Alternative Medicine Review最新文献

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of vitamin E, evening primrose oil (EPO), and the combination of vitamin E and EPO for pain control in women with cyclical mastalgia.

Procedure: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at two U.S. academic medical centers. Eighty-five women with premenstrual cyclical breast discomfort were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four six-month oral treatments: vitamin E (1,200 IU per day), EPO (3,000 mg per day), vitamin E (1,200 IU per day) plus EPO (3,000 mg per day), or double placebo. The primary outcome measure was change in breast pain, measured by the modified McGill Pain Questionnaire at enrollment and at six months.

Results: Forty-one patients completed the study. Intent-to-treat analysis (pretesting and post testing) showed a difference in worst-pain improvement with the treatments EPO (p=0.005), vitamin E (p=0.04), and EPO plus vitamin E (p=0.05), but no difference with placebo (p=0.93). Results from two-sample t-test showed a nonsignificant decrease in cyclical mastalgia individually for the three treatment groups compared with the placebo group (EPO, p=0.18; vitamin E, p=0.10; and EPO plus vitamin E, p=0.16). The data were also analyzed with the separation test by Aickin, which showed a trend toward a reduction of cyclical mastalgia with vitamin E and EPO individually and in combination.

Conclusion: Daily doses of 1,200 IU vitamin E, 3,000 mg EPO, or vitamin E and EPO in combination at these same dosages taken for six months may decrease the severity of cyclical mastalgia.

Background: Viscous soluble dietary fiber has been demonstrated to reduce postprandial glycemia and may promote satiety. PolyGlycopleX (PGX) is a highly viscous polysaccharide manufactured by reacting glucomannan with other soluble polysaccharides using a proprietary process (EnviroSimplex). The resulting polysaccharide (alpha-D-glucurono-alpha-D-manno-beta-D-manno-beta-D-glucan, alpha-L-gulurono-beta-D-mannuronan, beta-D-gluco-beta-D-mannan, alpha-D-glucurono-alpha-D-manno-beta-D-manno-beta-D-gluco, alpha-L-gulurono-beta-D-mannurono, beta-D-gluco-beta-D-mannan) is a novel entity with the highest viscosity and water-holding capacity of currently known fibers.

Materials and methods: A total of 29 sedentary overweight or obese adults (23 women; six men), ages 20-65 with a body mass index (BMI) range of 25 kg/m(2) to 36 kg/m(2) participated in a clinical weight-loss program. PGX (5 g) was consumed with 500 mL water, 5-10 minutes before each meal, 2-3 times daily for 14 weeks.

Results: Significant reductions were observed (p less than 0.05) in weight (-5.79 +/- 3.55 kg), waist circumference (-12.07 +/- 5.56 cm), and percentage body fat (-2.43 +/- 2.39 percent) compared to baseline values. In addition, subjects employing PGX had a significant reduction of 19.26 percent (n=17; p less than 0.05) and 25.51 percent (n=16; p less than 0.05) in total and LDL plasma cholesterol values, respectively, at the end of the study period.

Conclusion: The consumption of PGX in concert with lifestyle modifications may be a useful strategy for weight loss in overweight and obese individuals.

Introduction: Dysbiosis is associated with a number of gastrointestinal and systemic disorders. There is a need for selectively acting antimicrobial agents capable of inhibiting the growth of potentially pathogenic microorganisms, or those found to be out of balance, while not negatively impacting the bulk gastrointestinal tract microflora.

Objective: The purpose of this in vitro study is to examine the potential of a selection of essential oils as agents to treat dysbiosis.

Materials and methods: Eight essential oils were examined using the agar dilution method, including Carum carvi, Citrus aurantium var. amara, Foeniculum vulgare dulce, Illicium verum, Lavandula angustifolia, Mentha arvensis, Mentha x piperita, and Trachyspermum copticum. Doubling dilutions of the essential oils were tested against 12 species of intestinal bacteria, which represent the major genera found in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

Results: Carum carvi, Lavandula angustifolia, Trachyspermum copticum, and Citrus aurantium var. amara essential oils displayed the greatest degree of selectivity, inhibiting the growth of potential pathogens at concentrations that had no effect on the beneficial bacteria examined.

Conclusion: The most promising essential oils for the treatment of intestinal dysbiosis are Carum carvi, Lavandula angustifolia, Trachyspermum copticum, and Citrus aurantium var. amara. The herbs from which these oils are derived have long been used in the treatment of gastrointestinal symptoms and the in vitro results of this study suggest that their ingestion will have little detrimental impact on beneficial members of the GIT microflora. More research is needed, however, to investigate tolerability and safety concerns, and verify the selective action of these agents.

Although chlorinated pesticides have been mostly banned from use in the United States, their persistent presence in the environment poses an ongoing threat to health. Because of the lipophilic nature of chlorinated pesticides, they are bioaccumulative and difficult to excrete from the body. A select group of these xenobiotics is also associated with a wide range of health problems, identification of which would aid in disease prevention and reversal. Ongoing research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now provides national standards for some of these compounds, allowing the clinician to evaluate levels in a patient. Serum samples are easily obtained and can reveal the presence of these xenobiotics. Eight of the most commonly found and harmful chlorinated pesticides are reviewed in this article, along with the most common sources of exposure and possible action steps.

Exposure to specific environmental toxins, including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and other halogenated organochlorines, has been shown to interfere with the production, transportation, and metabolism of thyroid hormones by a variety of mechanisms. A broad range of chemicals, with structural similarity to thyroid hormone, have been shown to bind to thyroid receptors with both agonist and antagonist effects on thyroid hormone signaling. The incidence of thyroid disease in the United States, particularly for thyroid cancer and thyroid autoimmune disease, is increasing substantially. The evidence for the significant effects of background levels of thyroid-disrupting chemicals, the known pathways for thyroid disruptors, and the evidence and implications for neurodevelopmental damage due to thyroid-disrupting chemicals is reviewed.

Schultz et al (2008) raised the question whether regression into autism is triggered, not by the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, but by acetaminophen (Tylenol) given for its fever and pain. Considerable evidence supports this contention, most notably the exponential rise in the incidence of autism since 1980, when acetaminophen began to replace aspirin for infants and young children. The impetus for this shift - a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning that aspirin was associated with Reye's syndrome - has since been compellingly debunked. If aspirin is not to be feared as a cause of Reyes syndrome, and acetaminophen is to be feared as a cause of autism, can the autism epidemic be reversed by replacing acetaminophen with aspirin or other remedies?

In recent years, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been considered to be, in part, a neuroendocrine disorder, even referred to by some as type 3 diabetes. Insulin functions by controlling neurotransmitter release processes at the synapses and activating signaling pathways associated with learning and long-term memory. Novel research demonstrates that impaired insulin signaling may be implicated in AD. Post-mortem brain studies show that insulin expression is inversely proportional to the Braak stage of AD progression. It was also demonstrated that neurotoxins, coined amyloid beta-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs), disrupt signal transduction at synapses, making the cell insulin resistant. ADDLs reduce plasticity of the synapse, potentiate synapse loss, contribute to oxidative damage, and cause AD-type tau hyperphosphorylation. Diabetes and AD have signs of increased oxidative stress in common, including advanced glycation end products (AGEs), when compared to normal subjects. Diabetic patients appear to have an increased risk for AD because AGEs accumulate in neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques in AD brains. This research should encourage a more proactive approach to early diagnosis of diabetes and nutritional counseling for AD patients.