Alternative Medicine News

Latest Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine News From Medical News Today.

Total news: 25
Last news: August 28, 2007 22:00:00

In order to cut the childhood death rate in South Africa, research on how to increase the number of children who receive vitamin A supplementation should be the top research priority according to a new study in PLoS Medicine. Vitamin A supplements have been previously shown to reduce the childhood death rate in parts of the world where malnutrition is widespread, such as South Africa. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

New research by scientists in Taiwan has shown that an 800-year-old formula, Four-Agents Decoction (Si Wu Tang), does not significantly reduce menstrual pain after three cycles of treatment; however, a beneficial effect may be present after a longer treatment. The dosage regimen and treatment length used in this study are not associated with adverse reactions. The results are published in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

From 23 to 26 August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a joint inter-regional workshop, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and The Nippon Foundation, will examine the impact of an unique experiment in traditional medicine in Mongolias primary health care system. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a suite of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) for ginkgo biloba, one of the most popular dietary supplements in the marketplace, with annual worldwide sales estimated at $1 billion. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The Natural Products Association issued the following statement by Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to buy or eat three red yeast rice products promoted and sold on Web sites. The products may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to health. The products are promoted as dietary supplements for treating high cholesterol. The potentially harmful products are: Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, sold by Swanson Healthcare Products, Inc. and manufactured by Natures Value Inc. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

In an adjudication published recently, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has fully upheld the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) complaints about a company in Maidstone, Kent. The Everwell Chinese Medicine Centre was advertising Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) and making inaccurate and misleading medicinal claims. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Green tea could hold promise as a new treatment for skin disorders such as psoriasis and dandruff, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.Researchers studied an animal model for inflammatory skin diseases, which are often characterized by patches of dry, red, flaky skin caused by the inflammation and overproduction of skin cells. Those treated with green tea showed slower growth of skin cells and the presence of a gene that regulates the cells life cycles. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A chance discovery in the lab has helped University of Leeds scientists to show how the treatment for a stiff neck could do wonders for your blood pressure.Chiropractors have long known that tackling pain and stiffness by cracking the neck through manipulation can also lower blood pressure -- but the reasons were never clear. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A special issue of the journal Homeopathy, journal of the Faculty of Homeopathy and published by Elsevier, on the Memory of Water brings together scientists from around the world for the first time to publish new data, reviews and discuss recent scientific work exploring the idea that water can display memory effects. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The Natural Standard Research Collaboration has partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to author Assessment of the Risk of Hepatotoxicity with Kava Products, a publication that explores the controversial threat of liver damage as a result of kava containing products. The report includes a description of kava and its various preparations and historical uses, as well as interactions and side effects. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Baby boomers are starting to feel the aches, pains and weight gain of aging. Because they, like others, want to feel younger for longer, food companies and food researchers are striving to reach their needs. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Vice-Minister of Health Wang Longde opened a meeting of national and international experts who gathered in Beijing to discuss global progress on iodine deficiency disorder (IDD). The meeting brought together officials from the China Ministry of Health, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), board members of the Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, academics and the private sector at a critical moment in the fight to eliminate IDD in China. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The Child Protection Agency, Quebec, Canada, is not going to compel Anael LEsperance-Nascimento, a 3-year-old boy, who has cancerous cells in the brain and spinal cord, to receive chemotherapy after his parents said they would prefer he had alternative medicine. Anael was diagnosed in October, 2007. He had an operation, which his mother says probably saved his life. After initial chemo treatment at the [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Surprising findings by Queens University researchers have shed new light on how the "sunshine vitamin" D -- increasingly used to treat and prevent cancer and other diseases -- is broken down by our bodies."The effectiveness of vitamin D therapy is partly dependent on how quickly it will be broken down," says Biochemistry Professor Glenville Jones, an expert in the field of vitamin D metabolism. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A controversial new government-funded report, which found that meditation does not improve health, is methodologically flawed, incomplete, and should be retracted.This is the consensus of a growing number of researchers in the U.S. and abroad who have reviewed the report and are critical of its conclusions. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

In an industry first, the nations largest trade association of dietary supplement manufacturers announced a new program for testing Chinese raw materials for purity and composition. The program is in response to industrys efforts to maintain product quality and reliability as competition to supply ingredients and raw materials to the industry grows. China is a major player in this area. "Dietary supplements are safe today, and this will help make them even safer. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Leptin, a protein secreted by fat cells, seems to be involved in mechanisms of ventilatory control in humans. Leptin induces satiation and reduction of appetite, and increases the rate of metabolism. This leads to the maintenance or reduction of weight (from the Greek leptos, meaning thin). Since most obese people have very high levels of leptin, obesity has been postulated as a state of leptin resistance. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

For most of his professional life, Tel Aviv University professor Michael Ovadia focused on snakes and the medicinal properties of their venom. But seven years ago, after meditating on a biblical passage, Ovadias career focus began to take a twist... a cinnamon twist to be exact. Today the spiritual scientist from TAUs Department of Zoology is commercializing a unique cinnamon extract that is touted to quell viral infections from HIV to the Avian flu. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The adverse effects of using prescription drugs side by side with natural health products (NHP) are being under-reported, so the potential risks may be underestimated by health-care professionals and the public, a study from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada shows.A literature review and survey of 132 pharmacists revealed that while 47 per cent reported that they had encountered a patient with a suspected adverse event, only 1. [click link for full article] - [Read more]