Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

PARIS, Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Rarecells, Inc. (USA), a leading Liquid Biopsy company, is pleased to announce thatNational Institute of Integrative Medicine's (Melbourne, Australia) researchers obtained striking results in a group of Australian men using the ISET test for early prostate cancer diagnosis through the detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)positive Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC).

The peer-reviewed article published in the journalFrontiers in Oncology (article), shows that the prostate cancer test based on CTC harvested with the ISET technology and identified by the Immuno-Cytochemistry (ICC) PSA marker has an estimated positive-predictive-value (PPV) of 99% and negative-predictive-value (NPV) of 97%, providing a more reliable screening test for prostate cancer than the standard PSA blood test (PPV = 25%; NPV = 15.5%).

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in men worldwide. Due to the limited sensitivity and specificity of the standard PSA test, a relevant proportion, close to 75%, of unnecessary prostate biopsies are performed every year, generating avoidable costs and suffering.

"This new non-invasive test based on ISET technology allows for early detection of prostate cancer more accurately than the standard PSA test. Improving the accuracy of tests for early cancer detection may reduce the burden of unnecessary biopsies," said NIIM Director of Research, and Chief Investigator Associate Professor Karin Ried.

Davide Brechot, Deputy Director and CTO at Rarecells commented: "NIIM's preliminary data obtained with the ISET technology opens the way to a more reliable prostate cancer screening test driving earlier curative interventions while reducing unnecessary, painful and costly prostate biopsies.They add to the body of published evidence of ISET technology's excellence in cancer diagnostics and management"

ISET has been validated by more than 85 independent scientific publications on 3,400 cancer patients and more than 1,200 cancer-free individuals (see http://www.rarecells.com). It demonstrates unparalleled performance for the isolation and characterization of individual CTC and CTC clusters.

About RARECELLS (www.rarecells.com)

Rarecells develops high value, innovative diagnostic tests in the fields of liquid biopsy and early cancer diagnostics. The company is the exclusive licensee of the ISET patent portfolios owned by University of Paris, INSERM and Assistance Publique-Hpitaux de Paris (AP-HP).

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ISET test results show substantial improvement in early detection of prostate cancer by identifying PSA-positive Circulating Tumor Cells - PRNewswire

As someone who struggled with a miserable opiate addiction for 10 years, and who has treated hundreds of people for various addictions, I am increasingly impressed with the ways in which mind-body medicine can be a critical component of recovery from addiction. Mind-body medicine is the use of behavioral and lifestyle interventions, such as meditation, relaxation, yoga, acupuncture, and mindfulness, to holistically address medical problems. Mind-body treatments can be integrated with traditional medical treatments, or used as standalone treatments for certain conditions. Mind-body medicine is now being studied by the National Institutes of Health and effectively used in the treatment of addiction, and it will likely play a role in addiction recovery programs in the future.

Mind-body principles have been around since the start of the recovery movement in 1937, and they are a big part of Alcoholics Anonymous. The 12 Steps of AA feature concepts such as surrender, meditation, gratitude, and letting go all critical components of mind-body medicine. Most 12-step meetings end with the Serenity Prayer: God, grand me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Mutual help groups play a role in recovery for many people, and the principles of mindfulness that are part of these programs in addition to the social support shouldnt be overlooked.

When I was sent to rehab for 90 days by the medical board due to my addiction, we participated in a lot of activities that seemed to be meant to approximate mind-body medicine, but they were haphazard and not particularly scientific, and I dont believe they had the intended effect or were at all therapeutic. For example, we did shrubbery mazes (Id get lost); we sat meditatively in silence (everyone around me chain-smoked, triggering my asthma); we had repeated lectures about letting go and letting God (I still have no idea what this means); wed spend 30 minutes staring at a red square projected onto a screen (this gave me a migraine); and we went to a local acupuncture place where they hooked up extra electric current to the needles to give us extra chi (I felt like I was being cooked for dinner). Given that rehab is a $50 billion industry, I felt this was a lost opportunity to utilize mind-body medicine in a way that wasnt superficial or trivial.

