Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from October 2002

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from October 2002

Letter from the publisher.
October 1, 2002... A while back we planned our editorial calendar for 2002 and October's theme was to focus on eye and ear health. When we offered these choices to our columnists nearly every one selected eye disease and natural medicine; Kerry Bone, alone, opted...

Fish and fish oil supplements help you see better.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Do the types of fats and oils we consume have an influence on how well we see as we age? An epidemiological research completed recently in Australia and published in Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that the incidence of age related macular...

Survey of doctors' experience of patients using the Internet.
October 1, 2002... Background: There have been many studies showing the variable quality of Internet health information and it has often been assumed that patients will blindly follow this and frequently come to harm. There have also been reports of problems for...

George Mateljan, founder of Health Valley Foods, launches unique website.
October 1, 2002... The George Mateljan Foundation interactive website, www.whfoods.com, launched in April provides reliable, scientifically accurate information to make eating the world's healthiest foods easy, convenient, and enjoyable. George Mateljan,...

Son honors lessons learned from mentally Ill father: in memory of my father.
October 1, 2002... On March 23,2002, my father, William Marshall Stradford, unexpectedly slumped in his chair and passed away. It was the end of an unfortunate life. My dad, a St. Louis resident, was the old, toothless man you would see sitting in cheap...

Eye MDs discuss new possibilities for the prevention and treatment of blindness.
October 1, 2002... Eye MDs (ophthalmologists) and researchers gathering in New Orleans for the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology looked into the future for potential therapies to prevent and even cure blindness. The nutritional...

Study focuses on vitamin E's role in reducing effects of neuro-degenerative diseases.
October 1, 2002... The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just decided to award in excess of a million dollars to investigate how a member of the vitamin E family--alpha-tocotrienol--helps...

Glaucoma & H. pylori infection. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... According to an article by Aaron W. Jensen, PhD, published in LIFE Enhancement (September 2002), researchers have found a link between the presence of Helicobacter pylon in the gastrointestinal tract and the occurrence of open-angle glaucoma....

Macular degeneration. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Macular degeneration is a condition in which the macula, a place near the center of the retina with the greatest visual acuity, begins to deteriorate. In Women's Health Letter, Nan Kathryn Fuchs, PhD suggests ways to prevent or retard the...

Eye drugs. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... A set of new drugs apparently stop and even reverse sight loss due to the aggressive, but less common, wet form of macular degeneration, according to an article in Durham's The Herald-Sun (July 2, 2002). The drugs are also helpful for diabetic...

Hearing loss risk factors. (Shorts).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... According to the National Institute of Aging, an estimated 35% of persons between the ages 65 and 74 have significant hearing loss. Factors that contribute to the risk of hearing loss include exposure to noise, smoking, ototoxic drugs,...

Hereditary hearing loss. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... About 1 in 1000 infants are born with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, according to an article in Audiology HealthCare News (Autumn 2001). About half of these children inherit the condition from their parents, who may or may not...

Laser eye surgery. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... A study led by refractive surgeon Lisa Battat, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine, has found that severely dry eyes can be a permanent consequence of Lasik surgery. Lasik surgery, which is used to correct...

Cochlear implants. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... Cochlear implants are prosthetic devices that take the place of damaged or missing hair cells in the inner ear (cochlea). These hair cells convert sound energy into electrical impulses that travel to the hearing and speech portion of the brain....

Insulin resistance & periodontal disease. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... Researchers from the University of Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine announced the results of a study linking insulin resistance and periodontal disease at the annual meeting of the International Association for Dental Research (April 8,...

Atherosclerosis risk & retinal arteriolar narrowing. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... In a study published in JAMA (March 6, 2002), researchers tested the hypothesis that "microvascular disease may explain the gender differences that have been observed in the development of myocardial ischemia and coronary heart disease." The...

Cloned pets. (Shorts).
October 1, 2002... Pet cloning is the newest multi-million-dollar genetic engineering business. Buoyed by surveys that suggest that one out often pet owners would like a cloned replica of a beloved pet, companies such as Lazaron, PerPETuate, and Genetic Savings &...

Caffeine may worsen glaucoma. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Six patients with normotensive glaucoma and 22 with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) who were not receiving anti-glaucoma medication were randomly assigned to consume 200 ml of regular coffee (containing 180 mg of caffeine) or decaffeinated...

Zinc and antioxidants slow progression of macular degeneration. (Literature Review & Commentary).
October 1, 2002... Some 3,640 individuals (aged 55-80 years) with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, daily tablets containing: 1) antioxidants (vitamin C 500 mg; vitamin E 400 IU; and beta-carotene...

