Natural Medicine is Based on Science, Too!
Newsweek Gratuitously Targets CAM
I strongly agree with Jerry Adler in his editorial in this week's Newsweek Magazine that we should make health care decisions based on evidence. In fact, my whole career in the past 35 years has been to advance science-based natural medicine. Science does not belong to any one profession; it is a way of looking at the world to achieve reproducible results and maximize efficacy and safety. Unfortunately, Mr. Alder appears to have an anti-CAM rather than a pro-science agenda.
While he gleefully (and appropriately) gives examples of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapy failures and unsubstantiated and outlandish claims, he ignores equally egregious examples of prescription drug failures, adverse drug reactions and intentional fraud found in conventional medicine. Why does he conveniently ignore the several articles the past year in the medical journals he so trusts that have documented numerous examples of research faked to make drug intervention trials look better and conscious efforts by pharmaceutical companies to avoid reporting adverse events?
Only a single example, the Vioxx tragedy, is estimated to have caused as many as 100,000 excess deaths. This single, properly prescribed and supposedly well-researched drug has, in my opinion, caused far more serious harm by several orders of magnitude than all CAM errors, contaminated or misadvertised products, and adverse events combined. As Mr. Alder so conveniently ignores, several state attorney generals have now sued Merck for intentional consumer fraud. And they are winning.
I don't want to appear to justify CAM failures by pointing out conventional medicine failures - neither is acceptable. As I tell my students and include in my many lectures; "We do research not to prove what we do works, but rather to get better." I am a "true believer" in the natural medicine approach to health. However, that does not mean that everything we believe is correct or that every therapy is safe and effective. The only way to know is to do objective research.
Happily, there are now hundreds of thousands of good quality studies published in peer reviewed journals evaluating CAM therapies. While most show efficacy and safety, some do not. Knowing the difference is how we get better. I could give so many examples. Let's look at just a few recent studies:
The list is endless.
Mr. Adler's diatribe does a disservice to the over one hundred thousand CAM researchers and clinicians conscientiously studying this medicine and providing health care and the approximately half the population of the US who seek health care from state-licensed CAM professionals and use CAM products.
In this blog, we will continue our commitment to providing our understanding of the best research available. This means considering both negative and positive results.
References
Chow HH, Hakim IA, Vining DR, et al. Modulation of human glutathione s-transferases by polyphenon e intervention. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Aug;16(8):1662-6.
McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, Crumpler D, Dalen L, Grimshaw K, Kitchin E, Lok K, Porteous L, Prince E, Sonuga-Barke E, Warner JO, Stevenson J. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007 Sep 5; [Epub ahead of print]
Pruthi S, Thompson SL, Novotny PJ, Barton DL, Kottschade LA, Tan AD, Sloan JA, Loprinzi CL. Pilot evaluation of flaxseed for the management of hot flashes. J Soc Integr Oncol. 2007 Summer;5(3):106-12
Kirsh VA, Peters U, Mayne ST, Subar AF, Chatterjee N, Johnson CC, Hayes RB; Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Prospective study of fruit and vegetable intake and risk of prostate cancer: J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007 Aug 1;99(15):1200-9. Epub 2007 Jul 24.
Masala G, Ceroti M, Pala V, et al. A dietary pattern rich in olive oil and raw vegetables is associated with lower mortality in Italian elderly subjects. Br J Nutr. 2007 Aug;98(2):406-15. Epub 2007 Apr 3.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, integrative medicine, health and wellness
I strongly agree with Jerry Adler in his editorial in this week's Newsweek Magazine that we should make health care decisions based on evidence. In fact, my whole career in the past 35 years has been to advance science-based natural medicine. Science does not belong to any one profession; it is a way of looking at the world to achieve reproducible results and maximize efficacy and safety. Unfortunately, Mr. Alder appears to have an anti-CAM rather than a pro-science agenda.
While he gleefully (and appropriately) gives examples of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapy failures and unsubstantiated and outlandish claims, he ignores equally egregious examples of prescription drug failures, adverse drug reactions and intentional fraud found in conventional medicine. Why does he conveniently ignore the several articles the past year in the medical journals he so trusts that have documented numerous examples of research faked to make drug intervention trials look better and conscious efforts by pharmaceutical companies to avoid reporting adverse events?
Only a single example, the Vioxx tragedy, is estimated to have caused as many as 100,000 excess deaths. This single, properly prescribed and supposedly well-researched drug has, in my opinion, caused far more serious harm by several orders of magnitude than all CAM errors, contaminated or misadvertised products, and adverse events combined. As Mr. Alder so conveniently ignores, several state attorney generals have now sued Merck for intentional consumer fraud. And they are winning.
