Saturday, March 25, 2006

Meditation and Traditional Thai Massage. Thailand. Bangkok.

Meditation and Traditional Thai Massage. Thailand. Bangkok.

A course to the basics of meditation as practiced in Thailand with an opportunity to experience a traditional massage. … together with an opportunity to experience a traditional massage at one of its primary centers of … Po, including 1 hour of traditional Thai massage. Afternoon transfer to Wat …

Traditionalhealing.net
Host of the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado.

Traditional Thai Massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand
… Traditional Thai Massage. For information on body massage please CLICK HERE … There are numerous places offering Traditional Thai Massage in Chiang Mai …

Ao nang Spas And Health Thai Massage
Thai Massage, Thai Herbal Sauna, Beauty We recommend to experience the unique spas in Ao nang beach i.e. a Herbal Spa & Thai massage. A herbal steam sauna to cleanse and rejuvenate the physical body. … Traditional Thai massage is a proven physical therapy that dates back to ancient India sometime before the … three stars and above offer traditional massage as part of their health …

Suan Nanachaat | Thai Massage Spa - Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Traditional Thai massage and spa treatments. Experienced therapists, promotional packages and herbal products. … from body massage, reflexology, foot massage, back and neck massage, facial massage, hot herbal treatments and steam room with traditional Thai herbs …

Alternative Medicine: Thai traditional massage
… Date: 4/1/2005. Subject: Thai traditional massage. Question. Dear Michael … The course takes 30 hours for traditional massage and 15 hours for reflexology …

Chinese Traditional Medicine

oh my gosh i just came from this totally freaky experience. it all happened so fast or i think my my pragmatic side would have taken over and refused. my morning started out just like normal and i went to teach my beginners adult english class. when i got to class they all saw that i was wobbling around due to my ankle. they asked if i went to a doctor and i commited the cardinal sin in taiwan of telling them i hadn't and i didn't plan on going to one. i tried explaining that i've done it a hundred times in my life and it just needs time to heal. these four women would not listen to me they basically went on and on giving me lectures about how i needed to see the doctor. one of my students eventually just picked up her cell phone and called her "doctor" friend and made me an appointment immediately after my class ended. since she had done this i figured i had to go. i figured it wouldn't hurt to have a doctor look at it or take some x-rays if he wanted (since it has been sprained at least 5x in my life). since i have been to a taiwanese hospital before i knew they were very modern, clean, and trustworthy.

on the way to the "doctor" my friend says "he is a chinese traditional medicine doctor". i still didn't panic cause i didn't really know what that was. many of my friends here use chinese medicine. they use a lot of herbs and stuff for healing and i totally will go for homeopathic medicine over modern medicine if i know it's going to work. then my other friend who came along said "i am worried about you, do you know what they will do?" i said no and she began to motion towards my foot and used violent grabbing and pulling motions!!! that's when i got scared!

we pulled up and we went into this man's very traditional looking taiwanese house. i smiled at the man but inside was shaking. he had us sit down for a minute in his living room and we told him what happened and how it hurt. while they were all conversing in chinese i began to calm myself down. i told myself, it will be just like a chiropractor, don't worry. of course i have never been to a chiropractor so i really had no clue what i was gettting into.

he led us back into this small, dark room. on one side it had an acient looking desk and chair and a huge bookshelf from floor to ceiling filled with bottles that had chinese writing all over them. on the other side was a very modern massage/chiropractor table/bed. he had me sit up on it and looked and pressed around on my ankle. i was sitting there, in typical american girl fashion, mortified over the fact that i hadn't shaved my legs this morning when all of a sudden he grabbed my leg and yanked it so that my body fell flat on the table. Now remember i'm a pretty big healthy american girl and this was some little taiwanese guy, it had to be a pretty hard yank. my two friends who came into the room with me both jumped and yelled when he did it, basically out of surprise. then he told me to stay lying down and to relax (yah right, ha) so i tried to relax as much as any person could who knows they're about to have their bones yanked out of joint. he did this a few more times and then popped my toes as well. now for most girls this is tramatic in itself but on top of all this, i HATE the idea of anyone EVER touching my feet, so as i'm dealing with the physical pain and fear i'm also dealing with my stupid phobias as well.

now i could end the story there and it would be tramatic enough but no, there's more. then he gets up and walks over to his huge wall of chinese medicines and pulls out a box of what looks to be metal hardware. i didn't notice to much because my two friends had started talking to me again and trying to tell me in english what he was going to do. neither of them could think of the english word for it so they are motioning and trying to tell me the best they could. i was trying so hard to figure out their charades that i hadn't noticed he had begun working on me again until i looked at my friends faces. both of them were now looking at my leg and wincing and moaning. i looked down and saw the man sticking a massively looooooong needle in and out of my leg!!! right then is when i knew what word they word looking for . . . ACUPUNCTURE! by this point everyone on the block seemed to have come into the room to watch the foreigner receive chinese medicine. i'm not kidding. the man's wife and son, friend, and the neighbor next door had congregated at the door all watching me wince. before i knew it i had 4 needles sticking out of my leg and ankle, i looked like a pin cushion!

by this point i finally just started laughing! i couldn't do anything else. i just thought . . . MY MOTHER WOULD SO FREAK RIGHT NOW IF SHE SAW ME. i then told my friends i needed a camera cause nobody back home would believe me. my friend thought i was serious and so she excitedly grabbed her cell phone and took a picture of the needles sticking out of my leg as well as one of me wrenching in pain when he pulled on my ankle (if she ever sends them to me, i'll post them, they're pretty hilarious). the man then continued with his procedure and would twist one of the needles around in my leg and say "does this hurt?" in chinese. i wanted to scream, "duh, you moran, of course it hurts, you're twisting a needle around in my leg!" he then left them in for a while and went over to his massive chinese medicine case again and took out what looked to be a wrap. i thought, finally, something that is pragmatic and not foreign to me. but then he proceeded to take out this huge jar of black slimy goop. he took the black slimy gloop and spread it all over the bandage. i knew exactly where that black gloop was going! he came over took out the needles and put the goop on. he wrapped my ankle and had me stand up. my audience immediately looked at me wide eyed and said, is it better??? it didn't feel better but i did notice i had better range of motion with it than i had when i walked in. i figured i atleast liked the wrap and knew it would be good to keep on for awhile. that is until an hour or so passed.

