An Orthodox community is in the midst of a philosophical crisis thats pitting hard-line rationalists against New Age-leaning mystics and the publication of a new book by a well-known rabbi has exposed and intensified the struggle.

In his recently published Alternative Medicine in Halakhah, Lakewood, New Jersey rabbi Rephoel Szmerla gives Jewish legal justifications for a range of New Age therapies like yoga, homeopathy, reiki and crystal healing. Critics of the book say its part of an alarming growth of such practices in Orthodox circles; its proponents say it provides much-needed religious resource on therapies that are already widely used.

Rav Rephoel Szmerla, a dayan from Lakewood, NJ, has presented the Torah world with a groundbreaking, seminal halachic work, Daniel Shapiro wrote in a glowing review on the website Matzav.com.

But to people like Natan Slifkin, an Orthodox Israeli scholar and science writer, the book represents a dangerous turn away from science and towards what we derides as quackery. There is a forthcoming highly significant and very tragic publishing event which relates to the rationalist/anti-rationalist divide in the Jewish community, he warned in a blog post about the book before it came out. If religious Jews begin to eschew the scientific establishment for healers or other therapies, Slifkin wrote, there is a real risk of people neglecting to treat themselves in a way that is actually helpful.

But this a not some simple squabble between authors. Its the latest chapter in what Alan Brill, chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, calls a clash of two different Orthodox world views.

Judaism, of course, has a strong mystical tradition that dates back centuries. Kabbalah is so popular that the practice has been taken up by non-Jews. And the contemporary Orthodox world has been wrapped up in New Age, Brill said, for decades. The 1970s Baal Teshuva movement, when many nonobservant Jews become more religious, brought an influx of spiritual seekers into Orthodoxy. These newly Orthodox Jews, Brill said, infused the movement with a new openness to experimenting with alternative medicine.

More recently theres been a backlash against such New Age strains.

The Orthodox world is generally divided between Modern Orthodox and Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox. Haredim are then further divided between Hasidim and Yeshivish. This tension between the rationalists and New Agers is being waged in the Yeshivish quarter.

Szmerla does not necessarily advocate for all of the alternative medicine he discusses (shamanism for example, he decides is forbidden) but does frame all such therapies or approaches to healing in language that any Orthodox Jew could understand.

Until now, a great deal of confusion has prevailed regarding the halachic status of energy medicine, promotional material for the book reads. Is hands-on healing a form of avodah zarah[idolatry]? May one consult a kinesiologist? Is homeopathy permitted?

Orthodox Jews are already exploring such options, though not always openly.

On a Yahoo forum dedicated to the subject, one user shared an experiences with using reiki to treat cancer. I wasnt responding well to chemo or to blood transfusions, so my Orthodox Jewish parents looked for holistic ways to cure my leukemia, and Reiki did it, the commenter wrote. By the grace of G-d Ive been in remission for the last 8 years, now I am just treating my anemia.

The practices may already be taking place in Orthodox sectors, but some say that providing Jewish framing for such therapies will lead more Orthodox to take up the practices.

Ben Rothke, writing in the blog Lehrhaus, dismissed Szmerla as an evangelist for so-called energy medicine.

This book reflects disturbing trends in subculture elements of right-wing Orthodoxy to disdain modern science, Rothke wrote, and to engage new age therapies.

For example, Szmerla is reportedly opposed to vaccinations, a topic which is of contention in some Orthodox circles, and critics like Rothke see a connection between eschewing modern science and taking up New Age practices.

The last time this tension reared its head, it was Slifkin, the scientific Orthodox writer, who was at the eye of the storm.

Slifkin, a British-born rabbi who teaches at a university in Israel, made a career for himself by seeking to show that one could accept the sanctity of the biblical scripture and still have a firm rationalist footing in modern science.

He was dubbed the Zoo Rabbi for his expertise on the intersection of Torah and zoology, Tablet Magazine reported. In the early 2000s, he authored a series of books with titles like Mysterious Creatures, The Science of Torah and The Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax.

Natan Slifkin

He got in trouble in 2005, when twenty-three Haredi rabbis signed an open letter denouncing the books for challenging the literal truth of the Bibles creation story.

Slifkin lost speaking engagements. His publisher and distributor dropped the three most controversial books. His own rabbi was pressured to expel him from his congregation, the New York Times reported at the time.

But Orthodoxys rationalist-mystical pendulum has swung again, and Slifkin, once marginalized for his emphasis on science, is sitting in the center, scolding a fellow rabbi for his purportedly mystical leanings.

Now, theres a large number of people, Brill said, who are allergic to anything mystical or magical.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

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Orthodox Jews Divide Over Questions Of Whether Yoga, Crystals, Reiki Are Kosher - Forward

(Objectives) We examined the clinical efficacy of dietary manipulation (DM) for female patients with interstitial cystitis (IC) in stable condition who were followed in our hospital. (Patients and methods) This study included 20 female patients with IC in rather stable condition who were followed at our hospital. In cooperation with the nutrition control team, we created a basic IC diet menu for 1 month (total daily calories, 1,500 kcal; protein, 65 g; fat, 40 g; carbohydrate, 220 g; water, 1,000 ml; salt, 7 g). Data regarding daily food intake and food-related symptoms were collected by detailed interview of each patient conducted by the doctors, nurses, and nutritionists at our hospital. In accordance with the abovementioned nutrition control, we set meal menu to control IC symptoms and advised the patients to reduce the intake of specific food items to the maximum possible extent.The following food items were removed from or restricted in the diet of patients: tomatoes, tomato products, soy, tofu product (seasoning was acceptable), spices (pepper, curry powder, mustard, horseradish, etc.), excessive potassium, citrus, high-acidity-inducing substances (caffeine, carbonate, and citric acid), etc. We evaluated the following factors to determine the efficacy of this diet menu 3 months after the start of the intervention: O'Leary-Sant symptom index (OSSI), O'Leary-Sant problem index (OSPI), urgency visual analogue scale (UVAS) score, (0, no urgency; 10, severe urgency), bladder or pelvic pain VAS (PVAS) score, (0, no pain; 10, worst possible pain), and numerical patient-reported quality of life (QOL) index (0, highly satisfied; 6, highly dissatisfied). (Results) OSSI and OSPI improved from 11.7 to 10.1 (p<0.0001), and from 10.7 to 8.8 (p=0.01), respectively. The UVAS score significantly reduced from 6.4 to 4.8, and the PVAS score significantly improved from 6.5 to 4.8 (p<0.0001). The patient-reported QOL index significantly improved from 5.1 to 3.9 (p<0.0001). (Conclusion) Although repeated notes were taken and patients who were followed up for a long term were consulted on the meal, as appropriate, at the time of visit, DM was found to alleviate the symptoms of IC. DM as a systematic treatment modality for IC should be attempted more aggressively because of its non-invasiveness, without alterations to the other IC treatments.

