(NaturalNews) A recent study conducted by Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan revealed that acupuncture has even more benefits than previously thought for patients with breast cancer. In addition to reducing hot flashes better than drug therapy, acupuncture is effective at boosting the sex drive and overall sense of well-being in women undergoing intensive breast cancer treatment.
Published in the Journal of Oncology, the study highlights the superiority of acupuncture in improving the quality of life for breast cancer patients without imposing negative side effects like drugs do. Dr. Eleanor Walker, lead author of the study and division director of breast services in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford, confirmed this to be true when explaining the details of the study.
Two groups, one receiving acupuncture for their symptoms and the other receiving Venlafaxine drug therapy, were observed over a 12 week period. Initially, all the women experienced a 50 percent reduction in hot flash and night sweat symptoms. At the end of the treatment period, however, the group that received Venlafaxine experienced an immediate increase in symptoms while the acupuncture group did not.
The purpose of the study was to focus on alternative treatments to Venlafaxine that would better alleviate the negative side effects of breast cancer treatment and ultimately encourage women to continue participating in it.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 13 percent of women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Since conventional treatment is long and difficult, researchers hope to alleviate some of the associated misery with methods other than drug therapies that only make the situation more difficult.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Once again, another clinical study scientifically demonstrates the power of acupuncture to make real, measurable improvements in the health and lives of patients.
It’s no surprise, of course: Acupuncture has been used safely and effectively for over five thousand years in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and literally hundreds of clinical trials conducted over the last twenty years have shown it to be remarkably safe and effective in treating a variety of health complaints from back pain to infertility.
Acupuncture works because the body reacts to stimulation with a healing response (well, that’s only part of the reason acupuncture works, actually). A skilled acupuncture practitioner can initiate a healing response in the patient that no drug, no surgery and no medical intervention could ever accomplish.
That’s what’s really interesting about acupuncture: It doesn’t do any healing. Rather, acupuncture stimulates the body to heal itself. This idea fails to be recognized at all in conventional medicine, which continues to follow the long-outmoded belief that the doctor heals the patient and that, astonishingly, the patient has no role in his or her own healing.
Practitioners of acupuncture knew thousands of years ago what many western doctors still haven’t figure out today: The patient is the healer. The doctor is merely an initiator of the patient’s own self-healing ability.Sources for this story include:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/hfhs-arh122909.php
(NaturalNews) As NaturalNews has previously reported, omega-3s, the fatty acids found primarily in cold water fish like salmon, have a host of health benefits, including alleviating depression (http://www.naturalnews.com/027285_omega-3_depression_fatty_acids.html), preventing age-related blindness (http://www.naturalnews.com/026856_omega-3_macular_degeneration_disease.html) and protecting against prostate cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/026752_cancer_Prostate_prostate_cancer.html). And now there’s evidence omega-3s may have a profound anti-aging effect, too.
Telomeres, structures at the end of chromosomes that are involved in the stability and replication of chromosomes, are markers of biological aging. Genetic factors, exposure to certain chemicals and environmental stressors shorten the length of telomeres and are believed to contribute to the aging process. New research just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that omega-3s slow down the shortening of telomeres — this means omega-3 fatty acids may protect against aging on a cellular level.
Previous studies have shown that people with established cardiovascular disease who have a high dietary intake of marine omega-3 fatty acids live longer than others with the same health problems who do not have adequate omega-3s in their diet. However, the exact way omega-3s exert this protective effect is not well understood, according to background information in the JAMA study.
So Ramin Farzaneh-Far, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues decided to investigate whether omega-3 fatty acid blood levels were linked to changes in leukocyte (a type of blood cell) telomere length in a study of 608 people who had stable coronary artery disease. The scientists studied the patients for about five years, measuring leukocyte telomere length at the beginning of the study and at the end of 5 years of follow-up. Their goal? To see if there was any association between baseline levels of two types of omega-3 fatty acids — docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) — in the patients’ bodies and any subsequent change in telomere length. There was.
The scientists found that the research subjects with the least amount of DHA and EPA experienced the most rapid rate of telomere shortening. However, those with the highest levels of the omega-3 fatty experienced the slowest rate of telomere shortening.
“Levels of DHA+EPA were associated with less telomere shortening before and after sequential adjustment for established risk factors and potential confounders. Each 1-standard deviation increase in DHA+EPA levels was associated with a 32 percent reduction in the odds of telomere shortening,” the authors wrote in their study. “These findings raise the possibility that omega-3 fatty acids may protect against cellular aging in patients with coronary heart disease.”
This also raises the very real possibility that an abundance of omega-3s in the diet could offer protection from cellular aging for all people — whether they have heart disease or not.
For more information:http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/303/3/250http://www.naturalnews.com/omega-3.html
(NaturalNews) This week’s NaturalNews Talk Hour features Dr. Edward Group, D.C., ND discussing “The Green Body Cleanse , Organic Detoxification at its Best”. Discover how to reduce and eliminate toxins from your home, workplace and especially your body. It runs this Thursday evening at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern, and registration is FREE. Simply enter your email address in the registration form on the right column of this page and you’ll receive call-in details for the broadcast.
The NaturalNews Talk Hour is a “behind the scenes”, up close and personal look at the most important issues of our time. Discover what the mainstream media hasn’t told you about the secrets of optimal health, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
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With participation by the Health Ranger, the NaturalNews Talk Hour features top-notch guests like Drs. Julian Whitaker, Bernie Siegel, T. Colin Campbell plus many other notable experts on healthy living.
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Each show features many of the top natural health experts from around the world. To receive each week’s unique call-in number, simply register by entering your email address in the form on the right.
