Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from May 2002

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from May 2002

Letter from the publisher.
May 1, 2002... Arthritis has been the bane of humanity throughout history. Perhaps no other condition is so closely identified with the aging process. Undoubtedly the first herbal medicines were discovered while searching for means to relieve arthritis pain....

First Longevity and Preventive Medicine Symposium sets precedents.
May 1, 2002... January 18-20, 2002, MedQuest Pharmacy presented its first Longevity and Preventive Medicine Symposium (CME Accredited) at the Wyndham Buttes Resort in Tempe, Arizona. The show used scientific medical research, literature and documentation to...

American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine official response statement to February 12, 2002 "silver fleece awards target anti-aging hype". (A4M Responds).
May 1, 2002... (University of Illinois News Release, February 12, 2002) The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) submits the following statement in response to Mr. Olshansky's statements of February 12, 2002. Anti-aging medicine is the...

Dreaming with two feet on the ground: acupuncture in Cuba. (Medicine in Cuba).
May 1, 2002... Imagine if one day all pharmacy shelves went suddenly bare. What if a hospital with 900 beds had only two doses of morphine, antibiotics, and similar doses of anesthetics, steroids, diuretics, plus all the other meds. This is what happened in...

Survey shows most Canadian universities no longer use live animal laboratories in medical school curricula.
May 1, 2002... A recent survey conducted by the international health advocacy organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) shows that 11 of the 16 medical universities in Canada no longer use live animals in their teaching curricula. ...

UConn Health Center researchers looking at novel approach to osteoporosis prevention and treatment.
May 1, 2002... A sleeping mat that creates a natural energy field, and its potential for treating or preventing osteoporosis, is the subject of a clinical trial at the University of Connecticut Health Center. The Health-Mat[TM] is made of hundreds of...

Drug shortage. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Drug shortages have become a chronic problem in the US since the late 1990s. At its 1999 session, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Council on Administrative Affairs (www.ashp.org) noted growing concern about product shortages...

Vibrational frequencies that heal. (Shorts).
May 1, 2002... Scientists at North Carolina's Fauna Communications Research Institute have found that the vibrations of feline purring strengthens and heals the animals' bones and organs. Housecats purr at a frequency of 27 to 44 hertz (cycles per second),...

Mycoplasma experiments. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... When Candace Brown of Huntsville, Texas learned that doctors expected her son to develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, she began looking for a cure. Her 10 year old son was diagnosed with human parvovirus B19 in March 1997, and was given a...

California dental board dismissed. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... On October 5,2001, California Governor Gray Davis signed a bill that dissolved the state's dental board at year's end to be replaced with an entirely new board on January 1,2002. Senate Bill 134, written by the Chair of the Joint Legislative...

Codex Alimentarius Commission. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Since the early 1990s, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has sought restrictions on access to and information about vitamin supplements. In testimony before the House Government Reform Committee on Access to Dietary Supplements, dated March 21,...

Deluxe physician services. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Steven R. Flier and Jordan S. Busch, two respected Boston internists, made the front page of The New York Times on January 15, 2002, with their decision to open up a new kind of medical practice. Like other so-called 'concierge' or 'boutique'...

Mold-resistant steel. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In response to a 'Short' on mold-infested homes (Issue 220, p 18) Megan Licursi, a public relations consultant, emailed us about a new anti-microbial steel, produced by AK Steel. In 1999, AK Steel became the sole manufacturer of flat-rolled...

The National Foundation for Alternative Medicine. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Since its formation four years ago, the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine (NFAM) has sought to identify effective alternative, complementary, and holistic therapies that are now being used in clinics around the world. Although its...

Rimadyl. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The anti-inflammatory drug Rimadyl (carprofen) was originally intended for humans, but developer Roche Laboratories decided that the market in 1988 already had too many similar drugs. The company's decision not to market the drug may also have...

Toxic air near ground zero. (Shorts).(World Trade Center )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Since the devastation of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the EPA has issued many reassurances concerning the safety of air and water quality in lower Manhattan. The agency has run thousands of tests for asbestos, benzene, dioxin,...