Nihon Hinyokika Gakkai zasshi. The japanese journal of urology. 2016 Jan [Epub]

Hitoshi Oh-Oka

Department of Urology, National Hospital Organization, Kobe Medical Center.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28740049

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CLINICAL EFFICACY OF DIETARY MANIPULATION AS COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE ... - UroToday

In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism. (We now have timestamps for each story!)

We discussed:

BYU-Idaho asked a student why she dropped out so she told them the truth. (0:42)

The Mayor of Knoxville (TN) finally admitted a Bible sign hanging in the police department was illegal. (5:30)

The White House Bible Study is bad enough, but the instructor is worse. (13:42)

Donald Trumps Religious Right lawyer cant stop lying for him. (17:56)

An NFL player thinks dinosaurs arent real and fossils are fake. (23:23)

The Activist Mommy has a lot of advice on how to beat your children properly. (26:33)

Bastyr University, a naturopathic school, says a former student is defaming them online. She says shes just sharing what she learned there. (37:24)

Atheists are asking the Supreme Court to rule on prayers at school board meetings. (52:11)

Rod Dreher is frustrated by Christians who support Trump, but hes part of the problem. (59:50)

Ark Encounter has a new silly excuse for why attendance is low. (1:06:17)

Wed love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what youre hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

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Podcast Ep. 175: Alternative Medicine Isn't Medicine - Patheos (blog)

Physicians might be more appreciated than they think. A Pew Research Center survey found that63% of American adults had seen a healthcare provider in the previous year for an illness or medical condition. Of those, 87% thought that the provider listened carefully to their symptoms and concerns.

Nearly as many patients (84%) felt their doctor "really cared about their health and well-being." Four our of five Americans thought they received all the information they needed from their healthcare provider.

Those findings indicate that around 217 million American adults had positive experiences with their physicians. If you like you're doctor, you're part of a huge club. And if you're a doctor, congratulations -- it's highly likely that your patients think you're doing a good job.

Image source: Getty Images.

What makes the Pew survey results especially interesting is how they show patients have a very different perspective than physicians have.

A survey published in theArchives of Internal Medicineback in 2012 reported that physicians in the U.S. experience burnout more than any other profession. In 2015, a Medscape survey found that, despite making large salaries, nearly half of all U.S. doctors said they had experienced "loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment." The findings from the Pew survey suggest that this burnout isn't having too great of a negative impact on physicians' relationships with their patients.

The top reason for frustration for physicians in the Medscape survey was "too many bureaucratic tasks." This probably is a reason why 23% of patients in the Pew survey reported that they "felt rushed by their healthcare provider." Still, though, many more patients didn't feel rushed than did.

Although most Americans appear to like their doctors, many are also taking other approaches for treatment of illnesses. The Pew survey found that nearly half of all Americans have tried alternative medicine outside of conventional medical care. Alternative medicine includesacupuncture, chiropractic, energy therapies, herbal dietary supplements, and other therapies that physicians typically wouldn't use for treatment. It should be noted, however, that only 20% of Americans used alternative medicine instead of traditional medical treatment, with others using alternative medicine in addition to traditional medical treatment.

Younger Americans appear to be more likely to try alternative treatments. The Pew survey found that 51% of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29 had used alternative treatments, while only 38% of adults age 65 or over had done so.

Image source: Getty Images.

Americans are also likely to do their own research on medical conditions. Just 30% of respondents in the Pew survey rely solely on what their doctor tells them. Roughly 36% do some research of their own to learn more about the treatment recommended by their healthcare providers. Another 21% check for other treatment options. Around 9% of Americans research potential side effects.

With so many Americans having positive experiences with their healthcare providers, you might expect they'd think overall health in the country was improving. But they don't.

The Pew Research Center survey found that 48% of American adults think that the health of children is worse than it was 20 years ago, with 20% thinking it's about the same. Only 31% think the health of U.S. children has gotten better over the last two decades.

Around 42% of the survey respondents felt that the health of U.S. adults was worse than it was 20 years ago. Roughly 24% thought adult health was about the same as two decades ago, with 33% viewing the health of adult Americans as better than it was in the past.

Why such pessimism? A couple of other findings in the Pew survey could point to the answer. Nearly all (95%) of Americans said that getting enough physical exercise was important to improving health. However, a whopping 79% of Americans think they should be exercising more.

Perhaps the main message from the Pew survey is that most Americans could have the following conversation with their primary physician: "I like you a lot, doc, even though I'm not as healthy as I should be. It's not you... it's me."

The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook

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Like Your Doctor? You're Part of a Huge Club - Madison.com

Friday Night Inc () said its subsidiary, Alternative Medicine Association (AMA) is to start manufacturing and distributing products under the well-known Krypted vaping brand.

With most popular cannabis brands now wanting a presence in the critical Las Vegas market, AMA is attracting new brand-expansion conversations daily, and Krypted is the fourth brand to be added to Nevada-focused AMA's exclusive manufacturing and distribution network.

The Krypted team will be in Las Vegas next week for the kick-off meeting and to prepare for the initial production run, Friday Night revealed.

AMA has already obtained state approval for their logo and product names and the first sales should occur by 15 September.

Terms include making AMA the exclusive manufacturer & distributor in Nevada for an initial term of three years, renewable annually after that, with a 15% production royalty.

Krypted, a big name in the California vaping scene, is providing AMA with all packaging and marketing support.

Intriguingly, Friday Night said AMA would launch an apparel and merchandise brand on 15 August, so if you've ever wanted to wear a pair of AMA-branded socks, now's your chance.

AMA said it has recruited an industry lifestyle branding and marketing veteran to rebrand and establish a comprehensive lifestyle approach that will expand and maximize AMA's presence within the Vegas market.

Friday Night sees AMA as a lifestyle and a global brand that will transcend into multiple business verticals that support AMA's core business.

Meanwhile, Friday Night revealed that demand for recreational cannabis continues to increase.

We look forward to our next fiscal year that began on August 1st, 2017, and the new challenges and rewards this year will bring us. With everything going on, we are confident that we will continue to outperform," said Mark Zobrist, the chief executive of AMA.

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Friday Night Inc subsidiary Alternative Medicine Association ... - Proactive Investors UK

Chuck Norris

By now you may be familiar with the story of Eden Carlson, the two-year-old who was found last year face down in the family swimming pool, barely clinging to life. Rushed to Arkansas Childrens Hospital, she spent nearly two hours without a heartbeat and it would take constant CPR at both the house and the emergency room to get a return of circulation. Initial hospital tests showed she had suffered severe brain damage.

As chronicled in a report published in the July issue of the journal Medical Gas Research, over the next two months, Eden progressively lost muscle control as well as her ability to speak, walk and properly react to commands. Unresponsive to all traditional approaches, at the two-month mark, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was recommended and Dr. Paul Harch, Clinical Professor and Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine was brought in.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a form of therapy that I am intimately familiar with. It was instrumental in treating my wife, Gena, during her recovery from gadolinium poisoning. The therapy exposes a patient to pure oxygen within the confines of a carefully controlled pressurized chamber.

