Some soy milk a day might keep the doctor away
Soy protects hearts of older women
Placebo effect may be at play in acupuncture studies: analysis
Reuters Health - Acupuncture can bring some relief to people with knee arthritis, but the benefits may be at least partly from a placebo effect, a new research review suggests.
In an analysis of 9 clinical trials from the past 15 years, researchers found that acupuncture generally seemed to improve knee arthritis sufferers’ pain and stiffness in the short term. The patients had osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease associated with age, as opposed to arthritis associated with an autoimmune disorder.
However, a closer look showed that the benefits were limited to trials that compared acupuncture with doing nothing or with “usual care,” such as anti-inflammatory medication.
In trials that compared acupuncture with “sham” acupuncture, on the other hand, there was no clear evidence that the real therapy was more effective.
Sham acupuncture is accomplished by using non-penetrating needles, or inserting needles only into the superficial layer of skin, at random sites rather than the specific points used in real acupuncture. In studies that evaluated electro-acupuncture, the sham version involved phony electrodes and “mock” electrical stimulation of acupuncture points.
The point is to keep study participants from knowing whether they were receiving the real or the placebo treatment. This helps separate the specific effects of a therapy from any placebo effects — where people feel better simply because they believe they’ve been treated.
The new findings suggest that the benefits of acupuncture for knee arthritis are at least partly due to patients’ expectations, the study authors report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
However, that doesn’t mean acupuncture is not worthwhile, according to the researchers, led by Eric Manheimer of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Research does suggest that acupuncture has a “genuine biological effect,” and there was evidence in some studies that the real therapy resulted in somewhat better short-term effects than sham acupuncture, the researchers note.
For their study, Manheimer and his colleagues combined the results of nine clinical trials conducted in Europe, the U.S. and Thailand. The trials included a total of more than 3,500 subjects.
Each trial included a patient group that received acupuncture for knee arthritis, as well as a “control” group. In some studies, control patients were placed on a waiting list for acupuncture, while in others they received some standard therapy that acupuncture patients did not. Control patients in other studies received sham acupuncture.
In general, the Manheimer’s team found, only studies that pitted acupuncture against doing nothing, or against standard care, showed clear benefits. The results of the sham-controlled trials were too mixed to show any benefits, according to the researchers.
The investigators do not, however, dismiss the potential benefits of acupuncture for knee arthritis. Indeed, they note, a possible explanation for the mixed results is that sham acupuncture had some actual biological effects.
Given the overall safety of acupuncture, the researchers conclude, patients can still consider it as one option in a “multidisciplinary approach” to treating knee arthritis.
[Annals of Internal Medicine, June 19, 2007]
acupuncture
Echinacea halves risk of catching cold, study concludes
CBC - Echinacea (紫錐花), a herb widely used to fight the sniffles, helps reduce the risk of getting the common cold and shortens its duration, a new review suggests.
In the July issue of the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed the results of 14 published trials on echinacea, or purple coneflower. The beneficial effect was seen after combining results from 1,600 participants.
Echinacea refers to flowers, roots and stems of nine related plants that are native to North America. Extracts are thought to boost the body’s immune system.
Taking the supplements seemed to reduce the risk of developing a cold by 58% and shortened duration of a cold by an average of 1.4 days, the team reported.
“An analysis of the current evidence in the literature suggests that echinacea has a benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold,” the review concluded.
In one study, taking echinacea along with vitamin C reduced cold incidence by 86 per cent, compared to 65% for the herb alone.
Previous studies looking at the anti-cold effects of echinacea have shown opposite results. In 2005, a review published in the New England Journal of Medicine on more than 400 people concluded the herb was useless for cold symptoms.
The latest review was led by Craig Coleman, a pharmacist at the University of Connecticut.
The plant has three major ingredients, called alkamides, chicoric acid and polysaccharides, but it remains unclear how the herb may stimulate the immune system against cold viruses, Coleman and his colleageus said.
More than 800 products containing echinacea are available, the researchers found. Supplements may contain different parts, or combine echinacea with other herbs that have not been tested.
The study’s authors cautioned that clinical trials are needed before doctors can recommend echinacea to prevent or treat the common cold.
Health Canada requires all natural health products be licensed before sale, and to be labelled with an eight-digit product licence number that shows the product has been reviewed and approved by the department for safety and efficacy.
Use of echinacea is contraindicated during pregnancy and breastfeeding, the department said. People with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders are advised to consult a health-care professional before using it.
Some earlier small studies were poorly controlled and sponsored by industry, Wallace Sampson, editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and an emeritus clinical professor of medicine at Stanford University, said in a commentary accompanying the 2005 review.
A spokesperson for the supplements industry said echinacea may be more effective when its three active components are combined in a specific ratio.
The World Health Organization recognized echinacea as a cold treatment in 1999.
chinese medicineAcupuncture stimulates brain metabolism in dementia patients
CM NEWS - Needling specific acupoints may help patients with dementia, a recently published study shows. The acupoint combo seems to increase cerebral glucose metabolism in the brain, as indicated by cerebral functional imaging. Read more
National Institute For Complementary Medicine to be established in Australia
Medical News Today - The Australian Government will provide 4 million dollars to the University of Western Sydney to help establish a National Institute for Complementary Medicine.
The institute will develop national priorities for complementary medical research and will coordinate work on these priorities with other research bodies, with an emphasis on clinical trials and studies on herbal medicines.
The institute will also support postdoctoral training to ensure that the industry has the research personnel it needs to expand. It will also provide research findings to the medical community and general public.
The Commonwealth Government has also provided $5 million in grants through the National Health and Medical Research Council to investigate the use and effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicines.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show that Australians spend about $1 billion annually on complementary and alternative medicines, including vitamin supplements, homeopathic medicines and traditional Asian and Indigenous medicines.
UK pharm has high hope in new TCM dementia drug
CM NEWS - A group of Chinese scientists has finished pre-clinical research for its new anti-dementia drug, dubbed NJS, which is derived from traditional Chinese medicine substances. NJS has just become the first TCM drug that its patent licence is being sold to a UK pharmaceutical firm. Read more
My community