Borage seed oil effective against rheumatoid arthritis. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Thirty-seven patients with active rheumatoid arthritis were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 1.4 g/day of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) from borage seed oil or a placebo (cotton seed oil) for 24 weeks. GLA reduced the number...

Niacinamide for osteoarthritis. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Seventy-two patients with osteoarthritis of at least five years' duration who required daily anti-inflammatory medication were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, niacinamide (500 mg six times per day) or placebo for 12...

Journal bashes alternative remedy. (Literature Review & Commentary).(colloidal silver)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The case is presented of a 12-month-old girl who allegedly developed silver toxicity from colloidal silver, which was given to her by her parents in the hope of improving her health. She presented with failure to thrive and anemia. The child...

Eicosapentaenoic acid effective in treatment-resistance depression. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A 21-year-old male with a 7-year history of depression that had failed to respond to pharmacological treatment received 4 g/day of the ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid (>95% purity; supplied as LAX-101; Laxdale Research, Stirling,...

Recurrent kidney stones: Do not restrict dietary calcium. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... One hundred-twenty men with recurrent calcium oxalate kidney stones and hypercalciuria (24 hour urinary calcium greater than 300 mg/day) were randomly assigned to consume one of two diets for five years. One diet contained a normal amount of...

Consider St. John's wort as alternative to kava. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Three patients are reported in whom treatment with St. John's wort (standardized to contain 0.3% hypericin) was effective in the treatment of DSM-IV-defined generalized anxiety disorder. Each patient had failed to respond to previous...

Giving new meaning to the placebo effect. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Fifteen patients (aged 47-85 years) with Alzheimer's disease of moderate severity were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 10 g of lecithin (containing 55% phosphatidyicholine) or placebo 3 times per day for 3 months....

More on quercetin and chronic prostatitis. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In a previous uncontrolled trial reviewed in the Townsend Letter, quercetin was found to relieve symptoms in a large proportion of patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis, chronic non-bacterial prostatitis, and prostatodynia. This...

The war on cancer.
May 1, 2002... SPES and PC SPES Recalled BotanicLab, an herbal product company based in Brea, California, has recalled two of its leading products, SPES and PC SPES, after the California Department of Public Health (CDHS) found the products contaminated...

Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology. (Review and Commentary).
May 1, 2002... Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology is the term describing the unity of mental, neurological, hormonal and immune functions with its many potential applications. PNIE addresses the influence of the cognitive images of the mind (whatever its elusive...

Mycoplasma: Its hidden role in rheumatoid arthritis and other clinical syndromes. (Quantum Medicine Update).
May 1, 2002... Mycoplasma may serve as a cofactor that along with biological and/or chemical stressors can induce cytokines and other immune abnormalities found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The overuse of antibiotics has caused widespread bacterial...

Multiple uses of antibiotics.
May 1, 2002... In the feature article "Intracellular Activity, Potential Clinical Uses of Antibiotics" Robert M. Rakita (ASM News, 64, 570, 1998) discusses the threeway interaction of the pathogens, host defense cells, and antimicrobial agents, especially...

New studies identify foods found to cause pain, swelling and stiffness.
May 1, 2002... The Arthritis Trust of America and The Arthritis Trust of Canada consider this study to be extremely constructive and worthy of attention at every level. We have for many years taught that food allergies, along with Candidiasis and the wrong...

Arthritis.
May 1, 2002... A publication of The Roger Wyburn-Mason and Jack M. Blount Foundation for the Eradication of Rheumatoid Disease, a non-profit, tax-exempt foundation AKA The Rheumatoid Disease Foundation, AKA The Arthritis Trust of America Our Purpose ...

Liquid cartilage extract decreases symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. (Liquid Cartilage for RA).
May 1, 2002... Liquid cartilage extract (LCE) manufactured by means of a specific molecular extraction and enrichment method is anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic, and inhibits matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). These biological activities suggest a...

Willow bark: A high potency extract for pain management. (Phytotherapy Review & Commentary).
May 1, 2002... P.O. Box 713 Warwich QLD 4370 Australia +61 7 4661 0700 Fax +61 7 4661 0788 www.mediherb.com.au FNIMH = Fellow, National Institute of Medical Herbalists (UK) FNHAA = Fellow, National Herbalists Association of...

