of the history of fraud and gullibility in research of this sort and claims that he took every precaution to guard against it. He book, The World of Ted Serios, published in 1966, contains the results obtained from his examinations.

Livery Stable
Thoughtograph

The way in which Ted's mind ostensibly shaped the pictures was sometimes quite remarkable. In one session, in front of several witnesses, Ted first tried to reproduce images of the medieval town of Rothenburg. Then the experimenters asked him to try to reproduce an image of the old Opera House in Central City, Colorado. Serios agreed, and then asked the experimenters if they would like a composite of both images. The results are extraordinary. The photograph shows a striking resemblence to the livery stable across from the old Opera House. However, instead of the brick masonry, the image shows a kind of embedded rock characteristic of the buildings in the medieval town.

The large photograph shown is an enlargement of a Polaroid "thoughtograph" of the Denver Hilton Hotel. Eisenbud held the camera, which as pointed at Serios' forehead. Ted, at the time, was trying to produce an image of the Chicago Hilton ("I missed, damn it.") Eisenbud claimed that this image could only have been made with a lens different from that of the Polaroid 100, from an angle well up in the air, between the tree tops. This suggests that the thoughtographs are associated with out-of-body or traveling clairvoyant states.

Eisenbud's book is noted for detailed observation, but even more remarkable is the penetrating study of this anomalous phenomena and the reaction to it of scientists and educators. To Eisenbud, the photographic manifestations seemed to follow a pattern pointing to the active operation of the animistic powers known to ancient people:

As to building blocks for a theoretical structure that might bridge the gulf on other fronts between the mental and physical,...I can't think of a better place to begin than right where Ted is (and hopefully where others like him will be). For in a study of images and imagery of this sort – and in phenomenon like dreams, hallucinations, and apparitions, which prove not less remarkable and even more familiar than Ted's image – we are confronted by various organized entities with one leg in the world of reality and one leg in that extraordinary world we ordinarily term appearance.
Adequate understanding of the Serios phenomena can only be obtained through detailed study of the experimental reports. During the following years, studies were also conducted by researchers at the Division of Parapsychology of the University of Virginia Medical School. These researchers failed to detect any signs of fraud in their cooperative subject, and they successfully obtained numerous striking photographs. While they were calling for further study of this puzzling phenomena, Serios' abilities began to fade and he has remained less active for the past thirty years. However, as of this writing, in November 2000, reports continue to come in of researchers who are obtaining some photographic evidence with Serios.
Skeptics claim that Ted Serios was definitely exposed by Charlie Reynolds and David Eisendrath, both amateur magicians and professional photographers. They presented their account in a Popular Photography piece (October 1967) based on one weekend with Serios and the psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud, whose book, The World of Ted Serios, had sparked their ire.

However, the November 1967 issue of Popular Photography published Eisenbud's response letter:

I hereby state that if, before any competent jury of scientific investigators, photographers and conjurers, any chosen by them can in any normal way or combination of ways duplicate, under similar conditions, the range of phenomena produced by Ted, I shall (1) abjure all further work with Ted, (2) buy up and publicly burn all available copies of The World of Ted Serios, (3) take a full-page ad in Popular Photography in order to be represented photographically wearing a dunce cap, and (4) spend my spare time for the rest of my life selling door-to-door subscriptions to this amazing magazine. No time limit is stipulated.
An article in Fate, August 1974, revealed that only one magician had responded to this delectable invitation. The Amazing James Randi couldn't resist the bait, but on learning of the conditions he backed out. According to Randi, one of the conditions was that he perform in a state of alcoholic intoxication, as Serios had typically done. As a non-drinker, Randi found this condition unacceptable.

