newsletter 4

*   newspaper clippings
*   open house
*   energy medicine workshop
*   Archives
* what's new in my "practice".

Again, the bulk of this newsletter is made up of items I seen in the press, related to health, that you might have missed, that might be of interest. It's also an opertunity for me to tell you about my open house on Thurs. from 3 to 6 pm,
and to mention the upcoming energy medicine workshops.

* * *

Newspaper clippings

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome resists placebo treatments.
New York Times, 29 Mar. 2005

Patients with Chronic fatigue Syndrome (CFS) "respond at a lower rate to placebo than patients with other diseases," according to a paper published in the March?April issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
"...Placebos relieve the symptoms for about 30% of patients suffering from a wide variety of illnesses. Migraine headaches, for example, respond at a rate of about 29% to placebo, major depression at about 30%, and reflux esophagitis at about 26%. ... 36 to 44% of patients with duodenal ulcers improve on placebos..."
but "...with CFS, only 19.6% respond to placebo.

With reference to CFS: "in addition to general fatigue, patients complain of muscle and joint pain, headaches, memory impairment and mood disturbances."

With reference to placebos: The earliest experimental studies of placebo, back in the 1950s, showed a 70% improvement with sham surgery! This gives rise to the speculation that the efficacy of placebos correlates with the investment vested in the treatment. Surgery commands the largest investment and has the greatest placebo effect. The orthodocs are often claiming that alternative medicines are placebo effects. If only the alternative medicines could command the same placebo effects as orthodox procedures!

* * *

" 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country"
New York Times, 29 Mar. 2005

"... In just over a decade ... the prevalence of diabetes nearly doubled in the American adult population: to 8.7% in 2002, from 4.9% in 1990..."
   "An estimated 18.2 million Americans now have diabetes, 90% of them the "environmentally influenced type" that used to be called "adult on-set" diabetes. But adults are no longer the only victims - a trend that prompted an official change in name in 1997 to Type 2 diabetes."
   The cause of the "epidemic" is "...being overweight or obese, especially with" abdominal fat.
   ..."Unless we change our eating and exercise habits ... more than one-third of whites, two-fifths of black and half of Hispanic (and Native Americans) in this country will develop diabetes."
   "Two recent clinical trials showed that Type 2 diabetes could be prevented by changes in diet and exercise." Walking two and a half hours a week reduced the incidence of diabetes 58%!

Abdominal fat is "highly active", putting out hormones like estrogen, increasing "insulin resistance", leading to increased production of insulin, lading to more fat accumulation, leading to exhaustion of the system and diabetes.

* * *

Children's Life Expectancy Being Cut Short by Obesity
New York Times, 17 March 2005

For the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children in America may have shorter life expectancies than their parents ... the rapid rise in childhood obesity, if left unchecked, could shorten life spans by as much as five years.
The report, ... in the New England Journal of Medicine, says the prevalence and severity of obesity is so great, especially in children, that the associated diseases and complications - Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, cancer - are likely to strike people at younger and younger ages.
...The report says the average life expectancy of today's adults, roughly 77 years, is at least four to nine months shorter than it would be if there were no obesity. That means that obesity is already shortening average life spans by a greater rate than accidents, homicides and suicides combined...

* * *

"Older, fitter, wiser
Study links exercise to mental health in seniors"

Aerobic exercise isn't just good for the heart. It's also good for the brain.
      A group of once-sedenary seniors, who were put on a six-month walking program, saw improvements to their memory and attention at a time when cognitive function is usually on the decline, a Toronto conference heard yesterday.
     There was an increase in brain volume ... and in connections between nerve cells.
      ... The study involved 60 seniors, aged 60 to 80, with one group beginning a walking program of 15 minutes, three days a week. The seniors gradually increased speed and duration until they were walking an hour to 90 minutes ... several days a week.
     ... The control group in the study did toning and stretching exercises and did not see the same changes to their brain structure and function, although there were benefits in their health..."

Attributed to Prof. Kramer of the University of Illinois.
in the Toronto Sun, March 22nd 2005

* * *

Vitamin E supplements may be 'detrimental' to you heart.
Globe and Mail, 16 March 2005.

Here I get to see by tendency to bias. I was very reluctant to include this item.