The nearest thing to a perfect food. (Why Organic Food is Better, part 1).
May 1, 2002... In 1996 when the Townsend Letter published this paper under the title "Eggs are great food!" doctors were still telling patients that eggs are dangerous because of high cholesterol content. Now, six years later, few still chant that dirge....

Natural weight-loss supplements: Are safe alternatives available? (Weight Loss).
May 1, 2002... As the population of the world expands, so too does its waistline. This is especially true for those people in Western, developed countries. Much of the increased obesity is probably due to the concomitant increase in processed food consumption...

Xylitol -- cavity-fighting sweetener a possible solution for osteoporosis.
May 1, 2002... Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar that has a number of unique properties. in addition to being a delicious, low calorie sugar substitute (40% fewer calories than an equivalent amount of table sugar [sucrose]), Xylitol does not cause significant...

Angiogenesis inhibition derived from bindweed herbal extract. (Medical Journalist Report of Innovative Biologics).(VascuStatin from Allergy Research Group)
May 1, 2002... During the summer of 1987, forty-nine year-old Myrna Simone Corbette, a teacher working in the Tulsa, Oklahoma public school system, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Because of the malignancy's metastases to other parts of her body, Ms....

The European alternative to cholesterol blockers. (European Alternative).(artichoke leaf extract)
May 1, 2002... Artichoke Leaf Extract The Jerusalem artichoke (Cynara scolymus), is one of the oldest medicinal plants used as a remedy, dating back to 4th century B.C. Ancient Greeks and Romans utilized the artichoke primarily as a digestive aid. In the...

Nutrients to help fight arthritis!
May 1, 2002... Osteoarthritis is a disease that develops when the linings of joints fail to maintain normal structure. It is the most common form of arthritis, and affects of millions of Americans. Arthritis is commonly treated using nonsteroidal...

Women's Health Risks Associated with Orthodox Medicine.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: Drs. Null, Rasio and Feldman have told us (Women's Health Risks Associated with ORTHODOX MEDICINE, 3 parts, January-April, 2002) that orthodox birth attendants of the second half of the 20th Century have erred considerably. The...

Regards to Dr. Lendon Smith.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: I've just finished dipping into and reading a number of pages of your February/March 2002 issue. Congratulations on the job you have been doing and are doing now. I'm amazed and stand in awe of all of the fantastic and timely...

Help requested to quit smoking.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: My youngest sister would dearly like to quit smoking. She's tried the patch and it gave her a very annoying itch. She tried the gum and it proved yery difficult to remove from her dentures. So, recently she asked me to get her a...

Ear candles not effective.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: I was just reading the letter printed in the current Townsend Letter about ear candles. We used to use ear candles when I was a student at National College of Naturopathic Medicine in the late 1980's. As you say, people like having...

Homeopathy best treatment in pregnancy.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: With respect to Townsend Letter #222 of January 2002 I would like to comment on the "Letter from the Publisher" on page 13 as well as the article "Healing with Homeopathy" on page 26. It is worth noting that the subject is...

DIM versus I3C effect on estrogen metabolism.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: A pseudo controversy concerning Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) and Diindolylmethane (DIM) is being promoted by the Life Extension Foundation in response to an article comparing I3C and DIM in the Aug/Sept. 2001 Townsend Letter. (1) As one...

Alternatives to aspirin for prevention of heart attack and stroke.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: My son-in-law has been to visit me. He is a pharmacist with great knowledge as to what drugs are to be used to treat diseases. I was somewhat taken aback when he told me that he has joined several millions of men in the USA who are...

Politics in medicine.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: Some politicians know the price of everything and the value of nothing. This was evident when Bill M202 was rescinded by British Columbia's new Liberal government and replaced with Bill 33, trashing the rights of both patients and...

Kildare councillors reveal alarmingly high fluoride intake.(Kildare County, Ireland)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: Confirmation that people are overloaded with fluoride has emerged from samples which Kildare councillors recently submitted to a UK fluoride testing laboratory. "Over three quarters of the samples reveal alarmingly high fluoride...