i had to return to the church cause i had signed up for an hour of prayer in the 24/7 prayer room. i figured this would be good, i could rest my ankle and get some good prayer time in. but while i was waiting my turn, i started smelling this AWEFUL smell! i looked around the room and thought, what is wrong? then i noticed the wrap on my foot was getting very warm and the color had seeped through the bandage. I realized that aweful smell was me! my turn came and i walked into the prayer room, the people who were already in there looked at me, then looked at the bandage and said, "oh it smells". hahahahahha how humiliating! luckily it was something from their culture and not mine! i apologized and they all just smiled and said it was ok, they knew what it was.

now they want me to go back tomorrow. i'm sure i'll go, if for no other reason than to get this horrific smelly thing taken off! i never did find out if the man was a true doctor or not but i must say that i am very thankful for my taiwanese friends here. i don't think i would have ever made it through that ordeal without them, however i also would have never been put into that situation if it wasn't for them. ha,ha the irony of life.

Spice Clinic

“Spice” The very word conjures up visions of exotic tastes and places and well it should especially for Western Europeans for their culinary as well as for their medicinal value.

10 Spicy facts:

“Spice” is derived from the word “species” which was applied to groups of exotic foodstuffs in the middle ages.

1. Pungent spices can cause sweating, thereby leading to a cooling sensation in tropical climates; on the other hand they can add a sense of inner warmth when present in cooked foods used in cold climates.

2. Spices also fitted into philosophic concepts of improving health, and influence the corresponding moods

3. Ginger heats the stomach and improve digestion;

4. Clove comforts the sinews;

5. Mace prevents colic and diarrhoea

6. Nutmeg benefits the spleen and relieves any bad cold.

7. Cinnamon is good for digestion and for sore throats.

8. Aromatic spices, such as cloves, cardamom and mint, are useful to disguise the foul breath of onion and garlic eaters

9. Peppercorn was accepted as a substitute for money in the medieval times; thus, some landlords would be paid a “peppercorn rent”.

10. Aphrodisiacs are undoubtedly the New World’s Aztec “food of the gods” These include Asafoetida, Cardamom, Cloves, Ginger, Pepper, Saffron, Vanilla, Mace and Nutmeg. All these allegedly erotically stimulating agents have long been incorporated into cooking, incenses, rubs and other romantic sources for stimulation of sexual feeling. More recently, these and other herbs are utilized creatively in numerous massage oils and in incenses that are popularly utilized to improve sensations as a new-old form of therapy, with the modern title of “aromatherapy”.

The love affair with spices continues. Today we have the spices of the world at our fingertips and we use them to create the dishes of many cultures. We also continue to be interested in their medicinal value, unproven at times by western medicine, but the cachet of the ages remains.

Spice Clinic

“Spice” The very word conjures up visions of exotic tastes and places and well it should especially for Western Europeans for their culinary as well as for their medicinal value.

10 Spicy facts:

“Spice” is derived from the word “species” which was applied to groups of exotic foodstuffs in the middle ages.

1. Pungent spices can cause sweating, thereby leading to a cooling sensation in tropical climates; on the other hand they can add a sense of inner warmth when present in cooked foods used in cold climates.

2. Spices also fitted into philosophic concepts of improving health, and influence the corresponding moods

3. Ginger heats the stomach and improve digestion;

4. Clove comforts the sinews;

5. Mace prevents colic and diarrhoea

6. Nutmeg benefits the spleen and relieves any bad cold.

7. Cinnamon is good for digestion and for sore throats.

8. Aromatic spices, such as cloves, cardamom and mint, are useful to disguise the foul breath of onion and garlic eaters

9. Peppercorn was accepted as a substitute for money in the medieval times; thus, some landlords would be paid a “peppercorn rent”.

10. Aphrodisiacs are undoubtedly the New World’s Aztec “food of the gods” These include Asafoetida, Cardamom, Cloves, Ginger, Pepper, Saffron, Vanilla, Mace and Nutmeg. All these allegedly erotically stimulating agents have long been incorporated into cooking, incenses, rubs and other romantic sources for stimulation of sexual feeling. More recently, these and other herbs are utilized creatively in numerous massage oils and in incenses that are popularly utilized to improve sensations as a new-old form of therapy, with the modern title of “aromatherapy”.

The love affair with spices continues. Today we have the spices of the world at our fingertips and we use them to create the dishes of many cultures. We also continue to be interested in their medicinal value, unproven at times by western medicine, but the cachet of the ages remains.

Natural Treatments For Dandruff

Dandruff, known to science as seborrheic dermatitis, is one of the most common conditions of the hair and scalp. In a classic case of dandruff, there is inflammation of the top layers of the skin, which causes scales on the scalp and other parts of the body. This mild inflammation of the scalp is caused by the reaction of the body to both the pityrosporum yeast and to products that break down oils.

Many holistic health practitioners feel that dandruff can be a manifestation of other health problems, particularly problems with the digestive system, and that it is necessary to treat the underlying problem in order to treat dandruff effectively.

Dandruff often develops slowly, with white or yellow flakes appearing on the hair and scalp, sometimes accompanied by redness and itching. More severe forms of dandruff may be accompanied by yellow or red scaled pimples along the hairline, in the ear, behind the ears or even in the creases beside the nose.

There are a number of factors that can worsen dandruff. These factors include:

Ø Genetics – dandruff has a definite genetic component

Ø Emotional and physical stress

Ø Climate – dandruff is generally worse in the winter time

Dandruff may also be associated with psoriasis, another common skin condition. In addition, those with neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease may experience severe dandruff or other types of seborrheic dermatitis.

Conventional forms of dandruff treatment include special shampoos containing such ingredients as zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide, salicylic acid and sulfur. For severe cases of dandruff, hydrocortisone cream or ketoconzole cream are often used.

