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Positive Psychology and Health

[Editor’s Note: Dr. Gorski is on a brief vacation this week; in his place we offer new guest contributor Michael Booth’s inaugural post. Enjoy!]

Will this help me live longer?

Will this help me live longer?

The belief that positivity can prolong life or improve health seems ubiquitous. It is a claim that is repeated often in popular media, and fills countless pages of self-help books on happiness, thriving, optimism, and so on. But is there evidence to support optimism and the right attitude being positively correlated with health and longevity? Do personal beliefs actually matter in determining whether or not a chronic disease progresses or remits?

Popular generalizations

Consider this statement by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen in the Healthy Living section of the Huffington Post:

Having the right attitude is even more important for your body than daily sunscreen and a weekend spa getaway, every other week — yes, that important. Humor improves immune cell function, helps you ward off illness and decreases your chances of cancer — and apparently also increases your chance of living after heart disease hits. Not bad!

This latter conclusion is drawn from a study of 607 heart disease patients in Denmark that according to Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen “found that patients whose moods were overall more positive were 58 percent more likely to live at least another five years.” Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen continue, “the scientists can’t say for sure if positivity led to exercise or if exercise improved mood, but we say that the important message is the same either way: Positive thinking and regular physical activity are really important for life (and beauty, too).”

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Posted in: Commentary, Science and the Media

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Cancer quackery from Germany to Australia

Quack, quack

Last week, I wrote about alternative medicine clinics in Germany that offer a combination of alternative cancer cures plus experimental therapeutics administered improperly outside the auspices of a clinical trial. In particular, I discussed two cases. The first was British actress Leah Bracknell, who is raising money to go to one of these alternative cancer clinics to treat her stage IV lung cancer. the second was a British woman named Pauline Gahan, who was diagnosed with metastatic stomach cancer and has thus far spent £300,000 for a combination of vitamin infusions, “detox,” and Keytruda (generic name: pembrolizumab). This is a drug belonging to a new class of promising anticancer therapies known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. It’s FDA-approved for some cancers, but hasn’t yet been shown to be effective against stomach cancer, although there is one phase I trial that is promising and thought to be sufficient evidence to justify phase II and III trials. None of this stopped the clinic to which both Bracknell and Gahan traveled, the Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic.

One thing I noticed about the Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic when I wrote about it is that nowhere did it list the doctors who own and operate it or who consult there. I did find one name, Dr. Jens Nolting, mentioned on patient discussion boards as working at Hallwang. The lack of mention of who runs the clinic and who practices there was an enormous red flag to me, I think for obvious reasons. Fortunately, a commenter with more knowledge than I and thus a better idea of what to Google for, jumped in to comment and helped out. So I thought I’d do a follow-up post and then segue to a report that aired on Australian TV on alternative medicine for cancer there to show the consequences of clinics like this, which are, unfortunately, a problem in many advanced countries. Thus, this post might be a bit “odds and ends”-ish, but it’s a topic that’s been of intense interest to me ever since I discovered the depths of alternative medicine applied to cancer, and I didn’t want to leave last week’s post, in essence, unfinished. Also, there is at least one interesting connection that I hadn’t realized as I wrote my post last week.
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Posted in: Cancer, Health Fraud, Naturopathy, Politics and Regulation, Science and Medicine

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Supplements: Still popular despite little evidence they’re useful

Coconut Oil Chews

Despite the marketing, there is no need for you to take most supplements. And no-one needs coconut oil chews.

As healthcare systems struggle to cope with growing and aging populations, there is renewed interest in eliminating wasteful, and possibly harmful, care. The Choosing Wisely campaign suggests that up to 30% of health care services may be unnecessary. Driven by the medical profession itself, Choosing Wisely is challenging both patients and health care providers to have an honest dialogue about the appropriateness of care. What is increasingly obvious is that ineffective and inappropriate medical care can’t be counted on to disappear naturally, even when the evidence is clear and is acknowledged by health professionals.

