Saturday 30 January 2010
Is a Homeopathy Protest the Right Remedy?!
Here's an article well worth reading:
http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/intelligent_optimist/14086/is_a_homeopathy_protest_the_right_remedy
http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/intelligent_optimist/14086/is_a_homeopathy_protest_the_right_remedy
Friday 29 January 2010
Ayurveda, Homeopathy witness impressive growth in India - 400,000 registered homeopaths, and rising!!
While Homeopathy in the UK experiences intensifying high-profile and irrational attacks from "Sceptics" espousing fundamentalist "Science" as their religion, the use of Homeopathy, Naturopathy and Ayurveda climbs rapidly in India.
NEW DELHI: With the rise in health problems under the category of lifestyle diseases, the alternate systems of medicines like Ayurveda, Homeopathy have witnessed impressive growth over the years with time-tested methodologies and marketing techniques.
India's expertise in traditional treatments such as Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Unani are becoming increasingly popular as these have no side effects, according to industry chambers.
"The demand for Ayurvedic medicines has increased in the last five years to more than Rs 3,000 crore, as they have started marketing their products in a better manner and also conducted scientific trials to prove the permanent cure of some diseases" says Anoop Misra, Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Fortis Group of Hospitals.
However, he adds, there is no alternative to Allopathy as far as emergency and cardiac medicines are concerned.
According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people use herbal medicines and in India more than 65 percent people living in the rural areas use Ayurveda and medical plants to meet their primary health care needs.
India has over 75 lakh qualified doctors, who according to Assocham, charge 'reasonable professional fees'.
There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in the country currently, with approximately 13,000 more being added every year.
Amrit Kalsi, Senior Medical Officer, Delhi Government, says, "The demand for Homeopathic and Ayurvedic medicines has increased in the last few years and to cure chronic ailments such as respiratory diseases, fevers, skin diseases, viral infections, asthma and allergic disorders, people are choosing the traditional way of treatment before allopathic."
There were 28 homoeopathic dispensaries in Delhi in 1978 and the number now has gone up to 78. The number of patients taking homeopathic medicines has increased from around 800,000 patients in 1997 to 13,62,174 patients in 2006, she adds.
"Ayurveda is certainly gaining ground. People suffering from acute or chronic ailments, either go for strong pills or Ayurveda. For a disease like cancer, after some of point of time, people lose hope and then go for options like Ayurveda or homeopathy," Misra says.
An industry report say that by 2010, domestic homeopathy market is expected to more than double and touch the Rs 26 billion (Rs 2600 crore) size. It would continue to grow at between 25-30 per cent against 13-15 per cent of pharmaceuticals industry as users of homeopathy are multiplying not only in India but also throughout the world.
"The demand for Ayurvedic medicine has also gradually improved for the rising number of lifestyle diseases like stress, migraine, asthma, obesity. But in cases like surgeries or emergency operations, there is no alternative," says Misra.
NEW DELHI: With the rise in health problems under the category of lifestyle diseases, the alternate systems of medicines like Ayurveda, Homeopathy have witnessed impressive growth over the years with time-tested methodologies and marketing techniques.
India's expertise in traditional treatments such as Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Unani are becoming increasingly popular as these have no side effects, according to industry chambers.
"The demand for Ayurvedic medicines has increased in the last five years to more than Rs 3,000 crore, as they have started marketing their products in a better manner and also conducted scientific trials to prove the permanent cure of some diseases" says Anoop Misra, Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Fortis Group of Hospitals.
However, he adds, there is no alternative to Allopathy as far as emergency and cardiac medicines are concerned.
According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people use herbal medicines and in India more than 65 percent people living in the rural areas use Ayurveda and medical plants to meet their primary health care needs.
India has over 75 lakh qualified doctors, who according to Assocham, charge 'reasonable professional fees'.
There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in the country currently, with approximately 13,000 more being added every year.
Amrit Kalsi, Senior Medical Officer, Delhi Government, says, "The demand for Homeopathic and Ayurvedic medicines has increased in the last few years and to cure chronic ailments such as respiratory diseases, fevers, skin diseases, viral infections, asthma and allergic disorders, people are choosing the traditional way of treatment before allopathic."
There were 28 homoeopathic dispensaries in Delhi in 1978 and the number now has gone up to 78. The number of patients taking homeopathic medicines has increased from around 800,000 patients in 1997 to 13,62,174 patients in 2006, she adds.
"Ayurveda is certainly gaining ground. People suffering from acute or chronic ailments, either go for strong pills or Ayurveda. For a disease like cancer, after some of point of time, people lose hope and then go for options like Ayurveda or homeopathy," Misra says.
