Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from October 2004

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from October 2004

Letter from the publisher.
October 1, 2004... The September 2004 issue of Seattle magazine trumpeted its main feature, "Top Doctors," and highlighted the fact that it had selected Seattle's "Top Alternative Practitioners." I tore to the section of the local publication listing Seattle's...

Consumers warned of pitfalls with some multivitamins and vitamin waters.(ConsumerLab.com)
October 1, 2004... ConsumerLab.com has reported the results of a major new analysis of popular multivitamin products. Thirteen products failed the testing due to lead contamination, lower ingredient levels than stated, and/or inability to fully break apart for...

ConsumerLab finds several herbal sleep supplements fail tests for quality.(ConsumerLab.com)
October 1, 2004... ConsumerLab.com announced recently that five valerian dietary supplements failed to pass recent testing due to low potency and/or contamination. Valerian, an herbal sleep aid, accounted for $47 million in sales in the US in 2002, according to...

Safe harbor honors legendary allergist Doris Rapp on October 7.(medical research works)
October 1, 2004... Dr. Laura Schlessinger, America's most popular radio therapist and author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including her current blockbusters The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands and Woman Power, will be the keynote speaker for Safe...

Access to Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 2085/S.1410).(federal legislation in the process)
October 1, 2004... Advocates for health freedom have been seeking federal legislation to ensure access to nonconventional medical treatments since shortly after the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. In May 2003, Dan Burton (R-IN)...

ADHD & Nutritional Deficiency.(Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder)(research findings)
October 1, 2004... Retired public health scientists, Fred Ottoboni, MPH, PhD, and Alice Ottoboni, PhD, recently raised the question "Can Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder Result from Nutritional Deficiency?" in the Journal of American Physicians and...

Baroque music & dementia.(research findings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Australian psychiatrist and musician Christian Heim led a study testing the effects of baroque music on 14 dementia patients living in a Newcastle nursing home. During the six-week observational study, specially-chosen Baroque music played at a...

Caffeine allergy.(risf factor analysis)
October 1, 2004... For over 25 years, Ruth Whalen, a medical lab technician, suffered unexplained physical and mental deterioration. Her problems began with a case of hives during her senior year of high school that changed into an acute psychotic break when an...

Antidepressants for children.(research findings)
October 1, 2004... FDA drug safety analyst Andrew Mosholder first noticed that some of GlaxoSmithKline's studies concerning its antidepressant Paxil showed an increase in the incidents of 'emotional lability' among patients under 18 years in Fall 2002. "Emotional...

Genetics & psychiatric disorders.(research report)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Why do some individuals react more to stress than others? The answer--at least partly--may lie in the genes. Researchers are investigating the interaction of genes and environmental stress. In 2000, researchers began studying mice that were...

Long-lasting effects of Meditation.(research report on Buddhist monks )
October 1, 2004... When Western scientists first began studying the effects of meditation in the 1970s, they noticed that heart rate, perspiration, and other signs of stress decreased as the meditator relaxed. Scientists, like Richard Davidson, PhD (University of...

OCD & PANDAS.(obsessive compulsive disorder)(pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder)
October 1, 2004... In an article published in Latitudes (Vol 6, Issue 2), Aristo Vojdani, PhD, MT, discusses the difference between nonautoimmune obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with Group...

Tracking moral choices.(moral dilemmas of brain-research report)
October 1, 2004... Philosopher Joshua Greene is working with neuroscientist Jonathan Cohen and other scientists at Princeton's brain-imaging center to understand how the brain responds to moral dilemmas. Greene created three categories of questions for volunteers...

Photic stimulation.(research report)
October 1, 2004... Photic stimulation--whether from a strobe lamp or a device like the Biolight or Little Calm Machine--affects brain wave frequency and can be used to reduce anxiety and pain. Electromagnetic brain waves are influenced through entrainment; they...

Intravenous vitamin C.(The War on Cancer)(research analysis)
October 1, 2004... Vitamin C is in the news again. A study carried out by a research team from the Harvard School of Public Health and published July 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine (Fawzi, WW, 2004) showed that a multivitamin supplement that included...

