Natural Standard Blog

Webinar Forum: Traditional Chinese Medicine

Natural Standard is offering a series of upcoming complimentary webinars on integrative medicine. Natural Standard offers these impartial webinars as an informational public service. All webinars are recorded and archived at www.naturalstandard.com/webinars.

Evidence from the Cochrane Collaboration for Traditional Chinese Medicine

This month, Eric Manheimer, M.S., discusses evidence from the Cochrane Collaboration for traditional Chinese medicine. Manheimer is a research associate at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Integrative Medicine. He has been working on behalf of the Cochrane Collaboration since 1997 and currently serves as the administrator of the Cochrane Collaboration Complementary Medicine Field. He has published many systematic reviews of acupuncture and other complementary therapies, both in The Cochrane Library and in peer-reviewed journals. These include meta-analyses of acupuncture for back pain, osteoarthritis and as an adjunct to in vitro fertilization.

To listen to the webinar, please click here. Complimentary access to the webinar is available September 1-30, 2010.

To comment on a recent webinar or to suggest future webinar topics, please click here to enter Natural Standard's blog.

Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Risk

The Mediterranean diet may be linked to a lower risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The Mediterranean diet is rich in heart-healthy fiber, fish, fruits, vegetables and unsaturated fats like olive oil. It includes moderate amounts of alcohol and is low in meats, dairy products and saturated fats.

Several cancers, including colon cancer and breast cancer, are less common in Mediterranean countries compared to northern Europe. It has been suggested that certain elements of the diet, such as eating low amounts of saturated fats and high amounts of unrefined carbohydrates, may offer protective effects against cancer.

In the recently published study, 14,807 women from Greece answered questions about their diets, lifestyles and demographics. The researchers calculated the participants' diet scores on a scale of zero to nine. Higher scores indicated a stricter adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

After an average follow-up period of 10 years, 240 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers adjusted for several known breast cancer risk factors, such as age, weight and smoking history, and found that post-menopausal women who scored 6-9 on the diet scale were 22 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than women who scored 0-3. However, this association was not observed in pre-menopausal women.

Although these findings are promising, the study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. Additional research is needed.

For more information about the Mediterranean diet and other special diets, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness database.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Alzheimer's

Deep brain stimulation may be safe and beneficial for patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, according to a small study.

Deep brain stimulation has been used to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. Treatment involves surgically implanting a neurostimulator into the brain. This battery-operated medical device delivers electrical stimulation to specific areas of the brain that may be associated with a person’s neurological symptoms. Treatment is limited to patients who are not responsive to medications.

In the recent phase I safety trial, six patients with early signs of Alzheimer’s disease underwent deep brain stimulation. All patients were released from the hospital 2-3 days after surgery and received continuous brain stimulation for 12 months. The participants continued taking their prescribed anti-Alzheimer’s medications during the study.

No serious adverse effects were reported. The researchers also found that half of the patients experienced possible improvements and/or decreases in the rate of cognitive decline after six and 12 months of stimulation.

While the study results are promising, additional research is needed.

For more information about Alzheimer's disease, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

Natural Standard Training Sessions

Natural Standard subscribers are invited to attend online training sessions to learn more about the resources available to them.

The summer training sessions are designed to help clients understand Natural Standard's mission, methodology and Evidence-based Validated Grading Rationale™. These guided tours will also demonstrate how to navigate the various databases and cross reference medical conditions and therapies.

The manufacturing/regulatory training sessions are specifically tailored for branded ingredient manufacturers, brand owners, pharmaceutical companies and law firms. Natural Standard provides custom research reports, white papers, clinical trial protocol design and grant writing services. Featured topics will include: GRAS certification, cGMP compliance initiatives, product compliance and submission, litigation, advertising claims, efficacy claims, health maintenance and structure function claims, functional ingredient claims, FDA/FTC warning letters and ingredient identification supporting health maintenance claims.

To sign up for a complimentary session, please click the links below.

Natural Standard Summer Training Sessions:

• Tue, Aug 17, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Aug 19, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM EDT
• Tue, Aug 24, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Aug 26, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM EDT
• Tue, Aug 31, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM EDT

Manufacturing/Regulatory Training Sessions:

• Thu, Aug 19, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Aug 26, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Sept 2, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Sept 9, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Sept 16, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Sept 23, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Sept 30, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Oct 7, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Oct 14, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Oct 21, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT
• Thu, Oct 28, 2010 1:00 PM - 1:40 PM EDT

For more information, please e-mail questions@naturalstandard.com.

Creatine May Help Prevent Fatigue

A recent study suggests that low doses of creatine may lessen exercise-related fatigue without increasing body weight.

Creatine is created by the body and is an important building block of muscle. Many human studies support creatine supplementation for increased lean body mass and strength. Athletes commonly take high doses of creatine after exercise to help build muscle.

Until now, most studies on creatine supplementation have used fixed doses for five days. In this recent study, the researchers used low doses of creatine based on the participants’ body weight for six weeks.

Researchers from the Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania randomly assigned 20 healthy men and women to receive either a placebo or 30 milligrams of creatine per kilogram of body weight daily for six weeks.

At the beginning and end of the study, the researchers measured the participants’ body composition, maximal strength and resistance to muscle fatigue.

Although body composition and maximal strength did not vary between the experimental and placebo groups, subjects in the creatine group had less muscle fatigue than the placebo group. The researchers also noted that body weight and water retention did not increase in the creatine group.

While these results are promising, larger studies are needed to substantiate the findings. The authors call for more research to determine the lowest effective dose of creatine.

For more information about the creatine, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements database.

For more information about athletic performance, please visit Natural Standard's Sports Medicine database.

