Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from February 2005

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from February 2005

ConsumerLab.com reports improvement in quality of SAMe supplements used for osteoarthritis and depression.
February 1, 2005... ConsumerLab.com announced that the quality of supplements made with SAMe (S-adenosyl-methionine), which is used to treat a range of conditions including joint pain and depression--seems to have improved in recent years. In 2000, ConsumerLab.com...

Attention seniors: it's never too late to start exercising; New book from National Institute on aging promises healthier golden years.(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Studies have shown that starting a regular exercise program can greatly benefit the health and quality of the life of seniors of all ages and fitness levels. Many older adults, however, are either afraid to start exercising or are unsure how to...

Hugh D. Riordan, MD (1932-2005).(Obituary)
February 1, 2005... Hugh D. Riordan, MD, 72, founder and director of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International, Wichita, Kansas died on January 7, 2005. He suddenly collapsed from heart failure while working on the last volume of his...

The great leap forward in marketing alternative health: why alternative health practitioners should do more to educate the public.
February 1, 2005... "What you cannot avoid, welcome," says an old Chinese proverb. The world would be wise to bear that in mind in its dealings with Alternative Health Care. The integration of this model will have a bigger impact on the world health practices than...

Bastyr University.(Shorts)
February 1, 2005... Having completed 25 years of operation, Bastyr University continues to grow and expand. The university now offers undergraduate degrees in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, nutrition, herbal sciences, health psychology, and in exercise science...

Breath control for stress.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Breath control exercises encourage relaxation and stress reduction. Yoga teacher Sandra Summerfield Kozak, MS (Mahasarasvati) has produced BreathSounds, a series of three CDs that provide timed music patterns to support a fixed inhalation and...

CAM on the Internet.(Shorts)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Lillian R. Brazin, MS, AHIP, has written The Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the Internet to help consumers find reliable information. A librarian herself, she has listed and briefly described many sites (primarily North...

CDC survey of CAM use.(Shorts)(complementary and alternative medicine )
February 1, 2005... On May 27, 2004, the CDC National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) issued a report that estimates the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among US adults. The report is based on 31,044 computer-assisted interviews of people...

Carctol.(Shorts)(herbal remedy for cancer treatment)
February 1, 2005... Carctol, an herbal remedy developed by Ayurvedic expert Dr. Nandlal Tiwari (Rajasthan, India), has produced 'astounding results' in cancer patients, according to Dr. Rosy Daniel, former medical director of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre (United...

Heart defects & genetics.(Shorts)
February 1, 2005... Scientists have discovered a single gene (dubbed 'Tinman') that is responsible for heart development before birth and maintenance of the heart's electrical system after birth. This dual function helps to explain why some people with congenital...

Kudzu & alcohol craving.(Shorts)
February 1, 2005... Animal research and empirical experiences indicate that kudzu, in combination with other herbs or nutrients, may reduce alcohol craving. Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) is one of seven Chinese herbs in a Traditional Chinese Medicine formula known as...

National Foundation of Alternative Medicine.(Shorts)
February 1, 2005... Since its founding by former congressman Berkley Bedell in January 1998, the National Foundation of Alternative Medicine (NFAM) has sent medical teams to visit over 110 clinics in 32 countries. Their mission is to locate new, low-cost, safe and...

PET scans for Alzheimer's.(Shorts)(positron emission tomography )
February 1, 2005... Doctors at UCLA, who recently used Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) to identify early-stage Alzheimer's in actor Charlton Heston, are trying to convince Medicare to reconsider its earlier decision to deny coverage for the procedure....

Water.(Shorts)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Nothing has a greater impact on health than the quality of drinking water. As Beatrice Trum Hunter states in her book Water and Your Health, "Water is an essential nutrient for every human being." Yet, people around the world are being exposed...

Interview with Monica Miller, FAIM's legislative affairs consultant, on 2004 bills to minimize due process abuse by the OPMC.(Townsend's New York Observer)(Office of Professional Medical Conduct)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... In January's column, I reported on bills passed by the New York Assembly and Senate late in the 2004 legislative session. Both bills would require the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) to observe due process in dealing with...