Caffeine: a common cause of anxiety.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... In this review article, the author points out that high intake of caffeine can produce symptoms that are indistinguishable from those of anxiety neurosis, such as nervousness, irritability, tremulousness, occasional muscle twitching, insomnia,...

Inositol for panic disorder.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Twenty-five patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 6 g of inositol twice a day or placebo (mannitol or glucose) for four weeks, and then the alternate treatment for...

Atkins diet for epilepsy.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Six patients (aged 7-52 years) with focal or multifocal epilepsy who had failed to respond to therapy with 2 to 18 anticonvulsant medications (median, 6.5) were started on the Atkins diet. Five patients maintained moderate-to-large ketosis for...

Lycopene prevents preeclampsia.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)
October 1, 2004... Two hundred fifty-one women in New Delhi, India, in their first pregnancy were randomly assigned to receive, in doubleblind fashion, lycopene (from a tomato extract), 2 mg twice a day, or placebo, beginning at 16-20 weeks' gestation and...

Aloe vera for ulcerative colitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Forty-four patients (aged 18-80 years) with mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive, in double-blind fashion, aloe vera gel (100 ml twice a day) or placebo for four weeks. Patients were...

DHEA: an alternative to estrogen-replacement therapy?(Literature Review & Commentary)(dehydroepiandrosterone)
October 1, 2004... Twenty postmenopausal women (aged 50-65 years) received 25 mg/day of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) orally for 12 months. The mean serum concentrations of testosterone, estrone, and estradiol increased significantly and progressively, each...

Flaxseed and the prostate.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)
October 1, 2004... Fifteen men (mean age, 61.5 years) recently diagnosed with prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and/or atypia, who were scheduled for a repeat biopsy after six months, consumed a low-fat diet (< 20% of energy) supplemented with 30 g/day...

Preventing neural-tube defects: more than just folic acid.(Literature Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... The association between dietary intakes of choline and its metabolite betaine (as determined by a food-frequency questionnaires) and the risk of neural-tube defects (NTDs) was assessed in a case-control study in California that included 424...

Dillard offers unique view of healing process.(Pathways To Healing)(James N. Dillard)
October 1, 2004... James N. Dillard, MD, DC, CAc is the only person in the United States who is a certified acupuncturist, and a chiropractor, and an MD. This unusual combination of skills has given him a unique view of the healing process. [ILLUSTRATION...

Irradiated school lunch update.(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
October 1, 2004... Last October this column discussed the government's plan to serve irradiated ground beef to the nation's school children. In 2001, the Bush Administration proposed serving irradiated poultry and ground beef in school lunches, but a huge...

The impact of medical censorship on patient care: part 2.(Townsend's New York Observer)
October 1, 2004... My first column on censorship in medicine (Aug./Sept.) spotlighted defects in the peer review system that block the circulation of information about novel treatment. It focused on hindrances to publication in medical journals and barriers to...

Homeopathy: a Drug-Free answer for panic attacks.(Healing with Homeopathy)
October 1, 2004... The Terror of Everyday Life Many of us take for granted the demands, challenges, and uncomfortable moments that we face throughout the day. Fears are an inherent part of life in the world, though they are usually manageable. Whereas,...

Phobic disorders & Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
October 1, 2004... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, psychiatry, phobic disorders ********** In Chinese Medical Psychiatry, phobic disorders are dealt with in two chapters: Chapter 6, Book 2, "Fear & Fright" and in Chapter 7, Book 3,...

Chaste tree and melatonin.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... The role of melatonin in human health and disease is being extensively investigated. In particular, melatonin functions in the regulation of circadian rhythms, mood and tumor growth. (1) Since the effects of melatonin can be biphasic, for...

Ginger and nausea of pregnancy: more evidence of safety and efficacy.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... The use of ginger by pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting is widespread, however concerns have been expressed in some circles about the safety of such a practice. In particular, the clinical trials that have been conducted in the past...

Ginkgo and glaucoma.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... While the alkaloid pilocarpine from the herb Pilocarpus jaborandi has established itself as an effective topical treatment for glaucoma, there is to date little evidence that the oral use of any herbs can help this condition. In this context,...

