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In a recent study, rats were experimentally treated so that they would develop liver toxicity and liver tumours. They were then given 'Chelidonuim' - a homeopathic medicine known for it's liver protective effects. The potencies used were 30c and 200c - both of these remedies are beyond 'Avogadro's number'.

Based upon the structure of the trial, I believe that it is unlikely that the placebo effect was responsible for the protective action of the homeopathic remedy.

The experimenters concluded that "Both the potencies of Chel exhibited anti-tumor and anti-oxidative stress potential against artificially induced hepatic tumors and hepato-toxicity in rats. More studies are warranted."

Read the paper here:
Chelidonium majus 30C and 200C in induced hepato-t... [Homeopathy. 2010] - PubMed result

Oncologists at several of the most advanced cancer treatment centres in the US, including the Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago are using therapies including yoga, acupuncture and stress management.

A spokesman from the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas explained:

"Integrative medicine is a philosophy based on treating patients by focusing on the whole person and using both conventional and complementary therapies in a multidisciplinary care fashion.....It is similar to complementary medicine, but one key difference is that there is an open communication between practitioners of the different traditions."

These centres appear to be following their patients lead as more patients with cancer are turning to integrative medicine or integrative oncology methods (between 30% and 80% of patients use some form of integrative or complementary medicine) and traditional oncology centres have been setting up integrative medicine centers as there has been a growing awareness of the value of integrative oncology therapies, among traditional oncologists.

Read more here

High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Cancer Cell Growth:
You can read the study here

High fructose corn syrup is made from corn and yet the corn lobby "The Corn Refiners Association" countered the study's findings by stating:

"This study does not look at the way fructose is actually consumed by humans, as it was conducted in a laboratory, not inside the human body," and they concluded that the root causes of pancreatic cancer are complicated and poorly understood.

The UK Government has officially confirmed homeopathy's continuing role in the NHS - ensuring that patients can continue to benefit from it.

The Government response states that 'local NHS and clinicians, rather than Whitehall, are best placed to make decisions on what treatment is appropriate for their patients - including complementary or alternative treatments such as homeopathy - and provide accordingly for those treatments.'

A statement from Dr. Sarah Eames, President of the Faculty of Homeopathy states: 'As a doctor who practices homeopathy on the NHS, I know homeopathy is an important part of our health service helping tens of thousands of patients annually, a majority of whom have not been helped sufficiently with conventional treatments. I am pleased to see the government, contrary to the recommendations of the Science and Technology's report, agrees that homeopathy has a place in the NHS  and offers choice to both patients and local purchasers of healthcare.'

Read more here
  You want the evidence for homeopathy in the treatment of allergies? 
Look no further than the Alternative Medicine Review:  Spring 2010 issue - article number 6.  This excellent research round-up by two of the giants of homeopathy; Dana Ullman MPH and Michael Frass MD, pulls no punches when it comes to delivering an outstanding overview of current published research in the treatment of allergenic respiratory conditions.

New Complementary Medical Association e-Newsletter Published We have just updated The Complementary Medical Association's e-Newsletter archives. You can see these here

The August 2010 e-Newsletter will hit your in-box on Wednesday 4th August at 10.30am GMT. We hope you enjoy it!

A study published in May in the journal 'Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise', reported, unsurprisingly, that men who sit the most have the greatest risk of heart problems. Men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars (as passengers or as drivers) had a 64% greater chance of dying from heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less. So far - so logical - However - here's where the research becomes rather surprising:

Many of the men who sat long hours and developed heart problems also exercised. Quite a few of them did so regularly and led active lifestyles. The problem was that the men worked out, but then sat in cars and in front of televisions for hours, and their risk of heart disease soared, despite the exercise. Worryingly, their workouts did not counteract the ill effects of sitting.

If you sit for long hours, you experience no 'isometric contraction of the antigravity (postural) muscles,’ according to an overview of the consequences of inactivity published this month in Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews. Your muscles, unused for hours at a time, change in subtle fashion, and as a result, your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other diseases can rise.

The solution: Take steps to counteract the effects of sitting by taking exercise - wherever and whenever you can - be it taking the stairs instead of the lift, parking your car a bit further from the grocery store entrance than you would usually do, getting up every hour when working at your computer and so on. Well that's it from me for now - gotta go for a walk . . .

Yet another Big Pharma company has been fined due to unscrupulous marketing practices: Astra Zeneca the Anglo-Swiss drugs company has been fined just over half a billion US dollars ($520 Billion) in a settlement announced today. This comes hot on the heels of a much larger settlement ($1.4 Billion US dollars) by Eli Lilley relating to their product, Zyprexa.

Seroquel is among the top-selling drugs in the world with 2009 sales of $4.9 billion (15% of AstraZeneca’s $33.2 billion in revenue is for schizophrenia and specific types of bipolar mania).

So, what was the problem?
AstraZeneca was charged with promoting Seroquel to physicians for use “off-label” in children and the elderly. Doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs for unapproved uses but FDA rules state that drug manufacturers may only promote their products for approved conditions and age groups.  The Department of Justice said it had taken action as AstraZeneca had deliberately and actively promoted Seroquel to doctors “off-label” for a range of uses not authorised by the Food and Drug Administration, including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and sleeplessness.

How did the drug company actually promote their product to doctors?
The DoJ accused the company of marketing the drug to doctors who were not specialists in schizophrenia and psychosis, for which it was authorised, and of funding education programmes (i.e. these can include incentives such as glamorous holidays masquerading as ‘educational events”) and employing doctors as highly paid speakers and even going so far as to have doctors as  named authors on academic articles “ghostwritten” by Astra Zeneca’s backroom boys to promote Seroquel.

Eric Holder, the attorney-general, said:
“Illegal acts by pharmaceutical companies and false claims against Medicare and Medicaid can put the public health at risk, corrupt medical decisions by health care providers and take billions of dollars directly out of taxpayers’ pockets.”

The settlement comes at a time when the company faces litigation in the US totaling more than $1.2bn from thousands of plaintiffs, including many patients who claim they became overweight or diabetic following prescription of the medicine.