Naturopathic physician on her career choice: "no regrets".(Pathways to Healing)
February 1, 2005... When Pamela Snider, ND, was a college student, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. First she majored in religious studies, then psychology, then biology. She volunteered at a women's health clinic. "Each of those fields offered...

When homeopathy is the best of naturopathic medicine: types of patients to consider first; Following in the footsteps of Dr. John Bastyr, quintessential N.D.(Healing with Homeopathy)
February 1, 2005... Naturopathic medicine has many diverse modalities, each of which, in their own right, offer significant potential for healing. There are specific cases, however, in which homeopathic medicine makes the most sense and is likely to be of most...

In god we trust, all others show data: a reply to the NCI director's "challenge vision".(The War on Cancer)(National Cancer Institute)
February 1, 2005... In a 2004 article, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), elaborated on his "challenge vision" for the National Cancer Program of the United States (Eschenbach 2004). Since the NCI has put forward a...

Eradicating Helicobacter pylori with garlic.(Literature Review & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Two hundred-ten patients with Helicobacter pylori infection, as determined by gastric biopsies, were randomly assigned to one of seven treatment groups: 1) standard eradication treatment (lansoprazole, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin for 14...

Well done, wellness undone.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A case-control study was conducted by interviewing 296 patients with colorectal cancer and 597 controls in Cordoba, Argentina, regarding their dietary habits. With respect to meat consumption, a preference for darkly browned meat surfaces was...

Nutritional support for vaccine recipients.(Literature Review & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Twenty-two British adults with relatively low plasma selenium concentrations were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 50 or 100 mcg/day of selenium or placebo for 15 weeks. All subjects received an oral live attenuated...

Vitamin E prevents radiation side effect.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Fifty-four patients with cancer of the oral cavity or oropharynx who were scheduled to undergo radiation therapy were randomly assigned, in double-blind fashion, to rinse their mouth with a solution containing either 400 mg of vitamin E or...

Calcium enhances weight loss.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Thirty-two obese adults were randomly assigned to one of the following diets for 24 weeks: 1) a standard diet containing 400-500 mg per day of calcium, plus a placebo supplement, 2) a standard diet supplemented with 800 mg per day of calcium,...

Loss of smell following use of intranasal zinc.(Literature Review & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... A 55-year-old man with previously normal taste and smell treated a cold with a 2% zinc gluconate spray (Zicam). He noticed immediate burning in the nose, as well as anosmia, and did not use the spray again. Tests of smell function performed 13...

Hibiscus tea for hypertension.(Literature Review & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Ninety patients (aged 30-80 years; mean, 53 years) with untreated mild-to-moderate hypertension were randomly assigned to receive 500 ml of Hibiscus sabdariffa tea once a day before breakfast or 25 mg of captopril twice a day for 4 weeks....

Erratic eating leads to insulin resistance.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Nine lean, healthy women (aged 18-42 years) were randomly assigned to consume their normal diet on six occasions per day or to follow an irregular meal frequency pattern (three to nine meals per day) for two weeks. After a two-week washout...

The best in phytotherapy in 2004: solving the Echinacea puzzle.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
February 1, 2005... The most well-known herbal product for infections is Echinacea. But recently Echinacea has suffered from well-publicized problems with poor product quality and ineffective clinical trials. Perhaps most important of all, the Echinacea market at...

Web page potpourri: links, links, links! A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet.
February 1, 2005... This column focuses on great web pages whose key content is their links to other sites. For those who maintain websites, I also include a few resources for managing links. Note that links pages may also be called portals, hotlists, or...

Low back pain and biofeedback.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
February 1, 2005... Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology describes the unity of mental, neurological, hormonal and immunological functions, addressing the impact of cognitive images of the mind (whatever its elusive definition) on the central nervous, endocrine and...

Dialysis and biofeedback.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Severe hypotension symptoms are not infrequently seen during dialysis due to blood volume shifts. In this study, 157 standard and 158 biofeedback-controlled treatments were compared during two months of treatment of 16 hemodialysis patients....