Because hyperbaric oxygen therapy was not available at Arkansas Childrens Hospital, Dr. Harch began a bridging treatment to prevent permanent tissue degeneration until he could get Eden to a hyperbaric treatment center. Fifty-five days after her near-drowning, Dr. Harch began by giving her oxygen at the same air pressure as air at sea level for 45 minutes twice a day. After these treatments, Eden became more alert and started to speak and even laugh again, according to the report. Then, 78 days after her near-drowning, the doctors gave Eden oxygen therapy in a pressurized chamber. She would ultimately have 40 sessions, lasting 45 minutes each, spread over five days a week. Edens mother reported that by the tenth round, her child appeared to be near normal.

She was able to walk again, Dr. Harch tells CBS News. Her language development accelerated and ended up improving to the point that it was better than it had been before the accident.

Dr. Harch goes on to explain that every time you experience hyperbaric oxygen therapy you are manipulating gene expression in a beneficial way, inhibiting cell death and inflammation while promoting tissue growth and repair. He has also stressed that his report does not claim to resurrect brain cells with oxygen treatments, as some critics have implied, but rather, he says that the oxygen treatments led to the growth of brain tissue, likely because the oxygen stimulated the expression of certain genes.

The story of little Eden Carlson is now being hailed as one of the first such confirmed cases of brain damage being reversed using this alternative treatment. But there are other successes in the field to report.

Take the case of 56-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran Fritz Kruger. A cancer patient, Kruger had his prostate removed in 2012. This was followed by extensive radiation treatments. Following the treatments, he was showing no signs of cancer, but the radiation had taken a toll on his body, causing painful after-effects. I had blood in my urine, Kruger explains in a Mayo Clinic report. There was so much scar tissue that they couldnt find the opening from my kidneys into my bladder.

Krugers Veteran Administration doctor recommended hyperbaric oxygen therapy which led him to the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Dr. James Banich, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who also works with wound care and hyperbaric medicine.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is very well-documented as an effective treatment for radiation injury, says Dr. Banich. Better oxygen delivery allows for better wound healing and the ability to fight infection.

Throughout the course of Krugers 30-day treatment he continued to improve. His symptoms eventually went away and have not returned.

In the Mayo Clinic report, Dr. Banich notes that hyperbaric oxygen therapy also is effective for diabetic patients who have wounds on their feet that will not heal. Researchers at Mayo Clinics Rochester campus are now in the midst of research and clinical trials to explore the benefits of the therapy for other types of wounds.

There are many other stories that can be told of the benefits of hyperbaric medicine as a viable, low-risk form of alternative medicine. You just dont hear about them because the practice remains relatively small, underfunded and underreported.

At least some doctors and hospitals are beginning to see the value of this form of treatment. An estimated 1,300 U.S. hospitals have hyperbaric facilities, triple the number of medical facilities offering the service in 2002. Yet earlier this year, the Federal Drug Administration saw the need to issue a warning to consumers that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is being promoted as a treatment for many conditions for which the federal agency has not approved its use. Among them PTSD, Alzheimers disease, and diabetes diseases that remain not fully understood, or in some instances even curable; situations where such a low-risk alternative treatment as hyperbaric oxygen poses little risk.

Meanwhile, military veterans whove returned from deployment with a diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury or Post Traumatic Stress are left with no current treatment except pharmaceutical medication as the Veterans Administration continues to question the science behind Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

Write to Chuck Norris with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebooks Official Chuck Norris Page. He blogs at ChuckNorrisNews.blogspot.com.

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Chuck Norris covers astonishing results of new therapy - WND.com

To the editor: I am writing in regard to the July 20 column by Mara Schiffren, Patient, heal thyself. My two best friends are pediatric oncologists. One is a Harvard Medical School M.D., Ph.D. geneticist at Sloane Kettering, the other is my classmate from veterinary school at U.C. Davis, a DVM, Ph.D. pathologist at St. Judes Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. I have shared tears with both of my best friends as they described to me the trials of confirming an astrocytoma or glioblastoma, both brain tumors, to the parents of their 3- and 4-year-old children. Leukemias, lymphomas, retinoblastomas and more bring heartache and shatter to the lives of parents in pediatric oncology wards across the country. A 3-year-old child has not the worldly circumspect to alter their lifes nutrition and lifestyle. Ms. Schiffrens flippant remarks regarding health and medicine are reflective of a seeming cynicism, a lack of knowing and an absence of compassion. I disagree with her dark perspective of todays medicine. I see the world of todays therapeutics as wonderfully changing. How integrated has the world of medicine become! As an equine veterinarian, alternative medicine abounds: acupuncture, chiropratic, holistic and herbal therapeutics are all incorporated into managing the lives and careers of horses. My brother, a graduate from the Yale School of Medicine, integrates an array of holistic therapeutics into his practice. Nutrition, exercise, meditation, and lastly, therapeutics, are brought on board. The world of both human and veterinary medicine has been dramatically changing for good in the past recent years, incorporating an array of diverse perspectives. A milestone example of changing therapeutics in my world as an equine veterinarian would be in the world of treating autism. As an equine veterinarian, horses have been substantiated to be one of the few successful therapeutic modalities for improving cognition, speech, balance and empowerment in special needs children. Who would have thought that which nickers and whinnys would replace a pill bottle? The world of human and equine medicine is wonderfully changing for the better, despite the cynicism of Mara Schiffrens article. Matt Eliott, DVM North Salem

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Another Perspective on Health and Medicine - TAPinto.net

Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the New York Asian Film Festival.

The Japanese film Happiness is like a dark car driving by slowly in the shadows. As it moves closer, it hardly sheds any light. Then, a window rolls down, revealing a face, staring out at the audience. In a flash, the car is gone, leaving nothing behind but a fleeting impression.

Similarly, the film doesnt explain much about its main character: a stoic, brooding man with an Elvis Presley hairdo. Thats a pity, because Happiness is strongest when its fleshing out its characters and building up a narrative of why the audience should care. A eerie silence pervades the film, lingering in every single scene save the climax, where ambient sounds echoes the protagonists emotional state. The film doesnt need music, though. Silence lends the story a kind of realism, which is helpful in a story based in technological fantasy.

Whats the genre?

Indie mystery, featuring a gadget thats a mix of science fiction and Eastern alternative medicine.

Whats it about?

Happiness revolves around a mysterious helmet. Its an amalgamation of golden typewriter keys built in at different angles to create acupuncture stimulation to the noggin. It also looks like a particularly aggressive motorcyclists headgear. The helmets creator, Kanzaki (played by Masatoshi Nagase), attracts attention around a small Japanese town when he claims the helmet can make wearers happy by triggering forgotten memories of the past.