Vitamin B12 for tinnitus. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Alan R. Gaby One hundred thirteen army personnel (mean age, 39 years) with occupational noise exposure were studied. Chronic tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) were present in 57 cases; in 47% of those, blood levels of vitamin...

Iron depletion may improve insulin sensitivity. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Insulin sensitivity (as determined by insulin-mediated glucose disposal) was significantly greater in 30 lean vegetarians (mean age, 41 years) than in healthy meat eaters (mean age, 40 years). In addition, vegetarians had a significantly lower...

Topical peppermint oil relieves postherpetic neuralgia. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... A 76-year-old woman had a 3-year-history of postherpetic neuralgia affecting the right breast and inner aspect of the upper arm. She had failed to respond to amitriptyline, carbamazepine, gabapentin, topical anesthetics, intravenous lidocaine,...

Smart suckers. (Literature Review & Commentary).(breastfeeding linked to intelligence)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... A group of 973 men and women and another group of 2280 men, all born in Copenhagen, Denmark, between October 1959 and December 1961, were studied prospectively. Intelligence was assessed, using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) at a...

Put the lime in the cocoa. (Literature Review & Commentary).(vitamin C deficiency)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Twelve patients (aged 46-90 years; mean, 78 years) were identified on a surgical service over a 12-month period who suffered diffuse hemorrhage in the face of normal coagulation parameters and a plasma ascorbic acid level less than 0.6 mg/dl...

Omega-3 fatty acids for epilepsy. (Literature Review & Commentary).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Five severely retarded patients (aged 12-26 years) with more than 3-4 grand mal seizures per month despite treatment with two or more anticonvulsants received 5 g/day of a bread spread at breakfast for six months. The spread contained 65%...

Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology review and commentary.
October 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...

The war on cancer.
October 1, 2002... FDAApproves Test of Traditional Chinese Medicine The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a clinical trial of Kanglaite, a drug derived from an herb used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TOM). The source of the drug is a...

Television watching and health in Brazil. (Medical Anthropology).
October 1, 2002... Today, television watching, perhaps more than any other media, affects health. We do not realize it but we see the world differently because of television. We demand fast cuts, action, and idealized versions of reality that the real world does...

Ginkgo and ear disorders. (Phytotherapy Review & Commentary).
October 1, 2002... Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) is the most clinically-tested herbal therapy for disorders involving the ear. However, results from clinical trials have not always been consistent. This article reviews the available clinical trials under the...

Emerging clinical science of bifunctional support for detoxification.
October 1, 2002... An enormous amount of research literature associating toxin exposure to disease has been published, and current estimates suggest that between $568 and $793 billion dollars is spent in the U.S. and Canada every year on toxicity-related diseases...

Highly effective treatment of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome--results of a placebo controlled study and how to apply the protocol.
October 1, 2002... Background: Hypothalamic dysfunction has been suggested in Fibromyalgia (FMS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). This dysfunction may result in disordered sleep, subclinical hormonal deficiencies, and immunologic changes. Our previously...

Vision disorders.
October 1, 2002... Excerpted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition by Burton Goldberg, copyright [c]2002 by AlternativeMedicine.com. Reprinted by permission of Celestial Arts. To order, go to www.alternativemedicine.com or call...

Initial results of microcurrent stimulation in the treatment of age related macular degeneration.
October 1, 2002... Macular Degeneration -- An Epidemic Macular Degeneration is an epidemic affecting over 13 million Americans and is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries. The Senate Appropriations Committee of the United States Congress has...

Pleo Muc Eye Drops: a product worthy of a second look.
October 1, 2002... The power of sight is a most remarkable sense. Given the immense complexity of the eye and its many structures, this is one area of the body that requires the utmost in attentive healthcare. Maintaining overall health can go a long way to...

Gulf War, Chronic Fatigue, and the Miotic Syndromes.
October 1, 2002... Abstract The mystery of the cause of Gulf War and Chronic Fatigue Syndromes/ Fibromylagia is explored. The remarkably similar relationship to systemic symptoms of Miotics. Speculation on the relationship between visual stress and the...

Standardized butterbur extract Petadolex[R]--herbal approach to migraine prophylaxis.
October 1, 2002... The development of a standardized extract of the rhizome of butterbur (Petasites hybridus) has led to a new clinical approach to the management of migraine headache. Two clinical trials with a standardized CO2 extract (Petadolex[R], Weber &...

Beyond insulin resistance and syndrome X: the oxidative-dysoxygenative insulin dysfunction (ODID) model--Part II.
October 1, 2002... Nitric Oxide Dynamics and ODID Reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce production of reactive nitrogen species (RNS). RNS, in turn, stimulate the generation of reactive oxygen species. The feedback loops provided by ROS-RNS dynamics feed the...