Congestive heart failure and biofeedback.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Forty congestive heart failure patients were randomized to engage in one session of thermal biofeedback augmented by imagery of hand warming and muscle relaxation or to be conventionally handled controls. In the intervention group mean...

Hypertension and breathing.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Hypertension may respond to slow breathing exercises without changing medication. Seventeen resistant hypertensives practicing device-guided slow breathing for 15 min/d for 8 weeks reduced their office blood pressure 12.9/6.9 mmHg (p ...

Myocardial infarction and depression.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... This paper summarizes at least eight controlled studies confirming the presence of depression in about 19% of post-myocardial infarction patients, which increases their odds ratio for post-MI mortality 6.6-fold, odds for more frequent angina...

Depression and yoga.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... In 28 mildly depressed volunteers age 18-29, Beck Depression Inventory scores fell from 12.8 to 3.9 and Spielberger Anxiety scores from 49.5 to 39.6 in the 13 subjects randomized to Iyengar yoga class 1 hour b.i.w. X 5 weeks vs. 15 controls on...

Longevity and attitudes.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Of 660 individuals age [greater than or equal to]50 (322 women) completing the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR), median survival in those with positive attitudes on aging ("As I get older things are better than I thought...

Longevity and optimism.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Eight hundred forty general medical Mayo Clinic patients, mean age 35, were divided at baseline into optimists (n=124), pessimists (n=197) or mixed (n=518) on the basis of their answers to 298 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory...

Illness and hostility.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Is hostility is a risk factor for other health behaviors (e.g., smoking and excessive alcohol use) and psychosocial health problems? In 251 Latino-Americans age 18-42, based on baseline index in the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, high...

Survival and hostility.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 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...

Hypertension and Qi gong.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Of 58 volunteers, systolic and diastolic blood pressures fell significantly (147 to 131 mmHg and 93 to 87 mmHg, respectively) (p Lee MS, Lee MS, Choi ES, Chung HT. Effects of Qigong on blood pressure, blood pressure determinants and...

Cardiac death and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... There were 23 male cardiac deaths in France on July 12, 1998, the day that the French won the World Soccer Cup championship, vs. a mean of 32.6 for the five days before and after (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.55-0.98). Myocardial infarction male mortality...

Health and temperament.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 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...

Longevity and self-perceptions.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Six hundred sixty subjects >50 years of age were followed up to 23 years after their self-perceptions of aging were determined at baseline. After all adjustments, a more positive self-perception about aging was linked to increased longevity of...

Coronary artery disease and social isolation.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Social isolation has been linked to poor survival in patients with coronary artery disease. In 430 CAD patients, 4-year relative risk for cardiac death was 2.43 (p=.001) and risk for death from any cause was 2.11 in those with [less than or...

Atherosclerosis and meditation.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 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...

Hypertension and meditation.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cardiovascular responses to stress reactivity appear to be a risk factor for hypertension. Baseline ambulatory blood pressure and laboratory cardiovascular reactivity to stress were determined in 39 normotensive men. After 4 months, the...

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and prayer.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
February 1, 2005... In this double-blind controlled trial of distance healing in 40 patients with advanced AIDS, subjects were pair-matched for age, CD[4.sup.+] count and number of AIDS-defining illnesses and randomized to receive either 10 weeks of distance...

Colds & flu and the science behind ColdQuell.(Chinese Medicine Update)
February 1, 2005... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, common cold, influenza, ColdQuell ********** Definition, signs & symptoms, nosology & epidemiology [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A common cold is a self-limiting illness of the...

The naturopathic approach to adrenal dysfunction.(Naturopathic Perspectives)
February 1, 2005... Throughout 'alternative' medical circles many practitioners address the condition known as "adrenal fatigue." Like many other functional medical approaches, the concept of adrenal fatigue is gaining more and more attention, with good reason as...

Detoxification as a primary treatment modality for chronic pain--Part II.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
February 1, 2005... The first article in this series dealt with current understanding of chronic pain and disease mechanisms and accepted treatment modalities. This second and last part discusses current research into pain and inflammation, further explores the...