Fortunately, there are now several scientifically-based mind-body medicine options for people in recovery. Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) is a technique that uses meditation as well as cognitive approaches to prevent relapse. It aims to cultivate awareness of cues and triggers so that one doesnt instinctively turn to using drugs. It also helps people get comfortable sitting with unpleasant emotions and thoughts their distress tolerance, a persons ability to tolerate emotional discomfort without automatically escaping by taking a drug. Improving distress tolerance is a common theme to many, if not all, approaches to addiction recovery, as a large part of the appeal of drug use is replacing a bad emotion with a good emotion for example, by using a drug.

Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) is another technique to address addiction in recovery. MORE attempts to use both mindfulness and positive psychology to address the underlying distress that caused the addiction in the first place. There are three main pillars of MORE: it has been proven to help with distress tolerance; cue reactivity (the way people with addiction respond to cues, such as seeing a bottle of prescription drugs, which often trigger cravings); and attentional bias (the way an addicted brain will pay extra, selective attention to certain things, such as a pack of cigarettes when one is quitting smoking).

Mindfulness-Based Addiction Therapy (MBAT) is a technique that uses mindfulness to teach clients how to notice current emotions and sensations, and how to detach themselves from the urge to use drugs. This is called urge surfing, and we practiced it extensively in rehab. The aim is to break the automatic link between feeling uncomfortable, craving drugs, and, without thought or reflection, taking a drug to alleviate that discomfort.

While there is promising research that mind-body treatments for addiction are effective, some of the research is contradictory. According to a meta-analysis in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, mindfulness is a positive intervention for substance use disorders, it has a significant but small effect on reducing substance misuse, a substantial effect on reducing cravings, and, importantly, it is a treatment that has a large effect on reducing levels of stress.

However, not all studies of mind-body medicine for addiction have shown overwhelmingly positive results. Some studies showed that the treatment gains diminish over time. Some randomized controlled trials did not show that mind-body medicine was better than cognitive behavioral therapy in decreasing alcohol and cocaine use, or in abstaining from cigarette use.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health did a thorough review of much of the current literature surrounding mind-body medicine as it applies to addiction treatment, and summarized the impact of certain mind-body treatments as follows:

At this time, we need more and better evidence, and more definitive conclusions, about how helpful, ultimately, mind-body medicine will be in helping to treat addiction in different treatment settings. But a takeaway message is that mindfulness-based treatments are certainly quite effective as adjunct treatments for addiction, in that they can help people with their anxiety, distress tolerance, and cravings, and quite plausibly will turn out to help people put down the drink or the drug, and to avoid relapsing, once they have managed to get themselves into recovery.

If mind-body medicine can significantly reduce stress, then one must ask if it can also help us prevent addiction by helping our society deal with the chronic, overwhelming stress that it is facing. Addiction is in large part considered to be a disease of despair. Important contributors to addiction are untreated anxiety and depression, unresolved childhood trauma, social isolation, and poor distress tolerance. If all of us can learn, or be trained, to be more mindful, grateful, present, and connected, perhaps the need, and eventually the habit, of fulfilling our most basic needs with the false promise of a chemical that merely wears off and leaves us worse off will become less of a problem in our society.

Originally posted here:
Mind-body medicine in addiction recovery - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health

Maui Grown Therapies webinar titled, Cannabis and the Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle is scheduled to take place on November 5. It will be presented by Andrew Weil who is MD, founder, and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and chief science offer for Maui Grown Therapies.

Maui Grown Therapy is Hawaiis first state-licensed medical cannabis dispensary. The timing of the webinar is set at 11:00 (HST) to 2:00 (PST) on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. The webinar will highlight the importance of living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to improve overall health and wellness. It will end with a live Q&A post the online presentation.

Dr. Andrew Weil has always supported the anti-inflammatory lifestyle to live a healthy life. He is globally renowned for his pioneering work in integrative medicine. He earned his undergraduate degree in botany from Harvard and he completed his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. It was in 1969 when Dr. Weil conducted the nations first human trials with the use of cannabis.

