alternative medicine
terrasig | February 12, 2008There are responsible ways to present medical information and irresponsible ways. I will say at the outset that I have no ethical issues with discussing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with cancer patients, as long as the information presented is based in fact.
So it was no surprise to me and actually quite alarming to read a recent report suggesting that while only 1 in 20 breast cancer websites offer incorrect information, CAM-focused websites were 15 times more likely to contain inaccurate or incorrect information. The study to which I refer will appear in the 15 March issue…
terrasig | January 28, 2008If you read nothing else: Men with prostate cancer should avoid any dietary supplement containing testosterone (or anything that sounds like it) or that offers claims of increased virility, sexual performance, or increased muscle mass.
Consumption of a herbal/hormone dietary supplement has been linked to two cases of aggressive prostate cancer as reported in a paper in the 15 January issue of Clinical Cancer Research (abstract free; full paper paywalled) . The observations and follow-up studies were conducted by urologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Baylor…
terrasig | January 24, 2008This just in from NIH tonight - the new director is a serious, well-credentialed physician-scientist and administrator. What will this mean for NCCAM and the funding process for alternative medicine-related projects? Discuss amongst yourselves:
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has named Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., to be the director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). An accomplished researcher and physician, Dr. Briggs brings a focus on translational research to the study of complementary and alternative medicine (…
terrasig | January 4, 2008I'm very excited to announce to Terra Sig readers the kickoff of a new group blog called Science Based Medicine. Yes, it may sound odd that one would need to preface "Medicine" with the qualifier, "Science-Based," but therein lies the goal of this new resource from its mission statement:
Safe and effective health care is critical to to everyone's quality of life; so much so that it is generally considered a basic human right. The best method for determining which interventions and health products are safe and effective is, without question, good science. Therefore it is in everyone's best…
terrasig | December 5, 2007Yet another example in today's press about dietary supplements contaminated, intentionally or accidentally, with prescription or unapproved drugs - in this case, anabolic steroids showing up in about 20% of supplements tested.
I was asked by a major news organization if this is the first time that anabolic steroids have been found in supplements. Nope, look at this FDA action from March 2004 or March 2006.
Ugggh, this is a very old story that I've discussed here many times, mostly relative to erectile dysfunction supplements:
Potentially life-threatening adulteration of erectile dysfunction…
terrasig | December 5, 2007A former research director for a complementary and alternative medicine program at a major academic medical center has just released a book that I must get my hands on. I just learned about "Snake Oil Science" by R. Barker Bausell from a Jerry Adler article in the current issue of Newsweek (10 Dec 2007).
To set the proper context, med bloggers like Orac, Dr. R.W., Panda Bear, MD, Sid Schwab, and we here at Terra Sig have been increasingly expressing concern about the seemingly uncritical integration of alternative medicine programs into some of North America's most respected medical schools…
revere | October 17, 2007There are over sixty blogs under the Scienceblogs umbrella. There is an impression we are all "progressives" (aka left-leaning) and must agree on matters social and political. While we probably are more to the left than the average (we are reality-based and rational, after all) there is a wide spectrum of views amongst ourselves. While I have no hesitation declaring myself a Person of the Left (whatever that means), I am also a scientist and put a premium on critical thinking and rationality, values I share with other Sciencebloggers. This tends to reduce differences between us. But there…
terrasig | October 12, 2007Here's a quick note that might belong best in Orac's weekly feature, Your Friday Dose of Woo.
The Scientist reports today on a report released by the UK-based group of scientists called Sense About Science. The group has been challenging dietary supplement manufacturers about their scientific-sounding advertising claims by calling the companies up and questioning their "science." Their statement of intent stays away from the fact that companies are making money on these products but, instead, focuses on the two standards for science that seem to operate in our societies:
We are fed up with…
terrasig | September 26, 2007Posting will be light over the next week or so but there is plenty of great science blogging out there to feed your soul.
One of yesterday's more interesting posts, and pertinent to this blog, was by Mark Hoofnagle at denialism blog on the marketing of Head-On®, a homeopathic remedy whose sales are challenging external analgesic rubs that actually contain medicinal agents.
terrasig | May 18, 2007Actually, sharks do get cancer but a 15-year-old book by William Lane led people to think otherwise, launching investigation of shark cartilage as a source of antiangiogenic, anticancer compounds. While there is one promising shark cartilage extract (Neovastat) in clinical trials for multiple myeloma, most oral preparations on health food store shelves aren't stabilized and characterized well-enough to guarantee stability of antiangiogenic compounds.
