Alternative Health looks at alternative ways of treating illness apart from the medical system.
Honey Plus Coffee Beats Steroid For Treating Cough
A remarkable new study looking at natural alternatives to medications found that compared to a systemic steroid, a combination of honey and coffee was superior in reducing symptoms associated with a post-infectious cough (PPC). PPC is a cough that remains after a common cold or an upper respiratory tract infection for more than three weeks, and in some cases as long as several months. Conventional treatment may involve any number of powerful drugs, many of which have serious side effects, including codeine and dextromethorphan (so-called centrally acting antitussives), antihistamines, narcotics, and bronchodilators. Given the relative safety and superior effectiveness of honey plus coffee versus prednisolone, this study adds to a growing body of biomedical research indicating that natural substances, including spices, vitamins and foods, are often superior in efficacy to synthetic drugs while often maintaining far higher levels of safety relative to them.
Report Reveals American Healthcare System Could Save BILLIONS Each Year Through Appropriate Use of Dietary Supplements
A new report reveals that proper use of certain nutritional supplements in protective doses could save the American healthcare system BILLIONS of dollars each year in avoided hospitalizations. However, researchers failed to evaluate the full impact of vitamin D on chronic disease. If they had, the annual savings in the US alone would have been in the trillions. Use of omega-3 supplements among adults aged 55 and over diagnosed with coronary heart disease could reduce annual hospital costs by more than $2 billion annually, on average. If every person over the age of 55 with age-related eye disease were to take lutein and zeaxanthin at preventive dosage levels, medical savings would average $57.4 million per year. According to the 2013 GAO Dietary Supplements report, there were 488 times as many adverse reactions reported for prescription drugs as from supplements. Data from the EU indicate that pharmaceutical drugs are 62,000 times more likely to kill you as dietary supplements, but the average underreporting rate of drug ADRs is 94 percent, which means that risk may be even greater.
Vitamin D Proven More Effective Than Both Anti-Viral Drugs and Vaccines At Preventing The Flu
The risk of children suffering from flu can be reduced by 50% if they take vitamin D, doctors in Japan have found. The finding has implications for flu epidemics since vitamin D, which is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight, has no significant side effects, costs little and can be several times more effective than anti-viral drugs or vaccines according to research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Can Homeopathy Really be Used to Treat Cancer?
Medical researchers from around the world have been investigating the ability of homeopathy to treat cancer. Researchers from India’s Jaypee University of Information Technology conducted an experiment to test the ability of homeopathic medicines to alter cancer growth while controlling any apparent placebo effect. The procedures they used are typical among cancer drug research. The researchers found that all three homeopathic remedies tested produced cancer cell death and significant reductions of proliferation among the human cancer cells.
Will Big Pharma and FDA Soon Move to Regulate Mother’s Raw Breast Milk?
Online groups of moms sharing their breast milk with those who cannot breast feed their babies has flourished in recent times. A recent study by a professor of Pediatrics at a hospital concluded that raw fresh breast milk was more dangerous than pasteurized breast milk, even though there is not one single instance of a baby ever getting sick from drinking raw breast milk from such groups. Could the FDA be getting ready to move in and regulate raw breast milk, "protecting" children from these dangerous mothers?
Home Schooled Children Healthier Than Traditionally Schooled Kids
The results of a recent study show kids that are home-schooled are leaner than kids attending traditional schools. The results challenge the theory that children spending more time at home may be at risk for excessive weight gain. The study was published in the journal Obesity and conducted by researchers from University of Colorado's Anschutz Health and Wellness Center (AHWC) and University of Alabama at Birmingham. It looked at both home-schooled and traditionally-schooled children between the ages of seven and 12 in Birmingham. Participants and their parents reported diet, the kids' physical activity was monitored and they were measured for body fat, among other things. "Based on previous research, we went into this study thinking home-schooled children would be heavier and less active than kids attending traditional schools," said Michelle Cardel, PhD, RD, the study's lead author. "We found the opposite."
