Most people believe that acupuncture is just for pain control. In fact it is an active medical modality which I use to treat almost all medical problems.  Now a new study shows that acupuncture can help people with heart disease.

The recent study by Kristin AV and others, has recently been published in the medical journal Heart.

In this specific study they looked at congestive heart failure. This is a condition where the heart, due to illness is unable to pump sufficient blood to the rest of the body. It can vary from very mild, to the extreme that a person is unable to walk without oxygen. 4.8 million Americans have this condition. This includes 10% of people over the age of 70.

In this study the authors took 17 patients who were stable with congestive heart failure. All of them were already receiving an optimized medication program for  their heart failure when they entered the study.

The study is all the more impressive because they did use a control group. One group of patients got real acupuncture in the other group received "sham" acupuncture.

After the series of acupuncture treatments, the group that received the real acupuncture significantly increased their ability to walk with less symptoms,. In addition in this group, they found a significant improvement in their "recovery" in regards to their ability to breathe after the exercise.

Furthermore heart rate variability which is a sign of the health of the heart increased after the real acupuncture but actually decreased after the "sham" acupuncture

In addition the "general health" score and "body pain" score improved after the real acupuncture.

In a press statement the research group noted that heart failure is recognized to be much more complex than had previously been assumed. Specifically it involves an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system, as well as in various neurotransmitters.

In a press release the authors were quoted as saying "This is precisely where acupuncture may intervene, by bringing these processes back into balance — it influences the autonomic sympathetic nervous system (excitation), boosts the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation), and also has an anti-inflammatory affect,"

Furthermore, Dr.Arnt Kristen, one of the authors of the study stated "The blood level of a certain messenger, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) actually drops after the real acupuncture treatment. Since TNF alpha leads to a reduction of muscle mass and muscle strength among other things, this would explain the positive effect (of acupuncture) on skeletal muscle function"

I've been using acupuncture in my practice on a regular basis for the last 30 years. I've seen remarkable results in almost every medical condition with acupuncture over and over again. It is wonderful that these types of studies are now coming out that objectively show the benefits of acupuncture for much more than just pain control. This will encourage conventional doctors to begin to be open to the use of acupuncture in congestive heart failure.

Let me know — do you have loved ones who have congestive heart failure? Have they tried acupuncture as an adjunct to their medications? I look forward to hearing from you.

REFERENCE

I have been cautioning my patients for years now about the mercury contained in the sea food they eat. This is especially important for women about to become pregnant or who are pregnant. Health experts for years now have warned children and pregnant women to avoid fish with high mercury levels, such as shark and swordfish.

Now biologist Dr. Roger Payne has released new information about the toxicity that he found in almost 1000 whales from all over the world. Dr. Payne set out on his boat in March 2000 from San Diego to document the health of the ocean. He used a small harmless dart gun to collect specimens from almost 1000 whales over 87,000 miles of the ocean.
[Read more…]

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common environmental toxin which I have mentioned before, that often appears in plastic bottles. BPA can disrupt the way hormones carry signals in our body and for that reason it is known as a "endocrine disruptor." Because we only need a few hormone molecules to send signals in our bodies, endocrine disruptors are able to interrupt healthy signals at very low concentrations — in fact even a few parts per trillion of BPA has been shown to disrupt normal endocrine signaling that can lead to health problems.

The following are health impacts that have been linked to low level exposure to BPA in either animals or humans:
-Obesity
-Low sperm count
-Damage to developing eggs
-Miscarriage
-Placental cell death
-Infertility
-Heart disease
-Diabetes
-Changes in brain development
-Predisposition to breast and prostate cancer.

A new report called No Silver Lining — An Investigation into Bisphenol A in Canned foods has recently been released by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets which is a coalition of US public health and environmental health focused NGOs.

This report reviews the data on BPA. It points out that Canada,Denmark and five US states have already restricted the use of BPA in certain children's products like baby bottles and infant formula can linings.

In this report that Workgroup was looking at the amount of BPA that could be consumed from eating canned food and drinks that are commonly available in the United States and Canada. For this study they collected and tested the food and beverage contents of 50 cans that were collected from 19 United States and Ontario, Canada.
[Read more…]

A new report has come out from the President's Cancer Panel which was written by .LaSalle Leffell, Jr.,M.D.,F.A.C.S, and Margaret Kripke Ph.D. The title of the report is Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk — What We Can Do Now.

This report points out that in 2009 approximately 1.5 million American men women and children were diagnosed with cancer and 562,000 died from the disease. Approximately 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives and approximately 21% will die from cancer.

This report was brought about because of the growing body of evidence that links environmental exposures to cancer. The report points out that the" public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures they could have been prevented through appropriate national action."

One of the findings of the panel that particularly concerned them was the finding that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been "grossly underestimated". They point out that nearly 80,000 chemicals are on the market in United States that are being used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. These chemicals have either been understudied or unregulated. They point out that one such chemical, BPA, is still found in many consumer products and remains unregulated in our country.
[Read more…]

The White House task force on childhood obesity has just released its report to the President entitled "Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation." This fits in well with Michelle's Obama's cover article in Newsweek recently.

This 120 page report looks at the current epidemic of childhood obesity. Some of the statistics are overwhelming. Currently one in every three child ages to 19 is overweight or obese. Obesity is estimated to cost 112,000 deaths per year in the United States. One third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime. In addition, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine has pointed out that for the first time the current generation of children may be on a course of having a shorter life span than their parents.

There has been a consistent increase in the growth of childhood obesity from 1971 until about the year 2000, at which time childhood obesity levels off.