Valerian: the hunt for the 'active constituent' continues.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... The sedative and anxiolytic effects of valerian have over the years been attributed to a number of phytochemicals found in the root of this plant. (1) While early research concentrated on the effects of the essential oil, it is generally...

Herb-drug interactions.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
October 1, 2004... HDI Scares: Survey Does Not Confirm the Fears... From time to time there have appeared various media articles and papers in medical journals written in alarmist terms about the dangers of herb-drug interactions. So it is refreshing to find...

Inositol as a treatment for psychiatric disorders: a scientific evaluation of its clinical effectiveness.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
October 1, 2004... Inositol is a naturally occurring isomer of glucose, though it is generally considered to be a member of the B vitamin family. It is a key intermediate in the intracellular phosphatidyl inositol second messenger pathway activated by numerous...

Approaches to anxiety.(Naturopathic Perspectives)
October 1, 2004... On the increase, anxiety seems to be cropping up everywhere today. A seemingly permanent fixture in many people's lives, anxiety not only affects the mind but the body as well. Although it is important to discern the difference between a DSM-IV...

Autism is treatable: hope that is real, treatments that heal.
October 1, 2004... "My name is Michael Augerson. I'm autistic. Basically when you're autistic, you feel urges to do things that you really need to do. You can't stop yourself. Like you have taken a drug. You have no idea what others are talking about, because it...

Blood, Sweat and Tears darkfield, enzymes and schizophrenia.(nutritional therapy)
October 1, 2004... Enzymes in Mental Health Cases There's a great cartoon in Linus Pauling's How to Live Longer and Feel Better. An older woman patient, sitting across from her doctor's desk, asks, "I'd like some of that preventive medicine I've heard so...

Food/chemical allergies: an original discovery.
October 1, 2004... The mechanism behind the worldwide phenomenon of food/chemical allergy (or intolerance, or MCS--multiple chemical sensitivity) has remained a mystery since the condition was "popularized" in the 1960s. Certainly no cure has ever been found. I...

Integrative orthopedics and vitamin D: testing, administration, and new relevance in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.
October 1, 2004... Introduction While we are all familiar with the importance of vitamin D in calcium absorption and bone metabolism, many doctors and patients are not aware of the recent research on vitamin D and the widening range of therapeutic...

Urinary organic acid analysis: a powerful clinical tool.
October 1, 2004... Organic acids, also called carboxylic acids, comprise key intermediary compounds of many biochemical pathways as well as exogenous compounds. The tricarboxylic acid, TCA cycle (also called the citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle) in the...

100 years of medical robbery.
October 1, 2004... On June 11-13, 2004, the American Medical Association (AMA) celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Council on Medical Education. The medical establishment understandably sees the formation of the Council as a good thing. However, some patients...

Emanuel Revici, MD: efforts to publish the clinical findings of a pioneer in lipid-based cancer therapy--Part 2.
October 1, 2004... This second part of a four-part series about the late Emanuel Revici, MD, recounts efforts to circulate his clinical insights and results through peer-reviewed literature and presentations at medical conferences. Part 1, briefly chronicling his...

The dairy connection to human illness.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: From cover to cover, the July, 04 issue of the Townsend Letter speaks to concerns we have in the dairy industry. Dr. James Howenstine mentions milk as a source of the infectious agent for Lyme Disease. We have West Nile Virus in...

School children at increased aspartame risk.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: The understandable desire to reduce the consumption of soda pop by children has stimulated entrepreneurs to produce an array of sugar-free products as substitutes. They are being actively promoted to students, parents and school...

Cervical cancer prevented by the diaphragm.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: Every day I watch TV ads about six times a day by three drug firms selling pills that will help most impotent men to have an erection. It has been suggested that the market for these pills exceeds one billion dollars a year. ...

Vitamin D testing and supplementation.(analysis)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: Dr. Jonathan Wright's article on Vitamin D (Issue 250, page 75) is timely. However, according to the information cited below, one's Vitamin D level should never be below 32 ng/ml, not 25 ng/ml. as written. That standard is...

