UnSymmetrical

Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

A review of studies involving nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache and other forms of chronic headache showed that that 62 percent of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45 percent of people taking medications, the team at Duke University found.

"Acupuncture is becoming a favorable option for a variety of purposes, ranging from enhancing fertility to decreasing post-operative pain, because people experience significantly fewer side effects and it can be less expensive than other options," Dr. Tong Joo Gan, who led the study, said in a statement.

"This analysis reinforces that acupuncture also is a successful source of relief from chronic headaches."

Writing in Anesthesia and Analgesia, they said 53 percent of patients given true acupuncture were helped, compared to 45 percent receiving sham therapy involving needles inserted in non-medical positions.

"One of the barriers to treatment with acupuncture is getting people to understand that while needles are used, it is not a painful experience," Gan said. "It is a method for releasing your body's own natural painkillers."

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Posted by Vitamin Z at 09:18 AM | Permalink

Here's a blow to the idea that modern medicine is actually "modern." Back in the '70s, a research team on an archeological dig in China discovered a medicinal recipe dating back more than 2,000 years to 163 B.C. The recipe featured an extract from a leafy herb, called wormwood, that the ancients used to cure malaria, hemorrhoids, and parasitic infections. In subsequent tests, scientists discovered that the extract, which they named artemisinin, has remarkable anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic properties. They also found that artemisinin cures malaria almost 100 percent of the time and that in combination with iron, destroys cancer cells.

Artemisinin works by releasing an avalanche of free radicals when exposed to an oxidizing agent like iron. The free radicals attack and kill iron-rich cells. Since cancer cells tend to contain much more iron than normal cells do, they are particularly attractive to artemisinin. When exposed to cancer cells artemisinin gets activated and sends out free radicals that attack those cells, destroying the cancer in the process. This effect can be amplified by sending additional iron to cancer cells. (Similarly, since the malaria parasite lives in iron-rich blood, when exposed to artemisinin, free radicals attack the blood and destroy the parasite in the process.)

The FDA hasn't approved the use of artemisinin as an anti-cancer agent, as "research on artemisinin and cancer is still in very early stages." And yet, plenty of studies out there support the effectiveness and relative safety of artemisinin. For instance, a 2005 study out of the University of Washington targeted cancer cells by "tagging" artemisinin to an iron-carrying glycoprotein that cancer cells readily absorb. The researchers found that by doing this, the artemisinin became "very potent and selective in killing [leukemia] cells."

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Posted by Vitamin Z at 07:10 AM | Permalink

A new study has found that by making dietary and lifestyle changes, people can alter cancer genes and radically reduce their cancer risk. The research, featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 30 men diagnosed with early prostrate cancer. All of the subjects had opted out of radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

The study started with a three-day retreat, after which the subjects followed a vegan diet with fat intake limited to 10 percent. Subjects also walked for 30 minutes daily, six days a week, attended a support group, and practiced stress reduction exercises such as yoga and meditation for an hour daily. And, they took soy supplements plus three grams of fish oil, 100 units of vitamin E, 200 milligrams of selenium and two grams of vitamin C every day.

Biopsies were performed at the start of the study and again after three months. The researchers found that after following the healthy regimen even for that short period of time, the subjects showed dramatically improved cancer profiles. More than 500 cancer genes had been modified. Of those, 453 cancer-promoting genes had been "switched off," while 48 cancer-fighting genes had become "switched on."

Those of us in the alternative health community are swatting our heads in astonishment. What a surprise! Who knew that the lifestyle choices we make affect our risk for getting cancer and other diseases? Who knew that we could alter the course of disease by eating right and caring for ourselves? :-0

Continue reading "Lifestyle Changes Alter Cancer Genes" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 10:02 AM | Permalink

The alternative community has long known that magnets can benefit health. In fact, magnetic therapy has been used to promote well-being since the earliest civilizations in India, Egypt, China, Ancient Greece, and the Middle East, where a magnetic stone called magnetite was ground up and delivered in food and healing potions. But despite thousands of years of anecdotal evidence attesting to the healing properties of magnets, the mainstream medical community has been slow to embrace magnetic therapy, with many citing lack of scientific proof that it works.

For instance, in a recent article in Anesthesia & Analgesia entitled, "Magnet Therapy: Healing or Hogwash?" author Bruce L. Flamm, MD, writes, "...it is crystal clear that billions of dollars have already been spent on magnet therapy, or perhaps, wasted on magnet therapy. To be blunt, there is no proven benefit to magnet therapy."

Dr. Flamm today might wish that he had stuffed that particular article into a drawer instead of publishing it, because results of a new, NIH-funded study out of the University of Virginia prove that magnets can indeed enhance health. The study, led by the Chair of Biomedical Engineering, Thomas Skalak, investigated claims that magnets can increase blood flow to promote healing. And sure enough, after five years of research, the scientists found that magnetic fields do indeed have the capacity to increase blood flow as well as to decrease it.

Continue reading "Proof that Magnets Benefit Health" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 09:32 AM | Permalink

When it comes to detoxifying your system in a natural, alternative method, consider using Coffee Enemas using an organic, completely caffeinated coffee blend. Many individuals enjoy the benefit of coffee enemas on a regular basis. Instead of using harsh chemicals or solutions made of unnatural pharmaceuticals, consider using fresh brewed coffee when you want to successfully detoxify your system. If you are a current fan of saline enemas, choosing to use coffee instead of a saline solution can completely change the treatment’s outcome.

Unlike saline enemas, the benefit of Coffee Enemas is dramatically increased. The enema with coffee has a greater rate of success due to the presence of caffeine, theobromine, theophylline, and other naturally occurring aspects. Introducing the caffeine and other natural ingredients of freshly brewed coffee into your system through an enema will provide you with a greater effect than the typical method of consumption. The thin tissue surrounding the anus will allow your body to quickly absorb the coffee into your blood stream, therefore providing a quicker benefit of the coffee enema.

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Posted by Vitamin Z at 08:55 PM | Permalink

You may be wondering what stress has to do with breathing or what breathing has to do with stress. This is both simple and yet complex. We all breathe and our breathing pattern varies along with how we actually use our lung capacity. Many people pay no attention to their respiration system and believe that they breathe correctly, it cannot be changed, and we all do it the same way. Breathing is more than just the exchange of air; it is our means of survival, our living! Thankfully if we need to, we can change how we breathe and there are a number of techniques one can learn.

You may have begun to question your own breathing, possibly because it may appeared to have changed. You may feel short of breath, or you may have an overwhelming need for more air, that you are not getting enough oxygen etc. These are faulty breathing problems. There can be panic when one feels they are not getting enough oxygen, this results in over breathing or more correctly termed hyperventilating. The normal breathing rate at rest for the average person is between 8 and 12 breaths per minute (one inhale and exhale = one cycle). When relaxed, meditating, sleeping, or very fit the figure can be lower.

How to count your own breathing? Simple! Count each inhales, and exhales as one complete cycle. The counting is easy to do, what is not necessarily is being accurate. When a person counts their own breathing rate the chances are it will vary. This is quite NORMAL when we become conscious of something we may feel that it is DIFFERENT. A prime example; think of your washing machine, back to the last time you were in a rush and were waiting for your washing machine door to open, the chances are you felt that it was taking longer than normal to open. Yet, when your attention is elsewhere, not focusing on the washing machine door, those same 3 minutes 'felt' shorter.

Continue reading "Relationship Between Stress and Breathing" »

Posted by Vitamin Z at 07:12 AM | Permalink