October 2012 Classical Medicine Health and Wellness Journal

 

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October 6, 2012

 

It's fairly safe to generalize and say we Americans like things "big." Big sky, big country, big dreams, big hearts. On the flip side, big soft drinks (now banned in New York City?), big waistbands, big debts. We also like our research big and last month produced a good harvest of big studies with big results, like:

 

*    The synopsis a six-year study financed by the National Institutes of Health, using data from 18,000 patients, which proved acupuncture helps ease migraines and arthritis and other forms of chronic pain. Now if we could only convince insurance companies and Medicare to cover it...

 

*    A Gold Standard study (meaning double-blind, with placebo, randomly controlled) of a French homeopathic formula called Acthéane documented a 33% reduction in hot flashes. The formula produced a "near-immediate drop" in the severity of hot flashes which continued throughout the trial, a blessing only a menopausal woman can fully appreciate.

 

*    A huge study launched in India reminds us that "necessity is often the mother of invention." Like the situation in Cuba last year, both need and an absence of funds has motivated the government to distribute "homeopathic drugs" to combat dengue fever to 25 lahk (ie, 2.5 million) residents of the Chittoor region in southeast India. We'll post updates on results as we find them, since it's not terribly likely you'll be reading about this one in any other outlet.

 

* Yet another big result for medical marijuana proponents. After 20 years of research, two scientists are ready for the first human trials of Cannabidiol, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Laboratory and animal testing have found Cannabidiol can stop the spread of aggressive cancers like breast, brain and prostate when administered in highly concentrated dosages.

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June 2012 Classical Medicine Health and Wellness Journal

 

  

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June 6, 2012

 

Our northern neighbors may be onto something big from the tiniest of the tiny. The Canadian Forest Service's investment in "transformative technologies," technologies that create "core rather than marginal changes," has led to some startling developments in the field of nanotechnology...yes, nanotechnology may prove a boon to sustainable forestry. It has to do with "buckyballs," a super-strong molecule comprised of 60 carbon atoms in an arrangement that looks surprisingly like a soccer ball (and/or, Buckminister Fuller's famous dome). A 16 year old Canadian student won the 2012 BioGENEius Challenge for binding tiny particles in tree pulp (nano-crystalline cellulose) to buckyballs to create a "super anti-oxidant compound" that works like a vacuum to "suck-up and neutralize free-radicals." Put less scientifically, it's just possible that the fountain of youth may be flowing through the trees all around us and tiny, tiny nano vacuum cleaners -- crafted from carbon and tree pulp -- may someday erase the effects of aging.

 

But until the Nano Fuller Brush Man comes to the door, diet can boost health and vitality. A handy summary of benefits, expected and not, from a host of common herbs was the #1 most-read CMJ story in May. First published in the Daily Mail, the original story presents the information not unlike a popularity contest. Follow the link at the bottom of our post for some cross-cultural journalistic voyeurism. Don't miss the other most-read food story detailing new research the proves you need -- yes, need -- to eat almonds, macadamias, pistachios, walnuts and cashews. The benefits of nut consumption (ie, moderate snacking) range from lower BMI to lower risk of heart disease and diabetes. Now will you move cashews off the guilty pleasure list?

 

Finally, in honor of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, we call your attention to a new story with some light-hearted insight into the practical precautions the Queen takes to maintain her health and composure during her busy schedule of non-stop duties. Of course, there's a plug for homeopathy in the mix but there are also some charming details of the wisdom gained from a life of spectacle and service.

 

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May 2012 Classical Medicine Health and Wellness Journal

 

  

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May 3, 2012

 

Who, within a fairly wide certain age band, doesn't remember the blistering line from A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson snarls at Tom Cruise: "You can't handle the truth!" Classical Medicine Journal readers stared down the temptation of blissful ignorance and learned the truth about dangers lurking in our food supply through two breaking stories detailing the surprising cocktail of drugs found in factory-farm-raised chicken and a more detailed explanation of the drug residue in chicken and feather meal which is fed back to chickens. Surely motivation to opt for organic whenever possible, hoping against hope that the "USDA certified organic" label has teeth.

 

CMJ readers turned from snarling Jack to sweet, smiling Mahatma with other top stories, seeking simple ways to "be the change" by adding foods to reduce stress (all good stuff like salmon, basil, blueberries, Greek yogurt, broccoli, quinoa, edamame), learning about new research into aspirin's benefits (traces reportedly found in medicines from as long ago as 400 BCE) and getting suggestions for foods high in vitamin C to help alleviate allergy symptoms (usual citrus and fruit suspects but also sweet peppers, broccoli again, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower and peas). Yum. Eating right is sounding better and better -- and like a perfect diet for summer.

 

But we cannot tell a lie and the truth is, one story in April clobbered all the others in number of new readers. Once again, some random Internet robot phenomena happened and our post on a new documentary highlighting the successful results of a small study using topical cannabis extract to treat skin cancer blew up. This is a purely medical application of a drug which has suffered under a propaganda campaign since the 1930's. At some point, clearer heads must prevail and its benefits investigated in a sober manner. No joke.