An industry report say that by 2010, domestic homeopathy market is expected to more than double and touch the Rs 26 billion (Rs 2600 crore) size. It would continue to grow at between 25-30 per cent against 13-15 per cent of pharmaceuticals industry as users of homeopathy are multiplying not only in India but also throughout the world.
"The demand for Ayurvedic medicine has also gradually improved for the rising number of lifestyle diseases like stress, migraine, asthma, obesity. But in cases like surgeries or emergency operations, there is no alternative," says Misra.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Zero Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids, Herbs - and Add Homeopathy to the list!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 19, 2010
No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs (and add Homeopathy to the list!)
Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements' Safety
(OMNS, January 19, 2010) There was not even one death caused by a dietary supplement in 2008, according to the most recent information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System. The new 174-page annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin.
Additionally, there were no deaths whatsoever from any amino acid or herbal product. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John's wort , valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. There were zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin, or any homeopathic remedies.
Furthermore, there were zero deaths in 2008 from any dietary mineral supplement. This means there were no fatalities from calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. Two children died as a result of medical use of the antacid sodium bicarbonate. The other "Electrolyte and Mineral" category death was due to a man accidentally drinking sodium hydroxide, a highly toxic degreaser and drain-opener.
No man, woman or child died from nutritional supplements. Period.
61 poison centers provide coast-to-coast data for the U.S. National Poison Data System, which is then reviewed by 29 medical and clinical toxicologists. NPDS, the authors write, is "one of the few real-time national surveillance systems in existence, providing a model public health surveillance system for all types of exposures, public health event identification, resilience response and situational awareness tracking."
Over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 154,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 56 billion doses annually. Since many persons take more than just one vitamin or mineral tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.
If nutritional supplements are allegedly so "dangerous," as the FDA and news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?
Those who wonder if the media are biased against vitamins may consider this: how many television stations, newspapers, magazines, and medical journals have reported that no one dies from nutritional supplements?
Reference:
Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, Green JL, Rumack BH, Giffin SL. 2008 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 26th Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology (2009). 47, 911-1084. The full text article is available for free download at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2008annualreport.pdf . Vitamins statistics are found in Table 22B, journal pages 1052-3. Minerals, herbs, amino acids and other supplements are in the same table, pages 1047-8.
For Further Reading:
Download any Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers from 1983-2008 free of charge at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org/
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.
Editorial Review Board:
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Damien Downing, M.D.
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
James A. Jackson, PhD
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org
To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html
No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs (and add Homeopathy to the list!)
Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements' Safety
(OMNS, January 19, 2010) There was not even one death caused by a dietary supplement in 2008, according to the most recent information collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System. The new 174-page annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins; zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from vitamins A, C, D, or E; and zero deaths from any other vitamin.
Additionally, there were no deaths whatsoever from any amino acid or herbal product. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John's wort , valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. There were zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin, or any homeopathic remedies.
Furthermore, there were zero deaths in 2008 from any dietary mineral supplement. This means there were no fatalities from calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. Two children died as a result of medical use of the antacid sodium bicarbonate. The other "Electrolyte and Mineral" category death was due to a man accidentally drinking sodium hydroxide, a highly toxic degreaser and drain-opener.
No man, woman or child died from nutritional supplements. Period.
61 poison centers provide coast-to-coast data for the U.S. National Poison Data System, which is then reviewed by 29 medical and clinical toxicologists. NPDS, the authors write, is "one of the few real-time national surveillance systems in existence, providing a model public health surveillance system for all types of exposures, public health event identification, resilience response and situational awareness tracking."
Over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 154,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 56 billion doses annually. Since many persons take more than just one vitamin or mineral tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.
If nutritional supplements are allegedly so "dangerous," as the FDA and news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?
Those who wonder if the media are biased against vitamins may consider this: how many television stations, newspapers, magazines, and medical journals have reported that no one dies from nutritional supplements?
Reference:
Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, Green JL, Rumack BH, Giffin SL. 2008 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 26th Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology (2009). 47, 911-1084. The full text article is available for free download at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2008annualreport.pdf . Vitamins statistics are found in Table 22B, journal pages 1052-3. Minerals, herbs, amino acids and other supplements are in the same table, pages 1047-8.
For Further Reading:
Download any Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers from 1983-2008 free of charge at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org/
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.
Editorial Review Board:
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Damien Downing, M.D.
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
James A. Jackson, PhD
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org
To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html
Homeopathy and gout
Homeopathy can help with gout: http://www.NaturalNews.com/027957_gout_homeopathy.html
Thursday 14 January 2010
So, vitamins are dangerous?
New research confirms that it is not vitamins which are dangerous. No, it is pharmaceutical drugs: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm.
