Fungal mycorrhizae: ecosystem modulators

A nice article from Nature magazine shares some interesting research on the mycelia of mushrooms (the main growing part, usually underground, which produce the spore-bearing fruiting bodies we harvest and eat). We've known for a long time that mycelia are everywhere, almost saturating soil and contributing to the ecological balance of forest and field alike. We've even studied how some plants, like orchids for example, engage in a delicate balance with the root-like tendrils of fungal mycelia (known as mycorrhizae), benefiting in both nourishment and protection. Recent research has focused on how the web of fungal roots in the soil of the forest acts as a literal 'network', sharing and balancing resources between itself and different species of green plants. It seems quite likely, in fact, that many plants could not exist without their fungal symbiotes: but the story goes deeper than that.
Mushroom mycelia can take nutrients, especially sugars, from the roots of strong, green plants (like established trees) and "feed" them to weaker understory herbs and seedlings who have less access to light for photosynthesis. A neat example: in the spring, mycorrhizae shunt nutrients from the early trout lily to feed new maple seedlings, while the reverse occurs in the fall. Inter-species nutrient balance is maintained by these fungal networks!
This research continues to increase my respect for the Kingdom Fungi, and I am beginning to suspect that these organisms are the great modulators and networkers of the living world. It is no wonder to me that they are so effective in modulating the function of human physiologies as well, helping to balance immunity and inflammation so effectively. Hopefully more research on this subject will be forthcoming -- it is a field we know woefully little about.
In the meanwhile, Paul Stamets is the man.

Hyperactivity linked to food additives

A British study published in the Lancet has documented the effects of certain specific food coloring agents (sunset yellow coloring, also known as E110; carmoisine, or E122; tartrazine, or E102; ponceau 4R, or E124; the preservative sodium benzoate, or E211; and other colors) and preservatives (primarily sodium benzoate) in kid's drinks. Over 300 children, roughly split between three and eight year olds, underwent the blinded trial. The results were striking: the drinks with additives were linked with higher rates of impulsivity, inattention, and general hyperactivity.
Critics of the study were quick to point out that this is simply an association, not a "cause-and-effect" phenomenon. True enough, but many variables were controlled in this research: drinks, which were given to children in a double-blind fashion, were the only sources of additives. Assignment of the laced drinks was random. And this study builds on previous data gathered by the British government (which is why it awarded over $1 million for this recent research).
So, in my opinion, we are beginning to get scientific backing to the herbalist's idea that synthetic food additives are not only damaging to the liver and metabolism, but also interfere with the psyche. In fact, as many herbalists might tell you, the link between the liver and the spirit is a very real one, and the metabolism of toxic synthetics can lead to inflammatory processes all over the physiology, not just in the nervous system. Back to whole, local foods!

Herbal medicine commentary: are we 'chasing fairies'?

"By proper Herbalism, I mean the variety practiced by Herbalists who have devoted many years of study to the application of herbs for medical purposes, as opposed to the fairy chasing brigade who hijack any therapy that they can practice with minimal effort..."

This quote is part of an interesting piece I was reading on ProgressiveU.org. The author comes down pretty hard on therapeutic ideas like "hot stones placed on (the) body, or ... mystical energy massages from Maori tribesmen", attempting to differentiate more modern, unsubstantiated modalities from traditional Herbalism as a valid, ancient art.
Let me clarify two points at the outset:
-first off, I work with fairies everyday in my garden. They help me out a lot, and the spirits that inhabit plants have broad-ranging powers and may be responsible for much of nature's medicine. In making this statement I am being very grounded and scientific: in my experience, 'fairies' are real, and have observable and testable effects.
-secondly, I deeply value thought processes that transcend reason and rationality, and I believe these processes are a vital part of the herbal tradition. Nevertheless, they cannot function alone. Throughout history, human beings (and animals) have evolved systems for understanding nature and functioning more efficiently as part of her. These systems rely on rationality, at least on a temporary basis, and greatly facilitate learning. Herbalism employs many such systems (energetics, herbal actions, physiology, phytochemistry, direction of cure, doctrine of signatures, and many more) and I love them all. In my opinion, it is a balance between intuitive, acausal, non-linear feeling and creative, pattern-based, rational thinking that makes an effective human. Herbalism teaches both!

