borrowed from healthcmi.com
New research reveals that acupuncture is more effective for treating hot flashes than venlafaxine (Effexor) for patients receiving conventional antiestrogen hormone treatment for the treatment of breast cancer. The Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan published its finding in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study cites research proving the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of hot flashes during menopause and therefore investigates the effects of acupuncture during breast cancer treatment. Results showed that acupuncture had successfully eliminated all cases of hot flashes and benefitted patients suffering from mental depression. The study also documents that there were no side effects due to the acupuncture treatments but that venlafaxine caused adverse effects including nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, and anxiety. The study further documents that acupuncture increased sex drive, mental clarity, and the overall energy levels in the patients.
Out of a study group of 50 patients, 25 were randomly given 12 weeks of acupuncture and the other 25 were given 12 weeks of venlafaxine. After two weeks, the venlafaxine group continued to experience hot flashes but, like the acupuncture group, had less mental depression. The study concluded that acupuncture “appears to be equivalent to drug therapy” and is “a safe, effective, and durable treatment.”
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Looks like I'm going to Israel
An International Conference on Integrative Medicine will be held in October 2010 in Jerusalem.
The Conference will deal with ways to unite the scientific principles of modern medicine with the holistic principles
of alternative medicine, hosting a dialogue between professionals and participants from around the world.
In order to give all those interested the possibility to participate we hereby announce that the registration has started.
The Scientific Committee of the convention is still open to accept additional abstracts and topics .
Details and registration forms are available in...
**************************************************
So I sent them a proposal to talk about The Asian Diet. Then I got their response.
**************************************************
Dear Jason Bussell,
You have sent a proposal to the The Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine.
We are happy to inform you that the Scientific Committee has reached its decision and that your paper has been accepted and you will be able to present your lecture. . .
Avraham Fried
Director
The Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine
www.mediconvention.com
***************************************************
So I'm going to fly half-way around the world to tell about 900 physicians why they should focus more and diet, lifestyle, and attitudes to help their patients prevent the diseases that have become so prevalent in our culture. A lot of people still look to the US as role models. In some ways, that is a good thing. But NO ONE should be following our dietary habits (and other habits as well). Balance and moderation are the keys to health. The Chinese figured that out a long time ago.
The Conference will deal with ways to unite the scientific principles of modern medicine with the holistic principles
of alternative medicine, hosting a dialogue between professionals and participants from around the world.
In order to give all those interested the possibility to participate we hereby announce that the registration has started.
The Scientific Committee of the convention is still open to accept additional abstracts and topics .
Details and registration forms are available in...
**************************************************
So I sent them a proposal to talk about The Asian Diet. Then I got their response.
**************************************************
Dear Jason Bussell,
You have sent a proposal to the The Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine.
We are happy to inform you that the Scientific Committee has reached its decision and that your paper has been accepted and you will be able to present your lecture. . .
Avraham Fried
Director
The Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine
www.mediconvention.com
***************************************************
So I'm going to fly half-way around the world to tell about 900 physicians why they should focus more and diet, lifestyle, and attitudes to help their patients prevent the diseases that have become so prevalent in our culture. A lot of people still look to the US as role models. In some ways, that is a good thing. But NO ONE should be following our dietary habits (and other habits as well). Balance and moderation are the keys to health. The Chinese figured that out a long time ago.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Invited to international conference
I just received a formal invitation to present a lecture on "The Asian Diet" at the The Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine. They sent me an email a few weeks ago asking for a proposal, and after reviewing it, have extended this invitation to me. Unfortunately, they do not have the budget to fly me in. So I will have to pass on this opportunity. It's still nice to be asked though.
Uh-oh. BPA found in paper receipts
article borrowed from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072605001.html
As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.
The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.
Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA's prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We've come across potentially major sources of BPA right here in our daily lives," Lunder said. "When you're carrying around a receipt in your wallet for months while you intend to return something, you could be shedding BPA into your home, into your environment. If you throw a receipt into a bag of food, and it's lying there against an apple, or you shove a receipt into your bag next to a baby pacifier, you could be getting all kinds of exposure and not realize it."