I don't want to appear to justify CAM failures by pointing out conventional medicine failures - neither is acceptable. As I tell my students and include in my many lectures; "We do research not to prove what we do works, but rather to get better." I am a "true believer" in the natural medicine approach to health. However, that does not mean that everything we believe is correct or that every therapy is safe and effective. The only way to know is to do objective research.
Happily, there are now hundreds of thousands of good quality studies published in peer reviewed journals evaluating CAM therapies. While most show efficacy and safety, some do not. Knowing the difference is how we get better. I could give so many examples. Let's look at just a few recent studies:
- A study of 42 healthy volunteers found that green tea phytonutrients increase activity of the enzymes that detoxify carcinogens.
- A placebo-controlled study of 297 children found that giving them drinks containing FDA-approved food colors resulted in hyperactive behavior.
- A study of 29 postmenopausal women who had suffered from at least 14 hot flushes each week experienced a 50% reduction in symptoms after consuming 1.4 ounces of crushed flax seeds per day.
- A study of 29,361 men found that those who ate more than a serving of either broccoli or cauliflower each week almost halved their risk of developing advanced-stage prostate cancer.
- A study of 889 patients found that drinking cranberry juice significantly boosts eradication of Helicobacter pylori (the bacterium responsible for ulcers and many digestive complaints) in women receiving triple therapy with the antibiotics omeprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin (OAC).
- A prospective study of 5,611 adults 60 years or older found that those who most closely followed a Mediterranean style diet decreased their overall mortality rate by 50% after 6 years.
The list is endless.
Mr. Adler's diatribe does a disservice to the over one hundred thousand CAM researchers and clinicians conscientiously studying this medicine and providing health care and the approximately half the population of the US who seek health care from state-licensed CAM professionals and use CAM products.
In this blog, we will continue our commitment to providing our understanding of the best research available. This means considering both negative and positive results.
References
Chow HH, Hakim IA, Vining DR, et al. Modulation of human glutathione s-transferases by polyphenon e intervention. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Aug;16(8):1662-6.
McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, Crumpler D, Dalen L, Grimshaw K, Kitchin E, Lok K, Porteous L, Prince E, Sonuga-Barke E, Warner JO, Stevenson J. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007 Sep 5; [Epub ahead of print]
Pruthi S, Thompson SL, Novotny PJ, Barton DL, Kottschade LA, Tan AD, Sloan JA, Loprinzi CL. Pilot evaluation of flaxseed for the management of hot flashes. J Soc Integr Oncol. 2007 Summer;5(3):106-12
Kirsh VA, Peters U, Mayne ST, Subar AF, Chatterjee N, Johnson CC, Hayes RB; Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Prospective study of fruit and vegetable intake and risk of prostate cancer: J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007 Aug 1;99(15):1200-9. Epub 2007 Jul 24.
Masala G, Ceroti M, Pala V, et al. A dietary pattern rich in olive oil and raw vegetables is associated with lower mortality in Italian elderly subjects. Br J Nutr. 2007 Aug;98(2):406-15. Epub 2007 Apr 3.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: CAM, complementary and alternative medicine, integrative medicine, health and wellness
3 Comments:
mDear Joe,
Thank you for a well thought out blog. I am in full agreement with you, but would like to make the following points. There appear to be two main categories of professionals in our CAM world. Group (a) has completed a proper pre-med and has a solid science foundation before specializing and group (b) that has not had a proper pre-med / science foundation. In numerous instances I have seen CAM articles misrepresent information because the information has not been classified correctly. By this I mean whether the information displayed in a CAM article is an opinion of the author, a hypothesis, anecdotal or has true evidence-base. It is also in my experience that articles such as these have more often been authored by people that fit into group (b).
Therefore in summation with reference to improving our CAM world, all CAM practitioners should have a solid science foundation and in our communication, information should be correctly represented.
Warm regards,
Myron
I fully concur, Myron. One reason I very much dislike the term "alternative medicine" is that it lumps together everyone who is not conventional. However, this is a extremely diverse group ranging from self-proclaimed practitioners with little or no training to those with pre-med and graduation from a several years long, on-campus accredited graduate professional education.
I strongly encourage healh consumers looking for integrative medicine to only utilize those practioners who are licensed by the state, in good standing with their disciplinary boards and who graduated from accredited institutions.
Well said, Joe. You couldn't have said it any better.
You are a great integrator.
In health,
Ben
one of your past students at www.Bastyr.edu
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