NCAHF Newsletter articles from November 1998

NCAHF Newsletter archives from November 1998

HERBAL REMEDY INTERFERES WITH CHILD'S CANCER CARE.
November 1, 1998... A 15-yr-old boy with stage IA nodular, sclerosing Hodgkin's disease was offered multiagent chemotherapy. In April, 1998, despite lengthy discussion with the treatment team, the patient, with the approval of his mother, elected to use Matol...

SPINAL MANIPULATION FOR LOW BACK PAIN COSTLY AND OF DUBIOUS VALUE.
November 1, 1998... Leading researchers with a history of favorable attitudes toward manipulative therapy expressed disappointment in their results of a well-designed consumer study of different approaches to managing low back pain (LBP). 321 adults with LBP...

VETS STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE PROFESSION'S INTEGRITY.
November 1, 1998... In October, 1997, NCAHF established the Task Force on Veterinary Pseudoscience (TFVP) to deal with the issues of pseudoscience, critical thinking, and health fraud in veterinary medicine. The TFVP's first order of business was to challenge...

CHIROPRACTIC FAILS TO RELIEVE CHILDHOOD ASTHMA.
November 1, 1998... Researchers conducted a randomized, controlled clinical trial of chiropractic spinal manipulation (CSM) for children with mild or moderate asthma. After a 3-week base-line evaluation period, 91 children who had continuing symptoms of asthma...

ADVERSE REACTIONS TO HERBS.
November 1, 1998... On 5/27/97 the FDA received a report of a complete heart block occurring in a previously healthy, 23-yr-old woman who had ingested a regimen of botanical products for the purpose of "internal cleansing." The patient was found to have an...

ALFALFA SPROUTS MORE RISKY THAN GROUND BEEF.
November 1, 1998... According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of 285 reported cases of illness from E. coli O157:H7, 108 were caused by alfalfa sprouts, 20 by tainted ground beef, 52 from person to person contact, and 17 from wading pools. The...

PYRUVATE.
November 1, 1998... The hot item being touted for weight loss is pyruvate (aka pyruvic acid), a compound generated as the end product of glycolysis--one of the body's energy-generating pathways. Chief proponent is Ronald Stanko, a University of Pittsburgh...

ASIAN PATENT MEDICINES.
November 1, 1998... The California Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch, initiated a study to screen imported Asian patent medicines for undeclared pharmaceuticals and heavy metal contamination, using gas chromatographymass spectrometry and atomic...

HERBAL COMBO HAS POTENCY.
November 1, 1998... PC-SPES, a commercially available combination of 8 herbs, is used as a nonestrogenic treatment for cancer of the prostate. Since some herbal medicines have estrogenic effects in vitro, researchers tested PC-SPES in yeast, mice and eight men...

WEIDER'S STEEL BARS MISLABELED.
November 1, 1998... Candy bars touted as healthy nutrition bars are aimed at health conscious consumers. One brand, Weider Nutrition Group's Steel Bars, has been the target of a class action lawsuit. WNG's own testing during the time period involved showed that...

STEROID CHEWING GUM?
November 1, 1998... Androstenedione, the testosterone-boosting supplement made famous by St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire is alleged to have produced an increased libido in East German female athletes "bordering on nymphomania" in the 1980s. Met-Rx...

"STANDARDIZED" HERBAL PRODUCTS WILL STILL HAVE ELEMENTS OF UNCERTAINTY.
November 1, 1998... The content of herbal products varies a great deal. How the plant is grown, harvested, and stored; the plant parts selected; the extraction process used; and other factors can have an effect. The ingredients of some herbal products can vary...

OZONE DEVICE WARNING.
November 1, 1998... History is being repeated with the promotion of ozone devices as air purifiers. At least 30 years ago ozone device promoters were prosecuted for false claims about making air more healthful. Now again, the California Department of Health...

SAW PALMETTO HELPFUL.
November 1, 1998... The herbal remedy saw palmetto has been found useful in controlling lower urinary tract symptoms presumed to be secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia. There was significant improvement in the International Prostate Symptom Score...

THERAPEUTIC TOUCH EFFECTIVE FOR ARTHRITIS.
November 1, 1998... A study of Therapeutic Touch (TT) comparing, no TT, mock TT, and TT says it found significant improvement in 8 osteoarthritis patients compared to controls. Patients were evaluated using standardized, validated instruments employed by an...