Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from June 2005

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from June 2005

Letter from the publisher.(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... Watching documentaries on television is not my first choice for diversion on a Saturday evening, but I did catch one making the rounds on cable and at the video store. With the catchy title, "Supersize Me" I expected something either promoting...

Maitake Products, Inc. named corporate cancer research sponsor of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Maitake Products, Inc. (MPI) was recently named a corporate cancer research sponsor of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The awarding of this honor reflects the support that MPI is giving to the renowned cancer...

Whitaker sues FDA for refusal to warn statin users of drug risks.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... On March 4, 2005 Julian M. Whitaker, MD, sued FDA in the US District Court for the District of Columbia for refusing to change the warning labels on all statin drugs to inform healthcare practitioners and consumers that those drugs deplete...

Metagenics nutritional supplements help Sri Lankan Tsunami Victims.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Metagenics, Inc. has announced that it has made a substantial in-kind donation of nutritional products to aid Sri Lankan victims of the Asian Tsunami. "Metagenics' products have helped us save lives," said Jeannette de Langis, RN, a...

Drugs that promote tooth decay.(Shorts)
June 1, 2005... Dry mouth is more than an uncomfortable condition; lack of saliva contributes to tooth decay. In a news release from the University of Rochester Medical Center, Gene Watson, DDS, PhD, director of the Salivary Dysfunction Center, says: "Our...

Reducing malpractice lawsuits.(Shorts)
June 1, 2005... In an attempt to control medical malpractice cost, many states are passing laws that limit the amount awarded for pain and suffering. These limits have made it more difficult for low-income victims of malpractice to file a lawsuit, according to...

Periodontal disease & premature delivery.(Shorts)
June 1, 2005... An article in Lifelines by Mickey Emmons Wener and Salme E. Lavigne discusses the growing evidence that periodontal disease may contribute to premature births. Gram-negative microbes associated with periodontal infection contain...

Predicting cavities.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Researchers at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry have developed a saliva test that can predict how many cavities a child will get and which teeth are most likely to be affected. The Caries Assessment and Risk Evaluation...

Milk.(Shorts)(benefits of raw milk vs. pasteurized milk)
June 1, 2005... After World War II, mechanized dairy farming, which uses warehoused cows and pasteurization, was promoted over small farms where cows ate grass and were milked by hand. The result is "one of the most highly processed foods that you can...

Weston Price.(Shorts)("Nutrition and Physical Degeneration")
June 1, 2005... Early in the 20th century, Weston A. Price, DDS, became concerned by the high incidence of tooth decay and narrowed dental arch and facial structure that was becoming increasingly prevalent in the US. During the 1920s and '30s, he and his wife...

Teeth whiteners.(Shorts)(association between these products and cancer)
June 1, 2005... The increasing use of teeth-whitening products may be implicated in oral cancers among young adults. Bruce Davidson, MD, FACS, raised the question of a possible association between these products and cancer at the 6th International Conference...

The war on cancer.
June 1, 2005... Provenge for Prostate Cancer Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers. Each year in the US, around 230,000 men are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and 30,000 die of the disease. A new form of immune therapy has shown a...

Cell phone controversy.(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
June 1, 2005... Prolific world-wide use of cell phones in the past decade, and more recently, wireless internet service, are among the latest technological advances being promoted by the telecommunications industry, which began to take off during World War II....

Folic acid mouthwash for gingivitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Thirty dental students and auxiliary personnel (aged 21-32 years) were randomly assigned, in double-blind fashion, to rinse their mouths for 5 minutes twice a day with 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of either a 0.1% folic acid solution or placebo solution....

Canker sores and toothpaste.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Ten patients with recurrent oral aphthous ulcers (canker sores) were randomly assigned, in double-blind fashion, to use one of two different toothpastes for three months, and then the alternate toothpaste for an additional three months. The...

Fluoride toothpaste: a cause of perioral dermatitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Of approximately 65 patients with treatment-refractory acne-like perioral dermatitis, all had been using toothpaste containing fluoride. When these patients were switched to non-fluoridated toothpaste, about half had a clearance of their...

Rescuing children from a pre-carious situation.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... One hundred ninety-five women with high salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans (the bacterium associated with dental caries) were randomly assigned to chew xylitol gum (n = 120), or to receive treatment with chlorhexidine varnish (n = 32) or...

Strontium and dental caries.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Strontium is present in bones and teeth and is thought to replace a small fraction of the calcium in the hydroxyapatite crystal during mineralization. Epidemiologic studies have shown that the incidence of caries in areas with optimal...

Tea catechins reduce body fat.(Literature Review & Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Thirty-eight healthy Japanese men (aged 24-46 years) whose body weight was normal to overweight were divided into two groups with similar body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference distributions. The groups were assigned to consume, in...