Although the locals initially regard Kanzaki and his helmet suspiciously, his helmet proves its ability to pull up nostalgic memories from the users past. A mother of an unruly teenage boy sees her child as a newborn baby, giggling in his cradle again. The films goofball, Ishida, sees himself scoring a home run in a baseball game, to the adoration of cheering fans. Kanzaki soon gains local hero status for revitalizing the town, but he still remains an inscrutable character, his past and personal life a mystery. But when he makes his way to treating Inoue (Hiroki Suzuki), a teenage convict who lives in isolation, and takes in the unkempt state of Inoues dress and his spa-style slippers, he asks for an extra hour alone with the kid. From there, the film begins to delve into Kanzakis personal life.

Whats it really about?

Kanzaki's motives for building the helmet aren't entirely altruistic. The film is concerned with how joy and pain overlap, and how peoples most painful memories could also be their most joyous ones. Happiness explores the extremities of human emotion, psychological trauma, a looming sense of mystery, helplessness (the Japanese belief in shouganai, literally it cant be helped), young misfits, and belligerent angst.

Is it good?

Happiness is so close to being enjoyable, but because it throws viewers into scenes without explanation, and delays getting into characters backstories until the near end, there isnt much opportunity to engage with and love these characters. Watching the film can feel like watching paint dry, but at other times, its more like reading Agatha Christies murder mystery And Then There Were None, or Natsuo Kirinos Out, where middle-aged Japanese women bury a person theyve helped kill. Those novels are packed with twist after blood-dripping twist, and in its best moments, Happiness is as well. It veers between enthralling and exhausting.

The flaws in the narrative crop up as early as the first scene, as Kanzaki strolls into a nearly abandoned shop and takes note of the sad old lady sitting in the corner. He returns moments later with the nostalgia helmet. Writer-director Sabu brings the helmet into the story in a such a quick, out-of-context, and contrived way, its as if it was dropped into the film from a bad science fiction novel. An aging woman whos beyond depressed? Throw in the deus ex machina of a magical helmet, and shes instantly crying and laughing again. Its an artificial, awkward attention-grabber.

Sabu makes silence do the job of words

Sabu makes silence do the job of words. The camera lingers on Kanzakis face, attempting to convey his inner turmoil and the quick turns of his mind as he plots his next move. This works for some scenes, but not all of them. As the camera pauses on Kanzaki walking up multiple flights of stairs, or as tears slowly leak down his face while hes on a bus, scenes seem to stretch out to eternity. Happiness is a short 91 minutes, but it certainly doesnt feel that way.

The best content darts by: the flashbacks that explain the films core mystery, the climatic fight scene, and Kanzaki powerfully hacking and drilling his way into crafting the perfect happiness helmet. Granted, it is a low-budget film, which forces the action to be short and minimal, but the seams shouldnt show through so easily.

What should it be rated?

It earns an R for gratuitous violence, but those scenes are so few and far between that the rest of this film could pass as G rated.

How can I actually watch it?

Happiness was released in Japan in 2016, and is showing in limited, sporadic theatrical screenings in the US.

Originally posted here:

In the Japanese film Happiness, a technological fix for sadness just makes life worse - The Verge

Home General Health Using worm blood as an alternative to human blood could change medicine forever

Worms are not normally thought of as the most useful creatures on the planetwe mostly just use them as bait. The lugworm (Arenicola marina) is slimy, deep pink, and not fit for human consumptionit hasnt really provided much in terms of usefulness for humans. That is until now.

French researchers have discovered that the lugworm has an extraordinary ability that could transform medicine as we know it. The blood of the lugworm has the ability to load up with oxygenthe molecule needed for every tissue in the body.

Worm blood could prove to be a viable blood substitute. It could potentially save countless lives, speed up recovery times post-surgery, and even help organ transplant patients.

The hemoglobin of the lugworm can transport 40 times more oxygen from the lungs to tissues than human hemoglobin.

It also has the advantage of being compatible with all blood types, says Gregory Raymond, a biologist at Aquastream, a fish-farming facility on the Brittany coastline.

The lugworm garnered medical interest in as early as 2003, but it had never been studied. The researchers began their own study without having any parameters regarding how to proceed. Instead, they had to learn as they went. Lugworms have the ability to survive in extreme conditions. When exposed to conditions that have very little oxygen. their hemoglobin stocks up on an astonishing amount of oxygen, allowing it to survive more than eight hours out of the water.

The main hindrance to using the blood of the lugworm as an alternative to human blood is the possibility of it causing an allergic reaction and potentially causing kidney damage. One of its main advantages, however, is that lugworm hemoglobin is almost the same as human hemoglobin and doesnt need to be contained within red blood cells. This making differing blood types inconsequential.

Initial studies led the researchers to extract and purify lugworm hemoglobin, testing how well the substance works in mouse models. The rodents were found to adapt well, with no signs of immune response seen in other animal studies.

As of 2015, clinical trials began, with the blood being used in 10 human kidney transplant patients. An additional 60 participants are currently enrolled in the study across France. While there is some time left before the researchers get definitive answers on safety and effectiveness of the lugworm blood, the initial signs look promising.

The properties of extracellular hemoglobin extracted from the lugworm could help protect skin grafts, promote bone regeneration and lead to universal blood, says Raymond.

Related: Inflammatory bowel disease treatment with parasitic worms shows promise: Study

Related Reading:

19 foods that increase blood flow

Daily meat and eggs may increase blood clot formation

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1470611/story-worm-turned-bringer-medical-miracles/

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Using worm blood as an alternative to human blood could change medicine forever - Bel Marra Health

PLATTSMOUTH A former Nehawka resident learned Monday morning that she would serve five years on probation for distributing marijuana in Cass County.

Shonnelle K. Poppleton, 44, appeared in Cass County District Court for sentencing on a Class IIA felony charge of distribution of a controlled substance-marijuana. Poppleton, who now lives in Bellevue, accepted a plea deal with prosecutors in May. The state agreed to dismiss a second drug charge in exchange for the guilty plea.

Cass County Sheriffs Office investigators learned last year that Poppleton had been attempting to sell marijuana to local residents. A confidential informant arranged to meet Poppleton at her former Cass County residence in October. She sold 1.06 grams of marijuana to the confidential informant during the meeting.

Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde told the court he felt a term of one year in state prison was appropriate. He said Poppleton had told probation officials during a pre-sentence investigation meeting that she would likely continue to use marijuana if she was placed on probation.

Poppleton told the court she had been taking marijuana for medical reasons. She said she would find an alternative medicine that would help address her health issues. She also said she was willing to abide by all other terms of probation.

Judge Michael Smith told Poppleton he had prepared paperwork for either a probation sentence or prison term. He said her statements had convinced him to order probation instead of incarceration.

Smith said he would place Poppleton on 60 months of probation to give her time to work on rehabilitation and treatment. Poppleton will be required to complete a chemical dependency evaluation, psychiatric exam and psychology evaluation within 60 days. She will also be required to abstain from all drugs and alcohol and submit to random drug tests during the five-year probation period.