But it gets worse with this news today from FDA's MedWatch program that illustrates once again the safety problems of some dietary supplements…
terrasig | May 12, 2007Via my colleague, PharmCanuck, comes news of an in-depth radio program on dichloroacetate (DCA) that aired this past Tuesday on CBC's, "The Current." As a reminder to readers who aren't already bored senseless of my discussion of this chemical, DCA is a small molecule freely-available in the public domain that was shown to slow the growth of human lung tumors implanted in rats by researchers at the University of Alberta. I've posted on this issue a number of times and have been well outposted by my surgical oncology blogging colleague, Orac at Respectful Insolence.
(Real Audio segment: 21:…
terrasig | May 11, 2007The practices of Mannatech distributors were the focus of a detailed article in this morning's Wall Street Journal by Suzanne Sataline.
The Issue: Some consumers are using Mannatech nutritional supplements to seek relief from serious medical problems.
The Background: The company's free-lance salespeople sometimes suggest product uses that go well beyond recommendations on their labels.
What's Next: The Texas attorney general is scrutinizing the company, which also faces a class-action lawsuit from shareholders.
Dietary supplements like those sold by Mannatech are, in general, short on science…
terrasig | May 1, 2007A few weeks ago, I commented on the increased action by the US FDA against unapproved drugs that have been used for decades but were never subjected to today's formal framework of preclinical and clinical safety and efficacy trials (most recent action here).
Over the last couple of months, FDA has been creating a bit of anxiety amongst herbal medicine stakeholders over their document entitled, "Guidance for Industry: Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration." (PDF here, html here). The term, CAM product, refers to any of the…
terrasig | April 23, 2007More Canadian press leads me to put up another post on dichloroacetate (DCA), the inhibitor of mitochondrial aerobic glycolysis that is being promoted as a freely-available cancer "cure." Like many compounds tested in animal models of human cancer, DCA treatment reduces the size of human lung tumors grown in rats, but is far from a cure. Any other similar drug would be just one of hundreds jockeying for investment by drug companies large and small and might not even be competitive enough for entry into clinical trials. However, DCA is a bulk chemical that is largely available freely and is…
terrasig | April 6, 2007...my attention was raised to another mitochondrial glycolysis inhibitor being touted for anticancer utility. From a 1 April New York Times Op-Ed by Ralph W. Moss entitled, "Patents Over Patients":
In 2004, Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that an off-the-shelf compound called 3-bromopyruvate could arrest the growth of liver cancer in rats. The results were dramatic; moreover, the investigators estimated that the cost to treat patients would be around 70 cents per day. Yet, three years later, no major drug company has shown interest in developing this drug for human use.
I don't know…
terrasig | January 17, 2007While I wait for my copy of Dan Hurley's book, "Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry," it is interesting to read the media reports on his interviews and the responses from the dietary supplement industry.
While the Natural Products Association has simply responded with a measured, educational piece that does not mention Hurley by name, the Council for Responsible Nutrition was all over the wires today dismissing the book as, "not credible."
Some of the most thoughtful discussion today came from CBS News's Public Eye site and a post by…
terrasig | January 16, 2007Dan Hurley's new book, "Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry," has the industry on the defensive.
Cited by Katie Couric's two-part CBS News series on dietary supplements and excerpted today in the New York Times, Hurley seems to have created a buzz reminiscent of Marcia Angell's similar indictment of the prescription pharmaceutical industry.
Hurley's book is already #953 on Amazon and had been picking up heat from supplement advocate bloggers since before it was even released on 26 December.
Unfortunately, I was not privy to the…
terrasig | December 14, 2006Following from my previous post about the JCO paper on the medical ethics of managing pediatric cancer cases where parents refuse standard-of-care therapies, I wanted to discuss an accompanying review on complementary and alternative therapies for cancer-related pain. Unlike the previous article, this one is subscription-only but I'll provide the highlights.
Cancer-related pain is serious business and is experienced by 75% of cancer patients. Opiates remain the most effective drugs for severe cancer pain, but they are underprescribed due to the convergence of regulatory and liability issues…
terrasig | December 12, 2006I finally just got around to reading the 1 Dec issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and was struck by two, back-to-back articles that address two interesting aspects of alternative medicine in cancer treatment. Mind you, I'm a basic scientist but I find the struggles that oncologists face to be quite interesting in this regard.
First is an article (free full text here) from a feature called, The Art of Oncology: When the Tumor is not the Target. The title alludes to some high-profile legal cases that arose over the summer, but does not discuss specifically the Cherrix case:
Do…
terrasig | December 3, 2006Yesterday, Revere (Effect Measure) threw down the gauntlet challenging those critical of alternative medicine to examine work done at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2000 on the medicinal properties of chicken soup.
The news release cites work that a chicken/vegetable soup, but not simple chicken broth, inhibits in vitro neutrophil migration, or chemotaxis. Inhibiting the migration of this class of white blood cells might reduce the nasopharyngeal symptoms of the common cold, thereby providing some evidence that grandma's chicken soup might very well help one feel better during…