Potassium inhibits platelet aggregation.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Thirty-nine healthy men and women supplemented their usual diet with 60 mmol of potassium chloride (about 2.3 g of potassium) per 70 kg of body weight per day for 3 days, while 35 others maintained their usual potassium intake. Potassium...

The treatment of periodontal disease with Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
June 1, 2005... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, stomatology, dentistry, periodontal disease ********** This article is abstracted and condensed from The Treatment of Modern Western Medical Diseases with Chinese...

Medicinal properties of natural nutrients and extracts that favor oral health.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
June 1, 2005... "Functional foods," "nutraceuticals," "designer foods" and "medicinal foods" are terms that describe properties above and beyond the simple nutritive value of many items available in the daily menu. Researchers, healthcare practitioners,...

Acupuncturist finds profession more than she expected.(Pathways to Healing)
June 1, 2005... In the early 80s, Patricia Culliton decided to quit her job, travel to Asia and study Oriental Medicine. She had a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling, and she'd spent ten years as a state mental health counselor in Colorado. Since she...

Phytotherapy for periodontal disease and improved oral hygiene.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Historical Context There is a long and venerable history of the use of plants to improve dental health and promote oral hygiene. This was highlighted in an excellent, but now dated, review by Lewis and Elvin-Lewis, the former being a...

Stress.(Web Page Potpourri)
June 1, 2005... There is a certain irony in writing about web pages related to stress, because sitting in front of a computer may not be the best stress antidote. Nevertheless, I think these resources will prove to be both interesting and useful. Managing...

Natural medicines and oral health: a look at the literature.(Naturopathic Perspectives)
June 1, 2005... The Dentists have it right. In fact, one could consider them to have the preventive medical concept down to a science. We are encouraged to visit the dentist every 6 months for a professional cleaning and general checkup that may often include...

Two exemplary tales of medical license suspensions vigorously opposed and overturned.(Townsend's New York Observer)
June 1, 2005... My recent Townsend columns about the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC), the New York agency that disciplines MDs for substandard practice, have been short on good news. There was one thoroughly positive development: two bills to...

Drug-supplement interactions: a counter-offensive.
June 1, 2005... Interactions between nutritional supplements and drugs are an important frontier in nutritional medicine. If nutritionally-oriented health practitioners do not establish their authority over that frontier, control of it will be taken by those...

Oral health is critical to total health.
June 1, 2005... In your mouth, teeth and gums are an agent in maintaining a healthy body. Alternative medical professionals have long understood that an unhealthy mouth will wreak havoc on the rest of the body. Conventional Research The link between...

New therapy allows predictable resolution of TMJ, Fibromyalgia and other related conditions.
June 1, 2005... Introduction There is confusion and a lack of clarity surrounding TMJ problems. What causes these problems? How do you diagnosis it? What can you do about it? Why do people with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and other conditions also have...

Dr. Klenner's protocol for MS.(Letters to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... Editor: I want to thank you for the May 2003 article on MS and all the medical expertise offered. I think this man is a genius! My Mother has Secondary Progressive MS, lives in a nursing home and is only 56 years old. She...

Hyperbaric oxygen for stroke.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... Editor: This is a personal story about my 53 year-old daughter, Pamela. First she had surgery for the removal of two benign tumors in the peritoneum in May of 2003. She had a siezure two days following surgery that acted like a...

American style dying: hey, Immortal one, your time has come! There is nothing to fear. Cling only to the freedom of peace and compassion. So says the Bardo Thodol (the Tibetan Book of the Dead).(Editorials)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... As I listened to the news of one woman's dying and the growing circus-like atmosphere around her, I looked through a new book, The American Book of Dying. The contrast between the history and wisdom of our ancestors as they approached death and...

Pricing health care back into the market.(Editorials)(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... Recently my daughter cut her foot on a piece of glass. It was borderline whether or not she would need stitches, so we took her to the local emergency room for evaluation. The ER doc ran his finger across the cut and, satisfied that there was...

An introduction to Western liquid herbs.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... A Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs by Kerry Bone Churchill Livingstone, an imprint of Elsevier; www.elsevierhealth.com Hardbound; ISBN 0-443-06632-9; c. 2003; 532 pp; $54.95 (US) Australian herbalist Kerry Bone, founder...

Preventive medicine for the 21st century.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... The New Detox Diet: the Complete Guide for Lifelong Vitality with Recipes, Menus, & Detox Plans by Elson M. Haas, MD, The Detox Doc[TM], with Daniella Chace, MS,CN Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley, California 94707 USA;...

