Assessment of Liver Toxicity Cases Associated with Black Cohosh Concludes Lack of Causality

In the past several years, there have been numerous reports of possible liver toxicity associated with the use of various preparations made from black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Ranunculaceae, syn. Cimicifuga racemosa), popular for treating symptoms associated with menopause.

Although some regulatory agencies and related bodies have reviewed these cases and have announced some preliminary cautions (for example the European Medicines Agency [EMEA]), critical analyses have questioned the causality of such cases.

Pharmacoepidemiological experts from the Teaching Hospital of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Hanau, Germany, analyzed case reports which regulators have previously considered "possible" or "probable" in causality with black cohosh.

After analyzing 4 cases:

The clinical analysis and structured causality assessment reveal that in one patient there was no valid evaluation possible due to lack of basic information and the remaining 3 cases had no convincing evidence that the liver diseases were caused by black cohosh. These 3 patients were all treated with steroids for acute drug-induced hepatocellular jaundice and fulminant liver failure. The authors note that there is no evidence of steroids’ benefiting this condition, and that since early antiviral therapy is necessary for herpetic liver disease, steroid therapy should not be considered unless all viral causes have been safely excluded. It is fascinating that the reanalysis of the data showed that the EMEA drew inaccurate conclusions. Vigorous causality assessments using a diagnostic algorithm are essential to determine causality for any severe adverse event.

Click Here to download the complete article review from HerbClip, the American Botanical Council.

© 2009 Teschke R, Schwarzenboeck A. Suspected hepatotoxicity by Cimicifugae racemosae Phytomed. rhizome (black cohosh, root): Critical analysis and structured causality assessment. 2009;16: 72-84: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/372/review020591-372.html

Spring allergy relief with natural remedies

Springtime allergies can put a damper on even the sunniest day. But—they don’t have to. If you’ve relied upon store-bought allergy medications in the past—and have been disappointed—this is the season for a more holistic approach to allergies.

Studies show that allergies are often a reaction to a combination of things. For many, budding spring plant life and pollen are irritants. But other, more hidden irritants include: food allergies, environmental irritants (such as, chemical-based cleaners, room sprays, and dryer sheets), and dust.

The good news: There are several alternative products and strategies you can use to sooth your allergies. The benefits: health tools like supplements, herbs, essential oils, and lifestyle modifications are natural, cost effective, and can work fairly quickly to bring relief.

Here are 8 tips for tackling your allergies naturally:

1. Incorporate native plants into your diet.
2. Eat 1-2 tablespoons of local, raw honey every morning.
3. Diffuse peppermint essential oil throughout your home and, or office.
4. Add fresh herbs to a hot bath and deeply breathe in the steam.
5. Take supplements, including: echinacea, goldenseal, and vitamin C.
6. Clean and dust regularly. You don’t have to use chemicals; a steam mop works great.
7. Exercise. Physical activity strengths the body and boosts immunity. Try to exercise outside in the early morning, before allergens kick up.
8. Facial massage is a simple way to relive pressure built-up in the sinus.

For more information about holistic nutrition or soothing allergies with homeopathic remedies, visit the Australasian College www.achs.edu.

Growing vegetables relieves stress and financial strain

When tough economic times hit, our collective money belts cinch tighter and tighter. People stop looking for entertainment out of doors and hunker down for the at-home experience, including eating in.

Yet—there is a silver lining. Although the current economy may cause us to make the move from sidewalk café to sideboard jockey (for a while), there is much to gain along the way. Say hello to stress relief. It may sound counterintuitive—“I’m stressed because everyone is stressed, so I should be frugal and grocery shop and stay home and cook my own dinner.”

But, cooking—and by extension, growing your own food—is an age-old holistic health practice, which promotes relaxation by shifting your focus from mental worry to physical exertion. As anxiety chills, your immune system and cardiovascular systems work better (otherwise known as, “I feel good.”)

It’s a win-win. You feel better AND your wallet feels better, because GIY (grow-it-yourself) gardening gives you fresh vegetables at a fraction of the store-bought price.

How do you get started?

Seed starting. True, you can also save money with month-old plants from your local nursery or home-supply store, but why would you? Seeds are a fraction of the price and produce more of what you want—lots’o’veggies.

One of the best ways to seed start, according to Master Gardener and ACHS Senior Vice President Erika Yigzaw, is with a seedling heat mat. These mats are portable and lightweight (which means apartment friendly), and allow you to bottom water, minimize the risk of mold.

Seed starting, Yigzaw shared at the ACHS Organic Gardening workshop March 21, has several personal and health benefits:

• It’s fun and easy.
• Fresh, on-hand food.
• You know where your food comes from (if you spend a little time researching your seeds and seed starting mix, you can be sure your food is organic, free of synthetic pesticide and chemicals).
• Saves money.
• Lengthens the growing season.

Start gardening...

1. Check the Farmer’s Almanac for your region to see when the last frost is scheduled to arrive.
2. Consult a gardening encyclopedia-type reference to see what veggies will grow best in your area. (In Oregon, the Oregon State University Master Gardener program is a good resource.)
3. Find your local, organic gardening store, where you can purchase your seeds, seedling starting mix, and seedling heat mat.
4. Read any and all instructions that come with your products.
5. When it is time to replant your seedlings into larger containers, re-use household materials like old plastic and/or ceramic planters, bowls, glasses, or tubs.
6. If you plan to transplant your veggies into larger plots, consult a local expert in advance. If you plan to build a container garden, the Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food is a very user-friendly resource.

Tip: Make sure the container is large enough to avoid root-bound plants. And, you will want to sterilize your containers in a 10% solution of bleach.

For questions about organic, at-home gardening, contact the OSU Master Gardeners or your local organization.

For information about personal nutrition, or holistic nutrition career training, contact the Australasian College of Health Sciences.

Debate over the future of NCAAM takes to the blogs

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NCCAM), which was established about 17 years ago and provides some of the best studies about homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, and herbal medicine, is under fire from the scientific community.

Why now? Economics. Scientists are using the nation's economic hardships as a ballast for a negative campaign against alternative and complementary medicine modalities. Their argument: With funding scare, why should the National Institutes of Health fund a "pseud0-science."

We'd love to hear your thoughts about the article below. "Pseudo-science" or viable alternative to rising health care costs and effective, educative tool about prevention?? Hmmmm.......... we wonder.

According to "Critics Object to 'Pseudoscience' Center," a March 17 article in the Washington Post:

The impending national discussion about broadening access to health care, improving medical practice and saving money is giving a group of scientists an opening to make a once-unthinkable proposal: Shut down the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

The notion that the world's best-known medical research agency sponsors studies of homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and herbal medicine has always rankled many scientists. That the idea for its creation 17 years ago came from a U.S. senator newly converted to alternative medicine's promise didn't help.

Although NCCAM has a comparatively minuscule budget and although it is a "center" rather than an "institute," making it officially second-class in the NIH pantheon, the principle is what mattered. But as NIH's budget has flattened in recent years, better use for NCCAM's money has also become an issue.

"With a new administration and President Obama's stated goal of moving science to the forefront, now is the time for scientists to start speaking up about issues that concern us," Steven Salzberg, a genome researcher and computational biologist at the University of Maryland, said last week. "One of our concerns is that NIH is funding pseudoscience."

Salzberg suggested that NCCAM be defunded on an electronic bulletin board that the Obama transition team set up to solicit ideas after November's election. The proposal generated 218 comments, most of them in favor, before the bulletin board closed on Jan. 19.

