| You are what you eat? Maybe
When I lived in Taiwan over 50 years ago, a young Chinese doctor asked if he could borrow the "V" volume of my World Book Encyclopedia. He was to address the local medical society on the subject of vitamins, and the encyclopedia was his source. In "The Hundred-Year Lie: How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals that are Destroying Your Health," Randall Fitzgerald writes that the "traditional systems of medicine from India and China have developed over 4,000 years of knowledge based on trial-and-error testing of millions of people in the longest and most widespread clinical trial tests of plant based healing in human history." Fitzgerald, who has written investigative pieces for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, would have told my Chinese doctor friend that the natural vitamins dispensed by his ancestors were far more effective than the synthetic vitamins of modern times.
Medicine woman fined for sex act
A PROFESSIONAL panel has fined a Chinese medicine practitioner $16,000 after finding she provided a sexual service to a client and gave false receipts. The Chinese Medicine Registration Board found Abbie Li, 48, engaged in unprofessional conduct of a serious nature at her Collins St practice in April 2003, labelling her behaviour "infamous". "Chinese medicine practitioners are in a privileged position of trust and Ms Li has eroded that position of public trust," the panel found. The panel found Ms Li also provided false receipts to two other clients. It fined her an additional $2000 for failing to provide medical records as required by the board. Ms Li is no longer registered with the board. Last month a Supreme Court judge dismissed Ms Li's compensation claim against the Herald Sun and journalist Keith Moor, finding she had "no credibility".
Horny Goatweed may boost bone mineral density
Women taking a Chinese herb known as horny Goatweed may end up having a better bone mineral density at the hip and lower back, according to a new Chinese study published in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. The study found after a two-year supplementation of flavonoids derived from the Chinese herb Epimedium (EPF), women increased their BMD by more than 1.5 percent while those on a placebo decreased a similar magnitude of bone mineral density. Horny Goatweed has commonly used as aphrodisiacs in Chinese Medicine to boost men's sexual health for ages. In the randomized, double-blind, placebo-control clinical trial, Ge Zhang and colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Shanghai University of Chinese Medicine assigned 85 healthy late postmenopausal women either a dose of EPF composed of 60 mg icariin, 15 mg daidzein, and 3 mg genistein or a placebo daily for 12 months.
|