The wisdom of our cells.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... Cellular Wisdom: Decoding the Body's Secret Language by Joan C. King, PhD Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley, California 94707 USA Hardbound, 2004, $24.95, 270 pp. The search for spiritual fulfillment has literally sent...

Of metalicized mouths, mycotoxicosis, and oxygen.(Oxygen Homeostasis)
June 1, 2005... At the energetic-molecular level, the boundary between health and the state of absence of health is marked by oxidosis, acidosis, and dysoxygenosis (dysox). (1-4) Microbial toxins and mercury are the most potent and common inciters of those...

Treating infections without antibiotics.(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)
June 1, 2005... Many people do not realize how many things they can do before resorting to using an antibiotic to clear an infection. If you feel you are coming down with a respiratory infection such as a cold or the flu, I recommend that you try the...

Gingival health and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... In 52 medical student volunteers taking a major examination, severe deterioration in gingival health from baseline examination 4 weeks before to the examination at test time, was more frequent in the exam students compared to 26 control...

Stress and aging.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... 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 process....

Depression and immunity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... The role of cytokines in depression was first elucidated when the cytokine interferon resulted in "sickness behavior," symptoms of which are similar to those of major depression. Depression is associated with an increase in pro-inflammatory...

Stress and cytokines.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Several recent studies have shown that stress markedly delays wound healing. In 36 women (mean age 57), those with higher perceived stress scores demonstrated significantly lower levels of two key proinflammatory cytokines--interleukin 1[alpha]...

Stress and immunity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Sixteen final-year psychology undergraduate students about to take their final examinations and fourteen controls from research and administrative staff with a similar age distribution were randomly recruited to complete the 30-item Recent...

More stress and immunity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... The cell adhesion molecule, L-selectin (CD62L), serves a crucial role in the migration of naive T lymphocytes and is typically shed on cell activation. Twenty Alzheimer's caregivers, mean age 74, had their lymphocytes and catecholamine levels...

More and more stress and immunity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Ninety-five randomly selected 18 year-olds from a pool of 583 consenting first-year West Point cadets had blood drawn at registration into the academy program, at the end of the first 6 weeks of cadet basic training, following winter holidays...

Stress, immunity and adrenal response.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... Review: Corticosteroids play an important role in trafficking of immune cells. Glucocorticoid-induced shifts include changes in absolute numbers of white blood cells, with a marked increase in neutrophils, marked decrease in eosinophils,...

Stress, grief and immunity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... The stressful life-change events provoking grief reactions and depression significantly decrease the response of certain immune elements including the natural killer (NK) cell population. In laboratory rats, immunization with a variety of...

Stress, immunity, inflammation and interleukin-6.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review and Commentary)
June 1, 2005... In 211 middle-aged men and women undertaking short-term stressful tasks, NK cell counts increased and were positively associated with heart rate variability responses independent of age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking, and change in...

Dental disease--dental or medical.(Holistic Marketing)
June 1, 2005... There is nothing that people hate as much as going to the dentist. "It's nothing personal," they used to tell me. The baggage people carried with them about their real or perceived dental experiences could keep all the psychiatrists and...

Treating diseases of the teeth and mouth with acupuncture.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
June 1, 2005... Key Words: acupuncture, tooth diseases, mouth diseases ********** Acupuncture can be effective as a main or adjunctive therapy for many types of conditions affecting either the teeth or the mouth. However, I have been unable to find...

Homeopathic treatment of acute dental conditions.(Healing with Homeopathy)
June 1, 2005... Homeopathy: An Effective Addition to Dental Care [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We have been in homeopathic practice now for over 20 years. We remember the first time we attended a conference of the International Foundation for Homeopathy, a...

Dental evolution.(Medical Anthropology)
June 1, 2005... Human teeth are indicators for a variety of characteristics from body size, disease, stress, nutritional status, climate, age, eating behavior, cause and time of death, and evolution. They are also strongly tied to culture and as part of facial...

Calendar.(seminars, meetings and conferences of health care industry)(Calendar)
June 1, 2005... MAY 21: BIOTICS PRODUCT REVIEW SEMINAR in Olympia, Washington. Gray L. Graham presents an overview and clinical applications of the Biotics Research products. Enhance your practice and clinical results by mastering your product line! CONTACT:...

Oral health issues and women's health.(Women's Health Update)
June 1, 2005... We are familiar with many different health issues that are common to both men and women, that can manifest more often in women and differently in women. Osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia, migraines, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular...

Nutritional influences on periodontal disease.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
June 1, 2005... Sugar Sugar intake increases plaque accumulation while decreasing chemotaxis and phagocytosis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. (1) For example, in a double-blind study, 21 dental students consumed a 75 gram glucose drink 3 times daily,...