NCCAM has grown steadily since its founding in 1992, largely at the insistence of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) with a budget of $2 million. In 1998, NIH director and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus pushed to have all alternative medicine research done through NIH's roughly two dozen institutes, with OAM coordinating, and in some cases paying for, the studies. Harkin parried with legislation that turned OAM into a higher-status "center" (although not a full-fledged "institute"), and boosted its budget from $20 million to $50 million. NCCAM's budget this year is about $122 million.

Research in alternative medicine is done elsewhere at NIH, notably in the National Cancer Institute, whose Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine also has a budget of $122 million.

The entire NIH alternative medicine portfolio is about $300 million a year, out of a total budget of about $29 billion. (NIH will get an additional $10.4 billion in economic stimulus money over the next two years, of which $31 million is expected to go to NCCAM.)

Critics of alternative medicine say the vast majority of studies of homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and other treatments based on unconventional understandings of physiology and disease have shown little or no effect. Further, they argue that the field's more-plausible interventions -- such as diet, relaxation, yoga and botanical remedies -- can be studied just as well in other parts of NIH, where they would need to compete head-to-head with conventional research projects.

The critics say that alternative medicine (also known as "complementary" and "integrative" medicine, and disparagingly labeled "woo" by opponents) doesn't need or deserve its own home at NIH.

"What has happened is that the very fact NIH is supporting a study is used to market alternative medicine," said Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine and editor of the Web site Science-Based Medicine (http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org), where much of the anti-NCCAM discussion is taking place. "It is used to lend an appearance of legitimacy to treatments that are not legitimate."
Beyond the Blogosphere

So far, most of the debate has occurred in the blogosphere. But as health-care reform moves toward center stage, so may this fight.

At a Senate committee hearing on integrative medicine held Feb. 26, Harkin said: "I want to lay down a . . . marker: If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a pragmatic, integrative approach to health care, then that, too, would constitute a serious failure."

At the hearing, Harkin introduced Berkley W. Bedell, a six-term Democratic congressman from Iowa who retired in 1987 after contracting Lyme disease. Bedell credits alternative therapies for his recovery from that infection and later from prostate cancer. He helped convince the Iowa senator of alternative medicine's promise.

Nevertheless, Harkin said he was somewhat disappointed in NCCAM's work.

"One of the purposes when we drafted that legislation in 1992 . . . was to investigate and validate alternative approaches. Quite frankly, I must say it's fallen short," he told the committee.

"I think quite frankly that in this center, and previously in the office before it, most of its focus has been on disproving things, rather than seeking out and proving things."

Critics say this shows Harkin's lack of understanding of scientific inquiry, which tests hypotheses (with negative results as informative as positive ones) but doesn't intentionally attempt to "validate approaches." NCCAM's current director, Josephine P. Briggs, agrees that hypothesis-testing is the proper function of the center.

"We are not advocates for these modalities," she said last week. "We are trying to bring rigor to their study and make sure the science is objective."

Even so, Harkin was on to something: Most of NCCAM's results have been negative or inconclusive, not positive and encouraging.

For example, a randomized controlled trial of the botanical echinacea published in 2003 found it was ineffective in treating upper respiratory infections (although it did cause more rashes). In a study from last year, neither the Japanese "palm healing" therapy known as reiki, nor sham reiki, reduced the symptoms of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome. A study in December comparing real and sham acupuncture in 162 cancer patients who'd undergone surgery found no difference in their levels of pain.

At the same time, it's difficult to determine the clinical implications of some of the positive studies.

For example, reiki -- but not sham treatment -- blunted the rise in heart rate, but not the rise in blood pressure, in rats put under stress by loud noise. Therapeutic touch, a different modality, increased the growth of normal bone cells in culture dishes, but decreased the growth of bone cancer cells.

Many NCCAM-funded studies examine not the effectiveness of alternative medicine but its use, and how it affects the interaction of practitioners and patients. The idea that the center is spending lots of money running large clinical trials of such practices as homeopathy and ayurvedic medicine "is a misperception," the director said. She noted that most such proposals lack methodological rigor and aren't approved.

A physician and kidney specialist who never used alternative medicine in her practice, Briggs said "mind-body management for pain control and stress reduction" is a large topic of the research at the moment, with mindfulness, meditation, yoga and tai chi all under study.

"Some of the way these approaches work is through 'positive expectancy,' which is part of a placebo effect," she said.

Indeed, many of NCCAM's critics view complementary medicine as nothing more than the placebo effect dressed up in a dozen different costumes.

Carlo Calabrese, a researcher at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Ore., one of the country's five naturopathic medical schools, isn't one of them. But even if one were to concede that view, he thinks the field is still worth studying.

Although the overall effect of therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture may be small, individual response can be large. The route to the placebo effect -- if that's what it mostly is -- also varies in method and efficiency.

"What can be done to generate a better placebo? Why isn't that an interesting and valid area of investigation?" said Calabrese, who was on NCCAM's advisory council from 2004 to 2007. "Here we have a totally harmless intervention that seems to get a better result in some people than others. Why wouldn't you want to study that?

© The Washington Post March 17, 2009: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602139.html

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

WASHINGTON—Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of the South Lawn on Friday to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets— the president does not like them—but arugula will make the cut.

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

“My hope,” the first lady said in an interview in her East Wing office, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot, in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street. (It is just below the Obama girls’ swing set.)

Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs. Virtually the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, will probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.

Then, too, promoting healthful eating has become an important part of Mrs. Obama’s own agenda.

The first lady, who said that she had never had a vegetable garden, recalled that the idea for this one came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner all took their toll in added weight on the girls, whose pediatrician told Mrs. Obama that she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the girls had lost weight.

Dan Barber, an owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, an organic restaurant in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., that grows many of its own ingredients, said: “The power of Michelle Obama and the garden can create a very powerful message about eating healthy and more delicious food. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it could translate into real change.”

While the Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the White House roof, the Obamas’ garden will far transcend that, with 55 varieties of vegetables—from a wish list of the kitchen staff— grown from organic seedlings started at the Executive Mansion’s greenhouses.

The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatillos and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter, Charlie Brandts, who is a beekeeper, will tend two hives for honey.

The total cost of seeds, mulch and so forth is $200, said Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, who prepared healthful meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food. Mr. Kass will oversee the garden.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

Cristeta Comerford, the White House’s executive chef, said she was eager to plan menus around the garden, and Bill Yosses, the pastry chef, said he was looking forward to berry season.

The White House grounds crew and the kitchen staff will do most of the work, but other White House staff members have volunteered.

So have the fifth graders from Bancroft. “There’s nothing really cooler,” Mrs. Obama said, “than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

For children, she said, food is all about taste, and fresh and local food tastes better.

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

“I wanted to be able to bring what I learned to a broader base of people. And what better way to do it than to plant a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House?”

For urban dwellers who have no backyards, the country’s one million community gardens can also play an important role, Mrs. Obama said.

But the first lady emphasized that she did not want people to feel guilty if they did not have the time for a garden: there are still many changes they can make.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

Click here to read the original article.

© New York Times March 18, 2009 By: Marian Burros

Homeopathy for food allergies: Treatment for Peanut Allergies Shows Promise

A March 15 article in the New York Times, " Treatment for Peanut Allergies Shows Promise," talks about the practical applications of homeopathy. Although the article does not use the term homeopathy specifically, it does describe a study in which the treatment for a peanut allergy "uses doses of peanuts that start as small as one-thousandth of a peanut and eventually increase to about 15 peanuts a day."

The article then goes on to describe how in a pilot study at Duke University and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, "33 children with documented peanut allergy have received the daily therapy, which is given as a powder sprinkled on food. Most of the children are tolerating the therapy without developing allergic reactions, and five stopped the treatment after two and a half years because they could now tolerate peanuts in their regular diet. But four children dropped out because they could not tolerate the treatment."