The anthropology of place: searching for home.(Medical Anthropology)
February 1, 2005... Achieving health is perhaps more than anything else a matter of finding a sustaining environment to call home. However, America and many other industrialized countries are in the midst of a "housing crisis" in which the definition of home for...

Traditional bone broth in modern health and disease.(Best of Naturopathy)
February 1, 2005... Introduction Broth, made from the bones of animals, has been consumed as a source of nourishment for humankind throughout the ages. It is a traditional remedy across cultures for the sick and weak. A classic folk treatment for colds and...

Orthomolecular treatment of anxiety disorders.(Best of Naturopathy)
February 1, 2005... Introduction Anxiety disorders are life altering psychiatric conditions that severely impair the quality of life of those suffering from them. They are the most common psychiatric disorders in the United States, (1) and are characterized...

An in-office evaluation of four dietary supplements on natural killer cell activity.(Best of Naturopathy)
February 1, 2005... Abstract: The natural killer (NK) cell activity blood test is useful in predicting the prognosis of a cancer patient. The purpose of this in-office, nonrandomized open-label trial was to determine whether four different dietary supplements...

"Melatonin, menstruation, and the moon".(Best of Naturopathy)
February 1, 2005... Introduction The relationship between the moon's cycles and menses is so fundamental that the two phenomena are related linguistically. The terms 'moon' and 'menstruation' share the same Latin or Greek root, m-, meaning 'to measure.'...

Epistemology of naturopathic medicine: toward a model of clinical investigation culminating in transformative experience.(Best of Naturopathy)
February 1, 2005... When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature...

School children at increased aspartame risk.(Letters to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: I fully endorse Dr. Roberts' (October 2004) frightening scenario of increasingly dangerous chemicals, such as Aspartame, being used in children's drinks and foodstuffs in an effort to combat obesity. Unfortunately, no alternative...

Aspartame risk.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: In the October 2004 issue, you published yet another letter on aspartame risk by H.J. Roberts. I have read several of his articles carefully and I sent off for his audiotapes about 10 years ago. His evidence in both the tapes and...

Reflections on civil inaction: the need for input about toxic exposure by corporate-neutral physicians.(Letters to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: The unsuccessful legal suit by Jan Schlichtman involving chemical pollution of community water, recounted in the film A Civil Action, warrants related observations believed to have national public health significance. They...

Critique of negative vitamin E study.(Letters to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: On November 10, 2004, Dr. Andrew Hopner of Johns Hopkins Hospital was at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans. He had read a report on vitamin E that was to be published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. He had...

Book needed for Complementary Medicine and Neurology.(Letters to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: I am contacting you to ask if any of your readers might be able to help me. For the past three years, I have been trying to get a book published on Complementary medicine for Neurological Illnesses. The impetus for this book...

Yurko victory.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: I write on behalf of the hundreds of doctors, organizations, parents, professionals and patients that make up the Yurko Project. We extend our great thanks to TLfDP for their courageous coverage over the years of our case. As...

Surviving an "incurable" brain tumor.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: When Cheryl Clark went horseback riding one sunny October afternoon in 1997, little did she know that a time bomb was ticking in her head. As her horse picked up speed, a violent seizure threw the 48-year-old former athlete to the...

Good health and metabolic balance.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: Recently I gave a lecture to a group of about 150 people in Las Vegas. My presentation focused on the idea of treating the person with the disease rather than the disease with the person. A person with disease generally has one or...

Does high-dose vitamin E kill people?(Editorial)(Editorial)
February 1, 2005... A meta-analysis of 19 vitamin E studies, scheduled to be published in January 2005 in The Annals of Internal Medicine, concluded that high-dose vitamin E supplementation (400 IU per day or more) may increase all-cause mortality and should be...

Facilitating dialogue among ourselves.(Guest Editorial)
February 1, 2005... Naturopathic medical students face a practical difficulty. Our favorite doctors and healers are in disagreement with one another. From one we hear that medicine is vital and energy-oriented and requires abstraction. Another assumes a medicine...