In a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Greg Brown said that in "nearly 68,000 patients studied to date, there is no compelling evidence that higher doses of vitamin E can reduce cardiovascular risk or cancer. There are even some hints that vitamin E, in excess of normal daily intake, may even slightly increase the risk of ischemic events (heart attacks) or of heart failure."
... Unrelated research involving nearly 40,000 healthy women that was released last week (where?) also showed no heart benefits from vitamin E pills. In fact, women in that study who were taking vitamin E had a slightly higher death rate.
... Dr. Lonn's advice to those who pop vitamin E supplements daily is blunt: "Stop taking them. Throw them in the garbage." (But contrast that to the medical reaction to the discover that hormone replacement therapy increase heart disease and cancer, or that Vioox increases heart disease. "It's to early to say." "Consult your doctor." "Let's not be hasty." And there's my bias again...)

* * *

Common plastic may not be safe. Toronto Star 14th April 2005

Bisphenol A, or BPA is the main chemical compound used to make hard clear plastic known as polycarbonate, one of the world's most widely used industrial materials. Some 2.7 billion kilograms of it is produced annually, and it is used in a range of products, from CDs, helmets and computers o eyeglass lenses, food containers and the popular Nalgene water bottles.

In a report published online today in Environmental Health Perspectives, of 115 studies on BPA over the past two years, 94 showed it caused serious harmful effects in lab animals by disrupting hormones vital to reproductive development.

... in "human tissue and blood ... nearly everybody's body has measurable amounts of BPA."

BPA mimics estrogen. "When you expose a pregnant female animal ... her babies when they grow up ... (have) structural brain damage ... (and) eventually begin to show learning difficulties, hyperactivity and abnormal levels of aggression..."

* * *

Child's Asthma Linked To Grandmother's Habit.
New York Times, 12th April 2005

A child whose grandmother smoked during pregnancy may have almost twice the risk of developing asthma...

Its thought that this might be mediated through the mitochondrial DNA.

* * *

Study Cautions Runners To Limit Intake of Water
New York Times 14 April 2005

"After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk.
An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by crinkling too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill or even dying..."

A study in The New England Journal of Medicine of participants in the Boston Marathon found that 13% drank so much that they had hyponatremia, abnormally low blood sodium levels.
During intense exercise the kidneys cannot excrete excess water and, if one drinks large quantities of fluid, the blood dilutes, water is pulled in to cells, including brain cells, which swell. They brain stem can become compressed affecting vital functions, like breathing.

"Doctors and sports drink companies "made dehydration a medical illness that was to be fears," said Dr. Tim Noakes, a hyponatremia expert at the University of Cape Town.
"Everyone becomes dehydrated when they race," Dr. Noakes said. "But I have not found one death in an athlete from dehydration in a competitive race in the whole history of running. Not one. Not even a case of illness."

* * *

cytokines and mood

Cytokines are hormone like substances produced by white blood cells to communicate with each other. It now seems that cytokines, when used pharmacologically, cause "depression". They probably function, during illness, to depress activity in mammals, so that we rest.

Cytokines are small proteins, secreted by white blood cells, which mediate and regulate immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis (the production of blood cells).

Depression is a common, disturbing concomitant of physical disease. Several lines of evidence suggest that during various medical conditions the release of cytokines, particularly within the brain, contribute to the symptomatology and etiology of depression:

Chronic treatment with cytokines is associated with the development of mood and cognitive changes that suggests frontal-subcortical cerebral dysfunction.

* * *

Dr. Norman Allan's

Energy Workshop

Monday, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
by donation
April 25th, May 2nd, 9th

"Energy" is mysterious
(like spirit).
Few can see it.
Many can sense it.
All of us can use it
and can use healing.
The rules are simple…

2 College Street, suite 305

416 928 9272

www.normanallan.com

* * *

Archives:

Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, March/April 2005: an essay on immune tonics published in "Healthy Directions" - and snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest.

Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, February 2005: snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest - and a discussion of "C Reactive Protein" as an indicator of risk for heart disease.

Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, January 2005: snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest.

* * *

What's new in my "practice":-

Office Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Open House
Thursdays, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Dr. Allan is available on Thursday afternoons to answer questions and to demonstrate techniques.

Treatments are available during these times on a donation basis.

As of December first 2004 chiropractic was "delisted". Provincial health insurance no longer pays us the pittance it used to ($9.65 per visit up to $150 per year), so I'm biting the bullet and will not raise my fees at this time.