That said, the author of the piece has some very valid opinions that made me stop and think. For instance:

"When somebody introduces certain herbs and plants into the body they have a tangible and explainable effect. Herbalism does not rely on some magical explanation, despite the fluffiness of some of the people who practice the tradition and their assertions to the contrary".

Not all effects can be 'explainable'. Modern doctors will be the first to agree with this! Besides that, what does 'explainable' mean? You can provide meaning to any set of circumstances. I think the point here is that herbalism does have a grounded component to its therapy, and that phytochemistry and biochemistry have danced together a bit and come up with some nice stories to tell. But, just because the effect of Rose elixir taken on the tongue is best explained magically, doesn't mean there is no effect.

Where Herbalism gets the short end of the stick scientifically, is in the fact that many herbal preparations have not been scientifically tested in controlled clinical trials. As a result preparations which have a history of effectiveness in treating ailments don’t have official scientific verification, not because they have failed scientific testing, but because they haven’t received it. Quacks and other alternative therapists exploit this to make a case for their remedies.

Two important points: a long history of traditional use is somehow not seen as evidence of validity, while scientific trials are. Couple this with the inability to patent crude plant preparations, and you have and perennial inadequacy set up for herbal medicines. The answer isn't necessarily just more trials (though this is great, too). It's to change the system that defines validity.
I can't argue that some 'quacks' exploit my attitude. And I hadn't really thought about that so much until I read this article.

Personally, I believe that legitimate Herbalists need to take a stand and speak out against suspect therapies in an effort to protect consumers and distance their discipline from the quacks. Herbalists should make greater efforts to safe-guard their patients from exploitation rather than just fighting with Western doctors. As an advocate of integrated medicine, I see the constant bickering between much of the Herbalist and Western Medical community as just tiresome and regressive.

This, to me, makes a whole lot of sense. We just have to be really careful in defining a 'suspect therapy': I can see that issue becoming a slippery slope all the way back to 'evidence-based medicine' and its exclusive reliance on the double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

I feel, from a deep, non-rational place inside me, that these issues (and others) are going to come swiftly to the fore of herbalist's discussions as the community evolves and interfaces with the American culture in all its craziness. I only ask that we try to be aware of the forces and ideas that are shaping our philosophies and worldviews, and stop briefly to ponder them. And that's the rational place coming out, right where it belongs.

Sparkly Comfrey Powder

It's late August, the sun is still hot, the evening light is orange, and the Comfrey is still going crazy.
This unyieldingly generous plant keeps coming back, and spreading, no matter how often you harvest its leaves for improvised poultices, throw its long hollow stalks into the compost, or even dig away at its root. And regardless of what you think of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid content of this bristly Boraginacea, you can't deny that its topical use is very safe and effective.
I love chewing a Comfrey leaf to put on a bad scrape or superficial wound, you can feel its texture going from almost spiny to green to slimy. And the gel that is created is some of the best medicine for the skin, rich in allantoin, soothing and healing.
My problem was that, during the winter, it gets very difficult to recreate that smooth green gel without access to a fresh plant. The dry leaf approximates it, but isn't nearly as pleasant to chew and simply re-hydrating it doesn't come even close. So for this month's blog party, here's what I came up with for those bushels of Comfrey leaves you've got growing in some corner:

Sparkly Comfrey Powder:

You will need a good, strong blender. A Vitamix is good, but any commercial blender with a sturdy motor will do.
Harvest lots of Comfrey leaves.
Stuff the blender, not too tight, with coarsely chopped leaves.
Add 1 cup of water (for a half-gallon blender)

Blend, pulsing and stirring from time to time, until the mixture is a homogenous mass of green goo.

