Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from December 2005

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from December 2005

Letter from the publisher.
December 1, 2005... Over the summer and fall I changed a lifelong habit of making salads with vegetables only, adding fruits to my salads quite liberally. Apples, pears and peaches were delicious complements to a salad of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peppers,...

Nordic Naturals responds to UK warning against too much Vitamin A through fish oil use.
December 1, 2005... In light of the announcement from the UK Food Standards Agency issuing a warning against too much Vitamin A in diets of those people at risk for osteoporosis, Nordic Naturals announced recently that its products do not pose a threat because...

Intravenous vitamin C is selectively toxic to cancer cells.
December 1, 2005... National Institutes of Health scientists have confirmed the concepts that vitamin C is selectively toxic to cancer cells and that tumor-toxic levels of vitamin C can be attained using intravenous administration. The article, published in the...

Dr. Jeffrey Bland lecture at 2nd Annual World Obesity & Weight Loss Congress.
December 1, 2005... Jeffrey S. Bland, PhD, FACN, president of Metagenics, Inc. and chief scientific officer, delivered a presentation entitled, "Nutrigenomics of the Metabolic Syndrome" at the 2nd Annual World Obesity & Weight Loss Congress in Washington, DC on...

Coalition commences national petition campaign to end FDA and FTC censorship of health information.
December 1, 2005... On September 21, four representatives of a coalition of 28 dietary supplement companies, public interest groups, and supplement distributors announced the commencement of a national grass-roots campaign to end FDA and FTC censorship of health...

North American Herb and Spice sends natural Medicines to hurricane victims.
December 1, 2005... Herbal medicine manufacturer North American Herb and Spice has donated $100,000 worth of natural antiseptics, medicines, and pain relievers to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The medicines were transported to the Gulf coast region and...

2005 Integrative Medicine for Anti-Aging Conference & expo recognizes distinguished members of the medical community for their outstanding contributions.
December 1, 2005... The 2005 Integrative Medicine for Anti-Aging Conference presented its annual Achievements in Research and Clinical (ARC) Excellence Awards on October 22 & 23 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Established in...

Phosphatidylserine & other brain-boosters.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... One of the greatest concerns for many of us as we age is loss of cognition: losing the ability to learn, to remember, to be aware, to think, to use language. Human and animal research is showing that diet and nutrition, exercise, and other...

Longevity & calorie restriction.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... Animal studies have shown that calorie restriction extends lifespan and reduces the risk of developing chronic disease in old age--if the diet contains the required amount of all essential nutrients (vitamins, protein, minerals, etc). Roy L....

Dr. Denham Harman & aging.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... When Denham Harman, MD, PhD, first introduced his theory that free radical reactions were responsible for the deterioration associated with aging in 1955, the idea was dismissed as "too simple to explain such a complex process as aging." In a...

Influenza vaccination & elderly.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Increasing the number of people, ages 65 and older, who receive influenza vaccinations has not reduced flu-related deaths, according to a 2005 study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine. In 1980, 15%-20% of people in this age range...

A good death.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... What is a good death? The answer depends upon one's society and culture, according to a British Medical Journal article by Tony Walker. Walker gives the example of an elderly woman, lying at home surrounded by family, who senses when the end is...

Rumi on aging.(Old Age by Harry R. Joys Moody)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... In his article for Aging Today, Harry R. Moody, director of academic affairs at AARP, reflects on the poetry of Sufi poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. In some poems, Rumi deals with aging and old age, the impermanence of the body, and how like the...

Stem cell therapy.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... The public eye is so fixated on the medical use of fetal and embryonic stem cells that the benefit of stem cells found in umbilical cord blood is largely ignored. Embryonic stem cells can produce any type of cell found in the body. Because of...

Psychological stress & disease.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... A University of California-San Francisco research team, led by health psychologist Elissa Epel, PhD, has found evidence that prolonged, psychological stress contributes to cellular aging. Fifty-eight healthy mothers, ages 20-50, took part in...