What remains unknown is how much of the chemical that may rub off onto the hands is absorbed through the skin or whether people then ingest BPA by handling food or touching their mouths.
Among those surveyed, receipts from Safeway supermarkets contained the highest concentration of BPA. A receipt taken from a store in the District contained 41 milligrams of the chemical. If the equivalent amount of BPA was ingested by a 155-pound adult, that would exceed EPA's decades-old safe exposure limit for BPA by 12 times.
Brian Dowling, a Safeway spokesman, said the company is researching the issue and consulting with its suppliers of receipt paper.
First synthesized in 1891 and developed in the 1930s as a synthetic form of estrogen, bisphenol-A has been widely used in commercial products including plastic bottles, compact discs and dental sealants. While it was regarded as safe for decades, recent research using sophisticated analytic techniques suggests that low doses of the compound can interfere with the endocrine system and cause a range of health effects, including reproductive problems and cancer.
Federal regulators have been focused on BPA and whether it leaches from containers into foods and beverages at levels that may cause health problems. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration expressed "some concern" about BPA and joined several agencies in conducting $30 million in studies to try to answer questions about its safety. Lawmakers on the local, state and federal levels have moved to ban BPA from food and beverage containers made for infants and children.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, said that while BPA can transfer from paper receipts to the skin, the level of absorption is low. "Available data suggests that BPA is not readily absorbed through the skin," a spokeswoman said. "Biomonitoring data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that exposure to BPA from all sources, which would include typical exposure from receipts, is extremely low."
The Environmental Protection Agency, however, recognizing that paper coated in BPA may be a significant route of exposure, launched an effort this month to work with paper manufacturers, the chemical industry and environmental groups to encourage companies to find alternatives to BPA in receipts.
Appleton Papers, the nation's largest manufacturer of "thermal papers," the type often used for receipts, dropped BPA from its formulation in 2006 out of growing concerns about the safety of the chemical, said Kent Willetts, the company's vice president of strategic development. "We just realized we'd rather move away from it sooner than later," Willetts said.
The Environmental Working Group's report can be found
online at http:/
As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.
The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.
Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA's prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We've come across potentially major sources of BPA right here in our daily lives," Lunder said. "When you're carrying around a receipt in your wallet for months while you intend to return something, you could be shedding BPA into your home, into your environment. If you throw a receipt into a bag of food, and it's lying there against an apple, or you shove a receipt into your bag next to a baby pacifier, you could be getting all kinds of exposure and not realize it."
What remains unknown is how much of the chemical that may rub off onto the hands is absorbed through the skin or whether people then ingest BPA by handling food or touching their mouths.
Among those surveyed, receipts from Safeway supermarkets contained the highest concentration of BPA. A receipt taken from a store in the District contained 41 milligrams of the chemical. If the equivalent amount of BPA was ingested by a 155-pound adult, that would exceed EPA's decades-old safe exposure limit for BPA by 12 times.
Brian Dowling, a Safeway spokesman, said the company is researching the issue and consulting with its suppliers of receipt paper.
First synthesized in 1891 and developed in the 1930s as a synthetic form of estrogen, bisphenol-A has been widely used in commercial products including plastic bottles, compact discs and dental sealants. While it was regarded as safe for decades, recent research using sophisticated analytic techniques suggests that low doses of the compound can interfere with the endocrine system and cause a range of health effects, including reproductive problems and cancer.
Federal regulators have been focused on BPA and whether it leaches from containers into foods and beverages at levels that may cause health problems. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration expressed "some concern" about BPA and joined several agencies in conducting $30 million in studies to try to answer questions about its safety. Lawmakers on the local, state and federal levels have moved to ban BPA from food and beverage containers made for infants and children.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, said that while BPA can transfer from paper receipts to the skin, the level of absorption is low. "Available data suggests that BPA is not readily absorbed through the skin," a spokeswoman said. "Biomonitoring data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that exposure to BPA from all sources, which would include typical exposure from receipts, is extremely low."