August/September corrections. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Our article, Life at the Cell and Below Cell Level, a book review of Gilbert Ling, PhD work, in the August/ September issue was well reproduced except for one problem that has somewhat embarrassed me. Although the disc I sent you contained my...

A British Columbia physician's right to prescribe natural thyroid hormone. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Dr. David Deny was in BC Supreme Court in Victoria, British Columbia, June 24th & 25th 2002. The Judged ordered the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons to have an open investigation with media present regarding Dr....

Other kinesiology techniques effective. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Steven Rochlitz, a brilliant academician/healer, cuts down all applied kinesiology systems of allergy elimination except his own in one wide swing (On 'Allergy Elimination' and So-Called Permanent Kinesiological 'Cures' -- Towards...

'Staking a claim to good health' an update on FDA's agenda to control Dietary Supplements. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: In an apparent change of regulatory tactics for Dietary Supplements, Joseph Levitt, Director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) announced the 2002 CFSAN Program Priorities in a videotaped presentation...

Natural products reduce plasma VEGF in cancer patients. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Angiogenesis plays a significant role in tumor growth and metastasis. New blood vessels that develop locally as a result of angiogenic signaling allow for tumor growth by transporting nutrients and metabolic waste. Tumors cannot...

Breast cancer. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: This year we will see about 46,000 deaths from breast cancer It should be possible to reduce this death toll by 90%. The thinking today is that the primary cause of breast cancer is estrogen. I have maintained a 30-year...

Macular degeneration and glutathione revisited. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Further understanding regarding improvement of macular degeneration with glutathione has occurred since Townsend Letter's June 2001 article about this subject. Thanks to its wide circulation we have received many calls from all...

Chocolate: Food for the Gods. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Ralph W. Moss, PhD writes in the Townsend Letter in his June 2002 column "The War on Cancer" in "Chocolate: Food for the Gods" (page 33) that "[c]ocoa butter is mainly stearic triglyceride..." Dr. Moss has been given incorrect...

Jerusalem versus globe artichoke. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: I started reading one of your articles in the May issue (p. 94) which began by saying "The Jerusalem artichoke is one of the oldest medicinal plants used as a remedy, dating back to 4th Century BC." That made me smile and heartily...

HRT and alternatives. (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: In case you want or need more ammunition, my book Natural Therapies for Menopause (Keats Publishing, 2001) actually lists 200 reasons why women should not take HRT. Subsequent to writing the book I found three more reasons. More...

"A cure for vertigo, phobias, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and car sickness: correcting inner ear dysfunction with a new applied kinesiological method". (Letters to the Editor).
October 1, 2002... Editor: Liddy is a 36 year-old business woman and active mother of two. She had suffered from severe attacks of incapacitating vertigo for over 20 years, two or three times a month. She also had frequent, less severe dizzy spells occurring...

Grand mal(practice). (Guest Editorial).
October 1, 2002... There it was, in an article in black and white, on page 3129 of the June 19, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), unequivocally stating: "We recommend that all adults take one multivitamin daily. This practice...

Today's unconventional conflicts call for unconventional solutions. (Editorials).
October 1, 2002... Years ago as a newsman in the Middle Bast, I vividly recall a Tel Aviv press conference given by a top Israeli intelligence officer in the wake of several bloody terrorist attacks. In answer to a question, the officer said that Israeli...

Virtual reality and the Supreme Court: real children at risk. (Editorials).
October 1, 2002... This past Spring the Supreme Court threw out a federal law banning "virtual" child pornography, ruling that "the First Amendment should be presumed to protect pornography that records no crime and creates no victims by its production."...

Conventional medicine's failed point of view. (Editorials).
October 1, 2002... The second week of July was embarrassing for conventional medicine. During that week, two major stories hit the media showing that two of medicine's sacred cows had been revealed as bull. One report involved a study in the New England Journal...

Natural Therapy for a Natural Process. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... The Estrogen Alternative: Natural Hormone Therapy with Botanical Progesterone by Raquel Martin with Judi Gerstung, DC Healing Arts Press, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767 USA; www.InnerTraditions.com Softcover, 2000, $14.95, 274...

Holistic Eye Care. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... The Eye Care Revolution by Robert Abel, Jr., MD Kensington Publishing Corp., 850 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022 USA Softbound, ISBN 1-57566-372-4, 1999, pp. 453, $16.00 ($21.00 Can) Because eye care has been regulated...