Tai chi & the elderly.(Shorts)
December 1, 2005... A 2001 British Journal of Sports Medicine article reviews 31 controlled and clinical studies, involving 2216 men and women, that evaluate the physiological effects of practicing the Chinese exercise Tai Chi Chuan (TCC). TCC integrates slow,...

Calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... DECEMBER 3: METAGENICS presents MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEALTH NUTRITIONAL STRATEGIES SEMINAR in Portland, Oregon. CONTACT: Metagenics, 800-692-9400 or 949-366-0818; fax 949-366-2859 DECEMBER 3-4: PLEOMORPHIC SANUM INTRODUCTORY...

AIDS in Africa: interview with Celia Farber.(Townsend's New York Observer)(Interview)
December 1, 2005... Seated next to us on the plane from Kenya back to London was a British gentleman who had been working with a water restoration program in Kenya for six months. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "That must have been interesting," I said. "Is the...

CMBM uses mind-body methods to limit stress.(Pathways to Healing)(Center for Mind-Body Medicine)
December 1, 2005... New York City firefighters and their families have tried mind-body methods to cope with the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks... and discovered that they work. Sixty-three firefighters attended a workshop on psychological...

Web Page Potpourri--after the flood: a column devoted to informative integrative health resources on the internet.(Column)
December 1, 2005... Hurricane season decimated the Gulf Coast this year. For those with access, the internet was a powerful tool for getting and sharing information following the storms. This column may feel a bit outdated by the time you read this, but a number...

Food labels what do the numbers mean?(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
December 1, 2005... Are you confused about what the numbers mean on the little stickers attached to individual fruits and vegetables? The PLU (Price look up) codes on produce stickers are used primarily to speed up the checkout process, but also to inform the...

Eat less, liver longer.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... When spontaneously hypertensive rats were maintained on 40% of an otherwise typical diet, their mean life span increased from 18 months to over 30 months. The mean life span of normotensive rats that were similarly food-restricted, increased...

Topical vitamin C for photoaged skin.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Twenty healthy women (mean age, 55.3 years) with photoaged skin (damage due to chronic sun exposure) were randomly assigned to apply, in double-blind fashion, a 5% vitamin C cream on one side of their lower neck and arms and a placebo cream on...

Vitamin E relieves menstrual pain.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Two hundred seventy-eight Iranian girls (aged 15-17 years) with primary dysmenorrhea were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 200 IU of vitamin E (type not specified) twice a day or placebo, beginning 2 days before the...

Fish oil for acute pancreatitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Twenty-eight patients (mean age, 56 years) with moderately severe acute pancreatitis were randomly assigned to receive a standard enteral formula (controls) or a special formula supplemented with 3.3 g/day of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil...

B-vitamins reverse carotid atherosclerosis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Fifty patients (mean age, 60 years) with carotid intimamedia thickness (IMT) [greater than or equal to] 1 mm, which is associated with an increased risk of cerebral ischemia, were randomly assigned to receive daily, in double-blind fashion,...

DHEA relieves midlife-onset depression.(Literature Review & Commentary)
December 1, 2005... Twenty-three men and 23 women (aged 45-65 years) with midlife-onset major or minor depression who were not receiving antidepressant medications were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, DHEA or placebo for 6 weeks. After a...

Magnesium beneficial after subarachnoid hemorrhage.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Two hundred-eighty-three patients (mean age, 55 years) with subarachnoid hemorrhage due to an aneurysm were randomly assigned, within 4 days (mean, 35 hours) of the event, to receive, in double-blind fashion, intravenous magnesium sulfate (Mg)...

Acetyl-L-carnitine for diabetic neuropathy.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Some 1,257 patients with diabetic neuropathy were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, placebo or acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) at a dose of 500 or 1,000 mg 3 times a day for 1 year. Compared with placebo, the lower dose of ALC...

Green tea and garlic as cardiovascular life extension strategies.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
December 1, 2005... Introduction This year we came across the following article in a local newspaper: "A life expectancy of 100 years is likely if scientists succeed in developing a pill they say could eliminate heart attacks and strokes.... Scientists...