A revolutionary clinic design.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Complementary and Alternative Medicine Clinic Design by Robert A. Roush, PhD The Haworth Integrative Healing Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, New York 13904-1580 USA; 800-429-6784 www.haworthpressinc.com Soft/Hard bound, c....

Quantum mechanics as a medical strategy.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Analog Medicine--A Science of Healing by Ronald L. Hamm, DVM AuthorHouse[TM], 1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, Indiana 47403 USA; 888-519-5121; www.AuthorHouse.com Paperback, ISBN 1-4107-1042-4, c. 2003, 377 pp., $19.50...

TM & Criminal Rehabilitation.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Transcendental Meditation in Criminal Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention edited by Charles N. Alexander, Kenneth G. Walton, David Orme-Johnson, Rachel S. Goodman & Nathaniel J. Pallone Haworth Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, New York...

Natural medicine for animals too.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Everyday Homeopathy for Animals by Francis Hunter, MRCVS, VetFFHom Beaconsfield Publishers Ltd., 20 Chiltern Hills Rd., Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 1PL, UK books@beaconsfield-publishers.co.uk Softcover, 2004, [pounds...

Chemicals damage your body, brain, behavior, and sex.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call by Doris Rapp, MD Published by Environmental Medical Research Foundation, P.O. Box 60, Buffalo, New York 14223 USA; 800-787-8780 or www.drrapp.com Quality paperback, 2003, $24.95, 510 pp. Just as...

Hypoadrenia: a causative factor in MCS and impaired enzymatic detoxification.(Quantum Medicine Update)
February 1, 2005... The naturopathic philosophy of reducing toxic body burdens of heavy metals and nonmetallic toxins is critically important for the restoration of good health. However, when key detoxification enzymes are dysfunctional, detoxification strategies...

Prevention of the Iraq War-associated sickness (I-WAS): a prediction and a challenge to the Department of Defense.(Oxygen Homeostasis)(Column)
February 1, 2005... I dedicate this column to the courageous and valiant women and men who fought and/or are fighting the Iraq War. Many of them are sick now. Many more will become sick with passing months, and will remain so for years to come. I predict that a...

Managing repetitive strain injuries with channel-based acumoxa therapy.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
February 1, 2005... Repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and hand, wrist, forearm tendinitis represent 56% of all workers compensation claims in the US at this time. (1) In many acupuncture clinics, hand, wrist, and forearm pain and numbness...

Best of natural herbal/nutritional pain therapies.(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)
February 1, 2005... For this issue on Best Naturopathic Therapies, I have excerpted part of the section on the natural treatment of pain from my new book Pain Free 1-2-3!-A Proven Program to Get You Pain Free (the book and info on our Hawaii February 4-6, 2005...

Ayurvedic science updates.(New Column)
February 1, 2005... Inflammatory Conditions and Ayurvedic Medicine Inflammation is a very normal desired effect in the body. To rid the body of all its ill effects, our body creates inflammation under different situations like infections, toxic exposure,...

Calendar.(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... FEBRUARY 6: THE CLINIC USE OF ANTIMICROBIALS IN YOUR PRACTICE with Dan Sheryl Berman, PhD and Jeff Novack, PhD. CONTACT: Bastyr University CE, 425-602-3075; http://www.bastyr.edu/continuinged FEBRUARY 10: ETHICS AND SPIRITUALITY OF THE...

Naturopathic medicine and women's health: sample treatment plans.(Women's Health Update)
February 1, 2005... Breast Cancer Prevention [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dietary: Olive oil, 1-2 tbsp per day Fish, 2-3 times per week or more Soy foods from a young age Vegetables, especially cabbage family foods Fruits Legumes ...

Dietary influences on learning.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
February 1, 2005... It is most important that the diet be nutritionally adequate, as malnutrition is an obvious cause of learning failure (1) and nutritional deficiencies are surprisingly common--even in affluent families. While consuming an adequate amount of...

Grapefruit seed extract antibiotic activity is due to preservative compounds.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Editor: The ubiquitous and widespread usage of grapefruit seed extract (GSE) within the health food industry, including its use by supposedly knowledgeable practitioners, is an issue of serious concern for me as a herbalist, researcher and...