Acupuncture as effective as counseling in the treatment of depression
A recent study found that acupuncture and counseling were equally effective in the treatment of depression.(1) Compared with usual care alone, there was a significant reduction in average depression scores at three months in both groups. Depression is a disease that often has a physiological component. This is why pharmaceutical intervention can help for some. […]
Organic Food Found to Increase Fertility and Longevity
A new and fascinating study (1) published in one of the top scientific journals in the world demonstrated that organic food increases both longevity and fertility when compared to conventionally grown food. The study was done on an organism called Drosophila melanogaster aka the “fruit fly”. For those who don’t know about the lowly fruit […]
Chinese herbal medicine found to improve DNA structure of sperm
The Chinese herbal formula Xuanju was found to protect sperm against chromatin damage and significantly improve sperm’s DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI). This is very important because most semen analyses don’t look at the DFI. You can have “normal” sperm from a sperm analysis yet in reality the sperm has a very low chance of producing […]
Mayo Clinic – 40% of Conventional Medical Procedure Recommendations Are Reversed
Mayo Clinic researchers examined a decade of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Considered one of the highest impact medical journals in the world. They found that: “… the proportion of medical reversals [is] alarmingly high. At a minimum, it poses major questions about the validity and clinical utility of a sizeable […]
Olive oil report
I’m a big olive oil snob. In the future, I’ll post about what to look for in terms of good quality extra virgin olive oils, how to store them, etc. but for now here’s a report from UC Davis that analyzed a variety of different “extra virgin olive oils” and the results are very revealing. Some highlights:
Another Chinese herb very effective against H1N1
Compounds from yet another Chinese herb (Ai Wei/F. Assafoetida) were found to be potent inhibitors of the H1N1 class of viruses. They were also shown to kill breast cancer and liver cancer cells as well. Chinese herbs have been used for millenia to help fight off a wide variety of epidemics. In fact, there are […]
New study shows certain antibiotics associated with birth defects
Researchers from the CDC analyzed data from 13,155 women who had children with birth defects. They found statistically significant correlations with antibiotic use. Two classes were identified as the main culprits: sulfonamides and nitrofurantoins (commonly used to treat UTI’s e.g., Macrobid). Other classes of antibiotics such as penicillins, erythromycins and cephalosporins seemed safer and were […]
Apple skins have potent anti-cancerous properties
Researchers at Cornell University found that apple skins (from Red Delicious apples) had powerful antioxidant (stronger than vitamin C) and anti-proliferative effects. Specifically they tested certain flavanoids from apple skins against certain liver cancer and breast cancer cell lines and found that both were potently inhibited. This may help explain some of the treatment strategies […]
Chinese herb cuts H1N1 death rate in half
A Chinese herb known as y? zh? c?o (Commelina communis) was recently shown to reduce the H1N1 death rate by more than 50% in mice when administered after infection. If the herb was taken prophylactically (for prevention), the H1N1 virus was inhibited by up to 90%. Thus, ya zhi cao is yet another Chinese herb […]
Tea tree oil kills H1N1 influenza virus
Researchers in Italy recently examined the antiviral activity of tea tree oil. They found that it effectively inhibited H1N1 replication at doses that were not toxic to normal cells. Therefore, you may want to consider diffusing tea tree oil in your office space to help prevent H1N1 infection, and if you have already contracted it, […]