Nina Kulagina

Nina Kulagina

Meanwhile, in the former Soviet Union, researchers claimed to have discovered a woman, Nina Kulagina, who could exert a psychokinetic influence upon static objects. In 1968, Western researchers attending a conference in Moscow were shown a film of her in action. This film, which has since been seen many times in the United States, shows Kulagina apparently moving small objects, without touching them, across a table top. The Russians claimed that this woman, also known as Nelya Mikhailova, had been studied by some forty scientists, including two Nobel laureates. They also reported that, like Serios, Madame Kulagina was able to cause images to appear on photographic film. The communist scientists, who were by no means inclined to take a spiritualistic world view, felt that they had encountered a new force in nature. Very thorough studies of the electrical fields around her body as well as the electrical potentials in her brain were conducted by Dr. Genady Sergeyev, a well-known physiologist working in a Leningrad military laboratory. Exceptionally strong voltages and other unusual effects were observed:

There is a large gradient between the electrical characteristics in the forward part of Mikhailova's brain versus the back part of the brain (fifty to one), whereas in the average person the gradient is four to one. The usual force field around Mikhailova's body is ten times weaker than the magnetic field of the earth.
During PK, her pulse rises to 240 per minute. There is activation of deeper levels of the occipital lobe and reticular formation. This enhances polarization in the brain between front and back, says Sergeyev. When the gradient between front and back of the brain reaches a certain level, and there is most intense activity in the occipital lobe, radiation of electrostatic and electromagnetic fields are detected by the force field detectors four yeard from the body....Heartbeat, brain waves, and force field fluctuations are in ratio. The fields around the PK medium are stronger further away than close to the head. Mikhailova appears to focus these force field waves in a specific area.

Detailed physiological studies of this sort with outstanding psychics are so rare they raise more questions than they answer. Kulagina has received a certain amount of adverse publicity. However, since 1968, several groups of western researchers have had opportunities to test her under differing circumstances. In most cases, their reports attest to the authenticity of her psychokinetic abilities.
Her mediumship has led to a strain on her health leading to a heart attack, and her doctors have suggested that she limit this type of activity. The former Soviets, however, are reported to have found others who have developed talents for psychokinesis, and are also researching ways to train this ability in normal individuals. The training begins with long hours practicing to move the needle of a compass.

Uri Geller

The most unusual psychokinetic effects currently being reported by scientists are associated with the Israeli psychic Uri Geller. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a physician known for his theoretical efforts to grasp the physics and physiology of psychic phenomena, as well as for his previously mentioned researches into psychic healing, in August of 1971, encountered Geller in Israel, where he arranged to conduct an extensive series of experiments with him. Eventually he brought Uri to the United States where his research continued and where he negotiated for further testing at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California. It was at a symposium I organized in Berkeley, sponsored by KPFA-FM at the University of California, that Andrija Puharich made the first public presentation of experimental research with Uri Geller.

Andrija Puharich, MD

Puharich carefully went over his investigations with Geller, indicating the conditions under which he had observed Geller bend and break metal objects, erase magnetic tape, make things disappear and reappear elsewhere, and cause the hands of a clock to change time. He also discussed how his sessions with Geller led him to believe that there was some other intelligent form of energy working through Geller, possibly from an extra-terrestrial or extra-dimensional source.

The following week, the controversy over Geller deepened as Time magazine published a story claiming that Geller was a fake. Physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ of Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) also presented a paper about their research with Geller at a physics colloquium at Columbia University.

The SRI scientists primarily emphasized the telepathic studies they had done with Geller. However, they did report on two significant psychokinetic experiments with Uri:

A precision laboratory balance was placed under a Bell jar. The balance had a one-gram mass placed on its pan before it was covered. A chart recorder then continuously monitored the weight applied to the pan of the balance. On several occasions Uri caused the balance to respond as those a force were applied to the pan. The displacement represented forces from 1.0 to 1.5 grams. These effects were 10 to 100 times larger than could be produced by striking the Bell jar or the table or jumping on the floor. In tests following the experimental run, attempts were made to replicate Geller's results using magnets and static electricity. Controlled runs of day-long operation were obtained. In no case did the researchers obtain artifacts which resembled the signals Geller had produced.
Subsequent to the presentation of the above report, the SRI researchers backed away from the Bell jar study claim, having been convinced that the result could have resulted from artifacts. The lesson of this incident is that time is indeed necessary to sift through and evaluate experimental claims in the area of psychokinesis. Simply because a claim is presented in a scientific format, one cannot assume that it will ultimately withstand the test of scrutiny.
On several occasions, a group of nearly eighteen scientists, organized by me and Dr. Joel Friedman of the philosophy department at the University of California, Davis, met with Geller and observed a wide variety of unusual phenomena in his presence. However, none of them occurred under conditions of sufficient control for us to feel confident about publishing the results.