The article cautions that this specific treatment for peanut (and other food-related allergies) is not ready for home use, yet homeopathics have been in the U.S. since the 19th century, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like," and involves, "giving extremely small doses of substances that produce characteristic symptoms of illness in healthy people when given in larger doses," (NCCAM).

Three main concepts of homeopathy include:

1. Homeopathy stimulates the body's defense mechanisms and processes to prevent/treat illness.

2. Treatment involves giving very small doses of substances called remedies that, according to homeopathy, would produce the same or similar symptoms of illness in healthy people if they were given in larger doses.

3. Treatment in homeopathy is individualized (tailored to each person). Homeopathic practitioners select remedies according to a total picture of the patient, including not only symptoms but lifestyle, emotional and mental states, and other factors.

Homeopathy training is often completed as part of a naturopathic training, and individual courses can be taken to adjunct to another holistic health practice, such as holistic health practitioner or nutritionist. In addition, with accredited holistic health training, there is growing opportunity to work in the complementary alternative medicine field, to provide whole person care.

For more information about homeopathy training, go to: http://www.achs.edu/course-desc.aspx?pid=24&id=4

For more information about studies involving peanut treatments for peanut food allergies, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/health/16peanuts.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=peanut&st=cse

To read more about homeopathy, visit the NCCAM website at: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy/

Protect CAM and Health Freedom: HealthRevolutionPetition.org

Health freedom is one of the primary challenges faced by the U.S. today. Though we aren't all suited for frontline politics, the health freedom fight does not have to be all or nothing. There are many ways we can influence, and accomplish, change from our homes and from within our communities. Such as:

1. Ask your employer about natural medicine insurance alternatives.

2. Honor and protect your personal health first.

3. Be a grassroots promoter: Scour your community for the services you want. If they don't exist, ask for them. If they do exist, help to promote natural medicine and CAM services, and the longevity of the businesses that provide them.

4. Support community wellness education.

5. Familiarize yourself with health freedom laws in your state.

6. Help HealthRevolutionPetition.org to reach their goal of 100,000 signatures.

HealthRevolutionPetition.org is a new, grassroots petition that demands revolutionary changes to the health care system in America. It includes reforms of the FDA, drug company advertising, school lunch programs, coverage of natural therapies, and much more. See it and sign it online at HealthRevolutionPetition.org.

Maca: new insights on an ancient plant

The author [of the article "Maca: new insights on an ancient plant," T. Hudson], a naturopathic physician and professor at the Natural College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, reviews the Peruvian herb maca (Lepidium peruvianum), which she has been prescribing for more than 15 years for common perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms. She examines the different types of maca, history of maca research, the health benefits of maca, and clinical evidence of its efficacy.

The maca species L. meyenii grows all over several South American countries, but the recently differentiated Peruvian maca species L. peruvianum grows only in Peru. In the early 1960s, Peruvian scientist, Gloria Chacón, PhD, presented a dissertation on maca root, which led to the eventual identification of over a dozen different Peruvian maca phenotypes as well as identification of the regions in Peru where these phenotypes grow. L. peruvianum has 13 different phenotypes corresponding to different colors, some of them containing unique DNA profiles and distribution patterns of active constituents, says the author.

Earlier, in 1843, the species L. meyenii had been described by botanist Gerhard Walpers. However, Dr. Chacón suggested, and herbalists around the world have agreed, that the cultivated maca of Peru (L. peruvianum) is a unique species. L. peruvianum is now accepted by many as the species name for medicinal maca from Peru. Though it may be confusing, says the author, "it is critical for a practitioner to investigate the source of the maca used as from Peru and/or ensure it is identified and labeled as L. peruvianum."

Maca has been found to be rich in minerals (with high concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, silica, manganese, copper, zinc, vanadium, and others) and also contains thiamine, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, proteins, carbohydrates, lignans, glucosinolates, phytosterols, and alkaloids.1 The alkaloids in its root are believed largely responsible for its traditional healing use, possibly benefiting the endocrine and reproductive systems by influencing such disorders as chronic fatigue, anemia, and infertility, and aiding in enhanced stamina and "female hormone balance."1

Traditionally used as an adaptogenic plant, maca aids the body in dealing with physiological, biochemical, and psychological stressors. Its adaptogenic properties represent an alternative approach to managing symptoms of menopause, says the author. Researchers theorize that maca stimulates hormonal reserves by strengthening the body's ability to regain and maintain hormonal homeostasis in the face of stressors.2 Other adaptogens have been used by herbal and alternative practitioners for years, but the extent of maca's effects on the range of menopausal symptoms has not been documented in studies of these other adaptogenic herbs. According to the author, this suggests that maca may be unique in its adaptogenic menopausal effects.

The author cites research on perimenopausal and menopausal women using two grams daily of a proprietary maca product (Maca-GO™; Natural Health International; San Francisco, CA), which found that maca can increase the body's production of estrogen and lower its levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone. It also helped alleviate numerous menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, insomnia, depression, and nervousness.2 Other research cited, which was conducted on the composition of various powdered preparations of maca root, reported that the herb does not contain plant estrogen or hormones. Some researchers suggest that maca's therapeutic actions rely on plant sterols stimulating the hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal, and ovarian glands, and therefore also affecting the thyroid and pineal glands.3 As such, says the author, maca tends to treat menopausal symptoms as a whole and not any one specific menopausal symptom.

The author reports that the most common symptoms of menopause she sees in her patients are hot flashes, mood swings, and low energy. She prescribes Maca-GO, one gram twice a day, for perimenopausal and postmenopausal patients, and reports an onset of benefits within two to three weeks, although some patients require treatment for two to three months (depending on the patient's overall health and prior prescription history). Benefits include a remarkable reduction in the number of hot flashes, an overall improvement in mood (less depression and irritability), and increased energy levels.

Much research is still needed, says the author, to clarify the role of exogenous estradiol (via prescription) versus endogenous estradiol (produced by the body) in general, and, specifically, for patients in whom exogenous estrogen is questionable or even contraindicated. With confusion and inconsistency looming over the benefits and risks associated with hormone replacement therapy, "it behooves us to seek the lowest dose and the most gentle, least invasive approach to achieve the identified goals—whether these be relief of symptoms, prevention of bone loss, or protection of cardiovascular health," writes the author. Maca research should influence the optimal strategy for treating the symptoms of menopause, especially when trying to minimize unnecessary long-term exposure to exogenous estrogens.

The author also includes a sidebar on current supply issues relating to the commercial use of maca. "Some of the product previously and currently available in the United States may contain less than a therapeutically useful dose" and "may not contain the appropriate combination of phenotypes to elicit the desired gender-, age-, and symptom-related physiological responses, or the product may simply contain the wrong plant." She recommends that practitioners check into the ethics of the companies selling and manufacturing maca products.

References

1Chacon G. Maca (Lepidium peruvianum Chacon). 1st ed. Lima, Peru: Grafica Mundo; 2001.

2Meissner HO, Mscisz A, Reich-Bilinska R, et al. Hormone-balancing effect of pre-gelatinized organic maca (Lepidium peruvianum Chacon): (III) Clinical response of early-postmenopausal women to maca in a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover configuration, outpatient study. Int J Biomedical Sci. 2006;2(4):375-394.

3Walker M. Effect of Peruvian maca on hormonal functions. Townsend Lett. Nov 1998:18-22.

Review by Shari Henson. © HerbClip 2009: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/371/review020391-371.html

RE : Hudson T. Maca: new insights on an ancient plant. Integrative Med. Dec 2008/Jan 2009;7(6): 54-57.