Press the mass through muslin, so that all the fiber is removed, saving the juice. This stuff should be very dark green and frothy.

Evaporate the moisture from the juice in a slow (150 degree) oven, or in strong sunlight. I use Pyrex pans for this purpose. Depending on how much juice you made, and the size of your pan, this could take all day (or more).

Using a metal spatula, knife, or spoon, scrape the dehydrated juice from the pan once all the water is gone.

Place the scrapings in a smaller container, and dry for another hour at 150 degrees.

Grind the dried Comfrey in a mortar and pestle.

Voila! You're done. This powder, which does seem to sparkle when in direct light, re-hydrates quickly to a slimy mass. Try 4-5 drops of water on a 1/4 tsp. dab of the powder. It also quickly colors pale oils, like sweet almond oil, a nice green color and makes a very good addition to salve recipes. Finally, I like to sprinkle it directly on bad scrapes I get during the winter months, where it quickly stops light bleeding and gets nice and mucilaginous, unlike the dry leaf.

Just remember: don't use Comfrey preparations on deeper wounds, puncture wounds, etc... as it will very likely cause an abscess to form.

The final product, infused for 15 minutes into sweet almond oil. On the right is a heaping spoonful of the re-hydrated powder, ready for use!

Antibiotic resistance update

Reuters brings news from China that many bacterial lung infections that cause pneumonia are resistant to antibiotics. We've been following the reports of drug-resistant pathogens, mostly bacteria, and the response that government and healthcare establishments are considering.
Resistance seems to spread from centers of antibiotic use, with hospitals acting as 'universities' for bacteria to swap information and reduce their sensitivity to drugs (by altering metabolic pathways, structures in their cell walls, or both). While 70% of pneumonia cases were resistant in the Chinese 'countryside', that number reached 90% at major hospitals in cities like Beijing.
What's troubling is that, unlike poor manufacturing processes that lead to product recalls, antibiotic resistance is much like carbon emission: it has global reach and impact. Pneumonia can indeed be deadly, especially in weakened constitutions; and we do have drugs that the bacteria still aren't resistant to. But the trend in the last ten years is undeniable: let's not wait until all modern antibiotics are ineffective, and start incorporating more crude botanical preparations into the treatment protocols, especially for stronger folks, especially in hospitals!

Some herbs for active, moist pulmonary infections:

Warming expectorants: elecampane, lobelia
Antibacterials: garlic, thyme, eucalyptus, usnea
Diaphoretics: boneset, elderflower, ginger, cayenne
Antiinfectives: echinacea, osha

...and for convalescence: astragalus, red reishi

Of course, the sooner you begin addressing any lung distress, the better the final outcome. Still, I see no reason why some of these plants couldn't be incorporated into hospital regimens -- and it will happen, probably sooner than we think.

Datura inoxia

Known as Toloache by the Aztecs (and probably used by most Mesoamerican cultures before them), this beautiful representative of the Datura genus just recently began opening its flowers in my garden. It blooms in the evening, pollinated by night-flying moths, with huge (8"+) flowers and a sweet aroma that sets it apart from its cousin, the Jimson weed (D. stramonium).
Many members of the Solanaceae (Nightshade family, perhaps my favorite plant family though the Araliae are right up there) possess alkaloids like scopolamine and hyoscyamine which have the ability to limit the action of the parasympathetic nervous system (they are so-called parasympatholytics). This yin-like side of our nerve networks promotes rest, digestion, and reproduction, and actively counterbalances the more yang-like sympathetics continuously.
By taking a plant like Datura, you can effectively inhibit yin function for a time, starting first at the physiological level and eventually at the level of the mental and energetic bodies. Small doses relax muscles, open airways, and provide a gentle warmth. As the dose is raised, heart rate increases; there is a loss of motor function; and convulsions, delirium, hallucinations, and finally death ensue. Internal use is generally not a good idea - the yang demons that are called into the human are generally unpleasant, and can be downright dangerous. Topical use, however, is a different story.
Of the parts of this plant, the seed is certainly the strongest. Leaves are next, and the root is milder. So to make a salve from D. stramonium, we recently took the black seeds from three of the thorny, opened pods and crushed them in a mortar and pestle. Keep in mind, there were enough seeds to kill all seven of us, had we taken them orally.