There are natural ways to treat dandruff as well, and these natural cures can be remarkably effective. A combination of dietary changes, vitamin supplements and topical treatments can help cure dandruff problems and keep them from coming back.
Diet And Dandruff

Those prone to dandruff should avoid fried foods and reduce their intake of fats, sugars, chocolate, dairy products, seafood and peanuts. At the same time, intake of green leafy vegetables and raw foods should be increased.
Vitamins And Nutritional Supplements

Biotin is widely used to treat dandruff. Biotin is a water soluble member of the vitamin B family, and it helps to break down fats, carbohydrates and proteins. A typical dosage of biotin for treating dandruff is 3000 mcg twice a day. In addition to biotin supplements, foods rich in biotin include brewer’s yeast, nutritional yeast, nuts, whole grains, egg yolks, liver, sardines, cauliflower, mushrooms and bananas.

Other nutritional supplements used in the prevention and treatment of dandruff conditions include:

Ø Vitamin A

Ø Vitamin B complex vitamins, particularly vitamin B1 and B2

Ø Omega fatty acids, particularly omega-6

Ø Zinc
Natural Topical Treatments

There are a number of effective topical treatments for dandruff, including:

Ø Grapefruit Seed Extract - A few drops of extract should be added to your regular shampoo.

Ø Tea Tree Oil - Look for a special tea tree oil shampoo, or add a few drops of pure tea tree oil to your favorite shampoo.

Ø Apple Cider Vinegar - Pour the vinegar directly onto your hair and scalp, then wrap your hair in a towel for one hour. Remove the towel and wash hair normally.

Ø Selenium - Use a selenium based shampoo. Selenium works as an anti-fungal agent.

Ø Flaxseed Oil or Vitamin E Oil - These oils should be applied to the scalp each night and then washed off in the morning. These oils can help soothe and nourish the scalp. An old sheet or a towel should be used to protect the pillow from stains.

Natural Health Care

Traditional western medicine has been the predominant form of health care in the United States for over a century now, but more and more people are discovering alternative methods of curing disease and staying healthy.

More and more people have been spending more and more money on alternative medicine, and more and more time researching what such health care alternatives have to offer. One of the largest, most interesting facets of alternative medicine is popularly known as complementary health care of complementary medicine.

Complimentary health care refers to a broad variety of aids, counseling and approaches to proper health care. These forms of assistance are meant to compliment the skills and advances of traditional medicine, while still using natural and alternative approaches. Thus, complementary medicine is able to take advantage of the best of both worlds, by combining the important advances science has made and the traditional remedies that have been used for so many centuries.

That means that using alternative medicine and natural healing techniques does not mean you give up important screening tools like MRI’s, CAT scans and other important tests. Alternative medicine is then free to do what it does best, and what traditional medicine often does poorly. For instance, traditional western medicine often does a fairly poor job at helping people with their day to day needs and managing their emotional and spiritual reactions to illness.

Providers of complementary health care are often able to connect to their patients on many different levels. In order to be effective, these health care providers need to make a spiritual and emotional connection with their patients, not merely concentrate on their physical needs.

Since most alternative health care providers do not have the training or knowledge to intervene in emergency situations, much of alternative medicine is focused on preventing health problems from occurring, or using natural treatments to help those conditions that do occur.

Alternative medicine is also good at getting to the root cause of health problems, and treating the problems where they arise. This means that alternative health care providers have to be very good at spotting potential signs of illness, often before their patients even know there is a problem. It is important for these alternative health care providers to be very vigilant and attentive to detail.

A good complementary health care provider will be capable of both making sound medical decisions based on the history of the patient, while at the same time being able to address the complex emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual aspects of that same patient. This obviously takes a special kind of health care provider, and the worlds of alternative, natural and complementary health care often contain some of the best and most highly qualified doctors, nurses and other health care practitioners.

The field of complementary health care represents an important coming together of the worlds of alternative, natural and traditional health care. It represents both the fact that alternative practitioners understand the importance of traditional medicine, and the fact that traditional medicine is able to learn and grow from alternative and traditional practices.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

St. John’s Wort for Unexplained Fatigue

For up to 50 percent of people who consult their doctors complaining of fatigue, no physical basis can be found, and no definitive treatment exists. Many physicians and researchers believe that, at least in some cases, unexplained fatigue may be a somatic (physical) symptom of masked depression. St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L., Clusiaceae) has been shown to be effective in alleviating symptoms of tiredness and fatigue in depressed patients (Hübner et al., 1993). Researchers designed a small, uncontrolled, open pilot study to assess the effects of St. John’s wort in 20 people suffering from fatigue of unexplained origin, in order to formulate a hypothesis upon which future, controlled research in this area could be based (Stevinson et al., 1998).

The study participants (17 women and 3 men) all had fatigue that had persisted for at least two weeks, but none considered themselves depressed. Levels of perceived fatigue were established at baseline with visual analog scales (VAS) that were completed both by participants and by the people closest to them (usually their partners). Subjects also completed another 14-item fatigue scale, a 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD). Results were assessed using the same scales after two weeks and again at the end of the six-week treatment period.

After two weeks of treatment with standardized St. John’s wort extract, subjects’ perceived fatigue was significantly less than that recorded at baseline. After six weeks, fatigue was reduced significantly further. Even though none of the participants considered themselves depressed or anxious, baseline scores indicated that nine were depressed or borderline depressed at the beginning of the study, and that 14 were suffering from anxiety or borderline anxiety. According to the HAD, fatigue improved in seven of the nine participants who were classified as depressed, but in only three of the 10 who were classified as not depressed. By the end of the study, only three subjects could be classified as depressed/borderline, and only five as anxious/borderline.

The authors noted, "The possibility exists … that the improvements in fatigue in this study are an indirect result of the specific effects of Hypericum on depression, with the perceived reduction in fatigue a consequence of the improvement in mood." They suggested that future research should focus on subjects reliably diagnosed as "non-depressed" in order to determine whether the herb has any direct effects on fatigue.