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Former local resident sentenced for distributing drugs - Fremont Tribune

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Herbs & Alternative Medicine | Alternative Medicine | eHow

The HCMC Center for Hyperbaric Medicine has treated patients in six cases in a little over a year, and has seen two cases in the past two months for what's known as "food grade hydrogen peroxide" poisoning. http://kare11.tv/2u3iToN

Lindsey Seavert, KARE 7:04 AM. EDT July 28, 2017

The HCMC Center for Hyperbaric Medicine has treated patients in six cases in a little over a year, and has seen two cases in the past two months for whats known as food grade hydrogen peroxide poisoning. (Photo: KARE 11)

MINNEAPOLIS - Over the weekend, Hennepin County Medical Center doctors worked swiftly to save a man's life, treating him for an emerging and deadly risk, the ingestion of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide.

The HCMC Center for Hyperbaric Medicine has treated patients in six cases in a little over a year, and has seen two cases in the past two months for whats known as food grade hydrogen peroxide poisoning.

The 35 percent concentrated peroxide is often used in commercial settings to store or prepare food, but some believe in diluting the solution as an alternative medicine therapy for health benefits.

There is some thought in some groups that it might be a general panacea things that can help with inflammation, any sort of general illness, said Dr. Ann Arens, HCMC physician of emergency medicine and toxicology.

%INLINE%

Not to be confused with the 3 percent peroxide you'd buy at a drug store, the doctor says this version is often ingested accidentally because it can be mistaken for water.

Dr. Arens says food grade hydrogen solution is not scientifically proven with no medical use, and is anything but safe.

The people who have ingested this are generally in so much pain they have to have a breathing tube in, they can have holes in their esophagus and stomach, said Dr. Arens.

In the most recent case at HCMC, first handled by the Minnesota Poison Center, a man was working outside on a hot summer day, and came inside to find a sports drink bottle similar to the bottle he had previously used. When he took a big drink, he had no idea someone else in his home was storing the concentrated hydrogen peroxide in the bottle. He experienced immediate pain.

So when you swallow just a little bit of this food grade hydrogen peroxide, quite a bit comes out into your intestine and into your stomach and get absorbed and cause bad things, said Dr. Stephen Hendriksen, HCMC physician of Hyperbaric Medicine.

Doctors say two ounces of the potent peroxide releases six liters - or two milk jugs full - of gas into your system, causing air bubbles that can travel to your brain or heart, specifically putting patients at the risk for an embolism.

And cause stroke-like symptoms, what hyperbaric oxygen does is shrink those bubbles, said Dr. Hendriksen. Because we put them in the hyperbaric chamber, and we put them under pressure. You, as a patient, are breathing 100 percent oxygen under pressure, usually 45 to 60 feet below sea level.

But after the latest cases, HCMC doctors stress the best alternative of all - prevention.

Talk to your doctor, make sure you educate yourself about what these products are, is the most important thing, said Dr. Arens. Keep anything that can cause poisoning in a well-labeled bottle, in the original bottle, of course out of reach of other food products and out of reach of children.

A recent study released this past Febuary warned consumers about the risks of ingesting high-concentration hydrogen peroxide.

Researchers for the study, published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, looked at 294 cases of peroxide ingestion over a 10-year period.

They found that a large number of cases where patients swallowed high-concentration peroxide resulted in critical illness, some with continued disability or death.

Unintentional hydrogen peroxide exposure is common.

In 2015, the American Association of Poison Control Centers said in its annual report that there were 7,257 cases of peroxide exposure reported in that year, and of those 92 percent of them unintentional.

2017 KARE-TV

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Doctors warn of potent peroxide risk - W*USA 9

A doctor who appeared to vouch for and defend Gwyneth Paltrows high-profile lifestyle and e-commerce site, Goop, now says that she does not see herself as a Goop doctor and would not endorse the site, according to an interview with Stat.

The post was written in response to a wave of online criticism from journalists, medical professionals, and patient advocates, particularlyblogger Dr. Jen Gunter, an Ob/Gyn who has written often about Goop.

Under a heading that included our doctors, Romm appeared firmly connected to Goop and its mission. But, in an interview published online Thursday on Stat, Romm said she doesnt see herself as one of Goops doctors and doesnt pay enough attention to know whats on the site. She refused to endorse Goop and, in fact, expressed criticism of it. Romm suggested that the site is a caricature of everything alternative health for women. She advised the Goop team to re-evaluate all of the sites products and recommendations with the help of doctors.

I cant endorse Goop, in that... just because [products are] natural or organic, doesnt mean that theyre beneficial for women, she told Stat. Just because it hasnt been proven harmful and its natural doesnt mean its safe. We cant just say that thats sort of the default position.

You cant just say its better than conventional medicine. If its wrong, its wrong.

Romm explained that she was sympathetic to women who are dissatisfied with conventional medicine. And she stressed that she wasnt disavowing Goop and said that there was no justification to dismiss alternative medicine in general. But she noted that just because women seek alternatives doesnt mean alternatives are good.

That said, Romm, a Yale-educated doctor, sells her own line of proprietary herbal supplements, includingAdrena soothe and Adrena nourish. She also espouses detoxing, which is not supported by science.

In the Stat interview, Dr. Romm said she wasnt concerned that her medical credentials might appear to lend support to unproven and unscientific theories and products, such as her own or those on Goop. She replied that she essentially saw herself as an independent contributor to the site and was open to patients trying harmless products that arent too expensive if they want.

She also seemed comfortable with the for-profit aspect of the health advice she and Goop offer. Goop is certainly commercial, Romm said, adding I have to make a living, too.

Dr. Romm elaborated:

I think Gwyneth Paltrow was a fabulous actress in her day of acting, and Im not a sort of advocate or antagonist of her work. I understand that she is probably a very decent person, trying to do good work, and [she] does things that feel meaningful to her. And, yes, theres a commercial aspect to it, [but] theres nothing that doesnt have a commercial aspect to it, unless youre a saint doing medical work.

The interview ended with Romm noting that drug companies also make lots of money.

Here is the original post:

Goop doctor says she's not really Goop's doctor, calls site a caricature - Ars Technica

Traditional medicine is explained by Dell Rice-Sylverster during the University of Victoria and Camosun College celebration of International Aboriginal Day in Victoria, B.C. June 21, 2012. LYLE STAFFORD / TIMES COLONIST

The story of cancer patient Ric Richardson, a Mtis man from Green Lake, challenges us to think about patient autonomy, medical traditions and Saskatchewan health care.

Just as crucial, his story forces us to reconsider the use and acceptance of traditional Aboriginal knowledge not only in medicine but in society more broadly.

After a diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, Richardson opted to use Indigenous therapies for his terminal cancer rather than chemotherapy, arguing that the northern boreal forest served as his medicine cabinet.

Several reasons influenced this choice. Richardson felt that in the final stages of his life he would be suffering from the side effects of chemo. Hed also have to sacrifice valuable time with his family and at his job. This was unacceptable.