Datura salve:
Crushed ripe seeds from 3 seedpods (about 2 TBS)
Seven fluid ounces of oil: olive, almond, or grapeseed
soak the seeds in the oil, while heating in a double boiler
after an hour (or more), strain and return to the double boiler
add:
8/10ths of an ounce, by weight, of beeswax (about 23 grams)
when the beeswax is melted, add:
1 fluid ounce of the infused oil of Arnica [optional]
1/4 tsp. of Rosemary essential oil [optional]
stir quickly and pour into jars

The last two ingredients enhance the pain-relieving power of this salve, by reducing swelling and stimulating circulation. Datura was always traditionally used as a topical pain reliever for rheumatism, "bone aches", sprains, and wounds. This version is quite effective - but use only a little bit, and some sensitive individuals may feel a disturbance in their personal fields by even a small brush with this powerful plant. More flowers are set to bloom - I look forward to admiring this moonflower under the Full Moon!

Wikipedia

Maude Grieve
Erowid

The medicine of berries

Colorful, small fruits - commonly known as berries - are essential for human health. We've been eating them since before we were human, and owe much of what we are to these little delicacies. Red wine, a berry product, has been in the news for a long time. More recently, the goji (a variety of lycii berry) has gotten a lot of attention. Elderberries, which also make a delicious wine, can boost immunity and have been used as antivirals for centuries.
Some of the medicinal value of berries relates to their content of polyphenolic compounds from the flavonoid class. These chemicals are responsible for much of the color of plants in general, but are most concentrated in small fruits. Though their specific physiological effects vary, they all play an important role in protecting and balancing the cardiovascular system, DNA and its reproductive pathways, the liver, and the immune system. When you consider how crucial these deep physiological functions are to our overall wellbeing and longevity, you can see why folks get so enthusiastic about the health benefits of berries!
It's a wrap for the berry season up here in Vermont, but while we're on the subject:

• Molecular Nutrition and Food Research has a recent issue entirely devoted to the medicine of common berries, in conditions such as infection, heart disease, urinary problems, and more.
• The Herbwife's Kitchen hosted a blog party that featured summer berries and some excellent recipes.
• Rose hips are berries, too. But every part of the rose is rich in the same chemistry that makes berries great (as is blueberry leaf, for example).
  

Fresh blueberries soaked in rose syrup, with a little dab of cream, anyone?

Bush dictates terms for state healtcare coverage

In a not-too-surprising move, the federal government has issues strict guidelines making it virtually impossible for states to offer health insurance to those over 200% of the poverty line. This is all done in the name of "returning focus to low-income children": but for a single mom with one child, 200% of the poverty level is just over $25,000 a year. Rent and utilities can easily take away more than half that income, and you can quickly begin to see why states might want to extend health care to families who make a bit more.
The article in the New York Times gives more details:

...states must demonstrate that they have “enrolled at least 95 percent of children in the state below 200 percent of the federal poverty level” who are eligible for either Medicaid or the child health program.

Deborah S. Bachrach, a deputy commissioner in the New York State Health Department, said, “No state in the nation has a participation rate of 95 percent.”

And Cindy Mann, a research professor at the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University, said, “No state would ever achieve that level of participation under the president’s budget proposals.”

Antifungal activity of orchids

In a fascinating description of a "love-and-hate" relationship between orchid rootlets and their fungal symbiotes, Phytochemistry shows us yet again why many plants evolved the medicinal constituents we find and use. The study involved a species of Cypripedium, our local Northeast ladyslipper orchid.

