NCAHF Newsletter articles from January 2000

NCAHF Newsletter archives from January 2000

FDA TO CONSUMERS: "GOOD LUCK WITH DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS".
January 1, 2000... In a Reuters story (1/6/00), the FDA said it wanted to increase its watchdog role in keeping dietary supplements safe for the public by becoming more involved in the monitoring of supplements and by establishing new manufacturing guidelines. To...

HOMEOPATHS & NATUROPATHS MAY MISS SERIOUS ILLNESSES IN CHILDREN.
January 1, 2000... Should a 2-week-old infant with a fever be referred to emergency care? That was one of the questions two researchers from Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston asked 23 homeopaths and 15 naturopaths in a survey. The results,...

RESPONSE TO MASS PSYCHOGENIC ILLNESS.
January 1, 2000... An editorial in the Jan 13, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine discusses the response to mass psychogenic illness. The same issue contains a report of mass psychogenic illness at a high school in McMinnville, Tennessee. The...

AVOID THE HERB CHAPARRAL.
January 1, 2000... Chaparral, an herb from the creosote bush, a desert shrub, was used by Native Americans in the Southwest and Mexico a hundred years ago for everything from venereal disease to snakebite, according to HealthSCOUT. But today it's regarded as...

WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LAW REQUIRING PAYMENT FOR ALTERNATIVE CARE.
January 1, 2000... Washington State's Supreme Court agreed in a unanimous decision to uphold a 1996 law that requires health insurance companies to reimburse for such alternative medical services as chiropractors, naturopathic doctors and nutritionists, according...

SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION CLAIMED FOR TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION.
January 1, 2000... A PRNewswire story Jan 12, which lists the Maharishi Ayurvedic Foundation as its source, reported on a speech given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi via satellite worldwide to celebrate the 40 years since Transcendental Meditation (TM) "actively became...

TORONTO STAR EXAMINES ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE.
January 1, 2000... The Toronto Star newspaper ran a special report, "An Investigation into Alternative Medicine," Jan 15-23, 2000. Herbal "cures" were examined by Star reporter Leslie Papp in the first installment of the series, perhaps prompted by the imminent...

EVALUATING COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE RESEARCH.
January 1, 2000... An article on the WebMD website gives valuable information on how to evaluate research claims of alternative and complementary medicine. As the article points out, if alternative and complementary medicine are to become part of a new...

NIHCCAM FUNDS STUDY THAT USES COFFEE ENEMAS.
January 1, 2000... The National Cancer Institute, along with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, all part of NIH, have awarded a five-year $1.4 million grant to study a controversial treatment for pancreatic cancer using coffee enemas....

PHARMACIST LOOKS AT ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS.
January 1, 2000... Michael Montagne, PhD, Rombult professor of pharmacy at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, describes the myths and realities of alternative therapies. He stresses that alternative treatments, whether homeopathic or...

TORONTO STAR SAYS ALTERNATIVISTS PEDDLE "BLIND TRUST".
January 1, 2000... In the last of a series on alternative medicine entitled, "Blind Trust," the Toronto Star's staff reporter Leslie Papp takes a close look at alternative therapies in Canada. As in the United States, the public has overwhelmingly accepted...

AMERICANS IGNORANT OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HERBS AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
January 1, 2000... The Los Angeles Times took a long, hard look at the growing problem of mixing herbs and other dietary supplements with prescription medications. An article by health writer Jane E. Allen starts with a report of a retired engineer who was on a...

CHOPRA'S SAGA IN THE COURTS.
January 1, 2000... DeepakChopra, best-selling author and guru of his idea of mind-body healing, may have a new mission in life. "Maybe it is my karma to dismantle the corruption in the San Diego judicial system," he is quoted as saying in an article by Anne...

NURSE GETS MASSAGE--AND LIVER DAMAGE.
January 1, 2000... A 39-year-old nurse in Colorado ended up with liver damage after visiting a massage therapist for deep tissue manipulation, according to HealthSCOUT. The therapist worked on the woman's abdominal muscles. The woman developed nausea and...

USE OF UNCONVENTIONAL MEDICINE MAY HAVE BEEN OVERSTATED IN PAST REPORTS.
January 1, 2000... The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is the first national probability survey to gather data about use of visits for unconventional therapies in the context of health insurance, health status, and the use of different types of medical...

VANADIUM CAUTION.
January 1, 2000... Vanadium is thought to mimic the actions of insulin and to improve insulin sensitivity, but more studies are needed before it can be recommended for these purposes. Concerns about long-term toxicity and adverse GI effects caused The...

SHARK OIL CAPSULES CONTAMINATED WITH PCBS.
January 1, 2000... Five brands of shark oil capsules available over-the-counter internationally have been found to contain high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), according to a report Jan. 20 in Reuters Health. The Hong Kong Consumer Council named the...