Should the FDA have more regulation over dietary supplements?

Following the release March 2, 2009, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of a report on the oversight and regulation of dietary supplements (FDA Should Take Further Actions to Improve Oversight and Consumer Understanding), the Natural Products Association (NPA) released the following statement from Executive Director and CEO David Seckman.

"The Natural Products Association appreciates having the opportunity to be included in the GAO's review of dietary supplement regulation, particularly regarding the recent implementation of adverse event reporting and good manufacturing practices. Our initial impressions regarding the four key recommendations of the report are as follows.

"Contrary to opinions stated in the report, the FDA already has a great deal of information about individual dietary supplement products and their manufacturers. The dietary supplement industry has cooperated by registering all manufacturing facilities under bioterrorism regulations that went into effect more than five years ago. Additionally, the NPA is currently working with the government to create a database of all dietary supplement labels to augment this information.

"We also take issue with the implication that the FDA has limited power to remove products from the marketplace. In fact, although the agency has had scant reason to do so, it has exercised its ability to take products off the shelves it deemed a health risk.

"While we supported legislation to establish mandatory adverse event reporting for dietary supplements and over-the-counter drugs, we still believe that reporting should be limited to incidents that are serious. If the FDA's resources are already stretched, as the report indicates, then adding to this burden by mandating that any complaint be dealt with by the agency does not make sense.

"We support further guidance clarifying how the FDA determines when an ingredient is considered 'new' to the marketplace and what evidence is needed to document safety. Likewise, we are in favor of the agency clarifying when it believes products should be marketed as conventional foods versus dietary supplements.

"One of the fundamental principles of DSHEA [Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994] is providing consumers with more information so that they can make informed decisions to maintain and improve their health. So we are in agreement that the FDA should work with stakeholder groups to educate consumers about the safety, efficacy and labeling of dietary supplements.

"There is little scientific data regarding underreporting of adverse events and the data that are cited are not specific to dietary supplements, but represent all FDA-regulated products, including pharmaceuticals, a category that accounts for more than 460,000 reports annually.

"As we told the GAO, we believe regulations governing the manufacturing of dietary supplements enhance the FDA's ability to ensure the safety and purity of these products. These long-awaited regulations, more than 12 years in the making, were greeted with enthusiasm from industry. Likewise, the industry supported the law establishing mandatory adverse event reporting for dietary supplements. However, we disagree with some aspects of how the FDA has implemented this law. Specifically, we told the GAO the following:

1. The changes to dietary supplement regulation exceed the mandate of the law, especially in regarding to prefatory warning language on product labels.

2. The substantial added expenses to dietary supplement manufacturers to redesign and replace their product labels due to the AER law, upwards of $200 million according to the FDA's own estimates, should have been proposed through a formal rulemaking process, not a guidance. Additionally, the FDA is not allowing adequate time for manufacturers to re-label their products in this case, only one year. Previous regulations of this magnitude have allowed manufacturers a reasonable three years to implement label changes.

We are also concerned about the availability of adverse event reports submitted to the agency and how they will be reported to the public . This has yet to be adequately addressed by the FDA.

"As we have in the past, the association supports adequate funding for the FDA to do its job in regulating dietary supplements. This includes fully implementing the law, DSHEA, and taking appropriate enforcement action against those who break it."

Obama Calls for Health Care Reform in 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN)--President Obama pledged Tuesday night to cure Americans from what he called "the crushing cost of health care," saying the country could not afford to put health-care reform on hold.

President Obama tells Congress Tuesday night: "I have no illusions this will be an easy process."

"This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes," Obama said in his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Obama pointed to the increasing number of uninsured and rapidly rising health-care premiums, which he said was one reason small business closed their doors and corporations moved overseas.

Obama's prescription for health-care reform included making "the largest investment ever" in preventive care, rooting out Medicare fraud and investing in electronic health records and new technology in an effort to reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy and save lives.

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process," the president said, adding that he was scheduling a gathering next week of "businesses and workers, doctors and health-care providers, Democrats and Republicans."

"The cost of health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt, health-care reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year," Obama said to a standing ovation.

The president also said Americans would see a cure for cancer "in our time." Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, died of ovarian and uterine cancer at 52.

Obama made health-care reform a central theme of his presidential campaign and promised not only to achieve universal health care in his first term, but also to cut the average family's health care health-care costs by $2,500.

In his speech Tuesday, he placed health-care reform alongside education and energy reforms as central pillars of his recovery plan.

An estimated 45.7 million Americans are uninsured, and for those with coverage, and health-care costs have been rising four times faster than wages, Obama said.

The average cost of family health-care coverage more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, from $1,543 to $3,354, according to a report by the Institute on Medicine released Tuesday.

During his speech, Obama touted changes in the health-care system already passed in his month-old administration as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health-care reform in the last 30 days than we have in the last decade," he said. "When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for 11 million American children whose parents work full-time."

Signed into law on February 17, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also includes $87 billion to bolster state Medicaid programs and offers a 65 percent subsidy for nine months to help the unemployed pay for their COBRA coverage.

COBRA allows the unemployed to pick up the payments and continue the health insurance coverage they had with their former employer. The subsidy would help an estimated seven million Americans, according to a congressional estimate.

The president's health-care message was applauded by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national organization for health care consumers.

"President Obama is absolutely correct that the nation's economy and the federal budget deficit cannot be fixed without meaningful health-care reform," Pollack said in a statement.

© 2009 CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/24/obama.health.care/

Gwyneth Paltrow shares seven-day detox on her site goop.com

The February 22 New York Times featured an article in the Style section about a relatively new website called Goop, nourish the inner aspect.

The originator of the site is Gwyneth Paltrow. Although most known for her work as a movie actress—and more recently for her marriage to musician Chris Martin from Coldplay—Paltrow launched Goop.com last September to provide readers with short, blog-style entries about positive thoughts, parenting anecdotes, and healthy living tips, to name a few categories.

But perhaps most interesting and useful for the holistic health practitioner is an entry posted under the “Make” category called “Detox.” Here Paltrow tells her readers that: “You can detox easily and effectively while you continue to eat as long as you are cutting out the foods and other substances that interfere with the detoxification process. Make sure you check with your doctor before you start any detox. Drink A LOT of water.” All sound advice.

Paltrow also includes a user-friendly seven-day meal plan for detox, including recipes for dishes like Salad with Carrot and Ginger Dressing, Detox Teriyaki Chicken, and Steamed Salmon and Greens. All of the recipes include nutrient-rich foods easily prepared in 30 minutes or less, including downloadable PDFs to store in your dietary toolbox or holistic health library.

For the full recipes, and more information from Paltrow’s personal doctor, go to: www.goop.com.

Tested a recipe? Would you recommend it? Tell us what you think.

Have a response to the site in general, share with the community. We look forward to hearing from you.

Photo © LA Times: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Aromatherapy Can Help PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after experiencing a traumatic event. Typically, this event threatens serious physical danger or involves physical violence. Following this experience, it would not be out of the ordinary for someone to feel scared, confused or angry. However, if these feelings continue long-term and become disruptive to your daily activities, you may be suffering from PTSD.

In a given year, about 7.7 million American adults suffer from PTSD. Although it was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, PTSD can result from common events, such as a car accident, natural disaster, or personal assault.

It is estimated that among veterans, the rate of PTSD is somewhere between 14 percent and 33 percent. Not every person who experiences a traumatic event will experience PTSD, and not every Soldier will either, but being aware of possible symptoms and stressors could help with treatment and prevention.

In the past, PTSD has commonly been treated with pharmaceuticals or some type of mood management therapy. Today, information about alternative treatments is becoming more widespread and research has substantiated the historical use of aromatherapy for depression. Why not for PTSD?

