Healthy Update is a bi-monthly electronic newsletter from HealthWorld Online providing you the latest information, news and resources from the world of natural health. All summaries in Healthy Update link to full articles or expanded resources and services in HealthWorld Online: http://www.healthy.net

To subscribe to email version of Healthy Update, send email to: [email protected] and type just the word "subscribe" in the body text of the email.

HealthWorld Online to Co-Sponsor Integrative Medicine Conference in Los Angeles
The World Whole Health Forum to be held in Los Angeles, California, March 26-28, will present a comprehensive, leading-edge conference on integrative medicine for both consumers and health professionals. The conference, with nearly 100 sessions, workshops and keynotes and an unprecendented collection of over 70 leading expert presenters, will offer objective and research-based knowledge about the latest unconventional techniques, treatments and therapies to enhance conventional care. The emphasis of the conference is on education; providing practical ideas and methods for application to one's life and situation.

Keynote speakers include Andrew Weil, MD, Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., Bernard Siegel, MD, Herbert Benson, MD, Rachel Naomi Remen, MD and Loretta Laroche. Presenters include HealthWorld Online Advisory Board members, James Gordon, MD, Martin Rossman, MD, Elson Haas, MD, and Joseph Pizzorno, ND. Conference themes include: Prevention, Diagnosis and Health Enhancement, Integrating Treatments for Cancer, Integrating Treatments for Chronic Illness, Enhancing Aging & Longevity, and Promoting Women's Health & Wellness. "A Return to healing," 10 special sessions for the clinician and administrators on key issues regarding the integration of uselful alternative therapies will be sponsored by the University of Southern California School of Nursing. We invite all those interested in these exciting topics to attend this historic conference. To register for the World Whole Health Forum online.

Health News

New Course on Medicinal Herbs for Consumers and Pharmacists from American Botanical Council
As a service to pharmacists and consumers, the American Botanical Council (ABC), based in Austin, has published a 68-page introductory course on medicinal herbs. The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy is offering two hours of continuing education credit to pharmacists who pass a test on the material.

"Popular Herbs in the U.S. Market: Therapeutic Monographs" covers 26 common herbs, including the popular echinacea, St. Johns wort, gingko biloba, oil of evening primrose, describing their therapeutic benefits, safety, potential side effects, appropriate dosage, international regulatory status and active elements. Information is drawn from the German government's "Commission E Monographs'' and from the "British Herbal Compendium," a publication of the British Herbal Medicine Association, and the European Union's "European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP) Monographs."

More Evidence Links Low B-Vitamin Levels to Heart Disease
As many as one in five people may be at increased risk of heart attack or stroke because they do not consume enough folic acid or vitamin B6, according to a study of more than 1,500 people. The report, which appears in Monday's issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, comes on the heels of a study of more than 80,000 nurses showing that diets replete with higher-than-recommended amounts of these two B vitamins reduced a person's risk of heart disease by about half.

Columns from the Experts

HealthWorld Online is proud to announce the addition of the new "Keeping Fit" Column from Dr. Wayne Westcott, a highly respected exercise physiologist, fitness expert, and national strength consultant. Look for more columns in the future in HealthWorld Online.

Dr. Galland's Integrated Medicine
We all age, but the deterioration associated with aging (called, senescence) is partly under our control. Senescence is speeded up by toxicity and our bodies' response to it. The human body has many natural defenses against environmental toxicity. These include the constant shedding of the skin and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, which slowly dispels environmental and intestinal toxins from the body; the activity of protective immune responses which limit the attachment of toxins to the surfaces of the lungs or the gastrointestinal tract; enzyme systems in the liver which destroy toxins and prepare them for excretion in the bile or the urine; enzymes which repair damaged cells and promote healing.

In this column Detoxification: The Key to Longevity , Dr. Galland discusses strategies for limiting free-radical induced damage through dietary antioxidants which help to bolster the body's defense system, including vitamins, minerals, biodflavonoids and carotenoids.

Natural Medicine Research Update with Ray Sahelian, M.D.
Ever since the urging of Nobel winner Linus Pauling on the benefits of megadosing on vitamin C, the medical community has been debating the right dose of this vitamin. Although many doctors stood firm for a long time asserting that the amounts recommended by the RDA were adequate, more and more doctors are now realizing that higher dosages can confer additional antioxidant benefits. However, the "ideal dose" of vitamin C has not yet been determined, nor is it likely to be determined soon. In this Natural Medicine Research Update, Vitamin C--the more the better, or not? , Dr. Sahelian reports of a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition points that large doses of ingested vitamin C may be excreted without being utilized.

Keeping Fit with Dr. Wayne Westcott
If you are an average adult, you probably qualify for being a time-pressured person. That is, you most likely have more things to do than you have time to do them. If this is the case, one of the things you may not do that you should do is exercise. It is an unfortunate fact that 6 out of 10 adults lead totally sedentary lifestyles. Even more problematic, only 1 out of 10 adults performs sufficient physical activity to attain measurable fitness benefits. No wonder a recent Ohio University study showed that 75 percent of American adults are overweight. Approximately the same percentage of men and women will experience low back pain, and about 50 percent will die from heart disease.

In this column Brief Exercise Sessions For Time-Pressured People , Wayne Westcott, Ph.D. provides a simple answer with a special one-hour per week exercise program for time-pressured people, based on the positive results from a study he performed at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA.

News from the Village

Children's Health Update
The common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, caused by one of the many contagious viruses that intrude into the nose, throat, sinuses, or ears. Because your child's immune system is in the process of developing, it is not unusual for a child to seem to catch a cold week after week. As your child grows, her immune defenses evolve from an uncoordinated series of safeguards to an intricate set of responses designed to defend the body against foreign substances. In the meantime, boosting your child's immune system with diet and herbs can lessen the frequency of illness.