The Environmental Protection Agency, however, recognizing that paper coated in BPA may be a significant route of exposure, launched an effort this month to work with paper manufacturers, the chemical industry and environmental groups to encourage companies to find alternatives to BPA in receipts.
Appleton Papers, the nation's largest manufacturer of "thermal papers," the type often used for receipts, dropped BPA from its formulation in 2006 out of growing concerns about the safety of the chemical, said Kent Willetts, the company's vice president of strategic development. "We just realized we'd rather move away from it sooner than later," Willetts said.
The Environmental Working Group's report can be found
online at http:/
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Misleading reporting wrongly maligns acupuncture
There is a strong anti-acupuncture effort in Britain. I don't know why, but the majority of reports I read concluding acupuncture is ineffective seem to come from the UK. Here is another example of how data is twisted to make it seem that acupuncture is a waste of time. The national average success rate for IVF is around 30-35%. Subjects who received acupuncture in this study got pregnant at a rate of 45%. They tried to needle another group in points that are supposedly inactive and called that group the "sham acupuncture" or control group. Their success rate was even higher (52%). So the headline reads that acupuncture does not help, but I read it that some acupoints increase success by 10% and others increase it by 20%. The study was done at Northwestern in Chicago, but the interpretation that acupuncture is a waste of time comes from this British group. The article follows.
Women given acupuncture during IVF treatment are no more likely to become pregnant than their counterparts who undergo needle stimulation to body areas not used in acupuncture, a US study has shown.
Dr Irene Moy and her team at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, gave 160 IVF patients either 'true' or 'sham' acupuncture before and after embryo transfer, and compared the outcomes. The women who underwent the sham procedure had a higher rate of pregnancy (52.7 per cent) than those who underwent the true procedure (45.3 per cent), although this difference was not statistically significant..
Despite showing a lack of evidence that it can improve outcomes, Dr Moy and her team reported that 'there were no significant adverse effects observed during the study, suggesting that acupuncture is safe for women undergoing embryo transfer'.
The British Fertility Society (BFS) has previously warned couples undergoing IVF that there is no evidence to show acupuncture increases the chance of getting pregnant. In a study by BFS researchers earlier this year of 2,000 people, no matter what stage the acupuncture was given, it made no difference to the pregnancy or live birth rate.
Professor Adam Balen, head of the BFS's policy and practice committee, said that there was 'a great deal of discrepancy' in the way trials were designed and the type of acupuncture used, and that IVF patients need to be aware of the lack of evidence on acupuncture before undergoing the treatment.
The British Acupuncture Council issued a statement in support of the therapy, saying 'fertility focused acupuncture treatment has been found to help increase blood flow to the reproductive organs, balance hormone levels, regulate the menstrual cycle and help improve the lining of the uterus and the quality of eggs released'.
However, Professor Edzard Ernst an expert in complementary medicine from Exeter University in England, called these latest studies 'long overdue clarification' that Chinese medicine cannot help infertile women get pregnant.
Of the BFS review, Dr Ernst said: 'Infertile women have been misled for some time now to think that traditional Chinese medicine can help them get pregnant'.
Women given acupuncture during IVF treatment are no more likely to become pregnant than their counterparts who undergo needle stimulation to body areas not used in acupuncture, a US study has shown.
Dr Irene Moy and her team at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, gave 160 IVF patients either 'true' or 'sham' acupuncture before and after embryo transfer, and compared the outcomes. The women who underwent the sham procedure had a higher rate of pregnancy (52.7 per cent) than those who underwent the true procedure (45.3 per cent), although this difference was not statistically significant..
Despite showing a lack of evidence that it can improve outcomes, Dr Moy and her team reported that 'there were no significant adverse effects observed during the study, suggesting that acupuncture is safe for women undergoing embryo transfer'.
The British Fertility Society (BFS) has previously warned couples undergoing IVF that there is no evidence to show acupuncture increases the chance of getting pregnant. In a study by BFS researchers earlier this year of 2,000 people, no matter what stage the acupuncture was given, it made no difference to the pregnancy or live birth rate.