 

If you want to get a jump on next month's "hot topics," check out the story just posted about a researcher using folk wisdom passed along by her grandmother to address oil spill clean-up. Maybe there's more truth than we realize in old knowledge?

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February 2012 Classical Medicine Health and Wellness Journal

 

  

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5 February 2012

Bet you thought the Chinese New Year began on January 23rd, didn't you? Chinese New Year is celebrated on the first new moon of the first month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system (this year, 1/23). But in fact, the year of the Water Dragon began yesterday, because February 4th was the first day of 2012, or the first day of the 4,709th Chinese year, in the Chinese Astrological Calendar system. Called the Start of Spring, yesterday delineates the point where a new animal sign begins in Chinese astrology. In other words, that restaurant menu list you've been using all your life? If your birthday is right around now, you might be in for a surprise. To update your personal animal status, here's one of many sites that can waste 20 minutes of your life if you're not careful.

Given the weather lately, it really does feel like the start of spring -- or here in Florida, summer.

January brought a ton of new visitors to the Classical Medicine Journal thanks in part to our post on the 256-year old Qi Gong master being picked up by "discovery engine" StumbleUpon. And here's another inner-Internet-workings time-line: on January 4, CMJ posted a story on urban fish farming which originally ran in the Baltimore Sun on December 26; on January 28, the Los Angeles Times reprinted the same story. Ha! We do try to bring you stories of interest on varied topics and put a premium on information that might not otherwise be easy to find in regular media.

Speaking of, a story that is at once exciting and ludicrous got attention. Many readers were shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that acupuncture may relieve stress. In all seriousness, a study from Georgetown University Medical Center has shown molecular proof of acupuncture's ability to reduce a protein-like substance linked to chronic stress. So far, only rats have experienced the phenomenon. The millions of people for thousands of years who could also vouch for this finding? Purely anecdotal; but soon, perhaps, not written off as placebo.

Finally, readers continue to check the update on Vidatox, the Cuban “homeopathic” cancer drug made with the venom of the blue scorpion. While we're happy to provide a platform for sharing this information, isn't it a bit amazing you haven't heard of this anywhere else?

Until next month, be well and exercise your inner Water Dragon.

P.S.    Check out Martin Keane's very first venture into video on the Classical Medicine homepage (scroll down to lower right corner). We're working on a series of informational videos and will put them all together on a Classical Medicine YouTube channel. This first one is intended to introduce the practice. (Gulp) Tell us what you think?

 

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August 2011 Classical Medicine Newsletter

 

  

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This is a particularly long hot summer no matter where you live. Why not catch up on some Classical Medicine Journal highlights with a tall glass of something good, sweating from ice cubes? But think twice before pouring diet soda over that ice -- you just might be making your waistline larger instead of smaller. Seems the aspartame may be to blame. Then check out an op-ed from New York Times columnist Mark Bittman who advocates using tax incentives to encourage healthy dietary choices and imposing penalties for those who chose to eat or drink otherwise. Some will rightly argue that people should opt for what's best without "government intrusion," a perfectly valid position. But junk food and junk drinks are a staple of the so-called Standard American Diet (with the delicious acronym, SAD) and consumption is not likely to decrease without some motivation, be that philosophical or economic or perhaps both.

 

Last month, this newsletter called attention to research that begins to quantify the physiological benefits of acupuncture, findings deemed revolutionary by those who disregard thousands of years of experiential data. More troubling might be one of this month's hot topics: Is Science Catching Up With Homeopathy? Gracious. What will we have to accept -- rather than reject -- next?

 

Speaking of new medical frontiers and not-so-new prejudices, a story about one man's choice to use SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy to treat his kidney cancer generated attention. SonoPhoto uses chlorophyll which all cells absorb but which, for reasons unknown, cancer cells alone cannot expel. Sound and light frequencies are used to identify the chlorophyll-filled cancer cells. Creating photosynthesis causes an explosion of free radical oxygen in the cancer cells which kills them (no surprise there). Not yet recognized in the United States, the therapy is used in Mexico, China, England, Australia and the EU. Don't miss the reaction of the man's oncologist.

 

Some findings must annoy Big Pharma like gnats or mosquitoes in the summer twilight. In a story first published in the New York Times in late June, you can almost hear the frustrated media consultants spinning their best to discount the results of a massive study on statin drugs that clearly show many questions remain about the long-term impact of the long-term use of these drugs. Another surprise comes from a European study on breast cancer mortality which found that early detection (mammograms) cannot explain the decline in deaths from breast cancer in three pairs of European countries. Not the result anyone was expecting, obviously.

 

Perhaps the middle way, the way between the extremes of nothing alternative and nothing conventional bears the greatest hope for future healthcare options and protocols. An article reprinted from Acupuncture Today serves up a double-dose of optimism with its report on new drugs that employ the ancient wisdom of Chinese herbology with the testing and precision of modern pharmacology. Each system is enhanced by collaboration with the other. Recalls an old Egyptian proverb: "One foot isn't enough to walk with."

 

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