This week’s guest: Dr. Edward Group , “The Green Body Cleanse”
Dr. Edward Group, D.C., ND – “The Green Body Cleanse – Thu. Jan 28th
Dr. Edward Group is a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.), a Naturopathic Physician (ND), a Diplomat of the American Clinical Board of Nutrition (DACBN), and a Diplomat in American Board of Functional Medicine (DABFM). Dr. Group founded Global Healing Center in 1998 and is currently the Chief Executive Officer. Heading up the research and development team, Dr. Group assumes a hands-on approach in producing NEW and advanced health products and information.
Let’s face it — current health care systems are not working and the incidence of disease is climbing at an alarming rate. This show will expose to YOU the hidden truths behind the medical industry, such as how these industries create dis-ease and why modern medicine is designed to treat the symptoms of disease and not the root causes.
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(NaturalNews) In recent years, Big Pharma has produced a variety of widely hyped bisphosphonate drugs including alendronate (Fosamax), ibandronate (Boniva), risedronate (Actonel) and zoledronic acid (Reclast) that are aimed at preserving bone mass and reducing the risk of fractures. Unfortunately, as NaturalNews has reported, the more these medications are pushed on patients, the more serious side effects are being reported, from dangerous heart arrhythmias (http://www.naturalnews.com/026027_drugs_health_osteoporosis_drugs.html) to dental problems, esophageal ulcers, abdominal pain and severe damage to the jaw bone. But a new study involving almost 70,000 people from throughout the U.S. and Europe shows that nutrients — calcium and vitamin D taken together — offer a natural, side effect-free way to prevent fractures.
Because broken bones are a major cause of disability and loss of independence for elders, these findings are of particular interest to older people. In fact, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), fall-related injuries are the leading cause of accidental death among Americans age 65 and older. However, fractures can be serious at any age, causing pain, sometimes necessitating surgery and almost always restricting activities. Good news: the researchers found it isn’t only the aged whose bones benefit from taking calcium and vitamin D. Remarkably, they found the supplements reduced fractures in everyone — the young and old, women and men, and even people who had already sustained fractured bones in the past.
The study, published in the January issue of the British Medical Journal, involved an international team of scientists headed by researchers from Copenhagen University in Denmark. They assessed the results of seven large clinical trials from around the world to document whether vitamin D alone or with calcium was effective in reducing fractures. One of the most important trials included in the new investigation was a long term study conducted at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) in Sacramento as part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). This 15 year long national program was designed to study the effect of calcium and vitamin D supplements in preventing hip, spine and other types of fractures.
“What is important about this very large study is that it goes a long way toward resolving conflicting evidence about the role of vitamin D, either alone or in combination with calcium, in reducing fractures,” John Robbins, professor of internal medicine at UC Davis and a co-author of the journal article, said in a statement to the media. “Our WHI research in Sacramento included more than 1,000 healthy, postmenopausal women and concluded that taking calcium and vitamin D together helped them preserve bone health and prevent fractures. This latest analysis, because it incorporates so many more people, really confirms our earlier conclusions.”
Bottom line: the researchers concluded that it is the combination of calcium and vitamin D, rather than vitamin D alone, that is most effective in reducing a variety of fractures. “Interestingly, this combination of supplements benefits both women and men of all ages, which is not something we fully expected to find,” Dr. Robbins stated. “We now need to investigate the best dosage, duration and optimal way for people to take it.”
For more information: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/newsdetail.html?key=3624&svr=http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu&table=publishedhttp://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/bone/osteoporosis/fracture/preventing_falls.asp
(NaturalNews) A study conducted by Children Now, a California-based child advocacy group, has been released that indicts the food industry for continuing to market unhealthy food to children. Despite many food companies’ expressed willingness in years prior to self-regulate themselves and shift their advertising efforts towards more healthy fare, little change has been seen.
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine (IM) made recommendations to the food industry to reform their marketing strategies towards promoting more healthy, nutritious food rather than junk food. In 2007, the U.S. Council of Better Business Bureaus launched the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, an effort aimed at meeting the IM recommendations. Over 12 of the nation’s largest food producers agreed to cooperate in changing their advertising strategies.
The current study found that despite their promises, the food industry has generally failed to adopt any of the primary recommendations. Advertisements continue to entice children with nutritionally-deficient foods that are attractive to them, often trying to pass their products off as healthy when they are not.
Dr. Dale Kunkel, the author of the study, has concluded based on years of research that the marketing of junk food is a substantial contributor to childhood obesity. More than 72 percent of television food advertisements aimed at children today are for food products in the worst nutritional category. Only one percent of all advertising is for truly healthy foods.
Prior to 2005 when the initiative began, 84 percent of television ads were for food products in the worst nutritional category, representing a 14-percent drop since that time. Dr. Kunkel sees this as too little and is hoping that Congressional intervention will be the next step.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Let’s be straight about this: Any nation that wanted to protect the health of its children would flat-out ban the marketing of junk food to children.
The junk food corporations, of course, now claim “free speech” rights thanks to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively grants corporations the same free speech rights as individuals. So now we’re going to be overrun by “free speech” advertisements for junk food, targeted to children and infants in order to hook them on processed junk foods.
Corporations should be stripped of such rights. The corporatocracy cannot be allowed to poison our children with more toxic junk foods and sodas laced with chemical sweeteners.
The United States of America is supposed to be a nation of the People, by the People and for the People… not for the corporations!
Any nation that raises its children on junk foods has no real future. Sadly, that now seems to include the United States of America.
Sources for this story include:http://uanews.org/node/29055