The dosage of St. John’s wort used in the trial was one tablet three times daily of extract standardized to contain 300 mcg total hypericin per tablet (Kira®, manufactured by Lichtwer Pharma UK Ltd). One participant withdrew from the trial because of dizziness, which persisted after discontinuation of St. John’s wort. No other adverse effects were reported. – Evelyn Leigh

Ginkgo protects against altitude sickness

In this study of mountain climbers on a Himalayan expedition, extract of Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) was significantly more effective than placebo in preventing acute altitude sickness and cold-related vascular problems [Roncin et al., 1996]. At elevations higher than 9,000 feet (3,000 meters), most people experience some degree of altitude sickness, which can cause symptoms such as headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting. In addition to oxygen deprivation, people at high altitudes may be also subjected to extreme cold. Cold-related microcirculation disturbances can lead to numbness, tingling, aching and/or swelling of the extremities, with a resulting loss of manual dexterity.

The controlled study involved 44 healthy climbers, all men, who had experienced altitude sickness on previous expeditions. The subjects were randomized into two equal groups. One group received two tablets of standardized ginkgo extract twice a day, a total daily dose of 160 mg, and the other took placebo. Over a period of eight days, the climbers ascended gradually to a base camp with an elevation of about 14,700 feet (4,900 meters), from which they made subsequent ascents to higher altitudes. Symptoms were recorded daily with a 67-item scale called the Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire. Separate analyses were performed of a number of different factors, including cerebral and respiratory altitude sickness symptoms.

According to assessment of cerebral symptoms, none of the climbers who took ginkgo experienced acute mountain sickness, compared to 41 percent of those taking placebo. According to assessment of respiratory symptoms, 14 percent of climbers in the ginkgo group had altitude sickness, compared to 82 percent in the placebo group. These differences were highly significant. Ginkgo was also significantly more effective than placebo in preventing cold-related vascular problems, based on evaluation of functional disabilities and results of plethysmography testing (a measurement of blood flow to the extremities). In addition, only 18 percent of ginkgo subjects reported moderate or severe impairment of diuresis at high altitude, compared to 77 percent of those in the placebo group.

Interestingly, while there were no smokers or ex-smokers in the placebo group, there were two smokers and three ex-smokers in the ginkgo group, a factor which might have been expected to have a negative impact on results with ginkgo. The ginkgo preparation used in the study was EGb 761 (Tanakan®, marketed by Ipsen of Paris, France) a concentrated extract standardized to 24 percent ginkgo flavone glycosides and 6 percent terpene lactones.

Antioxidant Activity of Tea Unaffected by Milk

The antioxidant activity of green and black tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze, Theaceae) in the body (in vivo) is well established, but an important question remains: Does the addition of milk to tea inhibit the bioavailability of antioxidant tea polyphenols? Not according to the results of this Dutch study, which showed that a single dose of either black or green tea with or without milk caused a significant rise in plasma antioxidant activity (Leenan et al., 2000).

The crossover study compared the antioxidant effects of green tea, black tea, and non-carbonated mineral water with or without milk in 21 healthy volunteers. Each participant received a dose of one of the six test substances on six different days. A single dose of tea was defined as 2 g of tea solids in 300 ml of water (Lipton Research Blend, Lipton, Englewood Cliffs, NJ). The researchers utilized the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay to measure both plasma antioxidant and catechin levels. Blood samples were taken before consumption of the test substances and again 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after consumption. According to the results, both green and black tea caused a significant rise in plasma antioxidant and catechin levels, but the effect of green tea was significantly greater at all time points. The addition of milk to either type of tea did not significantly alter responses.

While a limited number of studies support these results, others have shown that milk had a negative impact on the antioxidant capacity of tea. An earlier study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that while the addition of milk to tea had no effect on antioxidant activity in vitro, it did appear to interfere with absorption of tea polyphenols in vivo. The authors of the older study offered two possible explanations for this effect. First, because milk proteins can cause complexation (binding) of tea polyphenols, the researchers proposed that milk/polyphenol complexes resist gastric breakdown, rendering the polyphenols unavailable for absorption. They also theorized that milk might hinder polyphenol absorption by increasing gastric pH (Serafini et al., 1996).

On the other hand, the authors of the more recent study suggested that the antioxidant assay utilized by Serafini and colleagues (called the Total Radical trapping Ability of Plasma, or TRAP assay) might be less reliable than the FRAP method, as TRAP may be associated with a higher degree of variability. - Evelyn Leigh, HRF

Rhodiola enhances fitness and well-being under stressful conditions

A placebo-controlled, Russian clinical study showed that an extract of Rhodiola rosea enhanced physical fitness, improved neuro-motor test responses, reduced mental fatigue, and improved general well being in a group of healthy foreign medical students undergoing a stressful exam period. The 40 study participants, all Indian men between the ages of 17 and 19, were randomly assigned to take either placebo or Rhodiola extract at a dose of 50 mg twice daily. The most significant differences between groups were seen in physical fitness, mental fatigue, neuro-motor tests, and well being; no significant differences were observed in results of correction tests or tapping speed tests. No adverse events were reported. As the dose of Rhodiola employed in this study was lower than that used in previous studies, the researchers concluded, "...the study drug gave significant results compared to the placebo group but that the dose level probably was suboptimal." According to the authors, the majority of earlier studies on the anti-fatigue and performance-enhancing effects of Rhodiola utilized single doses more than three times higher than the dose used in their study. When used in psychiatric practice for the treatment of asthenic syndromes (weakness and debility), doses 15 times as high are used for periods of one to two months. Spasov AA, Wikman GK, Mandrikov VB, et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimen.