Aromatherapy means: the use of aromas for their healing properties. The documented use of essential oils goes back to Egyptian times, where herbs were burnt in public squares to purify the air. Today we know that lemon essential oil, for example, can be used to lift mild depression. We also know that aromatherapy is a natural, less invasive treatment for chronic afflictions. And compared to most pharmaceuticals, aromatherapy is typically less expensive and more accessible.

Many people with PTSD get better over time, but about 1 out of 3 experience PTSD as a recurring challenge. Use of aromatherapy has many advantages in these cases. If used correctly, they have minimal to no adverse effects when used over time. Aromatherapy is also a healthy alternative for those opposed to long-term use of prescription drugs, and essential oils, when diluted and applied to the skin (or inhaled), can be absorbed into the bloodstream for almost immediate results.

Essential oils are distilled directly from plants. The term “essential” is applied to these oils because they contain the fragrant part of the plant. Essential oils are powerful and concentrated. Many should not be applied to the skin in their undiluted form. Rather, essential oils should be diluted with almond or apricot oil, which lend additional nutrient and antioxidant health benefits.

Aromatherapy expert, Dorene Petersen, President of the Australasian College of Health Sciences, said her college store carries organic certified oils because “it’s important to have the highest quality oils available. Essential oils are extracted from plants, which absorb toxins in their environment. Certified organic essential oils are free of contaminants and pesticides; a purer oil means greater health benefits.”

When treating chronic challenges like PTSD, a consistent routine is important. The recommended solution is a combination of wellness protocols such as holistic nutrition and aromatherapy. A balanced, natural foods diet is the greatest tool we have to maintain healthy physical and psychological functions. When regularly added into the diet, aromatic herb plants that contain essential oils will boost immunity, circulation, and metabolism, among other things. For example, chamomile, which has been found to soothe low levels of stress and depression, can be made into a tea, and geranium, which is commonly used to stabilize emotions, can replace vanilla in baking recipes.

To complement a healthy diet, here are some suggestions for simple, yet effective uses of aromatherapy at home. First, undiluted essential oils can quickly be diffused into the air on a room-by-room basis. Second, you can drop essential oils directly into a relaxing bath or foot soak. (Some oils are more potent than others; until you know how the oil will react with your system, less is more.) Or, try replacing commercial cleaners and air fresheners with essential oils and sprinkling a few drops in and around drains, trashcans, and pillowcases.

Before using aromatherapy as a PTSD protocol, consult with a Registered Aromatherapist, which can be located through the Aromatherapy Registration Council Web site: www. aromatherapycouncil.org.

The Australasian College of Health Sciences is the only DETC-accredited, fully online college offering continuing education, certificate, diploma, and degree programs in complementary alternative medicine with aromatherapy and holistic health majors. For more information about aromatherapy and the college, visit www.achs.edu.

CLICK HERE to download a PDF of the complete article.

© 2009 Article originally appeared in the February edition of Military Spouse Magazine

ACHS Announces Wednesday Brown Bag Lecture Series

Starting on Wednesday, February 4, 2009, ACHS will be offering a weekly lecture series from 12-1 pm at our campus in Portland.

This will be a 50-minute brown bag lecture series on a variety of topics. These lectures are free to ACHS students and graduates and only $10 for the public. To reserve your place, please call 503-244-0726.

Our first lecture will be on Iridology with ACHS President and Holistic Health Expert Dorene Petersen:

Did you know that by looking at the texture of your iris you can evaluate your own or your client's health potential. When you study iridology you can analyze the overall constitution. This is a great tool to help you formulate wellness protocols. You can also see inherent weaknesses before they actually manifest as symptoms in the body.

This lecture is an introduction to the history, theory and philosophy of Iridology.

Schedule of upcoming lectures:

February 4: Introduction to Iridology with ACHS President Dorene Petersen

February 11: Introduction to Homeopathy with ACHS Instructor Dr. Matt Zorn, ND

February 18: Cheap & Effective Community Marketing for the Holistic Practitioner by ACHS Director of Marketing Kate Harmon

February 25: Writing Press Releases with ACHS Communications Manager Lauren Shapiro

All lectures will be videod. Highlights of the lecture will be available on the ACHS TV Channel on YouTube with full videos available in selected online classrooms for ACHS students. Be sure to subscribe to the ACHS YouTube Channel online here to receive notification when a new lecture is available.

Also, keep an eye on your email for an invite to join the ACHS Holistic Health Tip of the Week Google group to receive weekly announcements about upcoming lectures and additional tips for personal health and wellness! You can also view the ACHS Events calendar online here.

We look forward to seeing you on-campus!

Green Gift Guide

December 2008 could mark just another holiday season—relatively indistinguishable from the last… Except for the fact that you might be entering the season with a little more motivation to be green and little less cash in the gift-giving reserves.

Which gives you all the more reason to alter—then heed—an old adage: it's the quality of the thought that counts.

This year, spend a little extra time thinking about what you give, how you decorate, and what you serve. Your thoughtfulness will pay dividends, not just to you and your family, but to the planet.When brainstorming gift ideas, think quality over quantity. Money’s tight, so don’t buy just to buy. Sure, fall-back soaps and candles for her and a T-shirt for him are fine, but why not give quality gifts—ones you feel good about buying and giving?

Buy Local. Look in locally-owned stores for gifts. Shopping at mom and pop stores sends your money right back into your city’s or town’s economy. By doing so, you’re encouraging a vibrant and diverse marketplace right where you live rather than supporting a big box store. Bonus points if the gift you buy is also made locally.

Buy Green. Commit to knowing where the gifts you buy come from, what they’re made of and how they’re made. Plastic products, for example, release harmful toxins into the air in production, leach chemicals into our body when we use them, and stick around for several thousand years once discarded. Try to buy gifts made from sustainable materials that are safe for the gift’s recipient and the planet. Trust us: You’ll feel good about it.

If you’re looking for green toys, check out these Green Toy Company Recommendations.

Still out of ideas? If you can’t think of a good gift to give, could it be because the intended already has too much stuff? If so, why not skip buying him more things he doesn’t need. Give the gift of wellness.

© Sustainlane.com

Donate two cans to end hunger in your community

ACHS will accept local canned-food donations on behalf of the Oregon Food Bank from December 8-15.

Bring two cans to the Apothecary Shoppe between the hours of 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. If you cannot make it into the Apothecary Shoppe before December 15—or you live outside the Portland metro area—donate to your local food bank.

Food banks always have a short supply during the holidays. This year has proved no exception. As a country, we are experiencing some of the most difficult financial struggles in decades. And as a result, food shortages are at an all time high.

We may not be able to end national hunger single-handed. But, we can end hunger at home. It’s amazingly easy. In fact, for many of us, all it would take is a one-minute trip to the kitchen cabinet—or a few cans of food.

You do great work. We know this about you, the same as we know promoting community wellness is an important part of our work as holistic health educators. Support community wellness this holiday season.

Donate two cans to stop hunger in your community. Then, tell us all about it. Don't worry. It's not self-promotion. It's education. So come on...brag a little!

What are you and your community doing to end hunger locally?

We’d love to hear from you! Click the COMMENT icon below.

Know someone with something to share. Click the FORWARD icon below.

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Aromatherapy Gets Personal Boost from Donna Karan

DKNY founder Donna Karan cares about aromatherapy. At least, she cares enough about the possible healing properties of alternative medicine to donate $850,000 to the Beth Israel Medical Center to conduct a year-long experiment combining Eastern and Western healing methods.