Encouraging news, asthma and allergy medications may not have had "active" medication in them.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: It is difficult to know what is actually going on within the American Medical Complex, because this is an industry that is very large, is overseen by an agency that sponsors its activities, has a great deal of influence with our...

Correction notice: Jawbone cavitations.(Correction Notice)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Editor: Thank you for printing my article, Jawbone Cavitations: Infarction, Infection and Systemic Disease in the April edition of your magazine. I'm happy to have the opportunity to spread the word about jawbone cavitations. However, I...

Are we still burning "witches"?(the case of Andrea Yates)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... Many reasons exist for the failure of modern psychiatry -- mainly the same misplaced reliance on chemical drugs that has changed the practice of medicine in general. However, the failures of psychiatry are not usually in the public eye; in...

License naturopaths.(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... Naturopathic medicine is a small but growing profession in the United States and Canada. Naturopaths are trained at one of five naturopathic medical schools to become primary-care practitioners, albeit with a more restricted scope of practice...

Looking for new solutions.(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... Why do we resist seeking new kinds of solutions when the ones we currently use have such negative effects? And why do we make enemies of those who refuse to follow our own values and choices? An example of the tug-of-war between opposing views...

Learning Natural Medicine from Case Studies.(Case Studies in Natural Medicine)
May 1, 2002... Case Studies in Natural Medicine Melvyn R. Werbach Third Line Press Inc., 4751 Viviana Dr., Tarzana, California 91356 USA; 818-996-0076 www.third-line.com; Email: tlp@third-line.com 2002, hard bound, 412 pp., $49.95; 3-1/2" floppy...

Dietary treatment for over 300 illnesses based on each of the Human Blood Types. (Book Corners).(reviews of: "Eat Right 4 Your Type: Complete Blood Type Encyclopedia" and "The A-Z Reference Guide for the Blood Type Connection to Symptoms, Disease, Conditions, Vitamins, Supplements, Herbs and Food")
May 1, 2002... Eat Right 4 Your Type -- Complete Blood Type Encyclopedia The A-Z Reference Guide for the Blood Type Connection to Symptoms, Disease, Conditions, Vitamins, Supplements, Herbs and Food Peter J. D'Adamo, ND, with medical journalist...

Nutritional science & weight loss.(Fat Flush Plan)
May 1, 2002... The Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman McGraw-Hill, January 2002, 288 pp, hardcover, ISBN 0-07-138383-2 $21.95 -- order through Barnes & Noble, www.amazon.com or by calling 800-888-4353 Let's not mince words: Ann Louise...

Self-Help for Arthritis.(Preventing and Reversing Arthritis Naturally)
May 1, 2002... Preventing and Reversing Arthritis Naturally by Raquel Martin and Karen J. Romano, RN, DC Healing Arts Press, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767 USA; www.InnerTraditions.com Softcover, 2000, $14.95, 260pp. There's been...

Arthritis: The Great Crippler. (Book Corners).(review of "Preventing Arthritis")
May 1, 2002... Preventing Arthritis by Ronald M. Lawrence, MD, PhD and Martin Zucker G.P. Putnam's Sons, 375 Hudson St., New York, New York 10014 USA 2001, Hardcover, $22.95 US/$33.99 Canada, 286pp. Degenerative joint disease, or...

All about Candida Albicans. (Book Corners).(reviews of: "Tired -- So Tired!," "The Yeast Connection," and "Yeast Connection Success Stories")
May 1, 2002... Tired -- So Tired! and the Yeast Connection by William G. Crook, MD, Foreword by Bernard Rimland, PhD Professional Books, P.O. Box 3246, Jackson, Tennessee 38303 USA Quality paperback, 384 pages, black & white drawings, $15.95 ...

AIDS and Complementary Alternative Therapy. (Book Notice).
May 1, 2002... Leanna Standish, ND, PhD, LAc, Senior Research Scientist at Bastyr University's Research Institute, is co-editor of a new book from Harcourt International about treating AIDS with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). AIDS and...