One of our researchers, Saul-Paul Sirag (author of the material in the Appendix to this book), conducted an experiment with Geller in which Saul-Paul unexpectedly handed Geller a bean sprout and asked him to "make the movie run backwards." Uri closed his fist over the sprout and when he opened his hand some thirty seconds later there was no longer a sprout, but a whole solid mung bean. This effect, if verified by further replication, seems to indicate a psychokinetic influence involving time.

Another study the Berkeley research group conducted was a follow-up survey of the reactions of individuals who had witnessed Geller's performances. Many people reported experiencing unusual visual or telepathic phenomena and several reported that, after watching Geller's demonstrations, they also were able to produce various psychokinetic effects. On occasions when I have broadcast radio interviews with Uri, dozens of listeners have reported psychokinetic phenomena in their own homes.

Perhaps even more remarkable, thousands of individuals in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Japan have reported that they can also use PK to bend spoons after having only seen Geller on television. Ironically, the same social phenomena seems to occur when skeptics, masquerading as psychics make similar radio and television appearances.

In a letter published in the April 10, 1975, issue of Nature, J. B. Hasted, D. J. Bohm, E. W. Bastin, and B. O'Regan report on the apparent partial dematerialization of a single crystal of vanadium carbide, encapsulated in plastic. The authors claimed that "there is no known way of producing this effect within the closed capsule and no possibility of substitution." The letter stressed the need for scientists to remain open-minded toward such extraordinary phenomena and to pay attention to psychological variables that can affect experiments. The crystal disappearance was not regarded as conclusive evidence as the authors did not actually observe or measure the change as it occurred. Nevertheless, they claimed to have "significant work in progress."

At a conference on The Physics of Paranormal Phenomena held in Tarrytown, New York, it was estimated that psychokinetic metal-bending has ben witnessed in at least sixty different people.

Metallurgic analyses have been made of several objects bent or fractured by Geller. In many instances, the results were not different from those of similar objects broken by the scientistsx as controls. In some instances, fatigue fractures were observed, even though the metal was new (i.e., key blanks) and was bent without the application of known physical stress.

Perhaps the most interesting finding related to a platinum ring that spontaneously developed a fissure in Geller's presence – although he was not touching it. This ring was analyzed by physicist Wilbur Franklin with a scanning electron microscope. He claimed that adjacent areas of the ring indicated totally different conditions resembling (1) fracture at a very low temperature, such as with liquid nitrogen, (2) distortion as if by a mechanical shear, and (3) melting at a very high temperature. Although the ring was fractured at room temperatures, conditions (1) and (3) were observed at locations only one hundredth of an inch apart. Franklin pointed out there was no known method to duplicate such findings at room temperature – and that such findings were extremely difficult to fabricate even by known laboratory techniques.

Poltergeist Cases

An altogether different line of PK investigation has been poltergeist research. The word poltergeist is German and means a noisy and rattling spirit. Modern investigators, however, view the poltergeist as a spontaneous, unconscious, recurring psychokinetic phenomena centering around a person, usually an adolescent simmering with repressed feelings of anger. Unable to vent these feelings in a normal fashion, he manifests them through psychic means.

