June 28, 2000 Research Update

WHO accused of stifling debate about infant feeding

There is so much evidence supporting the use of breastfeeding until at least six months of age. This article brings up a disturbing trend in infant feeding recommendations. bmj.com Ferriman 320 (7246): 1362 http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7246/1362

Drug industry is unwilling to run trials in children to determine safety

Many drugs used on children have never been properly studied to determine whether they are safe to be used in children. This article suggests that the pharmaceutical industry is not willing to run these studies. bmj.com Kmietowicz 320 (7246): 1362a http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7246/1362/a

Drugs can contaminate the environment

Doing your best to avoid taking drugs? Well, recent studies suggest that you need to be drinking filtered water then. Pharmaceutical drugs are leaking out in the water supply, and may approach therapeutic levels in some cases. Imagine having a drug-drug interaction just from drinking water... Contents at a glance 20 May 2000 (under "research letters:) http://www.thelancet.com/newlancet/reg/issues/vol355no9217/menu_NOD999.html

Irritable Bowel Syndrome--A Potentially New Treatment at Last?

They need to rephrase the title. The authors mean a new PHARMACEUTICAL treatment, because there have been many ways to treat IBS from a natural medicine standpoint using probiotics and diet as a start.

These studies provide encouraging news that tegaserod, by accelerating orocecal transit and especially colonic transit, may prove to be a benefit in patients with constipation-predominant IBS. It is obvious that further clinical studies on intestinal transit and secretion as well as the overall clinical efficacy of tegaserod in IBS are necessary. Nevertheless, this drug seems to have promise for patients with IBS.

Endocrinologists to Develop Guidelines, Education on Nutraceuticals

Western medicine is finally starting to see the benefits of natural medicine, but the idea of having a class or a series of seminars to be "certified" is rather ridiculous. People who are knowledgable in nutraceutical use spend many hours in education to get a foundation, and then countless hours, days, weeks and months continuing to educate themselves on just a small portion of what's out there. Even a minute portion of what many natural medicine practioners know would be impossible to cram into a short certification program.

Nutraceuticals may have a role in a comprehensive nutritional program to optimize health, but much caution is needed, according to a report issued here at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists' ninth annual meeting and clinical congress. Dr. Jeffrey I. Mechanick, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, reported that the AACE has initiated a program to educate endocrinologists on nutraceuticals and has appointed a nutrition Task Force which this summer will write recommended guidelines on the use of nutraceuticals in clinical medicine.

Troglitazone May Be Useful in Treating Psoriasis

A diabetic drug treating a skin disease? Not so hard to swallow if you really understand how each system of the body interacts. Western medicine has divided itself into specialties based on organ systems, but that's not how the body works, so many specialists cannot grasp a gastrointestinal problem causing a neurological, dermatological or even cardiovascular problem. Of course, don't forget that trolitazone was pulled off the market recently because of liver damage.

Arch Dermatol 2000;136:609-616 Troglitazone, an insulin-sensitizing agent, may also be useful in treating psoriasis, according to findings published in the May issue of the Archives of Dermatology. In studying the mechanism, the investigators found that PPAR-gamma was indeed expressed in human keratinocytes, and that troglitazone inhibited the growth of both normal and psoriatic keratinocytes. However, the drug did not affect the growth of human dermal fibroblasts. After treating organ cultures of human psoriatic skin with troglitazone, the skin became "qualitatively near normal," the researchers report.