The participants of the webinar, Cannabis and the Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle will learn a lot of ways to reduce inflammation and boost the natural defense mechanisms of the body. In addition to this, the value of compounds in cannabis plants such as CBD, THC, and terpenes will also be discussed.

Dr. Weil always endorses the consumption of cannabis seeds to gain healthy fats and essential fatty acids. One can register for the webinar for free by clicking the link below.

Register for the Webinar https://manao.mauigrown.com/maui-grown-manao

Youtube Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz8ryqanQDM

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YOUR GUIDE TO CANNABIS & THE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY LIFESTYLE

Your Guide to Cannabis and an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle by THE MEDIA BUTLER

Address

Maui Grown Therapies44 Paa St, Kahului, HI 96732(808) 866-7576

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Maui Grown Therapies' Webinar, Cannabis and the Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle to be Held on Nov. 5 - California Herald

Viewers Kati Lucas and Kimberly Horton are joining 3News Meteorologist Jason Frazer on a healthy living journey with Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought many challenges, and if it's also taken a toll on your physical and mental health, you're definitely not alone.

That's why 3News is launching a new series "The New You" with Jason Frazer and Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center. And we're inviting two special 3News viewers along for the journey.

Meet Kati Lucas. She's a busy mom of three in her late forties, who also works as a nurse.

"I'm just busy, busy, busy bee running around and dealing with [everything] and then I come last. Then by the time I realize I need to take care of me, I'm dead tired," Kati said.

That's a feeling Kim Horton can relate to. She's in her early sixties, retired for the last few years, but mom to two grown kids and proud grandma to her first grandson. She told us, she's ready to make a change.

"At some point in your life, you got to say it's time out for fear and those things that keep you from moving forward, and maybe this is going to help me move forward."

Kati and Kim both told us the pandemic has brought additional challenges to lifelong struggles with their weight.

"This year's just been challenging on many fronts for me personally and I want to feel better. I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired," said Kati.

These are smart successful women. They're active too. Kim told 3News she's always been athletic.

"I consider myself still an athlete [and] my husband and I play tennis at least two or three times a week," she said.

They also are well aware of the importance of making healthy choices.

"[As a nurse] I understand how obesity can lead to inflammation and inflammation can lead to disease and so forth," said Kati.

Yet, like so many of us, both Kati and Kim have struggled to make a lifestyle change until now. That's where Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Center comes in.

"In the center of integrative and lifestyle medicine we try to address not just physical pain or physical symptoms but also look at emotional health," said Dr. Irina Todorov, Interim Medical Director for the Center of Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine.

Over the next eight weeks, Jason, Kati and Kim will have an opportunity to work with the Center to take a mind, body and spirit approach to healthier living.

"The goal of the program is to learn lifelong habits. The first week may be a nutrition consult, the second week will be massage therapy, the third week will be acupuncture, [for example], she said.

"I'm humble enough to admit that I need help...I saw this as a perfect opportunity to to just get my butt ingear and just reclaim a sense of agency about myself," Kati told us.

"Sometimes doggone it, you got to be selfish," laughed Kim. "And just say this is what I have to do for me."

They're ready to go, and we hope you'll follow along too.

Read the rest here:
'The New You'| Meet Kati and Kim and follow their health journey - WKYC.com

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII; OTCQB: CBIIF) (CB2 or the Company), one of the largest multi-specialty healthcare systems in the United States, is pleased to announce that it has completed the asset acquisition of Tacoma-based medical clinic owned by Dr. Jackson (JMC) in University Place, Washington. The acquisition of JMC expands the Companys bricks and mortar and telemedicine services to 15 States.

JMC has been operating in Washington for over 20 years and has a growing patient base of over 10,000 from its operations. Services to patients include primary care and urgent care. Services provided by JMC are primarily reimbursed through insurance carriers including Medicare, Medicaid and other commercial payors. The Company can expect to leverage the expertise of management and operations across its network of existing clinics to further optimize organic growth activities.