Alkalinizing diet for anemia.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: I would like to thank Bill Sardi for his letter "Shingles and Anemia" in the Townsend's July 2004 issue. For the sake of brevity I will address only the following five points in his letter: Sardi is mistaken when he states that...

Effective alternative cancer treatments suppressed.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: Recently, some patients brought their son to see me for low back pain. I was concerned by his emaciated appearance and noticed on the intake form that he had cancer. Naturally I asked about treatment and was informed he was...

How can we cure anxieties?(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: It's totally natural that humans have fear--it's one of our basic feelings, supposed to warn us and keep us from danger or harm. If we feel fear, we always produce a number of physical reactions that go along with this feeling: ...

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) blessing? Or disorder?(Letters to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: Approximately eight to ten percent of the American population is believed to have ADD--Attention Deficit Disorder." My belief is that ADD is misnamed. Instead, it should be renamed "Attention Expansion Advantage" (AEA). People with...

Fluoride controversy.(Letters to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: In December, after six months of research, I published an in-depth look at fluoride and its effects upon the human body and mind, citing over 100 medical and scientific reports, most of which I obtained from the government's own...

Atkins Diet may cause increase in heart attacks and cancer.(Letters to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: The entire nation, it would seem, has bought into the Atkins Diet. I want to put this in question. I think that the high red meat of the Atkins Diet will cause a vast increase in deaths from both heart attacks and cancer. ...

Lies, damn lies and statistics: the statistics game.(Letters to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Editor: The first major medical discovery probably arose after mankind learned how to count. I visualize the first clinical study, an N=1, when a bright mother 100,000 years ago told her partner that a friend had eaten a certain plant and...

Natural remedies for anxiety.(Editorial)(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... It would seem that a little bit of anxiety is a normal reaction to a world awash in terrorism, debt, declining moral values, and Reality TV. Furthermore, a modest amount of anxiety is useful at times, stimulating people to perform better and to...

Homeopathy can benefit patients with OCD.(Guest Editorial)(Obsessive-compulsive disorder)(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) cost the United States $8.4 billion in 1990 in social and economic losses, nearly 6% of the total mental health bill of $148 billion. (1) Such a staggering statistic necessitates that individuals be...

Brain food.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Optimum Nutrition for the Mind by Patrick Holford Basic Health Publications, Inc. 8200 Boulevard East, North Bergen, New Jersey, 07047 USA; 201-868-8336 Softcover, 2004, $17.9$ US/$28.95 Canada, 381 pp. Patrick Holford is...

The definitive biography of America's Lobotomist.(Book Notice )(Biography)
October 1, 2004... In today's world, the word "lobotomy" evokes images of medical savagery, innocent lives wrecked by experimental procedures and misguided psychiatrists using the insane as guinea pigs. The topic of lobotomy has recently resurfaced with Richard...

Treating the effects of trauma.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Emotional Healing with Homeopathy by Peter Chappell North Atlantic Books, P.O. Box 12327, Berkeley, California 94712 USA Quality paperback, 2003, $19.95, 316 pp. "Life is suffering," say many of the teachings from India. It...

The power of intuition.(BookCorners)
October 1, 2004... I'm a psychiatrist and intuitive in Los Angeles. What I do isn't my job. It's my life's passion. With patients and in workshops, I listen with my intellect and my intuition, a potent inner wisdom that goes beyond the literal. I experience it as...

Listen for health.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... The Natural Laws of Self-Healing by Gerald Epstein, MD Nightingale Conant, 6245 W. Howard Street, Niles, Illinois 60714 USA; 1-800-323-5552; www.nightingale.com 8 audiocassettes/8 compact discs and a progress guide; $79.95...

Destiny or prevention?(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Your Genetic Destiny: Know Your Genes, Secure Your Health, Save Your Life by Aubrey Milunsky, MD, DSc Perseus Publishing, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 USA Softcover, 2001, $18.00, 400 pp. A day does not...

Witches' brew.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... The Wicca Herbal--Recipes, Magick, and Abundance by Jamic Wood Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley, California 94707 USA; www.tenspeed.com Lge Softcover, 2003, $21.95, 274 pp. This attractive coffee table book should be...