William G. Roll

William G. Roll, of the Psychical Research Foundation (affiliated with West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia), is one of the foremost American researchers of poltergeist phenomena. One typical case occurred in a Miami warehouse full of glasses, ashtrays, plates and novelties. The disturbance, which involved more than two hundred incidences, took place in January 1967. Police officers, insurance agents, a magicians and others were unable to explain it. Roll describes his approach:

Julio with a Dice Tossing Machine

It soon became clear that the incidents were concentrated around one employee, Julio, a nineteen-year-old shipping clerk. Certain areas of the large warehouse room where the disturbances took place were more frequently affected than others and these became the focus of the investigation. The investigators designed certain parts as target areas and placed objects in them hoping that the objects would be affected while Julio and the other employees were under observation.
In several cases this is precisely what did happen. Julio was brought to the Psychical Research Foundation (then located in Durham, North Carolina) for further testing which revealed his strong feelings of hostility, especially towards parental figures, which he could not express openly and from which he felt personally detached. PK tests with a dice throwing machine produced suggestive results with Julio. In addition there was a poltergeist disturbance of a vase in a hallway in the laboratory while Julio was standing with the researchers several feet away. Within recent decades there have been about thirty well-documented poltergeist cases.

Matthew Manning

Matthew Manning

Perhaps the most intriguing "poltergeist person" to be studied so far is Matthew Manning, who since 1966, at the age of eleven, has been the center of various psychokinetic outbreaks. Dr. A. R. G. Owen, former Cambridge mathematician and geneticist, who authored perhaps the most comprehensive book on poltergeists, claiming that Manning "is probably the most gifted psychic in the western world."

In addition to typical psychokinetic outbreaks, Matthew has shown an apparent ability to communicate with spirits via automatic writing and drawing. Although his schoolmaster claims that he has never shown any particular drawing talent, he is able to reproduce – without any apparent effort or concentration – detailed and precise works of art in the style of deceased masters such as Durer, Picasso, Beardsley, and Matisse. Automatic writing has been produced in languages with which Manning was unfamiliar. Often verified information, and even psychic diagnoses, come through in this way. Thus the phenomena contain the kinds of evidence we might really associate with spirit phenomena.

Particularly since the public demonstrations of Uri Geller, Manning has exhibited intentional psychokinetic effects amenable to scientific testing. When tested by Nobel laureate physicist Brian Josephson in Cavandish Laboratory at Cambridge University, Matthew demonstrated an unusual spinning effect over a compass needle. Ironically, when further instrumentation was used to record magnetic changes in the vicinity of the compass, the needle of the compass would only remain stationary. Nevertheless, the instruments did detect magnetic changes. Jusephson maintains that until further data is collected, his results will still have to be labeled "inconclusive."

In other tests, conducted at the New Horizons Research Foundation in Toronto, Manning was able to demonstrate metal-bending, on demand, which was actually recorded on motion picture film. Several tests were conducted that recorded physiological measures such as muscle tension and brain waves during psychokinetic activity.

No unusual muscular activity was noted. However, rather profound changes were seen in the electrical activity of the brain which have been described by Dr. Joel Whitton as a ramp function (actually a rather pictorial description of the chart printout). The ramp functions appeared similar to the EEG patterns in a patient suffering from an overdose of a hallucinatory drug and is suspected to stem from the older and deeper areas of the brain.

These findings led the Toronto scientists to speculate on neurophysiological psi interrelationships. Dr. Whitton conducted a small-scale investigation with a number of known psychics to determine if they had any common childhood experiences. The answer was quite fascinating – for the one experience that all of the psychics had suffered in common was a severe electric shock before the age of ten. Although Matthew Manning did not recall such an incident, his mother informed the scientists that she had been so severely shocked three weeks before Matthew was born she was afraid she would lose him.

This line of research seems to have implications for psychical research. Perhaps the increasing number of children who can now ostensibly demonstrate PK is associated with the greater number of electronic gadgets in modern homes – with the correspondingly increased probability of electric shocks. However, even if further inquiry in this direction proves revealing, it will still fail to account for another type of poltergeist case also documented by the Toronto group.