You Don't Have to Suffer. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... Headache Survival by Robert S. Ivker, DO with Todd Nelson, ND Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 USA; www.penguinputnam.com Softbound, ISBN 1-58542-141-3, 2002, 288 PP., $14.95 ($21.99 CAN) ...

Mistletoe Extracts & Cancer Therapy. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... Iscador by Robert W. Gorter, MD Quality paperback, color illustrations, sources, references, 82 pages, 1998 Order from FONMUNA, P.O. Box 257, Congers, New York 10920 USA; 914-268-2764, $14 (includes postage) In Iscador, Dr....

How to Feel Good Without Drugs. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... Natural Highs: Supplements, Nutrition, and Mind/Body Techniques to Help You Feel Good All the Time By Hyla Cass, MD, and Patrick Hal ford New York, Avery, 2002, $24.95 In her two previous books, Hyla Cass reviewed the benefits of...

Personal Power. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... Shape Up! The 8-week program to transform your body, your health, and your life by Jonny Bowden, MA, CNS Perseus Publishing, New York, Hardcover, $25.00, 242 pp. Jonny Bowden is a nutritionist, personal trainer and internet...

Recognizing Acute Pesticide Poisoning. (Book Corners).
October 1, 2002... Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings by J. Routt Reigart, MD and James R. Roberts, MD, MPH, eds. Quality oversized paperback, 236 pages, index of signs and symptoms, index of pesticide products, dosage tables Office...

New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct: are its policies and performance becoming a political liability?--Part 4.
October 1, 2002... "We do not believe that there is sufficient evidence that the state is abusing its power to discipline physicians and, if it is, that the only remedy is to amend existing statute, especially if to do so may serve to put patients in harm's way....

Diabetic retinopathy: excerpts from the treatment of diabetes mellitus with Chinese Medicine published by Blue Poppy Press. (Chinese Medicine Update).
October 1, 2002... Keywords: Chinese medicine, diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a potentially blinding microvasacular complication of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes that damages the retina of the eye. It occurs when...

The effects of living, whole foods on women with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. (Medicinal Properties in Whole Foods).
October 1, 2002... "Functional foods," "nutraceuticals," "designer foods" and "medicinal foods" are terms that describe foods, and key ingredients isolated from foods, that have non-nutritive or tertiary functional properties. Researchers, healthcare...

The value of families in homeopathy. (Healing with Homeopathy).
October 1, 2002... Homeopathic Families, Past and Present One of the more recent developments, (ie, in the last decade) in homeopathy has been the transition from considering remedies as stand-alone entities to seeing them as members of remedy families that...

What's Milk Got? (Health Risks and Environmental Issues).
October 1, 2002... The GOT MILK? campaign featuring high profile celebrities sporting milk mustaches has been a very effective advertising tool in putting milk in front of the American consumer to reverse a decline in milk sales. The medical establishment...

I Comp[TM]: the advanced vitamin and antioxidant supplement for the eyes.
October 1, 2002... The loss of eye sight is seen as one of the most serious misfortunes that can befall a person. The World Health Organization in 1994 estimated the global burden of serious visual impairment to be 148 million people. (1) Age-related macular...

The American Biologics' 14th International Symposium on "Integrative Medicine" 2002 takes place in Rhodes, Greece. (Medical Journalist Report of Innovative Biologics).
October 1, 2002... Historians trace the birth of Western civilization to those island jewels of the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean seas, the Greek Isles. They are home to a host of wide-ranging and far-reaching cultural traditions and mythic tales. Moreover,...

Sound Health: music as medicine for the new millennium.
October 1, 2002... Recently, I had an opportunity to attend the first annual international conference of the "Music for Healing and Transition Program," held at Seattle University and featuring speakers from across the US. The conference's decidedly holistic...

Calendar.
October 1, 2002... SEPTEMBER 25: KHT (Koryo Hand Therapy) & QI-KHT FOR PAIN RELIEF with Dan Lobash, L.Ac & Linda C. Hole, MD in Reno, Nevada. Learn paradigm shift tools for immediate pain relief. CONTACT: QiWay, 800-RX-QIWAY or 509-747-0877 SEPTEMBER 27-29:...

Use of hormone replacement therapy risks and benefits--a Preliminary Response to recent research. (Women's Health Update).
October 1, 2002... Two clinical trials have been published recently in The Journal of the American Medical Association regarding postmenopausal women's use of oral conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) "Premarin" and oral medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) Provera....

Treating glaucoma with nutrition. (Nutritional Influences on Illness).
October 1, 2002... Vitamins Thiamine Deficiency There is preliminary evidence that patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma may have impaired absorption of thiamine, causing reduced blood thiamine levels (Asregadoo). It has been theorized that...