According to the October 30 New York Times article, “In One Section of Beth Israel Hospital, Some Patients Are Saying ‘Om,’ Not ‘Ah’”, the experiment, which will be overseen by ultimate yogi Rodney Yee, will test the notion that “yoga, meditation and aromatherapy can enhance regimens of chemotherapy and radiation.”

Karan, who reportedly maintains a daily yoga practice herself, sites her commitment to integrative medicine as the result of the “narrowly limited treatment of her husband, a sculptor, and of Lynn Kohlman, a photographer, model and DKNY fashion director who […] died of brain and breast cancer in September.”

“Over 80% of cancer patients use … some form of complementary or alternative therapies,” said Barrie Cassileth, PhD, chief of the Integrative Medicine Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in a 2004 article posted on the American Cancer Society website.

Although they do not take the place of Western medicine, Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) is being used as a supplement more and more frequently by oncology patients. A cumulative term for several holistic health modalities, CAM includes herbal medicine, homeopathy and aromatherapy, which all prioritize the unique experience of the individual in the treatment of symptoms.

Colleges like the Australasian College of Health Sciences in Portland, Oregon, have experienced a consistent increase in enrollment over the past few years, specifically among heath care workers who want continuing education classes in CAM to integrate into their current work or practice. College President Dorene Petersen says of the trend:

“Health and wellness continue to be the fastest growing industry. ACHS trains holistic health practitioners, but we also work with a lot of health care workers who want more natural solutions to offer their patients. And it works. They’re coming back.”

Among CAM modalities, aromatherapy is likely the most familiar. And if the Beth Israel Medical Center experiment is a success, one can reasonably assume the tested, healing properties of aromatherapy will become common knowledge.

But many don’t know that aromatherapy has a documented use dating to Egyptian times, where herbs were regularly burnt in public squares to purify the air. René-Maurice Gattefossé (1881-1950), a French chemist and perfumer, is officially credited with coining the term “aromatherapy,” and is known for his research of the dermatological effects of essential oils, which subsequently inspired a number of researchers and writers in the 1950’s and 60s.

Today, industry experts commonly define aromatherapy as “the controlled use of essential oils to promote the health and vitality of the body, mind and spirit.” The largest online information source for the use of aromatherapy and essential oils, AromaWeb, adds that: “Essential oils inhaled into the lungs offer both psychological and physical benefits. Not only does the aroma of the natural essential oil stimulate the brain to trigger a reaction, but when inhaled into the lungs, the natural constituents (naturally occurring chemicals) can supply therapeutic benefit.”

Like Karan, AromaWeb founder Wendy Robbins attributes her commitment to alternative medicine to personal experience. AromaWeb arose from the desire to create an online resource with accurate introductory information for those seeking more in depth information about the field of aromatherapy.

“Before and after the launch of the AromaWeb,” Robbins says, “I craved to learn as much as I could about aromatherapy so that in turn, I could share that knowledge with others.” Today, Robbins writes articles about aromatherapy and essential oils, which she features on her user-friendly site, the world’s largest and most popular informational aromatherapy site on the Web.

“I feel immensely rewarded,” Robbins says, “that through AromaWeb, I am able to utilize the knowledge and foundation in aromatherapy that I gained from my ACHS coursework to introduce the concepts of holistic aromatherapy to thousands of individuals each year!”

Robbins founded AromaWeb in 1997, and began the Certificate in Aromatherapy program at the Australasian College of Health Sciences in 1999. She graduated in 2000. Robbins is the recent recipient of the ACHS 2009 Famous Alumni of the Year award, which is sponsored by the Distance Education Training Council.

In 1997, the Australasian College was named the first Aromatherapy Education Provider eligible to obtain liability insurance through ABMP. Founded in 1978, ACHS has more than thirty years of experience in holistic health care and is the only accredited, fully only college offering certificates and degrees in complementary alternative medicine in the United States.

When asked about Karan’s commitment to integrative medicine and her donation to the Beth Israel Medical Center, ACHS Founder and President Dorene Petersen said: “ACHS teaches students the value of holistic health care, to work with the whole person, …lack of sleep, diet, personal trauma, etc. Evidence shows us the appropriate use of essential oils [aromatherapy] is a great way to enhance preventative wellness and support daily treatment of chronic conditions like cancer. I think it’s important, what Donna Karan is doing. Supporting the use of CAM in allopathic care as an integrative tool is what wellness and ACHS are all about.”

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ACHS adjunct instructor Deborah Halvorson schools The OC on homemade remedies

Garlic mixed with olive oil may sound like a robust marinade to the uninitiated. But to an holistic health practitioner or aromatherapist, it’s the all-natural way to kill bacteria, kid maladies included. Which goes to show, playing with your food should be a welcome contact sport.

Just ask Australasian College adjunct faculty member Deborah Halvorson, who was recently featured in the November 5 Orange County Register article, “Homemade remedies for sick kids.” Halvorson, a graduate of the ACHS.edu Aromatherapy Practitioner program, teaches online introductory and advanced aromatherapy courses for the Portland-based college, and leads herbal and natural health workshops in Southern California.

According to the article, Halvorson, “a mother of three, first saw the power of alternative approaches when her oldest son was 2.” Suffering from chronic ear infections, she feared her son would need medical intervention. “Halvorson mentioned this to her chiropractor. He said he could manipulate [her son’s] ears to release fluids so bacteria would not grow.” When the ear infections stopped, Halverson became a believer.

Although natural remedies are not a replacement for traditional Western medicine, ACHS President Dorene Petersen wants people to know that there are viable, evidence-based alternatives for people who prefer a more natural approach to wellness. Prevention is best, according to Petersen, but there are also significant benefits to using herbal medicine in the treatment of cold and flu symptoms, including “a direct source of fresh vitamins and minerals, affordability, and easy access.”

With more than thirty years’ experience in the holistic health industry, Petersen, whose credentials include diplomas from the South Pacific College of Naturopathy and the Holistic Institute of Acupuncture in Hong Kong, says, “Health is a slow, cumulative process, built up each day from our daily habits. Rather than just the absence of illness and injury, it is the condition of physical, spiritual, and social wellbeing.” She believes strongly in the use of herbs and natural medicine to attain optimal health, which is a message firmly ingrained in all courses offered by Australasian College. (ACHS is a DETC-accredited and Oregon State approved Institute of Higher Learning. For information on the college, visit their website at www.achs.edu.)

“But,” Petersen says, “that doesn’t mean the sniffles can’t be helped along a bit.”

Here are 3 simple homemade remedies Petersen recommends to keep your friends and family healthy.

1. Horehound
A weed, which commonly grows throughout the U.S., horehound is partial to wasteland and pasture where sheep have grazed. The leaves are oval and ash-green in color, and best collected as the plant begins to flower. Well-known for its effective treatment of all lung troubles and bronchial coughs, horehound is somewhat bitter, and best mixed into a cough drop or syrup form. The many benefits include: a considerable quantity of vitamin C, antibacterial substances, and powerful decongestants. (It is essential to identify weeds correctly before you harvest. For accurate information, take a wild plant identification walk with an expert, or most herbal stores, including the College’s Apothecary Shoppe, will have dried, whole herbs ready for use.)

Recipe: Horehound Cough Syrup
1-cup raw sugar
2-T honey
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon (about 1-T)
1-T sunflower or corn oil
1⁄2-pt horehound infusion
2-3 drops peppermint essential oil to taste

DIRECTIONS: Combine the sugar, honey, lemon juice, and oil over a low heat and simmer until it forms a syrup and thickens. When the syrup has thickened, stir in the horehound infusion. Add peppermint oil and remove from the heat. Bottle and store in the refrigerator.