I would have thought that the quality of my remaining life should be the prime consideration, Richardson noted. He has usedteas made from plants in the region, including dandelion root and balsam fir.

Alternatives to the medical mainstream, which include traditional Chinese or Eastern medicine, Aboriginal medicine, as well as faith-healing and fake drugs have a long history. Some are legitimate. Some are not.

Accounts of alternative medicines share certain commonalities with Richardsons story.

In the 1970s, medical authorities waged a war against the unproven Laetrile, an almond derivative used to treat various cancers. Its supporters numbered in the thousands and they used clever arguments about patients rights, medical freedom and an overbearing medical establishment.

Laetrile was a natural product which gained even more notoriety when actor Steve McQueen travelled to Mexico for an illegal dose.

A second alternative was heroin. In the early 1980s, Kenneth Walker, a Toronto-based celebrity doctor and syndicated columnist who wrote under the pseudonym W. Gifford-Jones launched a campaign to legalize heroin.

Having lost close friends to cancer, Walker concluded the drug was one answer to the problem of treating end-of-life pain associated with terminal cancer. In December 1984, Jake Epp, the federal health minister, announced the government would legalize the use of heroin in cases of severe chronic pain or terminal illness.

A final recent alternative to the medical mainstream is vaccine skeptic Jenny McCarthy. She has challenged the medical establishment, conventional wisdom, and championed untested approaches to treatment.

McCarthy promoted the idea that vaccines cause autism and that chelation therapy was a cure. Both claims remain unsupported by medical consensus, yet the fact that she empowered herself using the internet, discovered new treatments and essentially thumbed her nose at medical elites ingratiated her to many people.

Terminal cancer is of course a different beast from vaccination. Yet these examples highlight controversies having to do with patient decision-making, and acceptance of different medical traditions and treatments.

According to The Dread Disease, the history of cancer embodies all manner of social and cultural tensions. These include class and colonialism, ethics and ethnicity. For author Jim Patterson, these tensions have often led to cancer countercultures, where patients have grown increasingly skeptical about orthodox medical notions of disease and about the claims to expert knowledge.

As the discussion about terminal cancer and integration of traditional healing practices with western biomedicine proceeds, we should be mindful of the history and debates. As Richardson rightly pointed out, much Aboriginal knowledge has been discounted or demonized. That needs to change.

All of this is to say that Richardsons story should not be viewed in isolation. Lessons may be drawn from Aboriginal history and the history of medicine. Cultural sensitivity must constitute an element of treatment. It certainly doesnt help that some physicians push back overly hard and rather patronizingly, too against patient-consumer agency and choice in the medical sphere.

Richardson recently noted, Obviously were on the right track and things are working well. His tumours had diminished in size. This, along with the positive response hes received from the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, amount to progress.

Richardson helps us appreciate the complexity of patient choice in the medical marketplace and the use of traditional Aboriginal knowledge in society. He also stands as an example of the ways in which citizens can take ownership in the health care system and potentially influence it.

Lucas Richert is a lecturer at the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare, University of Strathclyde (Glasgow).

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Cancer controversies and traditional medicines - Regina Leader-Post

WITH primary care on the brink of change, a county-wide survey has revealed a majority of patients would be happy to see someone else instead of their GP.

Mounting pressures, lack of funds and increasing workloads has forced a re-think of the way primary care and GP services are provided across the county.

Now in its most recent survey, Healthwatch Oxfordshire, has found that 72 per cent of patients would be happy to see an alternative medical professional other than their GP.

In its Peoples Experiences of Using GP Services in Oxfordshire report, the watchdog also found that 39 per cent of patients had contacted a pharmacist before seeing a GP for medical advice.

Reasons cited for not seeking help from either a nurse practitioner, pharmacist or physiotherapist was because patients needed management of long-term conditions or the inability of a nurse to be able to prescribe medicine.

Director at Healthwatch Eddie Duller said: There is a change of heart from the public in that they recognise that GPs are stretched and under pressure, like most people at work in todays world.

Some are open to new ways of seeing the doctor, or at least getting some form of advice and treatment from practice nurses and the neighbourhood chemist.

The survey, completed by more than 400 patients across 67 practices, showed that a greater proportion waited four weeks for an appointment than in 2014.

Mr Duller added: Thats just as well because medical help closest to home could change out of all recognition in the next five years because of a reorganisation being powered through by the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which pays for GP and related services.

They say the aim is to improve access to the first layer of care, but that doesnt necessarily mean you will see a doctor.

There are plans to increase the skills of nurses and other medical practitioners such as pharmacists and physiotherapists to cut down the doctors workload.

GP practices are being encouraged to work together to serve populations of 30 to 50,000 organised through central hubs in areas roughly similar to town and district council areas.

The report lays out recommendations for the CCG, including promises to ensure that all GP surgeries will offer appointments within a week of a patient asking for one and that every surgery should have an active Patient Participation Group.

Change is afoot in primary care as plans to shake-up services will be revealed after a decision is made on the first phase of Oxfordshires Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) on August 10.

The STP aims to address a growing financial shortfall and the needs of an ageing population.

For Mr Dullers in-depth response and analysis on the future of primary care and GP practices turn to page 12.

A spokesman for the CCG:The Primary Care transformation plan describes the direction of Primary Care over the next 5 years.

"The main needs are to stabilise general practice, remove financial risk upon practices and encourage the work force to remain within Primary Care.

"This needs to be done alongside maintaining the tradition role of Primary Care to act as the main entry point into the health care system and delivering timely access and quality care.

The plans describes a number of measures that are already in place such as recruitment support for GP practices, same day access hubs offering additional appointments in hours and at weekends, piloting pharmacists in practices.

"It also describes short to medium term initiatives that could be implemented such as urgent community visits, commissioning of integrated community nursing teams, social prescribing, development of lifestyle centres, however, all of these ideas would need to be tested with patients and the public in the work that is being undertaken in Phase 2 of the Oxfordshire Transformation Programme.

Each CCG locality has reviewed the framework and both the Primary Care Patient Advisory Group and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee have reviewed and inputted to earlier drafts.

"The aim, once agreed, is to further develop within localities involving other stakeholders such as Federations and Oxford Health with invitations to social care and Oxford University Hospitals Trust.

"This work will take place between July and September with the purpose of producing locality place based plans for Primary Care which will feed into Phase 2 of the Oxfordshire Transformation Programme.

See the original post here:

Patients recognise over-worked GPs as majority agree to see alternative medical professionals - Herald Series

By Mitsie Vargas Ledger correspondent

What are the effects of cannabis in our pets? Could we use it as a natural pain reliever or as a natural aid to control seizures in dogs and cats? I have written about this topic previously and my passion for alternative medicine prompts me to continue to explore this potential source of natural pain control and healing.

Marijuana toxicity is a fairly common pet emergency, causing seizures, uncoordination and sometimes death. It is then hard to expect anything good to come out of the marijuana plant when we see what people sharing their stash does to those pets. In Colorado, the number of dogs admitted for marijuana poisoning has increased dramatically as pet owners try using it for old, arthritic dogs and users leave their pot stash unattended resulting in dogs ingesting large quantities.