Dietary supplements are an enormously popular category of consumer products (I hesitate to call them health products), usually taken with the objective of promoting or supporting health. In the US alone, supplements are a $34 billion dollar industry. I’ve posted several times about trends in supplement use, looking at some of the larger studies to understand who takes supplements, and why. As a pharmacist who has worked in both community (retail) and hospital pharmacy practice, my own observations seem in line with what the evidence shows. The extent to which some consumers embrace supplements as part of their health activities is remarkable. I have seen people spend hundreds of dollars per month on dietary supplements based solely on the advice of a naturopath or other alternative medicine provider. And as a former hospital pharmacist responsible for doing medication histories with new patients, I would regularly encounter seniors taking dozens of different types of vitamins, over-the-counter medications, supplements and tonics, often with contradictory purposes: the “natural” laxatives with the anti-diarrheal medicine, or combinations of products for a single use, like melatonin and diphenhydramine for sleep. Cleaning up the supplement schedules to something rational (or at least safe) was one of the more challenging aspects of my role. Like medication, consumers can get very attached to their supplements, sometimes attributing beneficial effects to them that were highly implausible, and more likely reflected placebo effects. Convincing people that the supplements they’re taking are unnecessary, and even potentially harmful, can be difficult. Some have been so convinced of the merits of their (usually self-driven) supplement strategy that they would take suggestions very personally, as if I were questioning their own judgement. Such is the nature of the supplement industry: A triumph of marketing and an unquestioned boon for manufacturers, but billions in spending with little evidence that supplements have any real health benefits whatsoever. (more…)

Posted in: Herbs & Supplements

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Measles More Deadly than Previously Thought

big_measles_global_coverage
One of the common tropes of the anti-vaccine movement is that vaccine-preventable diseases are not all that bad. Perhaps the most direct manifestation of this is the self-published children’s book, Melanie’s Marvelous Measles, by Australian author and anti-vaccine activist Stephanie Messenger. Throughout the book Messenger claims that measles is nothing to be frightened of and in fact makes the body stronger.

This is an absurd and counterfactual claim, resulting, it seems, from a desire for a simple, clean narrative. People are born lawyers – we pick a side and defend it jealously. So, if you believe vaccines are dangerous you must also believe they are useless and the diseases they prevent benign. All the facts have to align in one direction.

The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that vaccines are safe (although not risk free), that they work (although are not 100% effective), and the diseases they prevent can sometimes cause serious complications. (more…)

Posted in: Vaccines

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Corydalis: An Herbal Medicine for Pain, with Some Thoughts on Drug Development

Corydalis. Better than opium?

Corydalis. Better than opium?

Ever since William Withering published his classic treatise on Foxglove in 1775, science has been testing herbal medicines and trying to establish a scientific basis for the ones that work. As many as half of today’s prescription drugs were derived from plants. A new study published in Current Biology by Zhang et al. has identified a compound in a traditional herbal remedy that is effective in relieving pain in rats and works by a novel analgesic pathway. They used rigorous scientific methods and their findings do not represent an endorsement of traditional herbal medicine practices. (more…)

Posted in: Herbs & Supplements, Traditional Chinese Medicine

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Naturopaths Warn Parents of Halloween Candy Dangers

Halloween Handouts Have Horrendous Health Hazards

Halloween Handouts Have Horrendous Health Hazards

[Ed. Note: Dr. Jones had a Halloween-themed post in mind; so he and Dr. Gorski have basically switched places just for this week. Expect Dr. Gorski’s post later this week.]

Columbus, OH – Experts from the Columbus Naturopathic Medicine Center are warning parents of the dangers that may be waiting for their children on Halloween night, dangers like high-fructose corn syrup, gluten, trans fat, and artificial colors and flavors just to name a few.

“We want parents to understand what risks their children will be facing,” Tab Smiley, Chief of Pediatric Naturopathic Medicine and Nutrition at the center, explained. “These common Halloween candy ingredients are linked to childhood obesity, coronary artery disease, diabetes, body acidification, yeast overgrowth, and multiple chemical sensitivity.”

Smiley recommends that parents assess the nutritional information of each child’s candy haul prior to consumption in order to help prevent dangerous nutritional imbalances. Each individual treat should first be unwrapped and examined for sharp foreign objects or other obvious signs of tampering, and then melted down for evaluation using liquid chromatography and DNA fingerprinting when available. If unavailable, a naturopathic grade dowsing rod or pendulum may be substituted. Once deemed safe, a proving should take place in order to best determine an appropriate indication for each candy, followed by serial dilution and succussion in order to enhance flavor and potency. (more…)

Posted in: Humor, Science and Medicine

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Chromium and Fluoride – What an ‘Interesting’ Combination