2. Garlic
Although an Asian native, garlic is easy to cultivate and found most places, and wild garlic is especially found in poorly drained soil in the Pacific Northwest. Organically grown garlic is said to be more effective medicinally because of the presence of enzymes that are not found in garlic grown on chemically fertilized soils. Daily use of garlic has been found to keep the nose and lungs clear of mucus. Small, daily amounts are best taken as a fresh food ingredient.

Recipe: Cold and Flu Support
1⁄4-oz rosehips
1⁄4-oz parsley
1⁄4-oz rosemary
1⁄4-oz thyme
1⁄4-oz garlic
1-pt water

DIRECTIONS: Mix the rosehips, parsley, rosemary, and thyme together. Crush the garlic and add. Bring the water to a boil and add to the herbs. Steep for 10 to 15 minutes and then drink one cup three to four times during the day. Store in the refrigerator for up to eight hours. Children can take one tablespoon every hour. Adults can take two to four tablespoons every hour.

3. Blackberry
A common plant found in cooler climates worldwide, Blackberry has prickly foliage, a white rose-like flower, and dark juicy berries. The roots, leaves, and berries can all be used; although, kids find the berries most tolerable, and they can be purchased frozen year-round in your local natural foods grocery store. The main benefit is a high level of vitamin C.

Recipe: Blackberry Support

DIRECTIONS: Add whole berries to grain cereals, like oatmeal, eat as a stand-alone snack, or use as a special treat on top of homemade vanilla ice cream.

* DISCLAIMER: The information in this article is not intended to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified licensed health care provider. Any recommendations are for educational purposes only and are believed to be effective. However, since use of any material by others is beyond the control of Australasian College of Health Sciences, no expressed or implied guarantee as to the effectiveness of this information can be given nor liability taken.

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Oil of the Month

Anise, Pimpinella anisum, commonly called sweet cumin, is from the Apiaceae family (formerly Umbelliferae). All plants in the Apiaceae family carry their oil in their seed and have an affinity with the digestive system.

Therapeutic actions of anise include: analgesic, antibacterial, anticonvulsant, antiestrogen, antifungal, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, aperitive, bactericidal, bronchodilator, carminative, digestant, disinfectant, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, insecticide, nervine, stimulant, stomachic, and tonic.
(Anise is not the same as star anise oil. These two plants are very different botanically.)

Anise is December’s featured essential oil for ACHS’s Oil of the Month Club. As member, each month you will receive 5 ml of the oil of the month and an insert describing your oil in detail, as well as recipes and other fun ideas to incorporate into your natural health lifestyle. Oil of the Month is available through the Apothecary Shoppe at www.apothecary-shoppe.com.

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Winter Foods

It is [almost] winter on the west coast and typically rainy and blustery today. I am glad to be at my desk and not outside in the elements. Our harvest days are nearly done for the year, and we are grateful for a bountiful yield from the garden. There is something incredibly gratifying about eating a meal grown largely on-site.

Bruschetta made with baguette of red fife wheat, topped with local goat cheese, a slice of our wicked pickled garlic, and our own tomatoes chopped fine.

Phyllo squash pie, using two kinds of squash, eggs from our neighbor, and parmesan cheese from Italy because sometimes you just have to.

Oven roasted potatoes, Yukon gold and Russian blue varieties. Kale and collards sauteed with minced ginger and tamari. Green salad with three kinds of lettuce, chrysanthemum leaves, and parsley.

And why am I telling you this, apart from to make your mouth water?

Because, if you are interested in health, if you are interested in healing, then you are interested in food. Good food, locally sourced, sustainably grown, and prepared and eaten with pleasure is a foundation stone of good health.

Although my husband Thierry and I grow medicinal herbs on our 7-acre farm as well, we feel that we derive most of our own healing from eating healthy food. But fear not! You don’t have to cook a fancy 3-course meal to eat a healthier diet. Try these simple, time saving diet tips to increase your nutrition quotient:

• Cook a big pan of beans once a week and freeze in plastic tubs.
• Keep a selection of interesting sauces, dips, mustards, and marinades. Any simple piece of fish or chicken can be quickly marinaded, then either oven baked or seared on the barbecue.
• Buy a stacking dehydrator, then when fruits and tomatoes are cheap you can but a lot and dry them.
• Always aim for having five colors on your plate.
• Try a new food every time you go shopping—something you have never had before. Or commit to cooking one new dish per week.

Chanchal Cabrera, MSc, MNIMH, AHG, is the faculty chair in Botanical Medicine at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster. For information about internships with Chanchal, visit achs.edu, click on Alumni, and scroll down to Mentoring and Apprenticeships for Herbalists.

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Health Freedom Update by Kimberly Sharples, HHP

The election is over. I would encourage you to meet your state Senator and Representative and start to build a relationship with them. Talk to them about how they feel about health freedom and maybe they will help you to pass a health freedom law in your state!

If you don’t know who your legislators are, you can look at this website: www.votesmart.org. You will need to enter your nine-digit zip code. If you don’t know your nine-digit zip code, you can find this at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

Some states have updated information from last month, so be sure to check the updates out below.

Please remember that each state has different laws and regulations regarding what you can and cannot do when it comes to complementary and alternative health care.

There are currently six states that have health freedom laws. These are: Minnesota, California, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Idaho. If you live in one of these states, you need to know the laws regarding health freedom, what you can and cannot do, and what disclosures you may need to provide to your clients.

There are 15 states and the District of Columbia that license or regulate naturopathic physicians. If your state is one that regulates naturopathic physicians, you need to know what that law says in regards to what you can and cannot do. These states are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. Minnesota just passed a registration bill for naturopathic physicians that should take effect July 1, 2009.

There is a yahoogroup that was just set up for those interested in health freedom across the United States. Just send a blank email to: FYHF-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


NATIONAL HEALTH FREEDOM ORGANIZATIONS

• Coalition for Natural Health: www.naturalhealth.org or Boyd Landry at boydlandry@naturalhealth.org
• Health Keepers Alliance: www.healthkeepers.net
• Citizens for Health: www.citizens.org
• Sunshine Health Freedom Foundation: Contact person: Troy Bledsoe at herbalsurvival@cox.net or www.sunshinehealthfreedomfoundation.com.
• National Health Freedom Action/Coalition: www.nationalhealthfreedom.org

For questions or more information about health freedom in your state, please feel free to contact me: kimberlysharples@msn.com or 719-390-1979.

HEALTH FREEDOM INFORMATION

CANADA
The Canadian Parliament adjourned for the summer without debating or passing bills C-51 and C-52, bills that could have overturned long standing legal precedent protecting Canadians’ health freedom. For more information, click here.

CALIFORNIA
Prop 65 is proposed regulation that wants to classify all beneficial nutrients with above-RDA potencies as cancer-causing agents under unless proven otherwise.
For more information, please go to this website.

COLORADO
Colorado was successful in stopping a monopolistic naturopathic physician bill. A Health Freedom bill was also introduced, but was not successful. A Massage bill was introduced and passed. This bill contained exemptions for those who do energy work such as Reiki.

Colorado For Health Freedom has a yahoo group you can join by sending a blank email to CO4HFG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. You can also contact Kimberly Sharples at kimberlysharples@msn.com or 719-390-1979.

CONNECTICUT
Connecticut Health Freedom Coalition: Craig Respasz at crepasz@hotmail.com.