Philip the Ghost

One most exciting PK case of the poltergeist variety actually did not involve a real ghost, or an individual, but an imaginary spirit named Philip. This unusual situation developed in Toronto as a group of members of the local Society for Psychical Research decided to meet regularly in an effort to conjure an apparition they created. They invented the character of Philip, an aristocratic Englishman who died of a tragic remorse during the seventeenth century. Every week for an entire year the group met for meditation, concentrating on Philip's story, in an attempt to manifest an apparition.

There was no success, but in the summer of 1973 they learned about similar efforts made in England since 1964 by Batcheldor, Brookes-Smith, and Hunt. The British approach had been directed toward producing the physical phenomena of the old type seances of the Victorian era. Instead of quiet meditation, they created an atmosphere of jollity, together with singing songs, telling jokes, and exhortations to the table to obey the sitter's commands. Consequently, the Toronto group decided to take this approach.

Extraordinary things began to happen: The table began to produce raps that became louder and more obvious as time went on. Using one rap for yes and two for no, the table was actually able to answer questions and recreate the personality of Philip. Occasionally, however, the answers were out of character for Philip.

These raps occurred in a fair amount of light, with all the participants' hands in view on the table. The thickly carpeted floor generally prevented foot-tapping. At least four members, of the original group of eight, were necessary to produce this phenomenon. However, no single person was found to be essential. Eventually the table began to move around the room at great speed with no one touching it. On one occasion, the table completely flipped over.

These phenomena continued for some time and have been duplicated by other groups who have learned how to unlock their own hidden PK abilities. All efforts at investigation have so far been unable to detect fraud and a two-hour film has even been made documenting these occurrences.

This imaginary communicator, created by a group consciousness, seems to suggest that other alleged spirits, ghosts, entities, and perhaps even flying saucers also originate from within us.

On several occasions the Philip group has been able to produce psychokinetic phenomena for live television audiences in Toronto. Indications were, in fact, that the large audience aided in the production of more dramatic phenomena. Reports state that there were two other groups within the Toronto Society for Psychical Research also able to produce spirit-like psychokinetic phenomena.

One of these, the "Lillith group" has concocted a fictitious ghost story as the focus on their concentration. Like the Philip story, it has all the proper dramatic elements of romance and tragedy. Learning from he Philip group, the Lillith group was able to enter into the jovial atmosphere conducive to phenomena without spending time on meditations or visualizations. The phenomena they produced have been quite striking, including table levitations said to be more impressive than those caused by the original group. The Lillith group also attempted to produce voices on magnetic recording tape – with encouraging results.

During the annual Christmas party of the Toronto SPR, a large group of individuals were able to spontaneously develop psychokinetic table-rapping. Somebody asked the "spirit" if it were Santa Claus and from then on the responses continued as if it were old Saint Nick himself rapping. Since then a third Toronto group has developed psychokinetic table rapping, this time ostensibly coming from a Charles Dickens character, the "Artful Dodger."

Since the metal-bending demonstrations of Uri Geller and Matthew Manning in Toronto, the Philip group has also shown some success in this direction. In one instance, a metal medallion, which was particularly bent during the group session, continued to bend after the group departed until it completely crumpled.

Perhaps the most significant development in the Philip story is the qualitative acoustic measurement of psychokinetic table rapping. Normal raps on the table used in the Philip session produced a sound that typically lasted for about half a second. On the other hand, many of the raps produced by Philip were shown to last only 0.16 sec. This was true in spite of the similarities in loudness and frequency of the raps.

Further research along these lines may provide a clearer notion of how the sounds are produced. Although, it would seem likely that once a clear understanding of the phenomena is gained the quality of the raps themselves will change.

Ted Owens – The "PK Man"

Ted Owens

Earlier in the discussion of UFOs, I presented some material suggesting that Ted Owens, now deceased, had an ability to create various large-scale effects through telepathic communication with "space intelligences." Owens, himself, vacillated as to whether these effects were due to his own PK abilities or to the intervention of beings from another dimension.