We still offer acupuncture, chiropractic, counseling, craniosacral therapy, herbs, homeopathy, trigenics... at the same cost to patients ($30 for 15 minutes, $120 per hour: brief chiropractic sessions - 5 minutes, simple adjustments - $15)

visit Dr. Allan's home page at
www.normanallan.com

	* newspaper clippings * open house * energy medicine workshop * Archives * what's new in my "practice".
	Again, the bulk of this newsletter is made up of items I seen in the press, related to health, that you might have missed, that might be of interest. It's also an opertunity for me to tell you about my open house on Thurs. from 3 to 6 pm, and to mention the upcoming energy medicine workshops.
	* * * Newspaper clippings
	Chronic Fatigue Syndrome resists placebo treatments. New York Times, 29 Mar. 2005 Patients with Chronic fatigue Syndrome (CFS) "respond at a lower rate to placebo than patients with other diseases," according to a paper published in the March?April issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. "...Placebos relieve the symptoms for about 30% of patients suffering from a wide variety of illnesses. Migraine headaches, for example, respond at a rate of about 29% to placebo, major depression at about 30%, and reflux esophagitis at about 26%. ... 36 to 44% of patients with duodenal ulcers improve on placebos..." but "...with CFS, only 19.6% respond to placebo. With reference to CFS: "in addition to general fatigue, patients complain of muscle and joint pain, headaches, memory impairment and mood disturbances." With reference to placebos: The earliest experimental studies of placebo, back in the 1950s, showed a 70% improvement with sham surgery! This gives rise to the speculation that the efficacy of placebos correlates with the investment vested in the treatment. Surgery commands the largest investment and has the greatest placebo effect. The orthodocs are often claiming that alternative medicines are placebo effects. If only the alternative medicines could command the same placebo effects as orthodox procedures!
	* * *
	" 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country" New York Times, 29 Mar. 2005 "... In just over a decade ... the prevalence of diabetes nearly doubled in the American adult population: to 8.7% in 2002, from 4.9% in 1990..." "An estimated 18.2 million Americans now have diabetes, 90% of them the "environmentally influenced type" that used to be called "adult on-set" diabetes. But adults are no longer the only victims - a trend that prompted an official change in name in 1997 to Type 2 diabetes." The cause of the "epidemic" is "...being overweight or obese, especially with" abdominal fat. ..."Unless we change our eating and exercise habits ... more than one-third of whites, two-fifths of black and half of Hispanic (and Native Americans) in this country will develop diabetes." "Two recent clinical trials showed that Type 2 diabetes could be prevented by changes in diet and exercise." Walking two and a half hours a week reduced the incidence of diabetes 58%! Abdominal fat is "highly active", putting out hormones like estrogen, increasing "insulin resistance", leading to increased production of insulin, lading to more fat accumulation, leading to exhaustion of the system and diabetes.
	* * *
	Children's Life Expectancy Being Cut Short by Obesity New York Times, 17 March 2005 For the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children in America may have shorter life expectancies than their parents ... the rapid rise in childhood obesity, if left unchecked, could shorten life spans by as much as five years. The report, ... in the New England Journal of Medicine, says the prevalence and severity of obesity is so great, especially in children, that the associated diseases and complications - Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, cancer - are likely to strike people at younger and younger ages. ...The report says the average life expectancy of today's adults, roughly 77 years, is at least four to nine months shorter than it would be if there were no obesity. That means that obesity is already shortening average life spans by a greater rate than accidents, homicides and suicides combined...
	* * *
	"Older, fitter, wiser Study links exercise to mental health in seniors" Aerobic exercise isn't just good for the heart. It's also good for the brain. A group of once-sedenary seniors, who were put on a six-month walking program, saw improvements to their memory and attention at a time when cognitive function is usually on the decline, a Toronto conference heard yesterday. There was an increase in brain volume ... and in connections between nerve cells. ... The study involved 60 seniors, aged 60 to 80, with one group beginning a walking program of 15 minutes, three days a week. The seniors gradually increased speed and duration until they were walking an hour to 90 minutes ... several days a week. ... The control group in the study did toning and stretching exercises and did not see the same changes to their brain structure and function, although there were benefits in their health..." Attributed to Prof. Kramer of the University of Illinois. in the Toronto Sun, March 22nd 2005
	* * *
	Vitamin E supplements may be 'detrimental' to you heart. Globe and Mail, 16 March 2005. Here I get to see by tendency to bias. I was very reluctant to include this item. In a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Greg Brown said that in "nearly 68,000 patients studied to date, there is no compelling evidence that higher doses of vitamin E can reduce cardiovascular risk or cancer. There are even some hints that vitamin E, in excess of normal daily intake, may even slightly increase the risk of ischemic events (heart attacks) or of heart failure." ... Unrelated research involving nearly 40,000 healthy women that was released last week (where?) also showed no heart benefits from vitamin E pills. In fact, women in that study who were taking vitamin E had a slightly higher death rate. ... Dr. Lonn's advice to those who pop vitamin E supplements daily is blunt: "Stop taking them. Throw them in the garbage." (But contrast that to the medical reaction to the discover that hormone replacement therapy increase heart disease and cancer, or that Vioox increases heart disease. "It's to early to say." "Consult your doctor." "Let's not be hasty." And there's my bias again...)
	* * *
	Common plastic may not be safe. Toronto Star 14th April 2005 Bisphenol A, or BPA is the main chemical compound used to make hard clear plastic known as polycarbonate, one of the world's most widely used industrial materials. Some 2.7 billion kilograms of it is produced annually, and it is used in a range of products, from CDs, helmets and computers o eyeglass lenses, food containers and the popular Nalgene water bottles. In a report published online today in Environmental Health Perspectives, of 115 studies on BPA over the past two years, 94 showed it caused serious harmful effects in lab animals by disrupting hormones vital to reproductive development. ... in "human tissue and blood ... nearly everybody's body has measurable amounts of BPA." BPA mimics estrogen. "When you expose a pregnant female animal ... her babies when they grow up ... (have) structural brain damage ... (and) eventually begin to show learning difficulties, hyperactivity and abnormal levels of aggression..."
	* * *
	Child's Asthma Linked To Grandmother's Habit. New York Times, 12th April 2005 A child whose grandmother smoked during pregnancy may have almost twice the risk of developing asthma... Its thought that this might be mediated through the mitochondrial DNA.
	* * *
	Study Cautions Runners To Limit Intake of Water New York Times 14 April 2005 "After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk. An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by crinkling too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill or even dying..." A study in The New England Journal of Medicine of participants in the Boston Marathon found that 13% drank so much that they had hyponatremia, abnormally low blood sodium levels. During intense exercise the kidneys cannot excrete excess water and, if one drinks large quantities of fluid, the blood dilutes, water is pulled in to cells, including brain cells, which swell. They brain stem can become compressed affecting vital functions, like breathing. "Doctors and sports drink companies "made dehydration a medical illness that was to be fears," said Dr. Tim Noakes, a hyponatremia expert at the University of Cape Town. "Everyone becomes dehydrated when they race," Dr. Noakes said. "But I have not found one death in an athlete from dehydration in a competitive race in the whole history of running. Not one. Not even a case of illness."
	* * *

