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Grieving the loss of her grandmother, a depressed, obese teenager replaces comfort food with yoga, losing weight and gaining faith and self-confidence in the process.  M
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Does a body good? Sucks? We boldly churn through the data to skim off the hype. Dr. Welby on the take Whistleblowers in the medical establishment are crying foul over the corrupting influence of drug companies on honest research and education.A supplement in time saves crime A University of Oxford study finds that incarcerated young offenders offend much less when their institutional diet is augmented with a nutritional supplement.Squaring Off Over Soy In the latest battle in the soy safety wars, Sally Fallon and nutritionist Mary G. Enig aggressively make the case for the prosecution, while bestselling vegan author John Robbins responds with a point-by-point defense.Kava Kava Under a Cloud Thirty cases of serious liver damage in German users of kava kava (a popular herbal relaxant) have health agencies in Europe and North America worried. In Britain, the product has been voluntarilly pulled from the shelves pending hard evidence of whether and how such a safe supplement could have turned so nasty. [article | video]BMJ ventures "Beyond Science" The venerable British Medical Journal publishes a cluster of "beyond science" papers in its Christmas 2001 issue:Insidious Pollutants You probably suspected that "new car smell" wasn't exactly aromatherapy - and you were right. But incense? Could its fumes be as carcinogenic as second-hand smoke? And what about your gas range? A study says it could be poisoning your children.Seasonal Self Defense Wondering why your zinc lozenges don't work? Not any zinc will do. That and more in this primer on natural remedies for the bugs and blahs of winter.New Light on Light Therapy It's famous for fighting winter blues. But bright light, it seems, can help relieve depression any time of year - and that's not all it can do.Phtalidomide in your hairspray Phthalates, a class of industrial chemicals repeatedly linked to organ damage and birth defects in animals, abound in cosmetics and beauty products, according to a study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group.St. John's Wort Takes Another Hit Almost a year to the day from the publication in JAMA of the first large American trial to find St. John's wort wanting for severe clinical depression, another long anticipated super-trial of the herbal antidepressant fails to support the herb's efficacy for people with moderately severe major depression. But the multimillion dollar NIH study is a bust for the popular antidepressant drug Zoloft, too. Some experts question the study's validity.The Power of Positive Faced with a diagnosis of cancer, a young woman and her sister learn to thinkand be positive.Vitamin C and cancer revisited Does it or doesn't it prevent or treat cancer? CBC radio's "Quirks and Quarks" reviews the research and theories with leading doctors and scientists.New England Journal of Medicine Gives up on Impartiality Medical experts without financial ties to the drug industry are so hard to find, claims one of the world's most influential medical journals, that it will allow those on the payroll to write its drug reviews.Vegans: Eat Your Vitamin B12! A rising number of deaths and close calls among babies and children raised on very poorly planned vegan diets underscores what responsible vegan dietitians, doctors, scientists, and associations have been saying for years: vitamin B12 deficiency is a major threat to the health of vegans of all ages - yet so easy to avoid.
Red Wine's Secret Exposed? A new study finds that red wine - but not white wine, rosé, or even red grape juice - dramatically lowers a biochemical that can promote atherosclerosis.Cheap Herb for AIDS? In South Africa, where AIDS is rampant and drug cocktails unaffordable, an indigenous weed is being widely used to relieve symptoms and, perhaps, extend life. Impressed by the buzz about "Sutherlandia," authorities are about to put it to the scientific test.Defending the Wort Remember that major study that proved St. John's wort is no antidepressant after all? Dissenting doctors, herbalists, and other experts take a critical look.Homeopathy's New Clue Chemists in South Korea make an astonishingly counterintuitive discovery about what happens to chemicals when you dilute them in water. The effect, they say, gives new credibility to that most counterintuitive healing art: homeopathy.An NGO is Born Winnipeg social activist Dennis Bayomi wants to build a nongovernmental organization that will rally Canadians behind not one, two, or three, but every cause that affects the future of their health. He calls it Canadians for a Healthy Future.Pets or Pincushions? Veterinarians are weighing evidence that routine vaccinations for adult companion animals could be causing more harm than good.Fear of Fluoride Some paranoiacs really do have enemies. Credible scientists, journalists, and environmentalists are confirming conspiracy theorists' claims that America's number one cavity fighter really is a public health hazard. See: Salon.com | a dentist's double take | Environmental Research FoundationGetting Rubbed the Right Way Remember those beleaguered Winnipeg "massagists"? Well no sooner had we exposed these bodywork therapists' plight than the walls of City Hall resistance came tumbling down. Now foes have become partners in search of a win-win solution.Huna Healing - from Hawaii with Love Healing as graceful as a hula dance. Nicki Katchur brought Huna Kane to Winnipeg and told The Aquarian all about it in 1997. She's returned to "the Big Island," but now her protégé Monique Southam has her own story to tell. Read the 1997 interview and Southam's story here.Massage Parlour? NOT. Winnipeg is cracking down on people who will touch your body for money. Never mind that they're legitimate bodywork therapists.Healing Without Harming Just because a healer is holistic doesn't mean s/he's good for you. Some cautionary tales and words to the wise.Standardized Herbalism Herbal standardized extracts are fast becoming the norm on store shelves, but not necessarily in the hearts and minds of healers. Influential herbalist Michael Tierra explains why.Got Milk? - Got Prostate Cancer? PETA makes waves in dairyland and New York with its controversial campaign to put a milk mustache on cancer-stricken Mayor Rudy Giuliani to publicise the link between dairy consumption and the second leading cancer killer of men.St. John's Wort Beats Classic Antidepresssant In the largest, rigorous multicentre trial to date, St. John's wort proves slightly better and dramatically friendlier than a full dosage of a major antidepressant drug for mild to moderate depression.