Do radiofrequency energy fields cause cancer?(The War on Cancer)
December 1, 2005... Do devices such as cell or mobile phones, which emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RFEMF), cause cancer? According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), this is just another widespread "cancer myth" that is befuddling the minds of the...

Are you frustrated ... struggling to care for your patients who have increasingly complex and serious symptoms but wish that your treatment methods worked faster with long-lasting results?
December 1, 2005... What if there was a way... ... that you could simply and effectively help your patients repair damaged organs, clear deep-seated toxins and rejuvenate their bodies at an accelerated rate? What if there was a way... ... that you...

Aging gracefully with thymus extract, DHEA, yoga and calorie restriction.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
December 1, 2005... Aging, like the weather, is a subject everyone talks about but no one seems able to do much about. Theories and nostrums abound, from wrinkle creams to hormone supplements, many with compelling evidence in their favor, but none has earned the...

Moxibustion for longevity and health preservation.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
December 1, 2005... The Chinese have been researching various anti-aging and life-extension strategies for several millennia. One of the most enduring methods that is still agreed upon today throughout various Asian cultures is moxibustion at several points on the...

Abstract; Heparin in the treatment of burns: a review.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Burns are difficult to treat, wounds with complex local and systemic pathology and high mortality, that often heal slowly with scars and contractures. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) have been used in parenteral and topical application studies. These...

How umbilical cord stem cells are helping life imitate myth.
December 1, 2005... We've all heard the expression "life imitates art." And it does, sometimes. In science, it could be said that progress sometimes imitates myth, or better yet, turns mythic feats into reality. And this is indeed what has emerged in terms of the...

The regenerative potential of stem cell therapeutics in the anti-aging setting.
December 1, 2005... Science now stands on the threshold of a new age in cellular therapy and tissue regeneration which will directly and beneficially impact how long, and how well, we will live in the coming decades. Stem cell therapeutics is the leading...

Phytoskin[R], a new cream for psoriasis and atopic dermatitis containing plant extracts.
December 1, 2005... Key Words: Phytoskin[R] Cream, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, juglans regia (walnut), symphytum officinale (comfrey) Abstract A new cream containing low molecular extracts from juglans regia and symphytum officinale was evaluated in 43...

Acupuncture & auriculotherapy: valuable natural treatment modalities for addiction.
December 1, 2005... A Commentary In the last few years acupuncture and now auricular therapy have been used increasingly to treat substance use disorders (Unschuld, 1985). Studies of these modalities have validated their use, and more studies are needed and...

Iodine: the universal nutrient.
December 1, 2005... It is self-evident that the essential element iodine is important for normal functions of the whole human body, not just the thyroid gland. However, due to thyroid fixation, the essential element iodine is mentioned in textbooks of medicine and...

The impact of lifestyle choices and hormonal balance on coping with stress.
December 1, 2005... Stress is no stranger to any of us. We live in a world where hard work begets hard work and time has become a luxury we cannot afford. Success is about finding ways to do things better, faster, and cheaper. In this world, we are forced to react...

Creatine supplementation: potential applications in medicine.
December 1, 2005... There is almost no one on the planet who has not heard of creatine at this point. However, the vast majority of conventional and "alternative" medical professionals, think of creatine as simply a supplement that body builders and other athletes...

Multiple Sclerosis a cure in search of doctors.
December 1, 2005... Yes the title is correct! It isn't the usual "Doctors search for a cure" scenario we read and hear every day in the media. There is a cure for a disease orthodox medicine (the neurologists) deny there is a cure for. However, the many hundreds...

Response of peripheral and central nerve pathology to mega-doses of the vitamin B-complex and other metabolites.
December 1, 2005... Recommended Treatment Schedule 1) Thiamin hydrochloride: 300mg to 500mg, 30 minutes before meals and bed hour, and during the night if awake. The higher amounts in long-standing cases. This requirement is high, since much is lost through...

Multiple chemical sensitivity sufferer requests help.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... My daughter, 24, is dying and no one is able to help us. I had never heard of MCS until a few weeks ago, when my sister in Florida emailed me to say she had read something about MCS, that it sounded like Kim, my daughter, and I should check it...