The cultural creative and other faces of holism: Interview with Stefani Quane, holistic attorney. (Faces of Holism).
May 1, 2002... Stefani Quane is an innovative attorney at law - originally from Boise, Idaho, now living in Seattle, Washington - and one of the founders of a new and growing movement called "holistic law." Her personal vision is bringing "ritual and...

Out on a limb cases we never would have gotten without the "new" homeopathic thinking. (Healing with Homeopathy).
May 1, 2002... As presented at the annual conference of the National Center for Homeopathy in Phoenix, Arizona on April 13, 2002 Audiotapes available through the National Center What is New in Homeopathy? Funny how things change. Several years ago we...

Ethnomedicine for arthritis. (Medical Anthropology).
May 1, 2002... Arthritis is a disease that has plagued humans for millennia. Yet, because it leaves very clear marks on the skeletal system, anthro-pologists have been able to trace its occurrence to fundamental shifts in lifestyle that began thousands of...

The treatment of sinus tachycardia as a result of antipsychotic drugs with Chinese Medicine. (Chinese Medicine Update).
May 1, 2002... Keywords: Sinus tachycradia, antipsychotic drugs, Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan Liang Xiao-chi of the Guangdong Maoming Municipal Hospital for the Prevention & Treatment of Chronic Diseases recently...

Support-group therapy enhances quality of life for breast cancer survivors. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... In 1989, a land-mark research study reported that 50 women with metastatic breast cancer, who met weekly in 90 minute support groups for one year that encourage women to express their feelings and concerns about their illness, prolonged their...

Postmenopausal HRT and uterine fibroids. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... Many practitioners withhold recommending HRT or natural HRT to postmenopausal women with fibroids because of concern that it might stimulate fibroid growth. This study assessed the uterine fibroid size and bleeding patterns in 35 women with...

Too much exercise may be problematic for bone health. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... Advising our patients to exercise more is fundamental to the practice of preventive medicine. For perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, our advice has even more meaning in order to prevent osteoporosis. In this study, researchers compared...

Walking and cognition. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... The cognitive performance in 5,925 women 65 years and older were recruited for the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Cognitive decline was defined as a drop of three points or more in the Mini-Mental State Examination. Physical activity was...

Caffeine and Parkinson's. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... For most alternative practitioners, recommending a reduction in caffeine intake is one of the first lifestyle changes we would make. However, there are numerous potential benefits and offering a protective effect against Parkinson's may be one...

Red clover and hot flashes. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... In a poster session at the recent national conference for the North American Menopause Society in September of 2001, a study from the Netherlands was presented using an 80 mg standardized extract of red clover for the treatment of hot flushes....

Black cohosh for hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... Eighty-five patients who had completed their primary treatment for breast cancer were randomly assigned to black cohosh extract or placebo. Fifty-nine were on tamoxifen and 26 not on tamoxifen. Patients were asked to take one 20 mg tablet twice...

Propolis ointment for genital herpes. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... Forty-six men and forty-four women aged 18-69 with recurrent genital herpes simplex virus type 2, participated in a single-blind, randomized controlled multi-center trial. Patients were treated during an active outbreak with either a 3%...

Smoking during pregnancy and infant colic. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been found to increase the risk of colic in infants, which can then make the baby cranky. Among infants whose mothers smoke 15 or more cigarettes daily during their pregnancy, the risk of infant colic can...

Physical activity and coronary heart disease. (Women's Health Update).
May 1, 2002... This study was undertaken to evaluate the association of intensity or length of activity to coronary heart disease. The study population included 39,372 women aged 45 or older. The women were enrolled between 1992 and 1995 with a follow-up...

A diet for rheumatoid arthritis. (Nutritional Influences on Illness).
May 1, 2002... Malnutrition Malnutrition may be found in up to three-quarters of patients. (1) This is believed to be primarily due to abnormal nutrient absorption and metabolism rather than to inadequate intake, as their nutritional status correlates...

Calendar.
May 1, 2002... MAY 2-4: SCIENCE AND MIND/BODY MEDICINE - Exploring the Paradigms of Mind/Body Interactions @ the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Presented by Harvard Medical School Mind/Body Medical Institute & Caregroup, Beth Israel Deaconess...