Selected chemical properties of chromium (VI) and fluoride

Selected chemical properties of chromium (VI) and fluoride

It is fairly apparent that the chief editor of Natural News (Mr Mike Adams – The Health Ranger) and his associated writers appear to be thoroughly determined to “prove” that there is a conspiracy to deliberately poison the US public – en mass – using contaminated public and state drinking water. Quite recently, within the space of a week, Natural News published three separate articles on this general topic, with a fourth article discussing an apparent related Big Pharma pharmaceutical conspiracy. The first of these was authored by Mr Adams and is entitled ” Hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) was just found in 75% of drinking water… the mass chemical suicide of America is under way.” In this article Mr Adams states:

An Environmental Working Group review of government water analysis data reveals that 75% of drinking water in America is contaminated with cancer-causing hexavalent chromium (also known as chromium-6).

The key source for Mr Adams is an article entitled “‘Erin Brockovich’ carcinogen in tap water of more than 200 million Americans” by David Andrews and Bill Walker. The article focuses on hexavalent chromium (i.e. Cr6+) and its level in the public drinking water system. As before, Mr Adams proceeds to link these new claims of chromium VI with his prior work from his ISO 17025 Accredited CWC Laboratory on the supposed heavy metal contamination of US public drinking water with a claimed conspiracy to poison the US public on a large scale. This is clearly illustrated in his statement:

This is on top of our own efforts at EPAwatch.org where my lab tested hundreds of municipal water samples from across the country and found high levels of lead and other heavy metals in 6.7% of samples.

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Posted in: Science and Medicine

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California legislature should repeal naturopathic licensing

california-state-seal
On January 1, 2018, the California Naturopathic Doctors Act will be automatically repealed unless the California Legislature deletes or extends that date during the 2017 legislative session, which convenes on December 5, 2016. In addition, according to California law, the Naturopathic Medicine Committee of the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, which regulates naturopathic doctors (NDs), is subject to review by “appropriate policy committees of the Legislature” in the upcoming session.

The California Legislature should not extend the date of the Naturopathic Practice Act. Currently licensed naturopathic doctors could be allowed to continue their practices under a substantially revised practice act but no new licenses should be issued. Frankly, I do not think naturopaths, whether they claim they are “doctors” or not, should be allowed to practice at all. However, the political realities of getting a bill passed completely doing away with the practice of naturopathy may require some accommodation to currently licensed NDs. (more…)

Posted in: Legal, Naturopathy, Politics and Regulation, Vaccines

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Update on CCSVI and Multiple Sclerosis

Balloon dialatation of a stenosed jugular vein, the "liberation procedure" wrongly promoted as treating multiple sclerosis.

Balloon dilation of a stenosed jugular vein, the “liberation procedure” wrongly promoted as treating multiple sclerosis.

In 2009 CCSVI was proposed by Italian vascular surgeon, Dr. Paolo Zamboni – that multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by chronic blockage of the veins that drain the brain. Since that time we have seen the evolution of a medical pseudoscience. It has been a fascinating case study in how science sorts out what works and what doesn’t, and how patients, believers, and the public react to this information. The story is ongoing and there are some interesting updates.

Background on CCSVI

CCSVI stands for chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency. Zamboni believes that blockages in the veins that drain blood from the brain cause back pressure in the brain, decreasing blood flow and leading to secondary inflammation, and further that this results in the clinical diseases we collectively known as MS. Zamboni’s interest in MS is not random. His wife has MS, and it is interesting that he is a vascular surgeon and found what he believes is a cause of MS that can be treated by vascular surgeons. This does not mean his ideas are wrong, it just means he has a clear bias and his data needs to be looked at carefully and independently replicated.

His initial study found that 100% of the patients he examined with MS had cranial venous blockage. That is also curious. We rarely find 100% correlations in medicine, even for solid theories. It is a huge red flag for systematic bias.

The MS community was appropriately skeptical. While the exact cause of MS remains unknown, we have been studying it for decades and there is a lot we do know. We know, for example, that MS is primarily an autoimmune disease, and the pathology is largely caused by inflammation. We now, in fact, have a long list of effective treatments for some types of MS that suppress the immune system and inflammation. There are still some types, such as chronic progressive MS, that do not respond to the best treatments.

The idea that MS was caused by vascular blockage was therefore a radical idea that flew in the face of existing research. Occasionally, however, radical ideas turn out to be true, and so some MS researchers set out to test Zamboni’s hypothesis.

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Posted in: Neuroscience/Mental Health

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