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Greetings!
 Summer's a bit of a wash out just now isn't it? So, to compensate, we've got a great round up of the latest news and research in Complementary and Conventional Medicine for you this month. Do enjoy these and let us have your feedback.Best wishes!
Jayney
President, Complementary Medical Association |
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Have Your Say!
 We want to know what you think about Swine Flu at the moment. Click here to take our very brief survey
In our last e-newsletter we asked: Do YOU think the current attacks on Complementary Medicine in the media are detrimental to our profession?
You answered:
Yes - always 18%
Sometimes - It depends on the credibility of the person making the attacks 59%
Not really now - the attackers are losing credibility 18% |
Why should you consider a complementary medical approach to Swine Flu?
 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described Swine
Flu as "unstoppable":
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO said (3rd
July, 2009)
"As
we see today, with well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges,
its further international spread is unstoppable,"
She did go on to emphasise that the vast majority of
patients, to date, had experienced only 'mild' symptoms and most had made a
full recovery within a week, without any formal medical treatment.
This latest pandemic flu virus (H1N1) has shown that it
can spread rapidly from person to person and from country to country and the
WHO, and almost every single country who already had a Pandemic Influenza
Preparedness Plan in place (having been preparing themselves to face the
potential threat of the global spread of the lethal Bird Flu virus (H5N1), over
the last few years), have put them into practice swiftly and effectively.
However
it is the ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING these plans - and their POTENTIAL INADEQUACIES
- that MAY BE a cause for concern.
Click to read More
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Dogs Have Owners, Cats Have Staff
 A new study from the University of Sussex has shown what every cat owner has always known; you don't control your cat, your cat controls you.
They found that most domestic cats have developed a special meow that humans find hard to ignore. Unlike the standard meowing that can annoy people, they also have a 'two-pitched' meow that the researchers describe as 'a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry,' that they use to get fed when they are being 'ignored'. They use this around their owners, but are reluctant to use it around strangers.
Click to read More
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Pharmacists concerned about the current cocktail of drugs that the over-65's are exposed to in the UK  A survey by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, amongst over-65's in the UK, has shown that around 50% of them are on five, or more, drugs. These included their prescriptions, drugs bought over the counter and herbal medications. So it's no wonder that this group of people currently account for around half of the NHS drugs budget, with around £2b per year spent on them.
There have always been concerns about older peoples' abilities to cope with specific drugs, let alone a cocktail of drugs, as their bodies age and also because they may be under more than one doctor, and these doctors may be aware of the drugs being prescribed by others.
Click here to read More
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Essential Oils Proven to Reduce Stress  Scientists
in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain
fragrances alters gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce
stress levels. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry.
In the new study, Akio Nakamura and
colleagues note that people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since
ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and
induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and
health, is of course a very popular and effective form of complementary medicine
today. It is great to see that more serious research into this subject is being conducted.
Click here to read More
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Introducing the UK's first College of Integrated Medicine
The country's first college dedicated to integrated medicine
education and research in order to enable doctor and nurse graduates to
offer comprehensive, innovative integrated healthcare approaches within
their current roles will open in September.
Project leader Dr Rosy Daniel (pictured) says:
"Far
more power needs to be generated to affect debates and legislation
regarding our health and the health of future generations and this can
be achieved by having a large membership of all those allied to the
natural health movement. We hope the CAM community will support this by
joining the Trust.
"Our key
role is in preventative healthcare and also in bringing the heart and
soul back into medicine. The public are voting with their feet in
paying for the compassion and proactive approach offered by Integrated
Health practitioners which is so sadly lacking within mainstream
medicine."
Click to read More
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Milk Linked to Autism, Diabetes and Schizophrenia
 Good Cows. Bad Cows?
A recent book - The Devil in the Milk - by Dr. Kevin Woodford, looks at the health-related effects of our consumption of milk, and milk-derived products, in some depth, taking evidence from more than 100 scientific papers examining population studies and research with both animals and humans as well as scientific research on various conditions.
At the heart of the findings is the fact that there are in this world, two types of cows: A1 cows (good cows) and A2 cows (bad cows).
Woodford obviously knows what he is talking about as he is the Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at Lincoln University (New Zealand) and he points out the key difference between A1 and A2 cows is in a protein they each express differently; beta casein.