The Company anticipates continued growth in patient registrations and visits as JMC continues to thrive among the challenges most clinics have faced due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the Company will work quickly to expand on the current offering of services by leveraging its existing telemedicine infrastructure to provide access to patients across the state of Washington. The Company will also evaluate the current services offered to determine growth in new and complimentary medical services, add new lines of revenue from insurable services, and expand overall patient care. The Company will also launch its subscription-based telemedicine offering at $199/year designed to support the needs of uninsured American with urgent and acute care needs.

Our goal remains committed to establishing a national network of healthcare clinics to help millions of American gain access to affordable and accessible quality care, said Prad Sekar, CEO, CB2 Insights. With the expansion into Washington by way of acquisition, we welcome the opportunity to leverage our multi-disciplinary model to expand quickly on the services delivered by JMC to include telemedicine, sub-specialty, allied health and other complementary services for current and new patients of the practice.

JMC represents the second acquisition by the Company since its recently announced oversubscribed private placement of CAD 5.13 million in September 2020. The acquisition is also part of a 3-pronged growth model which includes growth from the current infrastructure, new services and acquisitions. The Companys experienced management team continues to develop a robust pipeline of accretive and strategic acquisition targets that are revenue generating, profitable and offer significant opportunities for growth. The Company paid a total cash consideration of CAD 0.37 million for JMC. Terms of the transaction include a customary transition by the previous owners for a period of up to 1 year to ensure successful continuity of care for patients in the practice. JMC reported revenues in 2019 of CAD 0.7 million and net income of CAD 0.1 million.

About CB2 Insights

CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII OTCQB:CBIIF) is a healthcare services and technology company, working to positively impact patient health outcomes. The Companies mission to improve the lives of patients through the prevention and treatment of health conditions and using proprietary technology to monitor, assess, and generate insights to help improve patient outcomes. The Company owns and operates a proprietary virtual telehealth platform, and a network of over 30 medical clinics across 14 states in the US, providing multi disciplinary, primary and urgent care services to over 120,000 patients annually.

The Company has created works primarily to roster and treat patients seeking traditional and alternative treatments due to the ineffectiveness of conventional medicine, inability to find support through their existing care network, or in some cases, inability to access a primary care network. The Company offers both primary care via a traditional insurable services model and a disruptive low-cost subscription based urgent care offering for patients seeking immediate need to a healthcare provider via telehealth.

The Company differentiates itself by being one of the largest integrative medical practices in the US that owns its own proprietary technology, data analytical assets, and clinical research expertise to support new market expansion, market access, data collection and analysis and drug discovery.

The Company operates a proprietary electronic health record platform Sail (Sail) to document, treat, monitor and report on patient health outcomes. Developed in 2015, Sail is used internally across all of the Companys clinical operations. Sail features a robust telemedicine platform that the Company uses to provide care to its National patient base. To support patient care and positive health outcomes, the Company is also focused on advancing safety and efficacy research surrounding alternative health treatments by monitoring and assessing Real-World Data (RWD) and providing Real-World Evidence (RWE) through our proprietary technology, data analytics, and a full service contract research organization.

For more information please visit http://www.cb2insights.com or contact:

Investor RelationsJonathan L. Robinson CFAOak Hill Financialjrobinson@oakhillfinancial.ca416-669-1001

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in CB2s filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the Companys unaudited financial results and projected growth.

Although CB2 has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements todiffer materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are subject to inconsistent legislation and regulation; change in laws; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and recreational-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. CB2 disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and CB2 does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

No securities regulator or exchange has reviewed, approved, disapproved, or accepts responsibility for the content of this news release.

Originally posted here:
CB2 Insights enters Washington with acquisition of Primary Care Medical Clinic with $0.7 million in Revenue and Positive EBITDA - BioSpace

Researchers have long known that many people (mostly women) suffering from anorexia face a high risk of death. But, until now, they didnt know what causes the eating disorder to turn fatal.

In a research letter published in the Oct. 26 edition of Nature Metabolism, Yale researchers describe a specific neuron that appears to play an important role in whether anorexia becomes deadly.

They also discovered a potential treatment: a high-fat diet.

Over the last 25 years, our work has focused on understanding what drives hunger, said author Tamas Horvath, the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine and professor of neuroscience and of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences. We wondered if neurons in the brain which are working at a high level when someone is dieting could be participating in some aspect of the disease.