IDAHO
Just when we thought Idaho was settled, Senate Bill 1425 was introduced by the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare on February 11, 2008. The bill, as introduced, would have transformed the law from what was an agreeable, accommodating law under which all natural health practitioners benefited, to a restrictive licensing law favoring “naturopathic physicians.” The bill progressed quickly through the Senate and The Coalition jumped into the fray with both feet to protect the language in the bill that allowed for multiple pathways to licensure. With the help of the Idaho Coalition for Natural Health and others, the bill was amended, thus minimizing the effect on the law in Idaho. We will continue to monitor the activities of the Board of Naturopathic Medical Examiners as they work towards promulgation of rules.

For more information, contact Boyd at: boydlandry@naturalhealth.org. You can also visit the website for Idaho CNH at: http://www.naturalhealthidaho.org/.

IOWA
Iowa introduced Health Freedom language in 2008, but was not successful. To learn more about the Iowa Health Freedom Coalition, you can access their website: www.iowahealthfreedom.org.

LOUISIANA
Louisiana’s focus this year was to introduce a total Health Freedom Bill in the 2008 Louisiana Legislative Session. They held a statewide membership meeting in March with 3 excellent speakers: Senator Sharon Weston Broome (Sponsor of the bill), Dr. John Baker, head of LSU Law School (health freedom advocate), and Boyd Landry, Executive Director of CNH.

They also held several statewide meeting to attract new members as well as enlighten the member that reside outside the Baton Rouge area of their intentions to introduce a bill in this year’s 2008 session; as well as meeting with legislators at the Capitol Rotunda several times.

They hired a Lobbyist to work with us to amend Acts 655 and 334, which were bills we passed in the 2006, and 2005 sessions. With lobbyist Kathy Chittom and Senator Broome’s influence, they were able to pass a bill in this year’s 2008 Legislative Session. The Governor signed the bill into law at the end of June (Act No. 524). They now feel as though Louisiana finally has a Total Health Freedom Bill.

Their board meets the last Monday of each month, and they have a conference call number for those who cannot attend in person.

If you live in Louisiana and would like to help, please contact Cynthia Reed, ND, President of the Louisiana Health Freedom Coalition at 225-756-8400 or herbs-etc@cox.net.

MARYLAND
Maryland introduced a health freedom bill in 2008, but it was not successful. Contact Dr. Mishra for more information regarding Health Freedom in Maryland: mishra13505@yahoo.com.

MINNESOTA
A Naturopathic Physician registration bill was passed in Minnesota that will not go into effect until July 1, 2009. During this time a Naturopathy Work Group has been assigned to study the regulation of Naturopathic Doctors. Their recommendations must be turned in no later than December 15, 2008, and the Commissioner of Health will report these findings to Legislators by January 15, 2009. You can read about this bill and work group here.

Another group has formed in Minnesota - Minnesota Advocates for Complementary and Alternative Practices, MNACAP. The President is Katie Murphy, and you can email her at: 4healinginsights@comcast.net.

MONTANA
Montana has a health freedom group that wants to introduce a Health Freedom Bill next legislative session. For more information, you can contact: Debra Kimmet deb@debkimmet.com or 406-251-9704 or visit their website.

NEW JERSEY
A Dietitian/Nutritionist Licensure bill has just been introduced in New Jersey and been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. This bill could limit nutritional advice to only those dietitian/nutritionists licensed by the state of New Jersey. You can view the bill here. Please contact me for more information: kimberlysharples@msn.com.

NEW YORK
There were three restrictive bills introduced in New York, which could have prohibited traditional naturopaths from practicing. Boyd Landry with CNH worked at killing these bills and they are monitoring legislation for the remainder of 2008 and into 2009. You can contact Boyd for more information: boydlandry@naturalhealth.org.

NORTH CAROLINA
There was restrictive naturopathic medicine bills introduced this year in NC. Fortunately, these bills died in committee. The North Carolina Citizens for Healthcare Freedom has a health freedom bill introduced and they are hoping for it to be heard in the long session, starting in January. At this time they need assistance with signing petitions (on their website), volunteering and donations. For more information, you can go to their website: www.ncchf.org. Their contact person is Claiborne Holtzman: Claiborne@ncchf.org.

OHIO
The Ohio Sunshine Health Freedom Coalition has introduced a health freedom bill, H.B. 580. You can read the bill here. The OSHFC Steering Committee recorded a phone call updating the Ohio situation. If you would like to listen, please call 641-715-3409 and enter PIN 288597#. They are also asking for help in calling, Emailing or faxing members of the committee that the health freedom bill is assigned to. To learn more, please contact Linda Murray: hertouch@juno.com or go to their website: www.ohiosunshinehealthfreedom.info.

TENNESSEE
Two identical restrictive licensing bills were entertained this session. Fortunately, both of these bills died in committee. They expect similar legislation to be introduced in 2009. For more information, please contact Boyd Landry at: boydlandry@naturalhealth.org.

TEXAS
The Texas health freedom bill author, Rep. Frank Corte, has filed HB 40, their 2009 health freedom bill. The bill text can be viewed at the following link: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.

They also have discovered that the Texas Dietetic Association has hired a lobbyist to attempt to push through their exclusionary licensing agenda for the 2009 legislative session. They will need your help to defeat this legislation that could take away practitioners rights to give out nutritional advice.

There are installments of “WAKE UP AMERICA” on their website, on the right side under “Recent Posts.” Their website has been updated so please visit www.texashealthfreedom.com to see the “WAKE UP AMERICA” video series and other health freedom information.

Texas needs volunteers and donations--If you can help, please visit their website or contact Peter McCarthy at texascam@earthlink.net.

VIRGINIA
The Certified Natural Health Professionals of Virginia Health Freedom Group is collecting signatures to oppose HB 784, the monopolistic naturopathic physician bill. You may hold the original signed letters or send them to the Virginia Chapter of Certified Natural Health Professionals at P.O. Box 316, Chesterfield, VA 23832-0005.

They will use these letters to demonstrate opposition to any naturopath licensure bill that might be introduced in the 2009 session. If you have questions regarding the gathering of signatures on these letters or their strategy please contact Becky Hanks at the Herb Basket at 804-862-HERB (4372) during the daytime on Tuesdays through Saturday. To learn more, please visit their website: www.cnhpva.org.

WASHINGTON
Washington has a health freedom bill introduced, Senate Bill 6886, and was referred to the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee. To read this bill, go to: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/.

Preserve your Freedom of Choice in health care! 2009 Health Freedom Advocacy Day.
Our freedom to choose the type of health care and health practitioners that we want is in jeopardy! Come and advocate with legislators. We’ll help you! Monday, Jan. 19, 2009, 10 am-4 pm - Cherberg Bldg, Rooms A/B/C. For more information, go to the Washington Health Freedom website: http://healthfreedomwa.org/, email healthfreedom.wa@gmail.com, or call 360-357-6263.

WISCONSIN
Act Now! The Wisconsin Health Freedom Coalition (WIHFC) is a grass roots lobbying organization dedicated to preserving health care access for natural therapies and access to nutritional information in Wisconsin. These freedoms are under threat by special interest groups lobbing in Madison.

Check out their website http://wihfc.com/about_us.htm to read about the upcoming introduction of our exciting Consumer Health Freedom and Access Act. This proposed legislation would protect the rights of Wisconsin Citizens to access natural, herbal and alternative health care.

Also, please check out the website http://wihfc.com/about_us.htm to read about the WDA (Wisconsin Dietetic Association) proposed legislation that would limit your access to nutritional information. WDA seeks licensure to monopolize nutritional information that is bought and paid for by large corporations, which are interested in profit and not your health. Unfortunately we have to solicit for donations http://wihfc.com/donate.htm.

If you are able to help, please contact Syncha Maniscalco at syncha@gmail.com or go to www.wihfc.com.

Kimberly Sharples, HHP
Health Freedom Activist
kimberlysharples@msn.com
(719) 390-1979

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