The Ultimate Herbal Traveling Companion: Tulsi, First Aid in a Teacup
As the pre-eminent adaptogen, tulsi has a unique combination of anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and other actions that combine to help the body and mind adapt and cope with a wide range of physical, emotional, chemical and infectious stresses. Tulsi's unique pharmacological activity particularly helps address many issues faced by modern air travelers such as infection, fatigue, thrombosis, anxiety and dealing with restraint, noise, hypoxia, (from oxygen reduction), radiation, industrial chemicals and poor sleep.
Probiotics Prevent Gluten Sensitivity and Intestinal Damage from Gliadin
In a startling paper discussing treatment alternatives for celiac disease, research from George Washington University School of Medicine finds that probiotics provide a viable solution for gluten digestion and intestinal health – and likely their absence provides the smoking gun for the cause of gluten sensitivities.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Becomes First in Nation to Disallow Use of Dietary Supplements
Supplements have long been the objects of attack by Big Pharma, as most of them are natural and cannot be patented, threatening the huge profits made from much more toxic pharmaceutical products. The medical industry has long desired to bring supplements under government control, so they could either ban them outright or further refine them into patent-able products from which they could then profit from. But with strong consumer action preventing legal action (so far) to ban supplements or regulate them, it would appear the medical system is now taking matters into their own hands and banning them outright. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia became the first hospital in the country to ban supplements from being dispensed to patients. So patients at this hospital will no longer have access to such supplements as probiotics, vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, herbs, etc.
MRSA Super-bug Could be Wiped out Using Natural Oil from Oregano British Scientists Report
The MRSA super-bug could be wiped out using natural oil from oregano, scientists revealed. Researchers have discovered that the herb, commonly used in cooking, could eradicate the deadly infection from hospital wards. Tiny quantities of carvacrol, a naturally occurring compound in oregano, were found to be a more effective antimicrobial agent than 18 pharmaceutical drugs, investigators found.
Oregano – One of The Most Beneficial Spices For Our Health With 4 Times The Antioxidant Potency of Blueberries
Oregano is widely considered as nature’s antibiotic. It is an indispensable spice in Turkish, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American and Italian cuisine, oregano is the must-have ingredient in tomato sauces and pairs well with capers and olives. It may be one reason why people who eat a Mediterranean diet tend to live longer and healthier lives. The oil of the wild oregano plant has been shown to kill unwanted bacteria, fungus, yeast, parasites and viruses and is a powerful antihistamine.
When Medically Effective, Non-mainstream Doctors Lose Their Licenses
Sometimes, the most brilliant, innovative and caring of doctors find themselves ‘struck off’ or ‘erased’ from the medical register – sometimes repeatedly – simply for stepping outside mainstream practise. Today, we bring you some examples of physicians whose careers have been interrupted or ended in a seeming bid to send a message to the rest of the profession: maintain the paradigm – or else.
New Blood Testing More Accurate and Less Expensive – But Threatens Government Monopoly on Medical Tests
Imagine how convenient it would be to get a battery of blood tests for under $30, with no prescription and your results ready in hours, not days! While most healthy adults have little problem parting with multiple vials of blood, the situation is different for infants, children, the elderly, and cancer patients. Enter Elizabeth Holmes. Her breakthrough technology has the potential to completely upend the blood testing business, which has remained unchanged for decades. But will government do their best to stifle it?
A New Front Opens in the Battle to Protect Health Choice in the US
In new trade talks between the US and the European Union, we need to make sure “harmonization” doesn't make our supplement laws like theirs. Last March, the Obama Administration announced its intention to enter into Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the European Union (EU) to increase trade and investment between the two regions. According to the White House fact sheet, the goal of the negotiations is to boost economic growth in the US and EU, and increase jobs supported by transatlantic trade and investment. One of their stated aims is to reduce costly “behind the border” non-tariff barriers that impede the flow of goods, including agricultural goods. What we do not want to see a threat develop to our access to a wide range of higher-dose supplements or to legitimate health claims on products. With increasing harmonization of laws worldwide, it is important for us to fight back against inappropriate regulation of natural products among our trading partners. Inevitably, our regulatory agencies will come under pressure to conform, when trading partners adopt more restrictive policies.