Acupuncture May Not Improve IVF Success

New evidence suggests that in women trying to become pregnant using in vitro fertilization (IVF), acupuncture may not improve success rates

Acupuncture is often used during IVF treatments, despite the limited evidence of effectiveness.

In the recent study, 160 women (38 years of age or older) were randomly assigned to receive either true acupuncture or “sham” acupuncture 25 minutes before and after IVF. For the sham acupuncture, real acupuncture needles were inserted into non-acupoints that are not associated with fertility.

The researchers found that true acupuncture did not have a significant benefit on pregnancy rates compared to sham acupuncture. In fact, women in the sham acupuncture group had slightly higher rates of pregnancy, although the effect was not statistically significant.

The researchers note, however, that these findings may be limited by the short duration of the study. Patients who receive acupuncture for fertility typically undergo therapy for several weeks or months, not just before and after their IVF procedures.

Acupuncture has been used to treat many conditions related to pregnancy. For example, there is good evidence that acupuncture may improve nausea and back strain in pregnant women.

For more information about acupuncture, please visit Natural Standard's Health and Wellness database.

Webinar Forum: Eating for Health

Natural Standard is offering a series of upcoming complimentary webinars on integrative medicine. Natural Standard offers these impartial webinars as an informational public service. All webinars are recorded and archived at www.naturalstandard.com/webinars.

This month, Ed Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D., discusses healthy eating habits. Dr. Bauman is the Executive Director of the Bauman College: Holistic Nutrition & Culinary Arts.

To listen to the webinar, please click here. Complimentary access to the webinar is available July 1-31, 2010.

High-Glycemic Diet Linked to Pancreatic Cancer

A new study suggests that a diet rich in simple carbohydrates may be linked to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Although pancreatic cancer is a relatively uncommon type of cancer, it is often fatal because symptoms do not usually occur until the disease is advanced and has spread to other areas of the body.

In the study, researchers reviewed the diets of nearly 1,000 Italian adults with and without pancreatic cancer. The authors found that total carbohydrate consumption was not related to pancreatic cancer risk.

However, they found that people who ate carbohydrates with high glycemic indexes were 78 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who primarily ate foods with low-glycemic indexes.

The glycemic index is a numerical value (0-100) that ranks carbohydrates based on how quickly the body converts them into glucose. A high value indicates that the food causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. Pure glucose has a glycemic index of 100. Examples of foods with high glycemic indexes include white bread, potatoes and pretzels.

In contrast, fruits, which have low glycemic indexes, were linked to a lower risk of pancreatic cancer.  

Additional research is needed to fully understand the potential relationship between simple carbohydrates and prostate cancer risk.

Other foods, such as red meat, pork and processed meat, have also been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Additional risk factors may also include age, smoking history, genetics, obesity, ethnicity, occupational exposure to certain chemicals and preexisting medical conditions (such as chronic pancreatitis and stomach problems).

For more information about pancreatic cancer, please visit Natural Standard’s Medical Conditions database.

Webinar Forum: Alopecia

Natural Standard is offering a series of upcoming complimentary webinars on integrative medicine. Natural Standard offers these impartial webinars as an informational public service. All webinars are recorded and archived at www.naturalstandard.com/webinars.

This month, Ashley Krause, PharmDc discusses the pathophysiology of alopecia and reviews the available conventional and integrative therapies.

To listen to the webinar, please click here. Complimentary access to the webinar is available June 1-30, 2010.

Behavioral Therapy May Improve IBS

Some patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may experience fast-acting symptom relief from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), with benefits lasting several weeks, researchers report in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

IBS is considered a functional bowel disorder because the gastrointestinal tract is healthy but does not function normally. Lower abdominal pain and bloating associated with constipation and/or diarrhea are the most frequent symptoms. It is unclear what causes IBS, although it has been suggested that diet, neurotransmitter imbalances and/or infections may play a role.

Earlier research suggests that CBT may help alleviate IBS symptoms. During CBT, patients evaluate the relationship between their thoughts and symptoms and learn different strategies to help cope with their conditions.

The recent study included 71 adults (aged 17-70) with moderate-to-severe IBS. They were randomly assigned to 10 weekly sessions of CBT or four sessions spread out over 10 weeks. Each session lasted one hour. A third group received no treatment and served as the control.

About 30 percent of people in the CBT groups were considered "rapid responders" because they reported "adequate relief" of pain and bowel symptoms and a decrease in total IBS severity scores after four weeks of therapy. The number of rapid responders was comparable in both CBT groups.

The researchers found that 95.2 percent of the rapid responders continued to experience beneficial effects for three months after therapy was complete. Even though their symptoms were more severe at the start of the study, rapid responders had much milder symptoms compared to non-rapid responders after 12 weeks.

However, additional research with a larger sample is needed before conclusions can be reached.

Nutritional and lifestyle choices may also help prevent or relieve symptoms of IBS. For instance, eating a diet low in alcohol, caffeine, dairy products, refined sugars and fatty foods may reduce symptoms. Also, some food allergies may aggravate IBS or trigger episodes. Some common food triggers include dairy products, corn, peanuts, citrus, soy, eggs, fish, rye, barley, tomatoes and wheat products (including gluten). Eating sufficient amounts of fiber may alleviate constipation, improve diarrhea and prevent muscle spasms. Soluble and insoluble fiber can be found in foods such as whole-grain cereals and breads, fruits, vegetables and legumes.

Regular exercise (especially abdominal muscle exercises) and brisk walking are recommended according to the age and physical condition of the individual. Regular exercise may help reduce stress and decrease constipation.

For more information about integrative therapies for IBS, please visit Natural Standard's Comparative Effectiveness database.