Owens learned about psychokinesis in the late 1940s, when, as a Duke University student (after having served in the Navy during the war) he was a clerical assistant in the Parapsychology Laboratory under the direction of J. B. and Louisa Rhine. He claimed that he discovered that it was just as easy, in terms of mental effort, to produce large-scale psychokinetic effects as it was to produce small-scale events such as with Rhine's dice experiments (which will be discussed in Section III). Before he died, he expressed his hope that this "discovery" would, one day, be termed the "Owens Effect." Here are some examples:

Lightning Strikes

A letter from he Ted Owens files dated August 12, 1967, addressed "To Whom It May Concern" and signed by Charles Jay of Morton, Pennsylvania, reads:

Several weeks [ago] I took my friend, Kenneth Batch, over to Philadelphia to visit Ted Owens. It was a rainy day, and we had heard of Ted Owens' ability to make lightning strike...so we asked Ted Owens to give us a demonstration of his so-called power...by having...lightning strike in given areas we would designate.
The three of us went out onto a balcony outside of Ted Owens' apartment...and my friend and I asked Ted Owens to have lightning strike at or near the top of the City Hall. In the ensuing period of time there were three massive strokes of lightning in that exact direction. And those were the only three bolts that struck in the entire sky...just where Ted Owens had pointed his hand.
To test this, we then asked Ted Owens to make lightning strike in an entirely different portion of the sky. He pointed his hand...and the lightning appeared in that different area, exactly where we had asked it to appear. No other bolts appeared anywhere in the sky at any time during our experiments, except exactly where Ted Owens pointed his hand.

My friend and I were in complete agreement that the experiment was a complete success.

Recently, I interviewed Charles Jay who confirmed that the events transpired thirty years ago as described. His testimonial is not an isolated incident. I interviewed an attorney, Sidney Margulies, a partner in a Philadelphia law firm where Owens worked as a typist in 1967. Although my interviews were ten years (and then again thirty years) after the event, this lawyer vividly remembered the afternoon he challenged Owens to influence lightning.
It was an overcast day in May of 1967. There was neither rain nor lightning. The law firm was located in an office tower overlooking the Camden bridge. The attorney, Margulies, challenged Owens to make lightning strike the bridge – on the spot. Owens pointed his hand at the bridge and seemed to concentrate. Within minutes a bolt of lightning struck the bridge. According to attorney Margulies, it was the only bolt of lightning at the time. His signed affidavit is in my files.

Weather Control

On February 12, 1974, Owens wrote a letter to Ed Busch, of radio station WFAA in Dallas, Texas. Owens, who had appeared on Busch's radio program the week before, made a claim:

If you recall, on the program itself you requested that I make it snow instantly, and your colleague wanted heat. All right....[I] will cause freakish weather and, of course, heat. Normal summer heat coming up, should be amplified tremendously, perhaps to break a record. You will have great storms, lightning attacks, etc. But into this will be the intelligence not to cause death or injury to Texas people, but to show how I...can control the weather anyplace in the world.

On February 16, 1974, newspaper clippings record that an earthquake centered in the Texas panhandle shook parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The tremor registered between 4.0 and 4.5 on the Richter scale. On March 20, 1974, a storm developed over Texas and moved rapidly to the northeast. By the time it arrived in Georgia, winds reached up to a hundred miles per hour. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said, "It's the strongest wind I've ever seen in the continental United States."

Ed Busch wrote a statement testifying to these and other events, dated May 7, 1974. He stated:

Owens sent me a letter, stating that he...would produce a "major demonstration" of weather control over Texas. Following Owens' letter Texas was struck by an earthquake, 4.5 on the Richter scale. Then Texas was struck by high winds and tornados. Then Texas had the coldest weather ever in its history. Then Texas was hit with hot winds that destroyed half the Texas wheat crop.
I am submitting this statement of fact to Owens at his request. It is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. Whether Owens had any connection with the above weather phenomena, I do not know; perhaps it was mere coincidence.