Germination of orchid seeds fully depends on a symbiotic association with soil-borne fungi, usually Rhizoctonia spp. In contrast to the peaceful symbiotic associations between many other terrestrial plants and mycorrhizal fungi, this association is a life-and-death struggle. The fungi always try to invade the cytoplasm of orchid cells to obtain nutritional compounds. On the other hand, the orchid cells restrict the growth of the infecting hyphae and obtain nutrition by digesting them. It is likely that antifungal compounds are involved in the restriction of fungal growth. Two antifungal compounds, lusianthrin and chrysin, were isolated from the seedlings of Cypripedium macranthos var. rebunense that had developed shoots. The former had a slightly stronger antifungal activity than the latter, and the antifungal spectra of these compounds were relatively specific to the nonpathogenic Rhizoctonia spp. The level of lusianthrin, which was very low in aseptic protocorm-like bodies, dramatically increased following infection with the symbiotic fungus. In contrast, chrysin was not detected in infected protocorm-like bodies. These results suggest that orchid plants equip multiple antifungal compounds and use them at specific developmental stages; lusianthrin maintains the perilous symbiotic association for germination and chrysin helps to protect adult plants.

FDA supplement regulation update

The herbal community has been avidly analyzing the most recent FDA regulations on herbal / supplement manufacturing. It is becoming more and more evident that: 1. this is a very burdensome set of rules, most especially for small manufacturers and herbal practitioners (I find myself a member of both groups...); and 2. the regulations themselves are so complex and far-reaching that enforcement will be almost impossible.
The Integrator Blog has posted a nice, brief discussion on these topics from the point of view of big industry experts (good people, generally). I think it's worth the two minute read.

Black Cohosh beats Prozac for hot flashes

After lots of back-and-forth concerning Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) and its effects on the hot flashes associated with peri-menopause, we have a study that examines 120 women over the course of 6 months. They were given either Black Cohosh extract, or a nice dose of Prozac.
While both treatments were effective, the herbal extract was much better at reducing hot flashes and improving subjective quality of life. Prozac didn't fare as well -- though it did seem to have a positive impact on subjective markers of depression.
I hope this study will continue to add to the positive evidence for the use of this excellent herb in managing peri-menopausal symptoms. Of course, I haven't heard anything about this in the mainstream news -- they much prefer poorly designed studies that show negative results -- but if good research keeps coming out validating Black Cohosh, that may change.

Stress, inflammation, and chronic disease: new links

Sure, we all know that stress, tension and the anger that sometimes accompany them don't make us feel too good. A study from researchers at Duke, using data obtained by the Air Force, reveals just how linked these aspects of life are to crucial markers of cardiovascular inflammation. Elements (part of the complement family of proteins) in the blood that are involved in regulating inflammation in the heart and blood vessels seem to get overproduced by significant factors in men who feel more anger, hostility, and depression. This puts them at elevated risk for diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. To my knowledge this is one of the only pieces of research identifying a direct link between these emotional states and the cardiovascular system. It looked at over 300 men through the course of 10 years.
In another bit of research, scientists at the University of Grenada followed 45 patients who suffer from Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by body-wide inflammation and fatigue (amongst many other symptoms). Relaxation and stress-management techniques made significant impacts on the day-to-day symptoms and levels of inflammation these patients experienced, leading to the conclusion that stress has a profound effect on increasing inflammation in chronic disease, and that managing this stress has wonderful benefits that are free from side effects.

This is not news to herbalists: I have always maintained that chronic inflammation is involved in most all states of imbalance, and that stress (without physical exertion) always aggravates it. Those who love plants have always added gentle tonics to most recommended treatment plans, and this makes good sense: address the disease, sure -- but manage the stress response as well!
Generally, the herbs used fall into two broad categories:
1. The "adaptogens", with somewhat of an "adrenal-tonic" effect:
Schizandra
Rhodiola
Holy Basil
Licorice (caution in hypertension)
Siberian Ginseng a.k.a. Eleuthero (caution in hypertension)
American Ginseng
etc...
2. The "nervine tonics", non-sedating yet calmative:
Oats ("milky", unripe oat tops or oatstraw)
Scullcap a.k.a. Skullcap
Lemon Balm
Passionflower
Linden
Chamomile
St. John's Wort (consult an herbalist before using)
Vervain
Lemon Verbena
etc...

