In a study with 80 subjects diagnosed with major depression the use of acupuncture reduced the amount of fluoxetine required as well as reducing the duration of administration.   The authors concluded: “…acupuncture to low-dose fluoxetine for depression is as effective as a recommended dose of fluoxetine treatment. Depressive patients with severe anxious symptoms and/or intolerable side-effects of antidepressants can benefit from it.”

Read the study here. (journal subscription required)

From Science Daily

Acupuncture has been used for over two millennia in East-Asian medicine to treat pain. Using brain imaging, researchers have provided novel evidence that traditional Chinese acupuncture affects the brain’s long-term ability to regulate pain. Their findings show acupuncture acts as more than a placebo, and can activate receptors in the brain that process and dampen pain signals.

Read the entire article here

In a sham-controlled study involving 60 adult subjects reporting insomnia for 3 or more nights per week for a period of at least 3 months, treatment with acupuncture (electroacupuncture), 3 times per week for a period of 3 weeks, was found to improve sleep. Subjects were divided into 2 groups. One group received real acupuncture (electroacupuncture at points: Yin Tang, DU-20, bilateral ear Shen Men, Sishencong, Anmian), while the other group received a sham treatment (“placebo acupuncture” at the same acupuncture points with Streitberger needles that do not pierce through the skin). As compared to pre-treatment, subjects in both groups reported significant improvements in sleep. Improvements were measured according to sleep diaries, 3-day actigraphy, self-reported questionnaires, and scores on the Insomnia Severity Index. Subjects who received real acupuncture were found to have significantly greater improvement, assessed via sleep diary and actigraphy. Moreover, a significantly greater percentage of subjects in the real acupuncture group were found to have sleep efficiency of 85% or greater, and a significantly greater percentage were found to have less than 30 minutes of wake after onset of sleep. These results suggest that acupuncture may be a safe and effective treatment for patients with primary insomnia – a debilitating disorder that has wide-ranging adverse implications. The authors conclude, “Because of some limitations of the current study, further studies are necessary to verify the effectiveness of acupuncture for insomnia
Source: VitaSearch http://www.vitasearch.com/get-clp-summary/38490

Migraine headaches have many causes as well as many effective treatments.   Often migraines can be triggered by the foods we eat.   The Mediator Release Blood testing I perform helps identify trigger foods that are then removed from the diet and In the vast majority of the cases the migraine headaches are relieved.

However I also use acupuncture to treat migraines and have found that it is very effective at eliminating the severity, duration, and frequency of migraines.   In a recent randomized controlled trial out of China with  253 migraine sufferers received treatment with acupuncture focusing on the Liver and GallBladder Read the rest of this entry »

A rare painful cancer that can develop in individuals with long term asbestos exposure is called malignant mesothelioma. Its name originates from where the cancer develops – in the linings of the body’s organs known as the mesothelium. The most common form of the disease occurs in the lung and is known as pleural mesothelioma. Read the rest of this entry »

A rare painful cancer that can develop in individuals with long term asbestos exposure is called malignant mesothelioma. Its name originates from where the cancer develops – in the linings of the body’s organs known as the mesothelium. The most common form of the disease occurs in the lung and is known as pleural mesothelioma. Read the rest of this entry »

In a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled trial involving 49 patients with chronic neck pain, electrical stimulation of acupuncture points on the wrist was found to help reduce neck pain above standard care. Subjects received treatments 2 times/week for 4 weeks and significant improvements were found in those that received acupuncture. The conclusion is that “…Electrical acustimulation of the wrist administered as two, 30 minutes sessions /wk added value to standardized neck exercise for chronic neck pain. A 4-week course of treatment produced effects lasting 1-month posttreatment….”.
Read the complete article here (subscription required to view full article)

A great website for determining the pesticide load on foods and what foods to by organic is called “What’s On My Food”.

From the website:

What’s On My Food? is designed to allow you a deep look into the USDA PDP results, linked up with all the information on pesticides that we have compiled over many years of studying them. The data and search functionality here allow you to see what levels of pesticide residues are on your food, in what combinations, and with what associated health risks.

We begin with the tests on tens of thousands of samples that USDA has performed as part of the Pesticide Data Program. Between 1992 and 2007, 89 different foods have been tested for pesticide residues. USDA often tests the same foods in different years. Since older tests aren’t as relevant for the food you eat today, this website contains data only for the test years 1999 to 2007.

The USDA test results in the database can be searched for three kinds of information:

1. How often is a pesticide residue found in a food?
2. On average, how much of a pesticide residue is found in a food?
3. What is the maximum amount of a pesticide residue in a food?

Ideally, there would be hundreds of tests for every combination of food and residue, but in practice there are not always that many. When there are very few measurements, the queries become unreliable. To only show reliable results, when there are fewer than five measurements, the What’s On My Food? website puts “N/A” instead of a number.

What’s On My Food? also allows you to compare organic, conventional, domestic and imported test results. USDA has some other categories in addition to organic and conventional, but there are so few tests in those categories that we have not included them.

Integrative Oncology is the combination of “mainstream” care and evidenced-based complimentary therapies to control cancer-related pain and symptoms [source: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Integrative Medicine]. Complementary therapies, while not given the attention that more traditional cancer therapies may receive, are perhaps equally important while undergoing treatment for certain types of cancer. Patients diagnosed with difficult to treat malignancies will often use these types of therapies in conjunction with traditional treatment options, which include surgery, chemotherapy, or radiology, to form a more comprehensive and effective treatment regimen. Among the most effective alternative therapies utilized by those diagnosed with cancer is acupuncture. Read the rest of this entry »

Background: Recent information suggests that the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) supplement, enhanced intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and reducing dietary glycemic index (dGI) are protective against advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Dietary information was collected at baseline and fundus photograph grades were obtained during the 8-y trial period from 2,924 eligible AREDS AMD trial participants. Using eye as the unit of analysis and multi-failure Cox proportional-hazards regression, we related the risk of AMD progression to dietary intake in the four arms of the trial.

Results: Independent of AREDS supplementation, higher intakes of DHA (≥ 64.0 vs. < 26.0 mg/d) (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57, 0.94), EPA (≥ 42.3 vs. < 12.7 mg/d) (HR = 0.74, 95% CI, 0.59, 0.94), and lower dGI (dGI, < 75.2 vs. ≥ 81.5) (HR = 0.76, 95% CI, 0.60, 0.96) were associated with lower risk for progression to advanced AMD. Participants consuming lower dGI and higher DHA or EPA had the lowest risk (P for synergistic interaction < 0.001). Only participants in the ″placebo″ (P for antagonistic interaction = 0.006) benefited from higher DHA intake against early AMD progression (HR = 0.58, 95% CI, 0.37, 0.92; Ptrend = 0.01).

Conclusions: Our findings show an association of consuming a diet rich in DHA with lower progression of early AMD. In addition to the AREDS supplement, lower dGI with higher intakes of DHA and EPA was associated with reduced progression to advanced AMD.

Read entire article here. (subscription required for full text)