Homeopathy takes a hit.(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... In a recent study in the Lancet, investigators evaluated 110 placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy and compared the results with those from 110 matched conventional-medicine trials. 1 In both groups of studies, the smaller trials and those of...

The fatty acid story.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... The Omega-3 Miracle by Garry Gordon, MD, DO, MD (H) and Herb Joiner-Bey, ND Freedom Press, 1801 Chart Trail, Topanga, California 90290 USA; 800-959-9797; info@freedompressonline.com Paperback, ISBN 1-8939 10-34-2, [c]2004 When...

Forget diets: a lifetime eating guide.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... The Nutrient-Dense Eating Plan by Douglas L. Margel, DC Basic Health Pub., Inc. 28812 Top of the World Drive, Laguna Beach, California 92651 USA; 949-715-7327 Softcover, c.2005, $17.95 US, $28.95 Canada, 307 pp. Diets are...

"Live long and prosper".(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... Prolonging Health: Mastering the 10 Factors of Longevity by J.E. Williams, OMD Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc., 1125 Stoney Ridge Rd., Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 USA; 434-296-2772 e-mail: hrpc@hrpub.com Large Softcover,...

Female sexual healing and longevity.
December 1, 2005... I believe the signs of premature aging in women's health starts with sexual decline. A loss of sexual desire or arousal is a significant biomarker that must be treated to improve the quality of life. Feelings of love also contribute to the...

Townsend calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... NOVEMBER 28-DECEMBER 3: APPLYING FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE IN CLINICAL PRACTICE in San Diego, California. Spend a week with Jeffrey Bland, PhD, and other leading experts on functional medicine, the science-based healthcare approach that assesses and...

Seeing through the COX-2 controversy: guidelines to choosing safe natural alternatives; An interview with pioneering pharmacist, Bob Garrison.(Interview)
December 1, 2005... Bob Garrison, MA, RPh and CEO of Next Pharmaceuticals, has pioneered in the world of herbal medicine, and heralded an alternative pain reliever long before the COX-2 controversy. Bob is a pharmacist with over 25 years experience in health...

An anthropology of death.(Medical Anthropology)
December 1, 2005... I read a line in an anthropology book once that suggested that all Americans should spend an hour each day meditating on death. The writer argued that we are infatuated with life and in doing so have become intensely afraid of death and only...

Aging, free radicals and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Stress increases circulating catecholamines, which in turn inhibit both magnesium-calcium and sodium-potassium ATPase, leading to increases in cellular calcium and sodium and loss of potassium and magnesium. Metabolism of catecholamines...

Aging and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Review: The elevation of cortisol that occurs with stress tends in the young to return to baseline quickly; in the old it has a propensity to remain much higher and return to baseline much more slowly. Chronic stress accelerates the aging...

Aging, corticosteroids and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Four, 12 and 18 month-old rats were trained for six months in a two-way shuttle escape task inducing anxiety stress and elevated corticosteroid levels. The two younger groups showed increased evidence of neurophysiological aging without...

Disease incidence and attitude.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... At a mean age of 25, 99 Harvard graduates completed a Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations and the Attributable Style Questionnaire developed by the author and used to identify a pessimistic explanatory style. This style, embracing a...

Longevity and optimism.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Eight hundred forty (840) general medical Mayo Clinic patients, mean age 35, were divided at baseline into optimists (n=124), mixed (n=518), or pessimists (n=197) on the basis of their answers to 298 MMPI questions: 86% were available for...

Longevity and suspiciousness.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Higher scores on a measure of suspiciousness (closely related to the Cook Medley hostility scale) predicted greater 25-year mortality risk in a sample of 500 older men and women during a follow-up averaging 15 years. This association remained...

Immunity, compassion and anger.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... In 30 healthy volunteers, salivary IgA, heart rate and mood were measured before and after experiencing loving care or anger which were induced in two ways: by self-induction and by viewing video tapes. Anger produced a significant increase in...

Rheumatoid arthritis and laughter.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... In 26 rheumatoid arthritis women patients age 43-66, mean duration of disease 19.4 years, and 31 healthy female controls, exposure to Rakugo (traditional Japanese comic stories) for an hour in the early afternoon resulted in: decrease in...