Dozens of similar "demonstrations" appear in my records. One of them occurred in the San Francisco Bay area in early 1976 and was the cause of my learning about Owens' remarkable claims. On January 30, 1976, Owens sent the following letter to Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ at SRI International, a giant research organization located in Menlo Park, California, just south of San Francisco:
Last night over TV the evening news showed a stricken California. No water. "The worst drought in 72 years." "Only three times in the entire history of the State of California...has such a drought appeared." Crops are dead and dying...and the animals are in pitiful condition.
Now I, Ted Owens, PK Man...will change all of that. Within the next 90 days from the time of this letter...I will pour and pour and pour rains onto the State of California...until it is swimming in water, and the dangerous drought is completely over. There will be storm after storm, lightning attack after lightning attack, and high winds...

A UPI clipping from February 1, 1976, confirms Owens' statement about the drought:
The cost of a California winter-drought has mounted to about $310.5 million....Ten more days of drought could precipitate an emergency in the livestock industry. But there is little moisture in sight.
However, by February 6, 1976, the headlines changed:
San Francisco Snowed by a Record Snowfall

The biggest snowfall in exactly 89 years hit the city and surrounding areas...The storm also featured lightning and sleet. A giant television tower on Mt. San Bruno, south of San Francisco, was hit by lightning about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday knocking several TV stations off the air.
The following news clip was sent to Owens by Puthoff and Targ, who had received Owens' prediction only one day earlier. From the Palo Alto Times, Thursday, February 5, 1976.
Rare Snowfall Ends Drought on Peninsula

The unexpected and unfamiliar weather was at odds with a forecast Wednesday that the dry spell would continue in the Bay Area....Not since the morning of January 21, 1962, have Mid-peninsulans awakened to find their homes blanketed with snow.
The Oakland Tribune of February 5, 1976, stated that the storm brought with it:

...nearly every phenomenon in the weatherman's book throughout the Bay Area....Snow, hail, sleet, light rain, thunder and lightning hit the Bay Area after weeks of dry, balmy weather....Varying amounts of rain fell upon the lower two-thirds of the state....In northwestern California there are gale warnings.
On February 10, a UPI story stated:
The rainy season continued in California for the sixth consecutive day. Some mountainous regions of the state have received 6 to 8 inches of rain and coastal areas have measured 3 to 4 inches.
UFO sightings, power blackouts and fireballs were also reported during this period.
The Owens case is extremely complex, involving more than a hundred ostensible macro-PK events, synchronicities, UFO appearances, poltergeist-type phenomena, as well as apparitions and appearances of monster-like creatures. It was further complicated by Owens' own colorful personality which was far from saintly and far from conducive to thoughtful scholarly exploration. In addition, many of his seeming demonstrations involved deaths and accidents. If Owens' supposed powers were real, they were sometimes very dangerous. This situation alone led several researchers to reject any possibility of seriously studying or testing Owens' claims.

My years of involvement with the Owens case suggest to me that humanity is far from ready to confront the possibility of large-scale PK phenomena of this sort. On the other hand, if such abilities are possible, it is not wise to neglect their study.

References

. Stephen E. Braude, The Limits of Influence: Psychokinesis and the Philosophy of Science. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986, pp. ix-xii.

. Carl G. Jung, Memories, Dreams and Reflections. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, p. 152.

. Charles Richet, op. cit., pp. 407-8.

. Sir William Crookes, "Experimental Investigation of a New Force," Crookes and the Spirit World, op. cit., p. 24.

. Ibid., p. 26.

. D. D. Home, op. cit.

. Sir William Crookes, "The Last of Katie King," in Crookes and the Spirit World, op. cit., p. 138. A poignant, yet comical, story.

. Sir William Crookes, "Spirit Forms," in Crookes and the Spirit World, op. cit., pp. 135-6.

. Harry Price, Fifty Years of Psychical Research. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1939.