Maca stimulates sexual function in male mice

Male mice treated for 22 days with a lipidic extract of maca (Lepidium meyenii)
demonstrated 2.9 to 4.1 times more mating behavior than mice in an untreated control group, according to the results of a Chinese study. The mice in the maca group showed a significant increase in both mounting and copulatory behavior, compared with controls. Two different maca preparations were tested, both standardized to the fatty acids macaene and macamide. The researchers claim that theirs is the first study to scientifically demonstrate an aphrodisiac effect for maca. Zheng BL, He K, Hyungchan C, et al. Effect of a lipidic extract from Lepidium meyenii on sexual behavior in mice and rats

Ginseng has no effect on mood in healthy young adults

An eight-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concluded that Panax ginseng confers no psychological benefits in young, healthy adults. The participants were 83 men and women who were randomly assigned to take one of three different treatments: placebo, 200 mg ginseng, or 400 mg ginseng per day for 60 days. Results showed that treatment with ginseng had no effect on any of the three psychological variables assessed. Lead author Brad Cardinal of Oregon State University commented that the youth and good health of the study participants was one of the primary weaknesses of the study. The researchers concluded, "The present findings do not support claims that chronic ginseng supplementation-at either its clinically recommended level or twice that level-enhances affect or mood in healthy young adults." Cardinal BJ, Engels HJ. Ginseng does not enhance psychological well-being in healthy, young adults: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Dietetic Association

South African Roundtable Update

In April, in cooperation with the South African Agricultural Research Council, the Herb Research Foundation will cohost the Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products Roundtable. This unique event, scheduled to take place April 4-6, 2000 in Cape Town, South Africa, will provide a valuable educational forum for a gathering of pan-African natural products producers as well as buyers from both the regional and worldwide natural products marketplace. In addition to the important networking opportunity the event will provide for both producers and buyers, workshops will cover topics that are relevant to anyone involved in this burgeoning market, such as the trend toward sustainable herb cultivation; an examination of market development linkages, constraints, and opportunities; intellectual property rights and indigenous knowledge; international trade and regulation of plant based products; and a general overview of the state of the international natural products marketplace. The Roundtable is part of a three-year project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The project, known as A-SNAPP (Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products), is a pan-African venture with a vision toward fostering sustainable herb production, developing and enhancing African rural enterprises, and improving quality of life in African rural communities while protecting the environment. As project manager, HRF will provide natural products production and marketing expertise to Africa producers via a variety of communication channels, including regional workshops, international agribusiness seminars, publications, an internet update service, and others. By the end of the project, we hope to see a substantial increase in the variety and volume of sustainably produced herbs grown in Africa for both the African and the worldwide marketplace. If you are interested in attending the Roundtable or in learning more about A-SNAPP, please contact Margaret Blank at HRF: email or phone (303) 49-2265. - Margaret Blank Margaret Blank, Herb Research News

Researchers Claim Ginseng Lacks "Compelling Evidence"

After reviewing existing clinical research on ginseng, British researchers concluded, "…there is compelling evidence for none of the claimed indications" (Vogler et al., 1999). The authors made this claim despite the fact that nine of the 16 papers reviewed reported a significantly positive effect. They reportedly weighed these positive results against contradictory findings in other studies, and also cited small study populations and the shortage of rigorously controlled and randomized trials for ginseng as reasons for their conclusion. On the other hand, it might be argued that the studies combined in this paper are too diverse to allow for meaningful conclusions.

Scientific literature for the review was culled from randomized, controlled clinical trials utilizing any species of ginseng for any indication. Species studied included Korean [Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, Araliaceae]; Japanese [P. japonicus C.A. Meyer]; American [P. quinquefolius L.]; sanchi [P. notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen.]; Vietnamese [P. vietnamensis Ha et Grushv.]; and eleuthero, a.k.a. Siberian ginseng [Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. ex Maxim.) Maxim, Araliaceae]. Published and unpublished research in any language was considered. Only double-blind trials using single-ingredient root extract preparations were included. Sixteen studies utilizing P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius, or E. senticosus met the specified criteria and were reviewed.

The reviewers chose to lump different species of Panax and even Eleutherococcus together in their review, as if the plants' popular nomenclature carried more weight than their individual characteristics. They were clearly aware of the dissimilarities between Panax and Eleutherococcus, stating, "…their respective active constituents are different." The reviewed studies utilized a wide range of different standardized and unstandardized extracts of different ginseng species at various dosages.

Although the quality of each study was quantified using the Jadad scale (which evaluates trial methodology such as randomization, double-blinding, and other criteria), all seem to have been given comparable weight in the analysis, regardless of design, methodology, population size, extract used, treatment dose, or duration of treatment. A positive result for ginseng was reported in five of the six studies to which the authors assigned a Jadad score of 4. (Five is the highest possible Jadad score, which none of these studies achieved.) Studies that reported no significant effect were also the ones with the smallest ginseng treatment groups (generally eight to 10 participants). In every one of the larger studies (24 or more participants receiving any dose of ginseng), a positive effect was reported.

Seven of the 16 trials reviewed evaluated the effect of 200 to 400 mg/day P. ginseng extract or 618 to 1235 mg/day P. quinquefolius extract or 3.4 ml/day E. senticosus extract on physical performance in young, healthy volunteers. The studies were one to nine weeks in duration, and study groups consisted of nine to 14 participants per treatment. Three trials noted a significant ginseng effect during exercise (e.g., increased oxygen absorption, decreased heart rate, decreased levels of lactate in the blood) or after completing an exercise program (e.g., decreased body fat and resting heart rate, and increased muscle strength and maximal oxygen uptake). The four trials that reported no effect assessed similar, but not identical, outcome measures. Four of the seven trials also investigated ginseng's ability to increase tolerance to exercise-induced stress ("perceived exertion"), with no significant effect reported.

Of four studies that assessed cognitive function in young, healthy volunteers and one in elderly volunteers, three concluded that P. ginseng or E. senticosus significantly improved performance on tests of mental arithmetic, abstract thinking, inverted counting, association, or selective memory. The authors state, "Ginseng may have beneficial effects on psychomotor performance and cognitive behaviour." Two studies that investigated ginseng's ability to enhance immune function in healthy volunteers yielded contradictory findings - but again, different outcome measures were used. In one placebo-controlled study, there was a significantly greater increase in the number and activity of leukocytes (white blood cells) in people who took ginseng. A second, smaller trial detected no difference between treatment groups.

Positive effects were also reported in the final two of the 16 trials reviewed. In volunteers with type II diabetes mellitus, treatment with 200 mg/day ginseng (presumably P. ginseng) for eight weeks significantly improved participants' mood, vigor, psychophysical activity, and fasting blood glucose levels. A study of 93 people with herpes showed that after six months' treatment with an E. senticosus preparation, 75 percent of volunteers in the ginseng group reported improvement in the frequency, severity, and duration of their symptoms, compared with 34 percent in the placebo group. The reviewers devote a number of paragraphs to market data on ginseng, expressing concern that marketers make such a wide variety of claims for the herb. They conclude, "The widespread use of ginseng as a herbal remedy warrants more rigorous investigations to assess its efficacy and safety."