Click here to read More
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The Worst Thing Since Sliced Bread?  A new study from Tel Aviv University, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found a proven link between eating high glycemic foods and damage to your arteries, leading to potentially severe cardiac problems.High glycemic foods include foods like white bread, cereals and other highly-processed, sugar-laden foods, a diet that most people in the Western world follow.In this research they split their sample into four groups and fed each of them different diets for a month; one group had cornflakes and milk; a second group focused on a sugar mixture: a third group had bran flakes; and the fourth group had water (as a control).
Click here to read More
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How cats control us - cont'd
"The
embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with
contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex.
"Solicitation
purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which
is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom."
The
researchers believe that this special 'cry' - that they refer to as the
'manipulative meow' - is a way of taking advantage of our sensitivity
to babies cries, as it is thought that we are neurologically 'hard
wired' so that we can't ignore a baby's cry. In fact other research has
already shown similarities between the cries of babies and those of
cats. The research involved getting owners to record their cats 'cries'
and playing them back to another group - as recorded and then with the
embedded cries electronically removed in order to ascertain listener's
responses. |
British College of Integrated Medicine - cont'd
The
British College of Integrated Medicine is offering a two-year part-time
Diploma in Integrated Medicine. The course starts in September and they are recruiting for 10 more students.
The course is accredited by the
University of Buckingham. Setting up the college is the first
step in the Bath-based Integrated Health Trust's goal to create a
centre of excellence for IM. The next stage will be to create a
facility with a residential clinic joined to the college to provide
teaching beds.
The Trust (of which The CMA is an associate member)
also intends to act as a powerful lobby for the Integrated Healthcare
movement and those who are interested in learning about the benefits of
this medicine model.
To support the work of the Integrated Health Trust please sign up as a member at www.integratedhealthtrust.org |
Worst Thing Since Sliced Bread - cont'd
They
measured the results through a newly invented cuff on the arm of the
subjects. This breakthrough device allowed the researchers to actually
see what was happening inside peoples' arteries, as it visualises what
is taking place inside their arteries before, during and after eating
these specific foods.
Before eating, all of the subjects' arteries were found to be functioning in similar ways.
After
eating their specific diets, all of the first three groups experienced
a reduction in functionality in their arteries. (Except the 'water'
group who stayed the same). The researchers noted that this effect was
far worse for the first two groups where they found, a sudden,
temporary dysfunction in the thin layer of cells that line the
arteries (the endothelium). These cells operate normally to reduce any
turbulence as blood flows round your body.
When
this effect is repeated over time it can reduce the elasticity of your
arteries and result in heart disease or even sudden death. The lead
author, Dr. Shechter, who practices at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center -
Tel Hashomer Hospital said:
"We
knew high glycemic foods were bad for the heart. Now we have a
mechanism that shows how. Foods like cornflakes, white bread, French
fries, and sweetened soda all put undue stress on our arteries. We've
explained for the first time how high glycemic carbs can affect the
progression of heart disease."
Endothelial
health can be traced back to almost every disorder and disease in the
body. It is "the riskiest of the risk factors," says Dr. Shechter. So -
what should you do? Dr. Shechter says to stick to foods like oatmeal,
fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts, which have a low glycemic
index. Exercising every day for at least 30 minutes, he adds, is an
extra heart-smart action to take.
http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?pag...
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutriti...
http://www.naturalnews.com/026706_foods_health_sugar.html
http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1245924942086&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
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Essential Oils Work - contd
Linalool - which is a component of many essential oils traditionally
regarded as having relaxing, calming properties - is one of the most widely
used substances to soothe away emotional stress.
Linalool is found in lemon,
mango, lavender and even tea. Until this study, however, linalool's precise effects
on the body have poorly understood.
In the study, the scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while
inhaling and not inhaling linalool. The stress-elevated levels of neutrophils
and lymphocytes - key parts of the immune system - remained at to near-normal
levels in the group of rats who were inhaling linalool. In addition, the linalool
also down-regulated the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive
in stressful situations.
The findings largely confirm what aromatherapists have
known for generations: Essential oils do have a physiological effect on the
body. Furthermore, this current research
could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can
soothe stress.
Reference: "Stress Repression in Restrained Rats by (R)-(-)-Linalool
Inhalation and Gene Expression Profiling of Their Whole Blood Cells" http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf900420g |
Drug cocktails in the over 65s - contd
But
the study also showed that some older people (20%) were not taking
their drugs as prescribed, or taking them at the wrong time (15%). More
worrying is the finding that the majority of the over 65's (60%)
admitted that they believed they were suffering side effects from
taking these drugs, but many did not tell their doctors about this.