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Positive Research on Homeopathy
Two page summary of evidence showing positive research on homeopathy: http://bit.ly/5SusLi
Friday 8 January 2010
An Open Letter to Alliance Boots
I live in the UK and value the freedom of choice offered in this country, particularly with respect to healthcare. The UK has a history and an outstanding reputation as a market open to and respectful of Homeopathy. A group of so-called "sceptics" is petitioning Alliance Boots to discontinue its range of homeopathic remedies. For Alliance Boots to respond to this petition would be to curtail freedom of choice for a significant portion of the British population. Many are writing letters similar to this below to Boots Alliance. Please do feel free to do the same.
Dear Sir/Madam,
A democratic society is based upon the premise of freedom of expression and equality. The UK is a so-called democratic society and seeks to allow its residents the freedom and choice they desire. One of the most fundamental choices we all make is with our healthcare. The UK allows its citizens the choice of whether to use the NHS or to seek alternative/private treatment.
An extremely popular and effective choice of treatment that approximately 10 million people in the UK choose is Homeopathy. It is a natural medicine that has been proven for over 200 years to work in the treatment of disease and has also been found in RCTs to work more effectively than placebo. Unfortunately in the UK there is a movement to suppress people's freedom of choice when it comes to healthcare. They claim themselves to be "sceptics" and they want to see the end of homeopathic medicine in the UK.
Not only is this "illiberal" (in the words of Health Minister Mike O'Brien) but it is also fundamentally flawed, as they believe homeopathic medicines to exert no effect. On the contrary Homeopathy has been observed time and time again to have a therapeutic effect. Scientifically this phenomena is not yet completely understood but there are many advances being made in this field.
Alliance Boots provide a great service to their customers in that they allow them the freedom of expression to choose the medicines they wish to use. A customer shopping at a Boots store anywhere in the UK has the choice to purchase conventional pharmaceutical medicines or equally the choice to purchase homeopathic medicines. There are very few multi-national companies that allow their patients such wide choice, and Alliance Boots should be commended for this.
I am sure you are aware of a recent online letter produced by a group known as the 10:23 campaign. They are asking that Alliance Boots stop selling their homeopathic remedies on the premise that they do not work. On the basis of the arguments above and on extensive clinical evidence indicating that homeopathic remedies DO work, I believe that Alliance Boots must continue to provide homeopathic remedies to their customers. Not only do they work, but they are in huge demand from the UK public and an open, democratic society should allow people freedom of choice, particularly as to their healthcare.
I hope you will consider this letter and I look forward to receiving your reply.
Yours Faithfully
Send to these email addresses - enquiries@allianceboots.com and csr@allianceboots.com
Dear Sir/Madam,
A democratic society is based upon the premise of freedom of expression and equality. The UK is a so-called democratic society and seeks to allow its residents the freedom and choice they desire. One of the most fundamental choices we all make is with our healthcare. The UK allows its citizens the choice of whether to use the NHS or to seek alternative/private treatment.
An extremely popular and effective choice of treatment that approximately 10 million people in the UK choose is Homeopathy. It is a natural medicine that has been proven for over 200 years to work in the treatment of disease and has also been found in RCTs to work more effectively than placebo. Unfortunately in the UK there is a movement to suppress people's freedom of choice when it comes to healthcare. They claim themselves to be "sceptics" and they want to see the end of homeopathic medicine in the UK.
Not only is this "illiberal" (in the words of Health Minister Mike O'Brien) but it is also fundamentally flawed, as they believe homeopathic medicines to exert no effect. On the contrary Homeopathy has been observed time and time again to have a therapeutic effect. Scientifically this phenomena is not yet completely understood but there are many advances being made in this field.
Alliance Boots provide a great service to their customers in that they allow them the freedom of expression to choose the medicines they wish to use. A customer shopping at a Boots store anywhere in the UK has the choice to purchase conventional pharmaceutical medicines or equally the choice to purchase homeopathic medicines. There are very few multi-national companies that allow their patients such wide choice, and Alliance Boots should be commended for this.
I am sure you are aware of a recent online letter produced by a group known as the 10:23 campaign. They are asking that Alliance Boots stop selling their homeopathic remedies on the premise that they do not work. On the basis of the arguments above and on extensive clinical evidence indicating that homeopathic remedies DO work, I believe that Alliance Boots must continue to provide homeopathic remedies to their customers. Not only do they work, but they are in huge demand from the UK public and an open, democratic society should allow people freedom of choice, particularly as to their healthcare.
I hope you will consider this letter and I look forward to receiving your reply.
Yours Faithfully
Send to these email addresses - enquiries@allianceboots.com and csr@allianceboots.com
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