Garlic Beats Best-Selling Blood Pressure Drug In New Study
A groundbreaking new study published in Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences has revealed that garlic is at least as effective as the blockbuster blood pressure lowering drug atenolol in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients diagnosed with essential hypertension, a condition linked to the #1 cause of death in developed countries.
Herbal Essential Oils Beat Chemicals for Inhibiting Superbug Infections
As the battle against superbugs like MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections rages on, researchers have determined that oils derived from plants outperform the antiseptic chlorhexidine and even ethanol in the inhibition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Some of the oils tested included Tea Tree oil, Lemongrass oil, and Eucalyptus oil and they were tested against several of the most deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs, with promising results.
Vitamin C Saves Man Dying of Viral Pneumonia
Allan Smith, a New Zealand Dairy farmer, contracted Swine Flu while away on vacation in Fiji. When he returned home, the flu quickly evolved into severe pneumonia which left him in a coma on life support in the Intensive Care Unit. Chest x-rays showed the lungs were completely filled with fluid with an "opaque" appearance called "white out". After three weeks, Allan's doctors asked the family permission to turn off the machines and let him die. The family stepped in and suggested a high dose IV vitamin C on Allan. At first, the doctors resisted, saying it was useless. However, one doctor felt "slightly uneasy" with the decision to turn off life support, without first acceding to the family's wishes, and so they reluctantly agreed to give the IV vitamin C. Their plan was to give the IV vitamin C, show it was useless, and then turn off life support. That day, Allan Smith was given 25 grams of IV vitamin C in the evening and another 25 grams in the morning. The next day, a CAT scan of the lungs showed improving air flow and a few days later the chest x-rays showed the lungs were no longer white, indicating air movement. The improvement was dramatic, clear and plain for all to see. However, the doctors denied it was the vitamin C, and instead, attributed the improvement to "turning patient into a prone position".
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is so Effective it is a Threat to Medicine, so FDA Moves to Restrict it
Oxygen makes up almost 21% of every breath we take. It is fundamental to life. Without it, we die in minutes. It is an odorless, colorless gas that is poorly understood by most doctors, even though it is regulated as a prescription drug in most countries. Many doctors have a visceral mistrust of oxygen due to complicated and erroneous things they were taught in medical school about too much oxygen suppressing the need to breathe in patients with chronic lung disease or causing blindness in premature newborns. Throw in some half baked ideas about sick people having high free radicals and supplemental oxygen inducing free radical formation and voila! The overlooked arrow in the quiver. It comes out of the walls at the hospital, is administered by nurses and respiratory therapists and is generally thought of as an adjunct only, not an important treatment in its own right. Rather, it is more comfortable for the conventionally trained doctor to prescribe ever more dangerous drugs when confronted with a chronically ill patient, even though there is vast literature supporting that HBOT, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, is anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anti-infective and promotes healing of injured tissue.
Drinking Coffee and Tea Slashes Nasal MRSA Infection Risk in Half
With the CDC's recent warning that deadly, antibiotic resistant 'nightmare bacteria' are taking the lives of at least 23,000 U.S. patients a year, the discovery that regular consumption of coffee and tea slashes the risk of nasal colonization of MRSA in half is all the more remarkable.
ADA’s Stronghold Over Mercury Amalgam Fillings Is Finally Crumbling
Over the past nine months, the American Dental Association, a pro-mercury trade group, has suffered a succession of humiliating defeats -- at the mercury treaty, in the mainstream media, and in the public health community. The public health community, an integral part of health care in America, now realizes the value of mercury-free dentistry. An American Public Health Association panel met last month to review policy proposals and soundly rejected one backed by the ADA. In January in Geneva, at its 5th and final negotiation session, delegates from over 140 nations agreed to a treaty that will address mercury. Amalgam is part of that treaty – every nation must take concrete steps to phase down its use.