Jonathan Silcock, a lecturer in pharmacy at the University of Leeds said:
"GPs
are excellent at prescribing, but they are not always so good at
knowing when to stop, and they may not always have the time to conduct
a through review."
There have also been general concerns
amongst health care professionals, about the lengthy list of
side-effects of a whole range of drugs - especially amongst older
people. Sites like WorstPills.org list over a hundred drugs that are
thought to be implicated in causing dementia and delirium.
http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/pdfs/pr090729.pdf For specific information on
drug-induced dementia and delirium, go to:
http://www.worstpills.org/includes/page.cfm?op_id=459
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Good Cows, Bad Cows - Cont'd
Woolford
points out - having examined all the epistemological evidence from 10
countries - that milk that comes from A1 cows has a version of this
protein that is implicated in the development of a range of diseases -
from Type 1 diabetes to autism, from schizophrenia to heart disease.
Milk that comes from A2 cows is "Not Guilty", as it does not have this
particular adaptation to its beta casein.
So, high intake of milk (and milk products) from A1 cows is bad for your health!
Beta
casein is a protein chain with 229 amino acids and branches coming off
it. They have identified a specific site, at number 27 on this chain,
where in A2 cows, "good cows", an amino acid called proline branches
off it.
The good A2 cows, that he describes as 'old-fashioned' cows, include breeds such as Guernseys, Jerseys, Asian and African cows.
About
5,000 years ago a mutation occurred at the proline site, which
converted the proline to histadine. So the 'bad cows' - the A1 cows -
include more recent breeds of cows, like Holsteins and Friesians.
This
is where it gets interesting! This side chain coming off of this
histidine turns out to be a powerful opiate, or narcotic known as BCM7
(beta-casomorphin-7). It is also an oxidant.
BCM 7 is associated
with milk intolerance and a range of auto-immune diseases including
Type 1 diabetes and is linked to findings that it is implicated in
autism and schizophrenia.
When BCM7 has been injected into rats it
was taken into 32 different areas in the brain, including those for
vision, communication and hearing, although scientists believe that the
initial response to BCM7 occurs in the gut. Given that the sensory
areas are so affected by BCM7, this could explain why they began to
exhibit autistic spectrum phenomena such as being oblivious to external
sounds.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/milk-linked-to-autism.aspx
http://www.naturalnews.com/026684_cows_diabetes_casein.html
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Swine Flu Cont'd
Given the threat of a sudden, even more severe spread of a
virus like Swine Flu, these International and National Pandemic Preparedness
Plans rely upon a standard, Conventional Medical approach, to keep you and your
family safe.
At the heart of this programme is the reliance on the use
of the anti-viral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, and the development of swiftly produced
new vaccines. There is also a reliance on the existing health systems in
individual countries and a hope that they will be able to cope with an
increased demand for care - and deliver an effective response.
The evidence to support this particular well-planned,
approach as the best way forward, should the Swine Flu pandemic progress to an
even more severe epidemic, is not necessarily compelling.
THE POTENTIAL STRAIN ON
EXISTING HEALTH SYSTEMS?
Whilst the response from the health care authorities in
most countries during the rapid spread of the virus in July, appears to have
worked well, this might not be the case if the pandemic increases in its
severity.
The 'mildness' of the symptoms, for most people and the
advice to call a Helpline rather than visiting your local doctor in the UK,
appears to have been successful and despite the massive surge in the number of
people infected, the health system has managed to handle the outbreak
effectively, so far.
A Report from The House of Lords (28th July) was hyper-critical
of the UK Government's handling of the crisis over the previous 3 months,
citing a confused and, perhaps inadequate approach.
THE RELIANCE ON TAMIFLU?
One of the main concerns many experts have, is that there
is a heavy reliance on Tamiflu in these Plans. This has been questioned by
those who are concerned about the effectiveness of Tamiflu.
Even for the people who can get hold of it from their
country's, or the world's, supplies and stockpiles, what is the evidence, to
date, that it has worked? And, given some of these stockpiles have been around
for a few years, are the supplies still in their 'use-by' date?
There is added concern that some of the people who have
managed to get hold of Tamiflu, may already be using it as a precautionary
measure, even if they haven't caught Swine Flu yet. This has added to the
debate about the possible extent of in Tamiflu resistance.
And an obvious concern is whether supplies of Tamiflu being
sold over the internet are what they claim to be?
THE RELIANCE ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFECTIVE, SAFE, VACCINE?
Many experts are also questioning the wisdom of rushing a
vaccine out into the marketplace.