. Charles Richet, op. cit., pp. 506-8.

. Ibid., p. 543.

. Ibid., pp. 543-4.

. Soji Otani, "Past and Present Situation of Parapsychology in Japan," Parapsychology Today: A Geographic View, pp. 34-5.

. J. Gaither Pratt, ESP Research Today. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1973, pp. 108-9. An insider's view of developments in psychic research.

. Jule Eisenbud, The World of Ted Serios. New York: William Morrow, 1967, p. 332.

. J. Gaither Pratt, op. cit., p. 114.

. Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1969, p. 84.

. Ibid., pp. 60-1.

. Ibid., p. 407.

. J. Gaither Pratt and H. H. J. Keil, "First-hand Observations of Nina S. Kulagina Suggestive of PK Upon Static Objects," Parapsychological Association Convention, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1973.

. H. H. J. Keil and Jarl Fahler, "Nina S. Kulagina: A strong Case for PK Involving Directly Observable Movements of Objects Recorded on Cine Film," Parapsychological Association Convention, New York, 1974.

. Montague Ullman, "Report on Nina Kulagina," Parapsychological Association Convention, 1973.

. Benson Herbert, "Report on Nina Kulagina," Journal of Paraphysics, 1970, Nos. 1, 3, 5.

. Lecture presented by Stanley Krippner at the University of California, Davis, 1973.

. Andrija Puharich, Beyond Telepathy. New York: Doubleday, 1972.

. Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, "Experiments with Uri Geller," Parapsychological Association Convention, 1973.

. H. H. J. Keil and Scott Hill, "Mini-Geller PK Cases," Parapsychological Association Convention, 1974.

. Uri Geller, My Story. New York: Praeger, 1975. Geller's own account of his worldwide spoon-bending stir.

. A. R. G. Owen, "Editorial," New Horizons, 2(1), April 1975, p. 1.

. Wilbur Franklin, "Fracture Surface Physics Indicating Teleneural Interaction," New Horizons, 2(1), April 1975, p. 813.

. W. G. Roll, "Poltergeists," in Richard Cavendish (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Unexplained. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974, p. 200.

. Ibid.

. A. R. G. Owen, Can We Explain the Poltergeist? New York: Taplinger, 1964.

. Matthew Manning, The Link. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.

. Matthew Manning: Study of A Psychic. This movie, made on location in England, shows how Matthew, an English schoolboy, developed ostensible powers of clairvoyance and psychokinesis and brought them under voluntary control. The film has been available from George Ritter Films Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

. Peter Bander, "Introduction," The Link. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975.

. Brian Josephson, "Possible Relations Between Psychic Fields and Conventional Physics," and "Possible Connections between Psychic Phenomena and Quantum Mechanics," New Horizons, 1(5), January 1975.

. A. R. G. Owen, "A Preliminary Report on Matthew Manning's Physical Phenomena," New Horizons, 1(4), July 1974, 172-3.

. Joel L. Whitton, "‘Ramp Functions' in EEG Power Spectra during Actual or Attempted Paranormal Events," New Horizons, July 1974, pp. 173-186.

. Iris M. Owen and Margaret H. Sparrow, "Generation of Paranormal Physical Phenomena in Connection with an Imaginary Communicator," New Horizons, 1(3), January 1974, pp. 6-13.

. K. J. Batcheldor, "Report on a Case of Table Levitation and Associated Phenomena," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 43(729), September 1966, pp. 339-356.

. C. Brookes-Smith, "Data-tape Recorded Experimental PK Phenomena," Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 47(756), June 1973, pp. 68-9.

. Philip, The Imaginary Ghost. This film has been available for rent or purchase from George Ritter Films Limited in Toronto, Canada.

. Iris M. Owen, "Philip's Story Continued," New Horizons, 2(1), April 1975.

. Joel L. Whitten, "Qualitative Time-Domain Analysis of Acoustic Envelopes in Psychokinetic Table Rappings," New Horizons, April 1975.