Some Exciting News

[Polly]

Hi Good Buddies!

Here is some exciting news - all I can say is that it's about time! It's an article from the Vital Choice newsletter.

Top Docs Urge Obama toward “Integrative” Medicine
Famed physicians co-sign an essay advocating for lifestyle-based prevention and natural remedies; US survey shows unconventional healthcare remains popular.

The Obama administration-in-waiting is being swamped by a flood of suggestions. We hope that he acts on some very good ideas published last week in The Wall Street Journal by four of America’s leading medical thinkers and researchers: Dean Ornish, MD, Andrew Weil, MD, Deepak Chopra, MD, and Rustum Roy, PhD.

Their main point is that to bring down rates of major diseases ... and the need for costly interventions ... any effective overhaul of the healthcare system must tackle the preventable causes of America's major diseases. They want Mr. Obama’s administration to advocate and support lifestyle changes — diet and exercise — proven to prevent common, chronic conditions.

And they want any healthcare reform law to require coverage of all proven-effective preventive and therapeutic approaches, whether conventional or “alternative”.

In essence, they advocate for an approach called integrative medicine, which combines conventional medicine with “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM). CAM is an umbrella term that encompasses such “unconventional” approaches as vitamins, nutraceuticals, herbs, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, yoga, exercise, mind-body techniques, and more.

In support of their position, these well-known practitioners cite the ineffectiveness of many major, costly therapies for treating heart disease, and the proven efficacy of much cheaper and simpler preventive measures, including nutrition, exercise, and stress-relieving practices.

The authors all combine high public profiles with the respect of their peers:

*Dean Ornish, MD, is clinical professor of medicine at the University of California and creator of the famed Ornish lifestyle plan, proven to reverse cardiovascular disease.

*Andrew Weil, MD, is director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the author of several bestsellers about integrative, natural, and anti-aging medicine.

*Deepak Chopra, MD, is guest faculty at Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School and the author of more than 50 books on mind-body-spirit connections.

*Rustum Roy, PhD, is professor emeritus of materials science at Pennsylvania State University.


Doctors’ essay gets to the heart of healthcare reform

The essay published in last Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal made three key points (Chopra D et al. 2008):

1. “Integrative medicine approaches such as plant-based diets, yoga, meditation and psychosocial support may stop or even reverse the progression of coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, prostate cancer, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and other chronic conditions.”
“… if we want to make affordable healthcare available to the 45 million Americans who do not have health insurance, then we need to … provide incentives for healthy ways of living rather than reimbursing only drugs and surgery.”
2. “Integrative medicine approaches … are both medically effective and, important in our current economic climate, cost effective … Mr. Obama should make them an integral part of his health plan ...”

Their second point was reinforced by the results of the US survey described below, which found that people worried about the cost or delayed receipt of conventional care were “… more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) than when the cost of conventional care was not a worry.” (NIH 2008)

3. As the four essayists wrote, the promise of dietary changes is powerful: “A recent study … found that these approaches may even change gene expression in hundreds of genes in only a few months. Genes associated with cancer, heart disease and inflammation were down-regulated or ‘turned off’ whereas protective genes were up-regulated or ‘turned on.’”

This passage referred to a small pilot study co-authored by Dr. Ornish and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Ornish D et al. 2008). This study involved 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who volunteered for a three-day intensive residential retreat, followed by an outpatient phase during which participants spoke with a study nurse weekly by phone. To control their diets, the participants were provided with all of their food during the study period. The lifestyle modifications included these key measures:

Diet, exercise, and stress management

* A whole foods, plant-based, low-fat diet (10% of calories from fat).
* Stress management – 60 minutes per day (stretching, breathing, meditation, imagery, and progressive relaxation).
* Moderate aerobic exercise (walking 30 minutes per day, six days per week)
* One-hour group support session per week.

Daily Supplements

Fish oil – 3 grams (3,000 mg)
Vitamin E – 100 IU
Selenium – 200 mg
Vitamin C – 2 grams / 2,000 mg
One serving of tofu plus 58 grams (2 oz) of a soy protein beverage

As Dr. Ornish wrote last June in Newsweek, “We found that many disease-promoting genes (including those associated with cancer, heart disease, and inflammation) were down-regulated or ‘turned off,’ whereas protective, disease-preventing genes were up-regulated or ‘turned on.’ … These genes are the target of many new drugs that are being developed. Clearly, changing lifestyle is less expensive, and the only side-effects are good ones.” (Ornish D 2008)



Polly

P.S. Of course some of these specific food recommendations would need to be modified for those of us with MC/food intolerances. The food must match the genes, as we have all learned.

[tex]

Awesome!



Love,
Tex

[MaggieRedwings]

3 cheers to them and now to just get it adopted. Would fit my lifestyle much better than the main-stream medicine that I abhor.

Love, Maggie

[JLH]

Thanks for sharing, Polly.

Did you see that Dr. Sidney Wolfe is now on the FDA!

[JLH]

Did you see that I hugged my GI? She listened and didn't roll her eyes etc.

[Polly]

Hi Joan,

Yes, I did see both items! Thanks for sharing.

Love,

Polly

[kate_ce1995]

P.S. Of course some of these specific food recommendations would need to be modified for those of us with MC/food intolerances. The food must match the genes, as we have all learned.

Of course what seems obvious to us, doesn't even register with most drs. How many of us have heard "you don't have celiac, you don't need to be gf". Not saying I wouldn't love to see this kind of approach...but the education curve for mainstream physicians is going to be huge. How do you implement something like this?

Katy

[Polly]

Hi Katy!

Good question. My immediate thought would be that if more alternative approaches were utilized and funded, then fewer people would be exposed to too many antibiotics, NSAIDs, proton pump inhibitors, HRT, and other substances that we know can cause MC. More folks would use probiotics and also vitamins/minerals/diet/herbs that we know are protective for the immune system. And stress-reduction techniques should be helpful - we have seen here again and again the negative effects of stress upon MC. IOW, the docs may be forced to sit up and pay attention, especially if the alternative practitioners are getting paid by health insurers. One can always hope..........sigh!

Love,

Polly

P.S. And how are YOU doing? Did you get that flare under control?

[Lucy]

Hi Polly,
A very interesting article.
My guess is that the alternative practitioners are HOPING that they don't have to be covered by insurance.
Since so many things that would make the population healthier have been known for years, it seems to me alot of the problem is in getting all segments of the population motivated to change. As you, probably more than any of us, already are well aware, that is a VERY difficult thing to do.
Have to put Mom to bed, but will be back here in a minute, IF I can even remember what I was going to write originally!
Yours, Luce