Concerns about the potential effectiveness of this vaccine
may be answered by testing on people who already have Swine Flu (rather than
simply testing it on healthy volunteers), but worries about the potential
safety hazards might not be so easy to answer.
Given the 'rush' to produce an 'effective' vaccine and the
willingness of medical authorities and Governments to approve any and all of
those developed, there is no way that anyone will be able to assess the
medium-term, let alone the long-term side effects that these new vaccines may
produce.
On top of that, amongst those who have their doubts about
the safety and the effectiveness of these new vaccines, there is a dread that
Governments, as in the UK, are even considering the implementation of a
compulsory vaccination programme.
"WHAT ARE MY OTHER OPTIONS?"
"The
Survivor's Guide to Swine Flu: The Complementary Medical Approach" has been written with the sole intention of helping YOU
examine the options you have when it comes to taking control of your health, in
the face of a potentially devastating viral infection like Swine Flu.
Our advice is, Don't Panic. But do take time to review the
facts about Swine Flu and carefully examine the full range of medical options you have.
To pre-order your copy of "The Survivors Guide to Swine Flu: The Complementary Medical Approach" please email The CMA here
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What is The CMA?
As you probably know, The Complementary Medical Association is one of the world's largest Professional Membership bodies for highly qualified Complementary Medical Practitioners, CAM Students and Training Colleges. However, there is so much more to us than that.
If you're not already a Member, Why not join The CMA today! More . . . |
Stay up to date with all CMA News
by joining
our Mailing List. Click on the button below:
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Can Complementary Medical Approaches Help Combat Swine Flu?
When researching ways in which complementary medicine could help combat Swine Flu, we had to look carefully at how the previous global H1N1 pandemic performed back in 1918. Complementary Medical approaches performed well and the recommendations in this book are relevant and applicable to the current H1N1 virus - which is a mix of bird, swine and human flus.
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Latest World News
GPs 'fail' to spot depression
GPs are failing to spot depression in
their patients, according to a review of research by the University of
Leicester.
Ebola in pigs 'new health threat'
A team of scientists in
the Philippines has warned that a member of the Ebola family of viruses has
been found in pigs, causing concern.
Cancer's Achilles heel found?
British scientists
believe they have discovered how certain spicy foods kill cancer cells.
Can people think themselves sick?
In the New Scientist psychiatrist
Simon Wessely, adviser to the Home Office and Ministry of Defence, looks into
the idea that people can "think themselves sick".
A Cup of Tea for a Clearer Nose
Wall Street Journal
In a January study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a tea containing Biyan Pian was found to
be effective in treating symptoms of ...
Codex Threatens Health of Billions
July 30 - Your
right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly
vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the
coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is
Who really influences the prescribing habits of doctors?
Examiner.com - USA
... the dinner table changes to
what are the latest materials they've read in the field of integrative,
functional, preventive, or complementary
medicine. ...
Alternative medicine Gaining Ground in the UAE
Khaleej Times - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
The same study concluded that 55 per cent of the public preferred
implementation of formal regulations for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Council ...
It's boom time for English lavender
Telegraph.co.uk
According to the National Centre for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine in the
US, small studies on the uses of lavender to treat anxiety have shown ...
Alternative medicine could be part of health care reform
eMaxHealth
Alternative medicine methods are
popular in the United States. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which Senator ...
Brisbane Times - Brisbane,Queensland,Australia
... practitioners to work in emergency, a first for the Western world, said the lead researcher, Marc Cohen, a professor of complementary medicine at RMIT. ...
BBC News: Eating a diet high in red meat and dairy products is linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, a US study has suggested.
Cholesterol test warning BBC News: Doctors warn thousands of people are unaware of high risk of heart disease because testing it patchy.
A specific combination of vitamins and other nutrients may significantly slow down the rate of sight loss in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a major cause of blindness in the elderly, according to new research conducted at Queen`s...
Scientists believe a molecule which controls blood pressure and male erections may also have a profound impact on the brain.
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You know that "They" say there is no evidence that complementary medicine works?
Here's your answer:
This amazing encyclopaedia, written by Dr Steve Bratman and edited by Jayney Goddard, contains data from over 10,000 double blind, random controlled trials across the entire field of complementary medicine. We even include a drug/herb/supplement interraction section which is of enormous importance. This book is geared towards the needs of the professional and lay reader alike. So if you need to know whether a complementary medical approach has been tested - and if so, does it work - you need look no further!
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Submit an Article
The deadline for the next Complementary Medical Association Journal "With Our Complements" is July 28th.
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