The health of water.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Messages from Water by Masuru Emoto, Doctor of Alternative Medicine (Oversized quality paperback, vol. 1, $37.25, vol. 2, $37.80, plus $8 s/h. 145 pages each, color illustrations on each page, accompanied by text in Japanese and...

Expensive healthcare that doesn't work.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Health Care Meltdown: Confronting the Myths and Fixing Our Failing System by Robert H. LeBow, MD Published by Alan C. Hood & Co., Inc., P.O. Box 775, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201 USA 2003, ISBN 0-911469-22-2 Hardcover 274...

Hydrogen peroxide therapies: recent insights into oxystatic and antimicrobial actions.(Oxygen Homeostasis)
October 1, 2004... My colleagues at the Institute and I routinely prescribe hydrogen peroxide foot soaks for patients with acute and chronic lower leg edema caused by peripheral arterial insufficiency, varicose veins, unresolved trauma, low-grade chronic...

Innate healing enhancement in anxiety disorders and MCS.(Quantum Medicine Update)(Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)
October 1, 2004... Common environmental chemicals, solvents and fumes, allergens, and mycotoxins injure and damage the liver's triphasic detoxification system, thereby lowering cell-medicated immune functions and inhibiting innate healing mechanisms. The...

You can be happy--no matter what!(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)
October 1, 2004... As I stress to doctors at my conferences, if you get patients healthy so that they can go back to a life they hate, you've done nothing for them! Here's a simple way to help them get a life they love as well. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Ding De-zheng's acupuncture treatment of psychiatric disorders.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
October 1, 2004... As is usually true in Western medicine, psychiatric disorders are often categorized as difficult to treat diseases in Chinese medicine. And, while the main modality and standard of care in professional Chinese medicine for the treatment of...

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) & Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
October 1, 2004... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, psychiatry, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) ********** Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the US, affecting 19.1 million adults, and they cost the US more...

Web Page Potpourri: cardiovascular disease; A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet.
October 1, 2004... Health is, of course, a major issue in the upcoming election. These resources will help you become more informed! The web sites below cover candidate endorsements and scorecards, voter registration, party platforms, candidate proposal...

Calendar.(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 11: QIGONG IN THE HEART OF CHINA @ Hebei Province Medical Qigong School in China. CONTACT: 406-889-3966; fax 406-889-3967; http://www.dancingdreamers.com SEPTEMBER 24-26: NUTRIPSYCH with Leslie Korn, PhD, MPH in...

Adolescent diet and breast cancer risk.(Research News)
October 1, 2004... Participants of the Nurses' Health Study who had a diagnosis of breast cancer between 1976 and 1986 completed a questionnaire about their diet during high school and were compared with controls. Women who had a higher consumption of eggs,...

Caloric restriction reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer.(Research News)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... This retrospective cohort study used data from 7,303 Swedish women with a history of hospitalization for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40. The incidence of breast cancer in these women was paired against the general risk for breast CA in the...

Red clover isoflavones and breast density in women.(Research News)
October 1, 2004... Red clover isoflavones were studied for their effect on breast density in menopausal women. Two hundred five women (age 49-65 years) were randomized to receive either one tablet of red clover isoflavones containing 26 mg biochanin A, 16 mg...

Red clover isoflavones and bone density.(Research News)
October 1, 2004... According to a recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, red clover isioflavones may have a protective effect on the bone mineral content and density of the lumbar spine: 205 women from the United Kingdom aged 49-65 years were...

Commentary on bio-identical hormones and the advice of Suzanne Somers.(Research News)
October 1, 2004... I have received many calls about bio-identical hormones, hormone testing, and my approach to hormone prescribing due to the popularity of the book, The Sexy Years, by Suzanne Somers. I have been using bio-identical hormones (biochemically...

Anxiety and the vitamin B complex.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
October 1, 2004... Deficiencies of members of the vitamin B complex appear to be common in patients with agoraphobia (fear of open spaces). (1) The same is likely to be true for other anxiety-related conditions. We will review the evidence suggesting that...