For the study, the researchers looked at a specific neuron that is active during food restriction, called the hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP), in food-restricted, exercising mice. They found a direct relationship between the workings of the neuron and the animals likelihood of dying. In fact, all animals on a food-restricted, high-exercise diet whose AgRP neurons were inhibited died within 72 hours.

If we diminished these neurons in animals who ate little and exercised compulsively, they died, said Horvath, who is also chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine and director of the Yale Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism.

Lowering levels of these neurons proved fatal, Horvath said, because they are needed to help the body access alternative forms of fuel namely fat in the absence of eating, combined with intense exercise. If these neurons dont function, you are not able to mobilize fuels from fat stores, he said.

But when they provided fatty food to the mice with decreased AgRP activity they found that death [was] completely prevented. This finding could suggest a new tactic for treating anorexia in people, Horvath said. If you are a person dying from anorexia and eat foods containing elevated fat, you may survive, he said.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that affects mainly adolescent girls. Those with the disorder severely restrict their eating, fear gaining weight, and exercise compulsively. Some 20 million women suffer from anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Horvath and other Yale researchers are now extending their research to identify which fats may work best in preventing anorexia from becoming lethal. Many people with this disorder are in the care of medical professionals, and theres an opportunity to bring these findings to the human population, he said.

Other Yale researchers who contributed to the research letter include first author Maria Miletta, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Onur Iyilikci, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Marya Shanabrough, research associate in comparative medicine; Matija Sestan-Pesa, postdoctoral associate in comparative medicine; Caroline Zeiss, professor of comparative medicine; and Marcelo Dietrich, associate professor of comparative medicine and of neuroscience. The work was supported by the Klarman Family Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Read more:
Yale finds neuron behind fatal anorexia, and solution in high-fat diet - Yale News

AUSTIN, Texas Construction workers have a much higher risk of becoming hospitalized with the novel coronavirus than non-construction workers, according to a new study from researchers with The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.

Analyzing data from mid-March to mid-August on hospitalizations in Austin, Texas, the researchers found that construction workers there were five times as likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus as workers in other occupations. The finding closely matches forecasts the team made in April.

The current study is, to the authors knowledge, the first to compare COVID-19 hospitalizations of construction workers to non-construction workers.An earlier study by the CDCreported that the construction sector was ranked number two in frequency of workplace outbreaks in Utah.

According to the researchers, the higher vulnerability for construction workers probably stems from the continuation of construction work throughout the pandemic, even during stay-home orders and other community-wide mitigation measures. The nature of the work exacerbated the risks due to close contact with others, practices by employers and demographic factors.

It doesnt necessarily mean we need to stop construction work, said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a professor of integrative biology and director of the consortium. It means we need to go to great lengths to ensure the health and safety of workers when they do go to work.

Encouraging basic precautions such as mask wearing and physical distancing on the work site would help, the authors note, as would having governments or employers offer workers paid sick leave and other incentives to stay home when they have a known exposure or have mild symptoms, to help mitigate risk. In addition, regular work site-based surveillance COVID-19 testing (with effective tracing and isolation of detected cases) can help prevent spread.

In central Texas, construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic, and many of them are uninsured or in close contact with people who have limited access to health care. Compared with the general population, they also experience more underlying health conditions linked to severe cases of COVID-19, are more likely to have more people in the home and may feel pressured to work even when they dont feel well due to socioeconomic pressures.

In Texas, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Hispanics, who account for about 40% of the states population but 56% of its COVID-19 fatalities, according to the latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

These workers face many overlapping risks and are being exposed at a time when less vulnerable populations are able to stay home, Meyers said.

Across the U.S., construction workers are disproportionately Hispanic: 17.6% of all workers are Hispanic or Latino, yet 30% of construction workers are Hispanic or Latino, according to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The studys other authors are Remy Pasco, graduate student in the Meyers lab; Spencer Fox, the consortiums associate director; Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School and vice president of medical affairs at UT Austin; and Michael Pignone, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and interim chair of the Department of Population Health at Dell Med.

