Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients back issues from October 2004:
Letter from the publisher.
Oct 01, 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 top alternative docs--I was not surprised to ...
Consumers warned of pitfalls with some multivitamins and vitamin waters.(ConsumerLab.com)
Oct 01, 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 absorption. Multivitamins are the most popular ...
ConsumerLab finds several herbal sleep supplements fail tests for quality.(ConsumerLab.com)
Oct 01, 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 Nutrition Business Journal. Four products were ...
Safe harbor honors legendary allergist Doris Rapp on October 7.(medical research works)
Oct 01, 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 Harbor's Fourth Annual Benefit, honoring popular ...
Access to Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 2085/S.1410).(federal legislation in the process)
Oct 01, 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) and Pete DeFazio (D-OR) jointly introduced ...
ADHD & Nutritional Deficiency.(Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder)(research findings)
Oct 01, 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 Surgeons (Summer 2003, pp. 58-60). They contend that ...
Baroque music & dementia.(research findings)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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 low volume, for four hours each evening on a ...
Caffeine allergy.(risf factor analysis)
Oct 01, 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 emergency room doctor injected her with ...
Antidepressants for children.(research findings)
Oct 01, 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 lability" includes suicide attempts and ...
Genetics & psychiatric disorders.(research report)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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 genetically-altered to lack the serotonin ...
Long-lasting effects of Meditation.(research report on Buddhist monks )
Oct 01, 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 Wisconsin), have also been considering the ...
OCD & PANDAS.(obsessive compulsive disorder)(pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder)
Oct 01, 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 A streptococcal infection). Obsessive ...
Tracking moral choices.(moral dilemmas of brain-research report)
Oct 01, 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 to consider while a magnetic resonance ...
Photic stimulation.(research report)
Oct 01, 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 follow compatible frequencies in the ...
Intravenous vitamin C.(The War on Cancer)(research analysis)
Oct 01, 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 vitamin C significantly slowed the onset of AIDS ...
Caffeine: a common cause of anxiety.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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, sensory disturbances, rapid breathing, ...
Inositol for panic disorder.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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 an additional four weeks. Twenty-one patients ...
Atkins diet for epilepsy.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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 periods of 6 weeks to 24 months. Three ...
Lycopene prevents preeclampsia.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)
Oct 01, 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 continuing until delivery. The incidence of ...
Aloe vera for ulcerative colitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 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 advised to start with 25-50 ml twice a day for ...
DHEA: an alternative to estrogen-replacement therapy?(Literature Review & Commentary)(dehydroepiandrosterone)
Oct 01, 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 reaching a 3- to 4- fold increase after 12 months ....
Flaxseed and the prostate.(Literature Review & Commentary)(research report)
Oct 01, 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 (approximately 3 tablespoons/day) of ground ...
Preventing neural-tube defects: more than just folic acid.(Literature Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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 cases and 440 control infants without birth ...
Dillard offers unique view of healing process.(Pathways To Healing)(James N. Dillard)
Oct 01, 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 OMITTED] Dillard was doing ...
Irradiated school lunch update.(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
Oct 01, 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 negative response from the public caused the US ...
The impact of medical censorship on patient care: part 2.(Townsend's New York Observer)
Oct 01, 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 presentations at scientific conferences, because ...
Homeopathy: a Drug-Free answer for panic attacks.(Healing with Homeopathy)
Oct 01, 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, during childhood, fears tend to be many and ...
Phobic disorders & Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
Oct 01, 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, "Anxiety Disorders." However, Li ...
Chaste tree and melatonin.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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 example some concentrations can inhibit tumor ...
Ginger and nausea of pregnancy: more evidence of safety and efficacy.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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 have only observed the use of ginger over a ...
Ginkgo and glaucoma.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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, the publication of a recent clinical trial on ...
Valerian: the hunt for the 'active constituent' continues.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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 believed that this makes only a minor contribution ...
Herb-drug interactions.(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
Oct 01, 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 a study which examined the reality of ...
Inositol as a treatment for psychiatric disorders: a scientific evaluation of its clinical effectiveness.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
Oct 01, 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 serotonergic, cholinergic, and noradrenergic ...
Approaches to anxiety.(Naturopathic Perspectives)
Oct 01, 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 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental ...
Autism is treatable: hope that is real, treatments that heal.
Oct 01, 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 doesn't make any sense to you. Others think of ...
Blood, Sweat and Tears darkfield, enzymes and schizophrenia.(nutritional therapy)
Oct 01, 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 much about." It would be a great joy if ...
Food/chemical allergies: an original discovery.
Oct 01, 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 propose to provide within this paper compelling ...
Integrative orthopedics and vitamin D: testing, administration, and new relevance in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.
Oct 01, 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 applications available for cholecalciferol, which ...
Urinary organic acid analysis: a powerful clinical tool.
Oct 01, 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 mitochondrion, for example, comprised of nine organic ...
100 years of medical robbery.
Oct 01, 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 aren't ready to celebrate yet, and their ...
Emanuel Revici, MD: efforts to publish the clinical findings of a pioneer in lipid-based cancer therapy--Part 2.
Oct 01, 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 life and summarizing his scientific ...
The dairy connection to human illness.(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 the herd, (at least the cows and calves ...
School children at increased aspartame risk.(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 systems. Unfortunately, these palatable ...
Cervical cancer prevented by the diaphragm.(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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. This is going to increase sexual ...
Vitamin D testing and supplementation.(analysis)(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 outdated. Also, before proceeding with ...
Alkalinizing diet for anemia.(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 "The digestive tract always ...
Effective alternative cancer treatments suppressed.(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 receiving IPT (insulin potentiation treatment) ....
How can we cure anxieties?(Letter to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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: * our heart beat rate rises ...
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) blessing? Or disorder?(Letters to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 AEA/ADD have certain mental and ...
Fluoride controversy.(Letters to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 websites. My report contains some new ...
Atkins Diet may cause increase in heart attacks and cancer.(Letters to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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. Let us start with the June ...
Lies, damn lies and statistics: the statistics game.(Letters to the Editor)
Oct 01, 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 had died. Her family would no longer eat ...
Natural remedies for anxiety.(Editorial)(Editorial)
Oct 01, 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 achieve greater things. Excessive anxiety, on ...
Homeopathy can benefit patients with OCD.(Guest Editorial)(Obsessive-compulsive disorder)(Editorial)
Oct 01, 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 accurately diagnosed and be given effective treatment ...
Brain food.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 founder of the ...
The definitive biography of America's Lobotomist.(Book Notice )(Biography)
Oct 01, 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 Ledes' Tribeca Film Festival debut of A Hole in ...
Treating the effects of trauma.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 is a universal ...
The power of intuition.(BookCorners)
Oct 01, 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 a flash of insight, a gut feeling, a hunch, a ...
Listen for health.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 (cassettes)/ $89.95 (compact ...
Destiny or prevention?(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 pass that we don't ...
Witches' brew.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 especially ...
The health of water.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 English translation. Order from ...
Expensive healthcare that doesn't work.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
Oct 01, 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 pages; (send $28.50 per copy ...
Hydrogen peroxide therapies: recent insights into oxystatic and antimicrobial actions.(Oxygen Homeostasis)
Oct 01, 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 infectious and atopic processes. Based on clinical ...