Professor Adam Balen, head of the BFS's policy and practice committee, said that there was 'a great deal of discrepancy' in the way trials were designed and the type of acupuncture used, and that IVF patients need to be aware of the lack of evidence on acupuncture before undergoing the treatment.
The British Acupuncture Council issued a statement in support of the therapy, saying 'fertility focused acupuncture treatment has been found to help increase blood flow to the reproductive organs, balance hormone levels, regulate the menstrual cycle and help improve the lining of the uterus and the quality of eggs released'.
However, Professor Edzard Ernst an expert in complementary medicine from Exeter University in England, called these latest studies 'long overdue clarification' that Chinese medicine cannot help infertile women get pregnant.
Of the BFS review, Dr Ernst said: 'Infertile women have been misled for some time now to think that traditional Chinese medicine can help them get pregnant'.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Reviews of the Asian Diet
Redwing books has compiled a nice selection of reviews for my book, The Asian Diet.
Endorsements and Recommendations
From Acupuncture Today, January 2010 By Andrew Rader, LAc, MS “Choices can be broken down into what to eat and how much . . . Because we in the Western industrialized world can have these choices, we can consider them a blessing or a curse. To this end, I will refer to a new book, written by Jason Bussell, an acupuncturist from Chicago. The Asian Diet is a book many of us wished we had written.”
Book review by Michael Abedin “Like any book about food, The Asian Diet has a section at the end with recipes and the benefits of different foods, and this is where Bussell will most likely open up a whole new market for the idea of a healthy diet from the mysterious East.”
From Christy Bonstell, Chicago beauty and health examiner for Examiner.com “The book is not about dieting, it's about respecting food and the way your body uses that food. Supplements, lifestyle and other subjects that affect your health, happiness and weight are also addressed. The book is easy to read, chock full of helpful information and is actually fun to sift through. If you've been looking for a way to improve your eating habits that may actually last a lifetime, this book is for you.”
From Positive Health Online “The information within The Asian Diet is a compilation of the information Bussell tries to impart to all his patients. It is filled with advice on how to change your diet, lifestyle and attitudes to improve your health, vitality and longevity. What are the benefits of buying this book?
Learn how your food choices affect the functioning of your body and mind Learn how to make proper food choices Learn how to adjust your lifestyle and attitudes to promote health and well-being
Endorsements and Recommendations
From Acupuncture Today, January 2010 By Andrew Rader, LAc, MS “Choices can be broken down into what to eat and how much . . . Because we in the Western industrialized world can have these choices, we can consider them a blessing or a curse. To this end, I will refer to a new book, written by Jason Bussell, an acupuncturist from Chicago. The Asian Diet is a book many of us wished we had written.”
Book review by Michael Abedin “Like any book about food, The Asian Diet has a section at the end with recipes and the benefits of different foods, and this is where Bussell will most likely open up a whole new market for the idea of a healthy diet from the mysterious East.”
From Christy Bonstell, Chicago beauty and health examiner for Examiner.com “The book is not about dieting, it's about respecting food and the way your body uses that food. Supplements, lifestyle and other subjects that affect your health, happiness and weight are also addressed. The book is easy to read, chock full of helpful information and is actually fun to sift through. If you've been looking for a way to improve your eating habits that may actually last a lifetime, this book is for you.”
From Positive Health Online “The information within The Asian Diet is a compilation of the information Bussell tries to impart to all his patients. It is filled with advice on how to change your diet, lifestyle and attitudes to improve your health, vitality and longevity. What are the benefits of buying this book?
Learn how your food choices affect the functioning of your body and mind Learn how to make proper food choices Learn how to adjust your lifestyle and attitudes to promote health and well-being
Friday, July 16, 2010
The Asian Diet. Now featured on Redwing Books
My non-acupuncturist friends will probably not know this, but Redwing Books is the #1 catalog for books related to acupuncture and Oriental medicine. I am very proud to see that my book is featured prominently on their home page (2nd row, center. Also known as "the awesome-est spot"). Check it out at http://www.redwingbooks.com/. While you are there, if you could order 100 copies or so, that would be great ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)