THC is very toxic and within a half hour of ingestion, you could see drooling, agitation or depression (depends on dose), hypothermia and slower heart rates. The treatment is mainly intravenous fluids and monitoring the heart rate. There is no antidote for the poisoning but some patrol police dogs carry atropine to fight the bradycardia that sets in with THC poisoning. People who smoke near their pets can cause irritation of their upper airways.

The main psychoactive constituent of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but that is just one of 483 known compounds in this plant! There are other non-psychoactive compounds including cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids and the famous CBD. According to the book ''Cannabis and CBD Science for Dogs'' by Caroline Coile, PhD, these hemp derived oils are very safe and appear to help manage a myriad of conditions including anxiety, joint pain, and mobility issues, seizures, and even cancer. The main benefit in chronic, debilitating diseases is an appetite stimulant, which can play a big part in the pet's quality of life. The many phytonutrients extracted from the whole plant will also be full of antioxidant chemicals that will aid in healing.

The anecdotal evidence is accumulating, and it may turn the tide of professional opinions on the use of marijuana in pets. Some companies are producing products that are definitively NOT pot for pets, yet they are high-quality formulations that are effective. One such company is Canna-Pet and its CBD is available without a veterinarian's prescription.

I admit being more at ease recommending Chinese herbal formulas that have scientific research backing their effectivity. In my practice, we see miraculous healings, extended longevity and improved quality of life using herbals and acupuncture and other TCVM modalities. I truly believe in the antioxidant and regenerative power of whole plants, especially green veggies and recommend to add those (spinach, kale, seaweed) to the sick pet's diets to improve healing.

I remain cautiously optimistic that CBD and products derived from hemp oil will become a widely accepted natural cure and more research will be done. It is up to veterinarians in states where marijuana has legalized to start pushing for more research into the medical applications of cannabis.

Dr. Mitsie Vargas is at Orchid Springs Animal Hospital in Winter Haven. She can be reached at drv@osahvets.

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Vargas: Weeding out herbal remedies for our pets - News Chief

Dr. Mehmet Oz calls salt the miracle mineral that heals and notes that, historically, its been used for centuries to treat a wide range of ailments.

Even Hippocrates, the father of medicine, himself prescribed salt therapy for breathing ailments, he says. Today its being used to relieve skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema as well as treat breathing issues due to asthma and cystic fibrosis.

From the Dead Sea to the salt mines of the Himalayas, salt is being rediscovered for its unique antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Salt rooms are springing up across the country. Adherents flock into the salt-coated rooms to soak up what is known as halotherapy.

Halo is the Greek word for salt and halotherapy advocates say it can treat a variety of ailments, ranging from asthma and allergies to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sinusitis. Its also believed to lower stress and strengthen the immune system.

Machines called halogenerators deliver a dry salt aerosol made up of microscopic particles that circulate in the therapy room where you simply sit and relax. Many salt rooms are equipped with soothing spa music or deep breathing audio pods you can access with headphones.

Salt therapy originated in 1843 when a Polish physician named Felix Bochkovski noticed that salt mine workers did not experience the respiratory issues or lung disease of other miners. Almost 100 years later, a German doctor named Karl Herman Spannagel noticed that his patients health improved after hiding out in the salt caves to avoid heavy bombing during World War II.

And many years ago, people with tuberculosis used to moved into giant salt caves in Europe which offered the only cure for their disease, Dr. Y. Aaron Kaweblum, an expert in allergies and asthma, tells Newsmax Health.

We all know that when a baby has trouble breathing, we give it saline solution drops to clear the airways. When you have an infection of the mouth, your dentist advises you to rinse with salt water. Salt has been healing us for centuries. I have seen many of my patients with asthma improve dramatically and are able to control their condition with regular visits to a salt room.

Kaweblum notes that many people with allergies and asthma feel better when they take an ocean side vacation or cruise.

The negatively charged ions in salt improve our health and mood, say experts. The National Institutes of Health says studies also show it has clear biological impacts:

Due to the osmotic pressure the inhaled salt diminishes the swelling of the bronchial mucosa, dissolves the mucus and makes expectoration easier and faster. It also helps remove air pollution and allergies faster, too. It inhibits the growth of bacteria and, and in some cases, kills them. It has beneficial effect on the well being of the patient and a relaxation effect on the nervous system. According to the international literature, it has beneficial effect for some chronic dermatological disease.

Dr. Norman Edelman, the American Lung Associations leading scientific authority, believes that salt therapy does have significant medical value.

When fine salt particles are inhaled, they will fall on the airway linings and draw water into the airway, thinning the mucous and making it easier to breathe, thus making people feel better, he says. Also the environments are allergen-free and good for people with allergies affecting their lungs.

Dr. Oz agrees.

Its one of the most fundamental minerals and a great way to treat even colds and flu without resorting to drugs, he says.

2017 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.

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Salt Therapy Gaining Popularity in Alternative Medicine Circles - Newsmax

On an alarmingly regular basis, Gwyneth Paltrows lifestyle company Goop publishes new morsels of health bullshit.

As the Goop website has emerged as a reliably laughable source of pseudoscience, a small army of journalists (myself included), doctors, researchers, and bloggers has evolved to pounce on Goops claptrap as soon as its out. We explain why jade eggs for vaginas, $30 sex dust, and body stickers that promote healing are misleading drivel. In the best cases, we use Goops bunk to teach people about how actual science works. Its practically a parasitic relationship.

Recently, though, Ive been asking myself what impact all this debunking is having.

The first time I wrote about Paltrows health bullshit, and her cleanse specialist Alejandro Junger, was four years ago, in 2013. Two years later, the Alberta professor Tim Caulfield published his book Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?, about the dangerous influence celebrities have on our decision-making. CNN, the Guardian, and Stephen Colbert have all weighed in. Over the years, OB-GYN and blogger Jen Gunter has spilled so much digital ink on Paltrows health shenanigans that she got Goop to issue its first-ever direct response to critics last week.

In the time weve been debunking Paltrow, the stories and books pointing out the absurdity and potential harms of Goops claims have certainly been read and bought. And its clear they resonate with certain readers.

But the Goop empire has also grown and expanded in influence. So I set about to understand why and what impact, if any, critics have had on the brand.

Goop isnt a public company, so we dont know its revenue or how well its currently doing. But we do know that in 2016, Goop raised $15 million to $20 million in venture capital a sign of the businesss strength.

In 2017, the company also expanded in a few key ways: It held its first health summit and signed a deal for a new magazine with publisher Cond Nast, which will allow the brand to reach new and broader audiences.