The results are published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, a subsidiary of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In their earlier study delivered in the spring, at the request of the City of Austin, the team analyzed the risks of allowing construction work to continue during the pandemic. (On March 31, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared all construction essential and permissible statewide, overriding earlier local restrictions.) At the time, the team projected that construction workers would have a 4 to 5 times higher rate of hospitalization than non-construction workers a prediction the new paper bears out.

From mid-March to mid-August, the elevated risk of COVID hospitalization among construction workers matched our model predictions almost to a T, Pasco said. The rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations among construction workers suggest that the virus has been spreading at work sites, and more should be done to protect the health and safety of the workers.

Their model also predicted that continued construction work would increase the rates of hospitalizations among the general public because of increased transmission from construction workers, but with current levels of contact tracing, that is much harder to measure and validate, Meyers noted.

This study was supported, in part, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

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Curbing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Requires Attention to Construction Workers - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

You might have missed it, but last week the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that his government was recommending vitamin D supplements as a protective measure against the coronavirus.

But most of the attention focused on Mr Hancocks stumbling around on the issue. One moment he dismissed vitamin Ds usefulness, saying there was no good evidence as to its efficacy.

The next he was touting it as a must-take prophylactic because the evidence was pretty good, after all.

Theres certainly been a fair bit of faffing about on the issue.

A letter published three weeks ago in the British Medical Journal from an Australian doctor tells the story; more than 30 studies have demonstrated that having optimal blood levels of (vitamin D) reduces COVID-19 risks: reduced risk of infection; reduced risk of severe disease; reduced risk of dying.

The doctor, Peter J Lewis, a NSW GP with a special interest in integrative medicine, noted that Many researchers now regard the evidence as overwhelming.

Despite this, there still will be those who say that we need more research, but in the meantime, there is little to be lost and a huge amount to gain by recommending a decent daily dose of vitamin D3 for children and adults.

A comment piece published in Lancet in August made the same point while laying out the long history of vitamin Ds perceived potential as a treatment for respiratory illness. It goes back nearly 90 years.

In a study based at the Hospital Universitario Marqus de Valdecilla, 216 COVID-19 patients had their vitamin D levels measured. More than 80 per cent were found to have a vitamin D deficiency.

On average, men had lower vitamin D levels than women.

OK, one might argue, in the age of sunlight-phobia, that plenty of people are vitamin D deficient. Wheres the comparison with the broader population?

There wasnt one but, the doctors found that the patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer.

Inflammation being the destructive hallmark of COVID-19, manifesting itself from the tip of the toes, to the lining of the blood vessels, the lungs and deep inside the brain.

Study co-author Dr Jos L. Hernndez, of the University of Cantabria, observed: Vitamin D is a hormone the kidneys produce that controls blood calcium concentration and impacts the immune system.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a variety of health concerns, although research is still under way into why the hormone impacts other systems of the body. Many studies point to the beneficial effect of vitamin D on the immune system, especially regarding protection against infections.

He concludes:Vitamin D treatment should be recommended in COVID-19 patients with low levels of vitamin D circulating in the blood since this approach might have beneficial effects in both the musculoskeletal and the immune system.

He notes that supplements are especially important for high-risk individuals such as the elderly, patients with comorbidities, and nursing home residents, who are the main target population for the COVID-19.

For a technical explanation as to why vitamin D might work against COVID-19, see here.

Excerpt from:
Sunshine, salmon and a Spanish study: How Vitamin D affects the coronavirus - The New Daily

Melissa Young, MD, is a specialist in integrative medicine at the renowned Cleveland Clinic in the USA. In a recent article at the clinic, the migraine expert explains what people with chronic migraine can do to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks without having to take medication for it.

Migraine sufferers are often struck by a debilitating pain that often forces them to retreat to a dark room and wait for the pain to subside. A specialist will present non-drug options to reduce the frequency and intensity of these attacks.

To escape the pain, migraine sufferers often resort to painkillers such as ibuprofen or prescription drugs. However, according to Dr. Young, this is not always necessary, because there are also natural and drug-free ways to combat migraine headaches. We have to consider nutrition, nutrient supply, sleep, fluid intake and stress, all of which are common triggers for migraines, the doctor explains. The following tips can help cushion the effects of migraines.