Hypericin and AIDS

Many people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have incorporated St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L., Clusiaceae) into their self-care regimens, based on laboratory evidence that hypericin and pseudohypericin are active against retroviruses such as HIV (Meruelo et al., 1988; Lavie et al., 1990). According to reports about earlier clinical research, St. John’s wort helped to improve outlook, reduce fatigue, and enhance well-being for people with HIV, but it was unclear whether the improvements were related to antidepressant effects or to direct antiviral activity (Bergner, 1990).

To investigate the safety and antiretroviral activity of hypericin in a clinical setting, a group of American researchers conducted a phase I study of 30 HIV-infected people with CD4 counts lower than 350 cells/mm3 (Gulick et al., 1999). Phase I studies are primarily concerned with assessing the safety of a substance and evaluating side effects that occur as dosage is increased.

This small study, which employed oral and injectable treatment with synthetic hypericin, yielded disappointing results. Not only did the pharmaceutical hypericin demonstrate no antiretroviral activity, it caused severe phototoxicity in 48 percent of the participants. Sixteen of the 30 subjects (53 percent) dropped out of the study early because of side effects. Almost all of the participants taking either oral or injectable hypericin experienced some degree of phototoxicity, which caused a painful red rash in areas exposed to light.

The investigators speculated that the lack of anti-retroviral activity could be attributed to the fact that the high incidence of side effects made it impossible for them to achieve sustained blood levels of hypericin sufficient to inactivate the virus. It is important to note that since this study utilized a synthetic hypericin preparation, its results cannot necessarily be extrapolated to St. John’s wort standardized extract or whole plant preparations.

For the study, the participants were divided into four groups. Three of the groups were treated with intravenous hypericin (0.25 or 0.5 mg/kg twice weekly or 0.25 mg/kg three times weekly) and one received oral hypericin (0.5 mg/kg daily). The antiretroviral activity of the synthetic hypericin was assessed by measuring changes in CD4 cell counts, HIV p24 antigen level, virus titer, and HIV RNA copies. There were no detectable changes in any of these parameters. Adverse effects were evaluated weekly and graded according to a four-point scale, with grade 1 representing the mildest adverse reaction and grade 4 representing the most severe reaction. Grade 3 phototoxicity, which was observed in 48 percent of the study subjects, was defined as "intolerable erythema or numbness (or both), temperature sensitivity, and pain despite long-term analgesic therapy." No grade 4 phototoxicity was reported.

The investigators suggested that even though the synthetic hypericin proved too toxic to allow assessment of its clinical value in this study, other applications might hold more promise. "The potent antiviral activity of hypericin in vitro has led to its use in the ex vivo treatment of blood components," they noted. "This approach avoids phototoxicity and uses the well-described enhancement of the antiviral effect of hypericin by light." – Evelyn Leigh

Ginkgo effective in intermittent claudication

In this randomized, controlled, double-blind German study, Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) was significantly superior to placebo in improving symptoms of intermittent claudication, a type of peripheral arterial disease which causes pain in the legs due to obstructed blood flow [Peters, 1998]. The severity of intermittent claudication is evaluated by measuring pain-free walking distance, an indication of how long patients can walk before experiencing symptoms. After six months of treatment, pain-free walking distance in the ginkgo group improved by almost 50 percent, compared to baseline measurements.

Results of the study lend further support to the positive results of earlier studies on the use of ginkgo in peripheral arterial disease, a number of which were reported in a meta-analysis of five placebo-controlled studies involving a total of 174 patients [Schneider, 1992]. Most of these studies have utilized EGb 761 (W. Schwabe, Karlsruhe, Germany), a concentrated ginkgo extract standardized to 24 percent ginkgo flavone glycosides and 6 percent terpene lactones.

For this 26-week study, 111 patients with confirmed peripheral occlusive arterial disease were randomized into two treatment groups. After a two-week run in placebo phase, subjects received treatment with either one tablet of standardized ginkgo extract three times a day, a total daily dose of 120 mg, or placebo. Results were assessed by comparing pain-free walking distance at the beginning of the trial with changes after eight, 16, and 24 weeks of treatment. The superior efficacy of ginkgo was statistically significant at all three evaluation points. Both treatment groups had increases in pain-free walking distance during the study, but after six months of treatment, the increase in pain-free walking distance in the ginkgo group was almost twice that of the placebo group. Increases in maximum walking distance were also significantly greater with ginkgo treatment. No side effects were reported in the ginkgo group; one patient in the placebo group complained of heartburn and gastric pain.

Green tea and turmeric

(Camellia sinensis and Curcuma longa)

Herbal combination therapy packs a potential one-two punch against oral cancer A major constituent in green tea (epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG) and one from turmeric (curcumin) were examined for their ability to prevent the development of oral cancer in this in vitro study. Both compounds, particularly the green tea constituent, have been shown to have anticarcinogenic properties, along with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in some studies. Cultures of normal, premalignant and malignant oral epithelial cells were treated with EGCG and curcumin, both of which demonstrated the ability to inhibit cancer cell growth in all cell lines tested. Degree of growth inhibition depended on the particular cell line and the inhibitory agent used, and each agent appeared to block growth at different stages of the cell cycle (EGCG blocked cells in the G1 phase, while curcumin blocked cells in the S/G2M phases). Synergistic activities were noted when both agents were used, resulting in a dose-dependent cell growth inhibition. Using the two agents in combination permitted the dosage of each to be reduced.

Harvard warns of high calcium-prostate cancer link

According to an 11-year study recently completed by researchers from Harvard University Medical School, too much dietary calcium can increase men's risk of developing prostate cancer. The study found a correlation between the incidence of prostate cancer and dairy intake, with participants facing a 34% greater risk of developing the disease if they were among the top 20% of dairy products consumers. The researchers concluded, "These findings may serve to interject a note of caution into the current enthusiastic promotion of a higher intake of calcium in the US." However, Dr. June Chanl, lead author of the report, told HealthWorld, "This is a 'head's up' rather than the sounding of an alarm.