In one of the most rigorous multi-centre studies to date, researchers from Scotland and Australia publish objective evidence in The British Medical Journal that "the memory of water" (extreme homeopathic dilutions) is medicinal.What's Really in that Bottle? You've read the horror stories: herbs and other supplements that aren't what they appear to be - wasting your money, even endangering your health. Now, a well-regarded independent lab is testing supplements and publishing the results online. But at least one major supplement manufacturer and retailer is crying foul (enter "consumer lab" in the website's "library search" box).Should we be scared of soy? A recently published Hawaiian study suggests tofu can rot your brain. But that's not all the dirt on soy. According to an Aquarian feature article, one of our most popular health foods may need to be "used with care."New Light on Light Therapy You've heard of it fighting the winter blues, but it seems bright light can help relieve depression any time of year - and that's just for starters.It's safe not to smoke again For years, research has suggested smoking has brain-friendly benefits. But now a huge British study suggests preventing Alzheimer's disease isn't one of them.Turning wine into healing water You know that chemical in red wine that's so good for your heart? Evidence is mounting that resveratrol is a potent cancer fighter and preventer too.Risky Herbalism: Serious Hazards from Chinese herbs? In Belgium, cases of kidney failure linked to a Chinese herb progress to malignant cancer. But experts on TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) cry foul, and in a sober analysis, the Journal of Chinese Medicine points the finger at abuse of the principals and practices of TCM.Healing Words Curl up in front of your monitor for an up-close-and-personal feature on their therapeutic power.Coming to a Hospital Near You: Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Herbs, Homeopathy . . . New York's Beth Israel Medical Center, LA's Cedars-Sinai, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are among a rapidly growing number of mainstream hospitals that are offering patients complementary and alternative medical care.Medical Research FOR SALE An article in the New England Journal of Medicine exposes the heavy-handed relationship of drug companies to the researchers they fund. Salon columnist Ariana Huffington and the editors of The Lancet join in taking "big pharma" to task (the editorial | Reuter's report).The Autism Epidemic: are vaccines a cause? Testifying before a Capital Hill committee, a veteran autism authority accuses the medical establishment of turning a blind eye to the vaccination connection -- and safe alternative treatments.Vitamin C clogs arteries? A jaw-dropping studyseems to say it does, defying years of research and theory. The Vitamin C Foundation and other defenders of supplementation say whoa! The vitamin isn't clogging arteries; it's making them thicker - stronger, healthier.Does going Prozac make some people go postal? A British study bolsters the controversial claim that Prozac and other SSRI antidepressants make some people lose control.Complementary medicine at Winnipeg's major hospital Money woes threaten a happy marriage.Move over green tea - white tea's in the house The rare, pale, unprocessed tea outperforms green tea in preliminary anticancer research from the Linus Pauling Institute.The Skeleton in the GMO Closet Did Genetic Engineering cause the Tryptophan-EMS Disaster of 1989?This fat is baaaad!A cautionary tale by journalist Ingeborg Boyens. Is it Safe? The angst over Genetically Modified foods and Organisms But wait . . . Researchers announce a new strain of GM rice. Is this the politically correct "carrot" at last? By sucking up more CO2 Washington University's "amaizing" grain would chill global warming, increase crop yields 30 percent, and allay world hunger. But even if it's safe, will Third World countries be able to afford it? Read the story in New Scientist.
Taking homeopathy seriously
Salon.com also publishes an approving article -- and gets smacked upside the head by most letter writers, including Quackwatch.com's Stephen Barrett. In an unpublished, too much too late letter to Salon.com, Aquarian editor Syd Baumel takes the head quackwatcher to task. So how do those ultra-dilute remedies work (assuming they do)? Research at the California Institute of Technology adds to the case that water "remembers."
". . .the essence of addiction is craving for an experience or object to make yourself feel all right. . . even if that's within the realm of the mind." All contents copyright © 2000 The Aquarian. 16 Victoria Row, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R2M 1Y2 ph: (204) 255-4884 | fax: (204) 255-5057 We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. www.aquarianonline.com | info@aquarianonline.com |
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