According to Dr. Young, the consumption of several small meals throughout the day helps to keep the blood sugar level stable. A stable blood sugar level in turn leads to fewer migraine attacks. With the kind of the nutrition one can orient oneself at the concept of the Mediterranean diet, which has a high portion of fruit, vegetable, beans, lean protein and healthy fats (e.g. from wild salmon, nuts, seeds and olive oil).

Pay attention to the triggers

Certain ingredients that are ingested through the diet are frequent triggers of migraine attacks. For example, caffeine or fried foods are possible triggers for many of those affected. Dr. Young recommends that it is always important to understand what was eaten on the day when a seizure occurs: Watch out for reactions to ripened cheese, chocolate, alcohol and fermented or pickled foods. Experience shows that the following ingredients are often involved:

There seems to be a connection between mitochondrial energy production in your cells and migraine, stresses Dr. Young. In migraines, he says, it is particularly important to consume the right amounts of coenzyme Q10, vitamin B2 and magnesium. Anyone who frequently suffers from migraine attacks should have a doctor check whether a nutrient deficiency exists.

In addition, chiropractic and acupuncture measures as well as massages also have a soothing effect on some migraine sufferers, according to the expert. Further tips can be found in the article: Natural household remedies for headaches. (vb)

Getting a grip on migraine attacks without drugs

Stress in everyday life is also a common trigger for tension headaches. Lifestyle changes and targeted stress management can reduce the number and severity of migraine attacks. I teach my patients meditation, including mindfulness and mantra meditation, says Dr. Young. Diaphragmatic breathing and the so-called 4-7-8 breathing technique are also effective ways to reduce stress.

Herbal therapies, for example with butterbur and feverfew, can also help prevent migraines, Dr. Young recommends. Butterbur can also help with seasonal allergy symptoms. Feverfew dilates the blood vessels and can thus help to prevent migraine attacks.

WashingtonNewsday Health and Wellness.

The rest is here:
Relieve migraine headaches without medication. - The Washington Newsday

A recent study at a local high school found that teenagers just needed a little something added to their vegetables to make them more appetizing.

Want kids to eat more vegetables? Try spicing them up.

Christopher DAdamo, PhD, Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said a recent study at a local high school found that teenagers just needed a little something added to them.

We found that by simply adding spices and herbs to the vegetables in the National School Lunch Program offerings at Cristo Rey Jesuit [High School in Baltimore, Maryland], we were able to increase vegetable intake in a demographic that has been very challenging to do so, said DAdamo said.

On days when veggies were sprinkled with spices, teenagers ate 18.2% more compared to days when vegetables only were prepared with salt and oil.

DAdamo believes you can achieve the same results at home.

We did a whole bunch of sensory testing with flavor and aroma and sight and so on, and came up with some recipes, DAdamo said.

The spices and herbs were added to vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and green beans.

We used readily-available spices and herbs in this study things like black pepper, red pepper, ginger, cinnamon. Dill was a popular one, he said.

Frozen vegetables used in the study were steamed or sauted also with ingredients such as onion and garlic powders.

More people have access to frozen vegetables than they would fresh in a lot of the underserved communities where we work, he said.

According to the study, Black teens living in economically-underserved urban areas eat vegetables at levels far below recommendations. A goal of the study was to try to figure out how to change that.

DAdamo is optimistic about the studys findings because of the potential for broad public health impact.

The study was done on behalf of the National school lunch program that serves 30 million students each school day. Thats about five billion meals per year with a $13 billion annual budget.

Its been noted that vegetables have been getting thrown away in many instances, DAdamo said. And were helping the vegetables get consumed as opposed to getting thrown away so were very excited.

While DAdamo said getting kids to eat more vegetables could play a small but significant role in helping to prevent obesity and other diet-related health conditions, he notes that spices and herbs have been shown to help adults improve their diets too.

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Getting kids to clean their plates by jazzing up frozen vegetables - WTOP