Longevity and emotional disclosure.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... On the basis of a theory of inhibition and psychosomatics, it was predicted that the more individuals disclosed personally traumatic experiences, the better their long-term health following the disclosure. Thirty-three Holocaust survivors...

Survival and self-evaluations.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Baseline evaluations in 2,800 persons over age 65 assessed lifestyle; level of medical care available; external resources (family, community); "internal" resources (optimism, depression, attitudes and feelings); physical disability; biological...

Reversal of atherosclerosis with meditation.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Psychosocial stress influences the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is a valid surrogate measure for coronary atherosclerosis, is a predictor of coronary outcomes and stroke, and is associated...

Temperament and health.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Temperament, an expression of innate biological endowment, provides a more global portrayal of an organism than an aggregate of separate characteristics alone. Of 172 students, irritable-demanding-moody temperament types had the greatest...

Survival and hostility.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... In 2,200 subjects, high college-age hostility vs. low hostility carried a relative risk of 1.22 for being a smoker 30 years later (95% CI 1.05-1.41); 1.2 (1.03-1.39) for consuming >2 alcoholic drinks/d, 1.18 (1.03-1.34) for perception of low...

Parental caring.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
December 1, 2005... In the 35-year Harvard Mastery of Stress Study in which 398 college women and men completed the Harvard Parental Caring Scale (HPCS), the SCL90R, and the Marlowe-Crowne (MC) scale (measure of defensiveness) at baseline, positive ratings of...

The dysox model of aging.(Oxygen Homeostasis)
December 1, 2005... My grandfather forgot to die on time. We do not know how long he lived--101 years, 102 years, or more. My grandmother was also a centenarian. With that genetic pool, I sometimes wonder about my own life span. Then I realize that my grandparents...

The art and sophistication of classical homeopathic prescribing.(Healing with Homeopathy)
December 1, 2005... We Really Do Mean The Whole Person [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There are many treatment approaches that claim to treat "the whole person," but what they mean may be quite diverse. Some practitioners of complementary medicine may be...

Exercise and breast cancer survival.(Women's Health Update)
December 1, 2005... Holmes M et al. Physical activity and survival after breast cancer diagnosis. JAMA 2005;293:2479-2486 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Investigators analyzed breast cancer recurrence and mortality according to the level of physical activity...

DHEA and depression.(Women's Health Update)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Schmidt P, et al. Dehydroepiandrosterone monotherapy in midlife-onset major and minor depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005;62:154-162. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) was studied in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over...

Position paper on testosterone therapy in postmenopausal women.(Women's Health Update)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Position Statement. The role of testosterone therapy in postmenopausal women: position statement of The North American Menopause Society. Menopause: The J of The North American Menopause Society 2005;12(5):497-511 The North American...

Green tea enhances survival of ovarian cancer patients.(Women's Health Update)
December 1, 2005... Binns C, et al. Green tea consumption enhances survival of epithelial ovarian cancer patients. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2004;12(Suppl):S116 A cohort of Chinese patients with confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer were recruited and followed for a...

Acupuncture and urinary incontinence.(Women's Health Update)
December 1, 2005... Emmons S, Otto L. Acupuncture for overactive bladder: a randomized controlled trial. Obstet Gynecol 2005;106:138-143. According to the randomized clinical trial, acupuncture treatment can significantly improve bladder capacity, urgency,...

Vitamin D advice and cautions.(Women's Health Update)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Scientific evidence increasingly suggests that the optimal dietary intake of vitamin D should be higher. New guidelines are recommending 1,000 IU a day for older individuals and other high-risk groups. Some may need as much as 2,000 IU per day....

Treating canker sores (aphthous stomatitis) with nutrition.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
December 1, 2005... Vitamin B Complex Occasional patients are deficient in certain members of the vitamin B complex. Repletion of a deficiency of folic acid, (1) niacin, (2) riboflavin, (3) thiamine, (3) vitamin B6, (3) or vitamin B12, (1) whether based on...