Valerian/Lemon Balm Combination Well-Tolerated in Clinical Study

Occasional or chronic insomnia is a widespread problem among Americans and Europeans. The National Institutes of Health estimates that as many as one-third of Americans suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Other estimates hold that up to 18 percent of Germans experience occasional sleep problems, and that at least 7 percent have frequent trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Sedative herb formulas, including combinations of valerian (Valeriana officinalis L., Valerianaceae) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Lamiaceae), are widely used and have strong traditional reputations for efficacy and safety. However, few clinical studies have formally investigated their use. With that in mind, a team of Swiss investigators performed a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical study designed to evaluate the effects of a valerian/lemon balm combination in healthy adults (Cerny et al., 1999).

The primary objective of this study was to assess tolerability and incidence of side effects; secondary parameters included assessments of sleep quality and well being. Study participants were 98 healthy volunteers who took either placebo or three tablets of the valerian/lemon balm formula one-half hour before bedtime. The test formula was a Swiss product containing 480 mg valerian dry extract (4.5:1) and 240 mg lemon balm dry extract (5:1) (Songha Night®, Pharmaton Natural Health Products of Bioggio/Lugano, Switzerland).

Presumably because the primary endpoint was safety, the researchers chose to investigate the effects of the formula in healthy adults who did not suffer from insomnia. Overall tolerability was rated as good by 93 percent of those in the valerian/lemon balm group and 91 percent of the placebo group. The incidence of mild adverse events was similar in the two treatment groups (29 percent in the valerian/lemon balm group and 28 percent in the placebo group). The most frequent of these were sleep disturbances and tiredness; no serious side effects were seen. Interestingly, although none of the study participants reported problems with insomnia, there was a much greater improvement in sleep quality in the group taking the herbal combination. Among those taking valerian/lemon balm, 33 percent reported an improvement in sleep quality, as compared with only 9 percent in the placebo group.

The authors noted, "…sleep quality improved significantly in subjects who received valerian/balm, which was surprising as only healthy volunteers not complaining of insomnia participated.…it would be interesting to see how effective this preparation would prove in patients suffering from insomnia, where major improvements may be expected." - Evelyn Leigh, HRF

How to make Herbal capsule

Choosing and buying herbs

Any kind of dried herb's leaves, flowers and thin stems can be used. Consult your herbalist about your own needs and follow his instructions regarding the appropriate dose. He will determine if encapsulated herbs are the best way to treat your symptoms and will prescribe the correct dose. Buy only fresh herbs and, if possible, try to know if they were grown without the use of pesticides.

Contrary to what happens when buying herbs for flavoring oils, where it is possible to intuitively estimate how much fresh herbs will be needed, it is difficult to guess the amount dried powder that will result from a bunch of fresh herbs. The volume reduction is quite big and varies from herb to herb. In the case here described, encapsulating the powder of Ginkgo Biloba dried leaves, the decrease in volume is about tenfold: one dry volume unit of Ginkgo leaves will yield ten times less dried powder. Only experience will tell how much fresh herbs are needed. Considering that dried herbal powders can be stored for long times and that most common herbs are not expensive, buying more is a safe bet to make the desired number of capsules.

Drying

The herbs should be thoroughly washed and the excess water removed with kitchen tissue paper or a salad centrifuge. After carefully selecting the stems having more leaves and removing those with any kind of strange spots or deposited matter, they should be tied up in bunches with a piece of string or something that will not react with the plant. Enough space should be left between leaves and branches so that air circulation is not prevented. Tight or bulky bunches will not allow good aeration and will stimulate mould and rot formation in the early stages of the drying process.

In a dry corner of the house, place a string or thin rope from wall to wall the higher you can (it is warmer). Hang up the bunches from the string , leaves down, and let them until they are fully dry. The drying time will depend on the thickness of the stems and leaves and on the room's temperature and aeration. It is not difficult to judge when drying is complete. Simply break a small piece of the thicker part of a stem. It should break with ease. The color will also have changed loosing most of its fresh green tones.

Prepare and grind

Dispose the dried stems over a clean table and make a final selection of the material to be ground. In the example described, only the leaves of Ginkgo Biloba were used. The stems were cut out with a with a pair of scissors.

The next step is reduce the leaves to a fine powder. One may use any grinding device that can do this kind of operation. One of the most practical and less expensive is the small electric coffee grinder used to reduce roasted coffee beans to powder. The procedure described uses this familiar kitchenware.

As mentioned before, a great volume of Ginko dried leaves has to be reduced to a small amount of powder. This means that the big pile of leaves will have to be ground in small portions. Start by loading as many leaves as possible in the grinder, without overloading or pressing them in. The leaves should not form a compact mass that may hinder the free rotation of the grinding blade. If this happens the electric motor may be damaged.

Grinder's bowl full of leaves

Grind the first load until it is reduced to a coarse texture and load a new charge of leaves on top of it. After the coarse mixture reaches two thirds of the grinder's bowl, stop loading new leaves and grind the coarse mixture until it is reduced to powder. Discharge the powder into a glass container and continue to repeat the operations until all dried leaves are reduced to powder. The powder can be stored if one does not want to encapsulate the herb immediately.

Coarse ground Ginkgo leaves

Capsules

Gelatine capsules where used to hold the Ginkgo powder. They come in several capacities, usually expressed in milligrams of dry material contained. Jelly capsules are easy to swallow and do not require any additional hardware to be filled up. The snag with this kind of enclosure is that they are usually sold only in big quantities like a thousand units. However, they are very cheap and one may get a smaller number from a friendly health store that makes use of them for several purposes.

Gelatine capsules

Filling

When filling gel capsules for the first time, you may find this operation quite difficult but once you learn the trick, it will be easily done. Gelatine capsules consist of two parts, a cap and a base. They both have a thin inside rim on the portion that stays in contact when they are closed. The rims slide one over the other and lock both parts together. Start by separating all caps from bodies in two different piles. Wear thin surgical gloves that you may get for free from your dentist or buy a box for a few dollars. Gel capsules will stick to anything wet, so be sure that the glove's outside surface is dry.