Not surprisingly, there's some good therapeutic crossover between these two categories in terms of controlling stress and relieving inflammation, fatigue, and lack of focus. But let's not forget my favorite medicine for stress, anger, hostility and depression: good, regular, aerobic exercise. It's what we're built for, and the reason we secrete stress hormones to begin with!

Coffee, running, and skin cancer

Good news for runners who enjoy a cup of coffee before morning exercise: new research in mice seems to point towards caffeine combined with exercise as protective against skin cancer and the deposition of subcutaneous fat. The study involved caffeine-laced water, which arguably has no flavonoid content compared to coffee and thus is even less protective, but nevertheless the mice who consumed it and exercised had about 4 times more cell death in UV-damaged skin cells. Death (apoptosis) here is good - it sure beats growth and division (a.k.a. cancer)! Interestingly, exercise or coffee, by themselves, were much less effective against melanomas.
This is an animal study, and thus largely theoretical, and I would be the first to volunteer for a logitudinal study in humans. Nevertheless, it balances earlier news that marathon runners have a higher incidence of melanoma (I wonder if they were controlling for coffee intake?), and continues to bolster the idea that good quality coffee, at about 1-2 cups a day, has a wide range of protective effects similar to those of chocolate. Tropical herbal medicine.

Diagnosing by smell

Smelling the breath and body odor of a sick person has long been considered an important part of the herbalist's examination, regardless of your tradition and approach. Modern scientists have also been aware for a while that "bad breath" is not simply a condition of overgrowth of oral bacteria, but that it can also be linked to a variety of unbalanced internal processes (see this review for a summary). Now, a machine that analyzes volatile compounds in a patient's breath has been shown to detect the presence of lung cancer pretty reliably (3/4 of the time, with a misdiagnosis rate of about 25%). Neat idea -- but it's interesting to note that folks trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine started using the ultra-sensitive noses of cute poodles to do the exact same thing a few years ago.
Though our olfactory apparatus isn't as sharp as a dog's, we may still have some capacity to use information garnered from the breath and body odor of sick folks to understand what's going on. I recall a brief conversation I had at the last International Herb Symposium, while sipping Kava punch at the herbalist's Ball, where a gentleman whose name I can't remember was discussing olfactory diagnosis. An expert in the process had apparently teamed up with a perfumist and created a whole kit of scents, each of which exactly mimicked the "scent" of an individual disease. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know! I'd love to look, or smell, a little deeper...

Database of diabetes herbs

ProGene Bio, an Indian company, has put together lots of recent research on medicinal plants used in diabetes and the management of blood sugar. The database is extensive, covering over 380 botanical species, but is a bit difficult to navigate unless you know the exact Latin binomial of the plant you're looking for. Nevertheless, browsing is always an option, and if you are looking for "scientific evidence" of an herb's use in diabetes control, this option might be a bit easier than a straight PubMed search...
(see Cinnamon, for example).