	* * *
	cytokines and mood Cytokines are hormone like substances produced by white blood cells to communicate with each other. It now seems that cytokines, when used pharmacologically, cause "depression". They probably function, during illness, to depress activity in mammals, so that we rest. Cytokines are small proteins, secreted by white blood cells, which mediate and regulate immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis (the production of blood cells). Depression is a common, disturbing concomitant of physical disease. Several lines of evidence suggest that during various medical conditions the release of cytokines, particularly within the brain, contribute to the symptomatology and etiology of depression: Chronic treatment with cytokines is associated with the development of mood and cognitive changes that suggests frontal-subcortical cerebral dysfunction.
	* * *

	* * *
	Dr. Norman Allan's Energy Workshop Monday, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. by donation April 25th, May 2nd, 9th "Energy" is mysterious (like spirit). Few can see it. Many can sense it. All of us can use it and can use healing. The rules are simple… 2 College Street, suite 305 416 928 9272 www.normanallan.com
	* * *
	Archives: Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, March/April 2005: an essay on immune tonics published in "Healthy Directions" - and snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest. Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, February 2005: snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest - and a discussion of "C Reactive Protein" as an indicator of risk for heart disease. Dr. Norman Allan's Newsletter, January 2005: snippets from newspapers, various, which I hope are of interest.
	* * *
	What's new in my "practice":-
	Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Open House Thursdays, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Dr. Allan is available on Thursday afternoons to answer questions and to demonstrate techniques. Treatments are available during these times on a donation basis.
	As of December first 2004 chiropractic was "delisted". Provincial health insurance no longer pays us the pittance it used to ($9.65 per visit up to $150 per year), so I'm biting the bullet and will not raise my fees at this time. We still offer acupuncture, chiropractic, counseling, craniosacral therapy, herbs, homeopathy, trigenics... at the same cost to patients ($30 for 15 minutes, $120 per hour: brief chiropractic sessions - 5 minutes, simple adjustments - $15)
	visit Dr. Allan's home page at www.normanallan.com

* newspaper clippings * open house * energy medicine workshop * Archives * what's new in my "practice".

* newspaper clippings
* open house
* energy medicine workshop
* Archives
* what's new in my "practice".