Pour a good quantity of powder into a cylindrical plastic or glass bowl about 2.5 inches in diameter and 3.0 inches deep. Pick up a capsule's base (the larger part) and immerse its open end into the powder. Repeat the operation but now move it inside the powder towards the bow's wall. Press it firmly against the powder between the capsule's tip and the wall. Take it out with its open end up in order to avoid loosing the powder inside. Pick up a capsule's cap and slide it over the filled base. One may feel when both parts lock together. To ensure the even distribution of the powder inside the capsule, gently tap over its surface until the powder fills evenly both sides. If you fail to have a fully and evenly filled capsule, apply more pressure when you are filling the base with powder. It is the expansion on the pressed powder inside the base that will fill its cap.

Glass bowl with powder

Storing

Capsules that will be consumed immediately after preparation do not require special precautions other than being kept in a bottle that can be tightly closed. One may use empty vitamin bottles for this purpose. On the other end, powders do require some extra care. Preference should be given to amber glass bottles tight closing caps. Again, certain vitamin brands do have these kind of bottles. Store them in a dry and dark place. Do not forget to label the capsule and powder bottles in order to avoid any mistakes. Clearly identify the container's content and the powder's production date.

Oolong tea helps in the treatment of stubborn atopic dermatitis

An open Japanese study suggests that consumption of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) helps speed clearance of recalcitrant atopic dermatitis lesions. The 118 study participants continued their usual dermatologic treatments but also drank oolong tea (10 g steeped in 1000 mL water a day, divided into three doses). Beneficial results were noted after one to two weeks, and 74 (63%) of the participants showed marked to moderate improvement of lesions after one month. After 6 months, 64 patients (54%) still demonstrated a good response to treatment. The study builds on animal research showing that oral administration of green, black, or oolong tea suppressed allergic skin reactions. Uehara M, Sugiura J, Sakurai K. A trial of oolong tea in the management of recalcitrant atopic dermatitis. Arch Dermatol

Usual forms of medicinal remedies

1) Infusions

Infusions are a simple way of extracting the active principles of herbs through the action of hot water. The preparation of infusions is similar to way we prepare tea. This method is used to extract the volatile components of the dried or green aerial parts of herbs and plants like flowers and leaves. Infusions may use single herbs or a blend and are drunk hot or cold. Certainly this is the most common and cheap method of extracting the medicinal compounds of herbs.

2) Decoctions

Roots, barks and fruits being thicker and less permeable than the aerial parts of medicinal plants, do not liberate their active principles by simple infusion. It is necessary to simmer these parts in boiling water in order to extract their medicinal constituents. The material should be cut or broken into small pieces. In order to avoid loosing volatile constituents, use a lid over the simmering pan. After cooling down and separating the solid from the liquid, decoctions can be taken hot or cold.

3) Tinctures

Most of the volatile components of medicinal plants and herbs are soluble in alcohol. By immersing dried or fresh parts of plants in alcohol, the active principles are easily extracted at concentrations that exceed those that can be achieved by infusion or decoction. Highly concentrate solutions that will last for one to two years are a convenient way to store and use medicinal plants constituents. Ideally tinctures should be made using pure ethyl alcohol distilled from cereals. However, since this product is not available to the public, good Vodka with 45-35% alcohol can be used. The extraction is fairly quick. A 50% mixture of herbs and alcohol kept in a tightly closed jar will held a tincture ready for use at the prescribed dosage. Never use methyl alcohol, methylated spirits, isopropyl alcohol or any other kind of unknown spirit to make tinctures.

4) Syrups

With some rare exceptions, like peppermint that is a familiar flavoring agent in toot paste and chewing gum, infused or decocted herbs are not palatable, specially for children. In order to disguise their taste, infusion and decoctions can be mixed with honey or unrefined sugar from cane. These syrups combine the soothing action of these solvents to the medicinal properties of the infusions and decoctions resulting in additional benefits specially for treating cough and sore throats.

5) Infused Oils

Pure vegetable oils like sunflower, almond and olive oil are easily found at grocer stores. They have the property of dissolving the active, fat-soluble active principles of medicinal plants and herbs. This process is called infusion and can be carried out at room temperature or higher. Infusion is a slower process than alcohol extraction but has the advantage of resulting in an oil based solution of medicinal constituents that can easily be used to make creams and ointments. Hot infusion is recommended for the harder parts of the plants while cold infusion is more suitable for flowers and leaves.

6) Essential Oils

Essential oils are the volatile oily components of aromatic plants, trees and grasses. They are found in tiny glands located in the flowers (neroli), leaves (eucalyptus), roots (calamus), wood (sandal) and resins (frankincense). Essential oils are extracted by four main methods: steam distillation, expression, solvent extraction and efleurage. In the first method the oil is extracted by the action of hot steam and then selectively condensed with water from which it is separated. In the second method the oil is extracted by pressure or centrifugation. In the third method the oil is dissolved in a volatile solvent that when evaporated leaves a heavily natural wax substance called concrete. When separated from the wax, the resulting liquid is called an absolute, the most concentrated from of aroma available. Efleurage is a longer process involving the dissolution of the oils in animal fat and its separation using alcohol. Although essential oils main usage is in cosmetics and perfumery, many of them do have proved therapeutic properties.

7) Ointments

Ointments are prepared like hot infused oils, the difference being that herbs are simmered in waxes or fats containing no water. After separating the simmered herbs by squeezing and cooling, the result is a solid mixture of the wax or fat with the medicinal constituents of the plant. Petroleum jelly, soft paraffin wax and bees wax are some common bases used. Ointments form a oily barrier on the surface of injuries and carry the active principles to the affected area.

8) Creams

Creams are mixtures of oils or fats with water. Since water and oils are not miscible, it is necessary to add an emulsifying agent that avoids their separation. Creams are therefore stable emulsions of oils or fats. Medicinal properties are added to creams when they use or are made with tinctures, infusions, oil infusions, essential oils or decoctions. Creams are permeable allowing the skin to breathe and sweat. Their water content and some additional hydrophobic agent like Glycerin promotes the hydration and cooling of the skin.