This very thorough report looks at many aspects of the cause of this epidemic and is full of amazing information. A few of these are
1)    Obese adults in current estimated $1429 more in medical expenses than their normal weight years.
2)    Medical spending on adults that was attributed just to obesity was over $40 billion in 1998. But in 2008 this had increased to an estimated $147 billion.
3)    During childhood excess weight costs an estimated $3 billion per year in direct medical costs.
4)    At least $1.6 billion is spent annually on food advertising directed to children and adolescents.
5)    13% of the daily caloric intake for 12 to 19-year-olds now comes from sugar- sweetened beverages.
6)    On average, children consumed only 64% of the recommended level of fruit and 46% of the recommended level of vegetables in 2003 to 2004.
7)    A mother's preconception weight and weight gain during pregnancy are two of the most important prenatal determinants of childhood obesity. Another way to say this is overweight mothers give birth to overweight children.
8)    Maternal smoking girly pregnancy is associated with a 500% greater risk of obesity at age 5.
9)    Research shows that it is possible that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals during pregnancy play a role in the development of childhood obesity. Scientists have coined the term "obesogins" for chemicals that they believe may promote weight gain and obesity.
10)    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimated that in 2006 the food, beverage, and quick serve restaurant companies spent more than $1.6 billion to promote their products to young people.

The statistics in this article go on and on but it is clear that our entire country must change its direction in eating, exercise and focused in order for us to be first the obesity epidemic that we are living with.

The report focuses on five basic things that we can all do together to help this epidemic:
1) Create a healthy start on life for our children, from pregnancy through early childhood;
2) Empower parents and caregivers to make healthy choices for their families;
3) Serve healthier foods in schools;
4) Ensure access to healthy, affordable food;
5) Increase opportunities for physical activity.

I encourage you to read the whole article which can be gotten at this website.
Let me know what you think. Do you talk to your overweight friends about diet and exercise? What do you think can be done to improve this obesity epidemic?

The Government's Food Pyramid

I am honored to be a friend of Ken Cook who is the president of the Environmental Working Group (EWG). I have been an admirer of their work for many years and I am delighted to see they are coming into the mainstream. This was the organization that conducted the seminal study about five years ago that showed that children born in America were receiving up to 287 chemicals in the placenta throughout pregnancy.

Now, The Environmental Working Group has come out with its new Sunscreen Guide. Of note, they evaluated over 500 sunscreens and could only recommend 39 of these (8% of the total).

There were several reasons they recommended so few of the hundreds of sunscreens that are available:

1) They found that there were a large number of exaggerated SPF claims over 50. High SPF products often give consumers a sense of safety in prolonged sun exposure. These high SPF products also generally do not block UVA radiation. UVA radiation is associated with skin cancer and particularly the very dangerous type called melanoma.

2) EWG also evaluated hazardous ingredients very closely. Specifically they looked at new data from the government that links vitamin A in sunscreens to the accelerated development of skin tumors and lesions. The particular type of vitamin A in sunscreens that is being investigated is called retinyl palmitate.

3) EWG also removed from its list, products containing oxybenzone because it is a known hormone disrupting compound and is found in about 60% of the sunscreens they analyzed. This chemical enters the bloodstream and has been found in the bodies of about 97% of Americans tested.

EWG GREEN RATINGS

 The 39 beach and sports products that earned EWG's "Green" rating for safety and efficacy all contained the minerals zinc or titanium. You can jump right to them by clicking here

EWG also goes on to expose 8 surprising truths about sunscreens:
1)    There is no consensus on whether sunscreens prevent cancer.
2)    There's some evidence that sunscreens might increase the risk of the deadliest form of skin cancer for some people. As I noted above this is because they do not protect from UVA rays.
3)    There are more high SPF products than ever before, but no proof that they are better.
4)    Too little sun might be harmful, reducing the body's vitamin D levels. My readers certainly know about this!
5)    This common sunscreen ingredient vitamin A may speed the development of cancer
6)    There are skin damaging byproducts of sunscreen, including the creation of free radicals
7)    Pick your sunscreen: nanomaterials or potential hormone disruptors! EWG recommends mineral sunscreens have the best safety profile amongst today's choices.
8)    Europe's better sunscreens. This is because in Europe, sunscreen makers can choose from among 27 chemicals for their formulations versus only 17 in the US.
9)    This is the 33rd summer in a row without final US sunscreen safety regulations.

I am very pleased that the EWG has released these recommendations, and I encourage you to follow them to provide for the safety of your family and yourself. Click here to go right to the brands they recommend.

Remember a few minutes in the sun before your sunblock (depending on your skin type) can give you vitamin D all summer.

Postmenopausal women who are diagnosed with what is called "estrogen positive" breast cancer are usually given a drug called an Aromatase Inhibitor to take for five years.  Aromatase is the name of an enzyme in the body that converts testosterone to estrogen. In women whose breast cancer had estrogen receptors, doctors try reduce the amount of any estrogen in their bodies. Aromatase Inhibitor drugs block the making of estrogen. Studies have shown that this will reduce the likelihood of a woman's breast cancer coming back. Who would not want that benefit?

The problem with this family of drugs however is that it has side effects. Two of the most common side effects are joint pains almost to the point of being disabled and fatigue. Up to 50% of women treated with these drugs have new or increased joint pain or stiffness. 30% of women taking these drugs complained of fatigue. The degree of joint pain is so significant that one study showed that 22% of women discontinued the drugs because of this side effect.
[Read more…]

My new web address for my blog was moved here some time ago. However some of my friends have been posting to the old blog page as they had my blog in their cache.

All of the comments from the old blog are now moved to THIS blog and I am putting all the most recent comments as comments to THIS blog post so they will be easy for you to find.

I look forward to staying in touch with my readers!     Dr Soram