Rather than being cowed by the debunkers, it seems Goop has been emboldened by us. In the statement released last week, it disparaged critics like Gunter and doubled down on Goops open-minded world view: that people need alternative solutions for the health problems that ail them, such as lectin-limited diets and jade eggs for vaginas solutions the medical establishment has been too narrow-minded to see:

Where we have found our primary place is in addressing people, women in particular, who are tired of feeling less-than-great, who are looking for solutions these women are not hypochondriacs, and they should not be dismissed or marginalized.

Harvard Business School brand analyst Jill Avery told me this response may have been a calculated move to strengthen their brand and draw their customers closer. The segment of consumers who engage with Goop are interested in alternative, homeopathic remedies, Avery said. So, when Dr. Gunter challenges Goop, she challenges the ideological foundation of its consumers as well.

Whats more, Avery said, the Goop response evokes themes from feminism, Eastern medicines and philosophies, and anti-establishment politics to incite [Paltrows] consumers to action: to make them feel as if they are under attack, to reassure them that their ideology will be supported by Goop, and to arm them with arguments to help them defend themselves.

To be sure, Goop has tapped into a real longing out there. Traditional medicine has failed people in many cases, and often lacks solutions for the most common health woes chronic pain, obesity, Alzheimers. You need not look any further than the raging opioid epidemic to find cases where medicine has also done more harm than good. But as my colleague Brian Resnick explained, that doesnt mean its okay to throw away the scientific paradigm and accept any junk claim that comes along:

Goop says its just asking questions about possible wellness solutions. ... The problem is not that the Goop team isnt asking questions. Its that theyre not asking enough questions. Their curiosity should lead them to wonder, How can a piece of jade actually affect my energy levels? Whats the biological mechanism? Are there any studies on safety or efficacy at all? And if there arent, shouldnt we let readers know?

Still, wouldnt the negative press surrounding Goops health claims have made some dent in their business? Avery doesnt think so. The old adage no news is bad news comes to mind here, she said.

I also posed this question to Larry Light, author of Six Rules for Brand Revitalization and the chief executive of the brand consulting company Arcature. You cant attack a belief with facts, he said. He agreed the Goop debunking would only galvanize its fans and thought that Paltrows new summits and magazine would further expand the Goop cult and deepen its members beliefs.

All this doesnt mean, however, that calling out the Goopshit has been in vain.

We debunkers have probably helped inform and equip the public with sound health information, even if weve failed to convince Goop fans. This has been a fascinating chapter in the ongoing public debate about alternative medicine and health. But this episode is also an opportunity to think more about how to tilt the balance toward evidence-based thinking and away from Goopshit.

I recently asked a group of doctors and health researchers for their advice on the best practices for fighting fake news and misinformation, since these problems are nothing new in the medical world.

Some of these health professionals came around to a belief I am now wholeheartedly convinced of: The best way to stop bogus health claims from taking off is to teach people how to think critically about the information they receive from a very early age.

Researchers from Europe and Africa recently worked to develop curricula a cartoon-filled textbook, lessons plans on critical thinking skills aimed at schoolchildren. In 2016, they tested the materials in a big trial involving 15,000 schoolchildren from Ugandas central region.

The results of the trial were published in the Lancet in May, and showed a remarkable rate of success: Kids who were taught basic concepts of how to think critically about health claims massively outperformed children in a control group.

This work, from a group of evidence-minded research nerds, is the closest thing we have to a recipe book for how to prevent health bunk from spreading in the first place: Instead of trying to change peoples beliefs with facts, we need to teach them to call bullshit on pseudoscience drivel in the first place.

Im a journalist, not an educator or policymaker. But for the educators and policymakers reading this, please take a hard look at your school curricula and the critical thinking skills they offer. It may be too late to dent Paltrows brand among her acolytes, but you might be able to stop the next Goop train from taking off.

See the original post:

Is Gwyneth Paltrow's pseudoscience winning? - Vox

Health News of Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Source: Raphael obu

Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu(President) 1st from Left, Hon. Buaben Asamoah shaking hands with executive

The President of the Alternative Medicine Association of Ghana (AMAG), Dr Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, has called for the creation of a ministry for traditional and alternative medicine as a measure to mainstream those aspects of healthcare delivery into the country's health system.

He has also urged Parliament to expedite action on the passage of the alternative medicine bill which is currently before the house, saying that would provide the legal backing for the mainstreaming of alternative medicine and ensure best practices by practitioners.

The fact is that the creation of the ministry for alternative medicine and passage of the alternative medicine bill by Parliament will be a major step that will ensure that there are better regulation and strict enforcement of standards for all practitioners.

"It will also help in the provision of licence and certification for practitioners such that quacks in the system can be weeded out appropriately," he said.

Dr Obu was speaking at the launch of the association as well as the inauguration of its pioneer eight-member national executives in Accra last Saturday.

Standards

Dr Obu further asked for AMAG to be given a slot on the Food and Drugs Board (FDA) to ensure that quality standards in alternative medicine were enhanced. He observed that quality and accountability were key dimensions of healthcare delivery that could be enhanced if there was a better link between orthodox and alternative medicine practice in the country.

"Effective collaboration between players in conventional medicine and alternative medicine will ensure that there is a better and holistic approach to dealing with the dynamics of diseases that confront us, especially the emerging lifestyle diseases," he said.

Diligence

At the launch, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adentan, Mr Yaw Buaben Asamoa, asked the executive of AMAG to be ruthless in ensuring that their members adhered to quality and ethical standards in the provision of alternative health care.

"Discipline should be your hallmark as leaders of the association because forming an association is one thing and working for credibility and integrity based on quality standards is another," he stressed.

Mr Asamoa said the time had come for stakeholders in the health sector to start moving towards integrative medicine.

He said that called for collaboration between conventional healthcare providers and alternative medical practitioners.

See the original post:

Expedite action on the passage of the alternative medicine bill ... - GhanaWeb

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for The Five Towns Jewish Times

The editors of the Five Towns Jewish Times have been inundated with letters of protest against articles that have appeared the past two weeks in regard to alternative medicine being a violation of Lifnei Iver, and medically, scientifically and statistically unsound.

Many of them have come in within a few minutes of each other under different names.

This author just got of the phone with Rav Dovid Morgenstern Shlita. Rav Elyashiv zatzal trusted Rav Morgenstern completely and stated several times that he knew Kol HaTorah kulah and is completely trustworthy in relating what Rav Elyashiv held. This can be verified with anyone who knows the family members or any other one who was meshamesh Rav Elyashiv zatzal.

Rav Morgenstern said:

Rav Elyashivs position was that alternative medicine ranges from being assur gamur to being not a good idea at all depending upon which type of alternative medicine it is.

Rav Morgenstern further related an incident of a family whose child was diagnosed with a treatable but very serious disease. The treatment was to be performed at a top university hospital. The parents chose to pursue Alternative Medicine instead and did not return to the hospital. The child subsequently died.

In addition, both of the Five Towns Jewish Times were read by Rav Morgenstern who agreed with the them completely.

The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com

Link:

Rav Elyashiv ZTL On Alternative Medicine By R. Yair Hoffman - Yeshiva World News