In her article "The Common Cold," excerpted from her book, Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child, Dr. Janet Zand outlines a comprehensive program for helping your child when he or she comes down with a cold, including guidelines for conventional treatment, as well as dietary guidelines, recommended nutritional supplements, herbs, homeopathic remedies and acupressure.

Women's Health Update
Many commonly eaten foods in our society pose health risks for women. The list of hazardous foods may surprise you because it includes not only processed "junk food," but also foods that are considered staples of the American diet. Many women unwittingly prescribe to a diet that worsens their reproductive health as well as their health in general. The wrong foods can affect health adversely in many ways. They can be difficult to digest, contain nutrients that stress the body, or even cause toxic reactions within the body.

Many of the most commonly eaten foods in our society are hard to digest, reports Susan Lark, M.D., in her article Foods to Avoid or Limit, excerpted from her The Women's Health Companion. These include foods that are high in saturated fats, sugars, and animal protein. The long list includes pizza, steak, bacon, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, French fries, doughnuts, ice cream, chocolate, and many other processed and high-stress foods. Other foods stress the body through their toxicity, according Dr. Lark, and increase a woman's level of fatigue, such as alcohol and sugar. Many food additives and preservatives can cause an allergic or toxic reaction in susceptible women, and other foods, such as saturated fats, margarine, caffeine, salt, and food additives should be decreased in the diet due to their adverse affects on health.

Disease Center Update
Misconceptions and illusions prevail in the management of breast cancer. Historical review reminds us that medical practice is commonly rooted in tradition rather than proof: The Halsted mastectomy inadvertently served the burgeoning profession of surgery in the early 20th century more than it has benefited women with breast cancer, yet 100 years later the operation continues to thrive. Despite evidence that mastectomy, radiation following lumpectomy, axillary node dissection, or intensive follow-up surveillance have little impact on survival, these practices are adhered to tenaciously. In their article, Revisiting Accepted Wisdom in the Management of Breast Cancer , Harriet Beinfield, LAc, and Malcolm S. Beinfield, MD, FACS demonstrate that the extent to which current treatment for breast cancer succeeds in prolonging life remains open to question. Many accepted ideas and interventions are perilously disconnected from their true merit. The imperative for doctors to do something sometimes contradicts their pledge to do no harm. Reflection on what is known should guide future action.

For additional articles and information on alternative approaches to breast cancer, visit our Breast Cancer Center. For lmore information on alternative cancer therapies, visit our Cancer Center.

Alternative Medicine Center Update
HealthWorld Online's Alternative & Complementary Medicine Center is the Internet's most comprehensive and authoritative site dealing with the great systems of traditional healthcare from around the world--acupuncture, Ayurveda, herbal medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, and Traditional Chinese medicine--as well as many ancient and modern natural therapies. We are striving to keep you on the forefront the current movement to integrate the best of alternative/complementary medicine and mainstream medicine through our ever-growing library on Integrating Alternative and Mainstream Medicine. Visit this site and read cutting-edge articles, columns and interviews from the true visionaries and leaders in this movement, including James Gordon, MD, Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, Leo Galland, MD, Elliot Dacher, MD, Harris Coulter, Ph.D., and Marc Miccozi, MD.

New Releases in our Bookstore
If you’ve ever suspected that not everyone should eat the same thing or do the same exercise, you may be right. In fact, what foods we absorb well and how our bodies handle stress differ with each blood type, according to Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo, author of Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer & Achieving Your Ideal Weight. Your blood type reflects your internal chemistry, and is the key that unlocks the mysteries of disease, longevity, fitness, and emotional strength. It determines your susceptibility to illness, the foods you should eat, and ways to avoid the most troubling health problems. Only recently have all the pieces of the scientific and clinical puzzle started coming together. Dr. D’Adamo has spent the past fifteen years researching the connections among blood type, food, and disease, and his research is built on thirty years of work done by his father. Now his book offers a total resource for health, an individualized plan that’s right for your blood type. Eat Right 4 Your Type provides a dear, simple life plan that anyone can follow and suggests the easiest ways to determine your blood type. Here is a breakthrough book that will change the way we eat and live.

Association Network -- Hot Pick
The American Herbal Products Association is the national trade association and voice of the herbal and berbal products industry. AHPA Members consist of the companies and individuals who grow, import, process, market, and/or manufacture America's herb's and herbal products. Associate AHPA Members include researchers, educators, attorneys, the media, and medical professionals including physicians, herbalists, naturopaths, pharmacists, and practitioners of traditional and integrative medicine. Includes information on the International St. John's Wort Symposium in Anaheim, California.

Visit American Herbal Products Association.

Health Events

Global Health Calendar -- Hot Picks
PREVENTION 98 - 15th Annual National Preventive Medicine Meeting. April 2-5, 1998, San Francisco, CA -- presented by American College of Preventive Medicine and Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine. (202) 466-2569

Conscious Living - Conscious Dying: Findhorn Foundation Spring Conference. April 4-11, 1998, Findhorn Bay, Forres, Scotland, United Kingdom -- presented by The Findhorn Foundation. Phone: 44-1-309-673655

HealthWorld Online Vision and Mission

Free Medline Search

HealthWorld Online Advisory Board

Editor, Healthy Update: James Strohecker

Suggestions & Comments: We welcome your suggestions and comments to help us provide the highest quality service. If you are aware of late-breaking news or information that would be useful to our subscribers, please contact us at: [email protected]

To subscribe to email version of Healthy Update, send email to: [email protected] and type just the word "subscribe" in the body text of the email.