Cinnamon and blood sugar

Swedish researchers published a small but interesting trial of Cinnamon (Cinnamonum verum) in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Fourteen non-diabetics were in the group, and half received cinnamon powder at a dose of 6 grams in their rice pudding (clearly, not a blinded trial and much less tasty for the control group).
Then, starting 15 minutes after the pudding and continuing for an hour and a half, they measured both the rate of gastric emptying and the blood sugar rise. Cinnamon slowed both down, but the effect was much greater for the blood sugar itself.
It seems to me that we are watching the synergy of crude plant preparations here: the gut is slowing down, relaxing due to the carminative volatile oils in the ground cinnamon bark. At the same time, mucilage present in the powder is binding the sugars from the meal, slowing their release into the bloodstream. Finally, there are biochemical reasons, at the level of the cell surface and the cytoplasm, why Cinnamon seems to control postprandial blood sugar very well (see additional recent studies below), but this basic idea works well for any volatile / mucilage (carminative / demulcent) combination. I hope we stay away from the idea of refining and patenting a constituent from cinnamon to treat diabetes.
The other interesting point from a clinical perspective is that this trial uses a nice (6g) dose of cinnamon for a single meal. As the studies below show, lower doses (1g to 2g per day) don't seem to do very much. This makes sense, as you need some bulk of mucilage and 1 gram of powder is a very small amount; additionally, a dose of 6g to 12g a day is much more in line with traditional usage.


Related research, via PubMed:

	Altschuler JA, Casella SJ, MacKenzie TA, Curtis KM.
	The effect of cinnamon on A1C among adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2007 Apr;30(4):813-6. PMID: 17392542 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Pham AQ, Kourlas H, Pham DQ.
	Cinnamon supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pharmacotherapy. 2007 Apr;27(4):595-9. PMID: 17381386 [PubMed - in process]

	Cao H, Polansky MM, Anderson RA.
	Cinnamon extract and polyphenols affect the expression of tristetraprolin, insulin receptor, and glucose transporter 4 in mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2007 Mar 15;459(2):214-22. Epub 2007 Jan 25. PMID: 17316549 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Subash Babu P, Prabuseenivasan S, Ignacimuthu S.
	Cinnamaldehyde--a potential antidiabetic agent. Phytomedicine. 2007 Jan;14(1):15-22. Epub 2006 Nov 30. PMID: 17140783 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Mang B, Wolters M, Schmitt B, Kelb K, Lichtinghagen R, Stichtenoth DO, Hahn A.
	Effects of a cinnamon extract on plasma glucose, HbA, and serum lipids in diabetes mellitus type 2. Eur J Clin Invest. 2006 May;36(5):340-4. PMID: 16634838 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Vanschoonbeek K, Thomassen BJ, Senden JM, Wodzig WK, van Loon LJ.
	Cinnamon supplementation does not improve glycemic control in postmenopausal type 2 diabetes patients. J Nutr. 2006 Apr;136(4):977-80. PMID: 16549460 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Kim SH, Hyun SH, Choung SY.
	Anti-diabetic effect of cinnamon extract on blood glucose in db/db mice. J Ethnopharmacol. 2006 Mar 8;104(1-2):119-23. Epub 2005 Oct 5. PMID: 16213119 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

	Verspohl EJ, Bauer K, Neddermann E.
	Antidiabetic effect of Cinnamomum cassia and Cinnamomum zeylanicum in vivo and in vitro. Phytother Res. 2005 Mar;19(3):203-6. PMID: 15934022 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cannabis and psychosis

The current issue of the Lancet published a meta-analysis of multiple trials concerning the use of cannabis and its association with mental illness. There were 35 longitudinal studies selected for the analysis. All of them followed patients starting before any mental illness, and included cannabis use as a variable along with many other factors, such as personality, background, use of other drugs. 7 out of 35 trials concerned "psychosis" (ranging from 'mild symptoms' to 'schizophrenia') and were the only ones that showed any connection with cannabis use. Conditions of mental illness such as depression, mood disturbances, or others did not have any connection.
The study's authors rightly point out that there can be no way to say for certain that there is a direct causal link between smoking pot and experiencing at least one major psychotic episode (and the definitions are a bit of a problem for me here as well), but that caution, especially in folks with a personal or family history, is warranted. In the end, I would have to agree -- but this is true of any medicine, really...
There is a brief (6-minute) interview with the study's author here.

Docs and nurses use "alternative medicine"

An interesting report details the uses of herbs and dietary supplements by doctors, nurses, and other mainstream health care providers. Although it focuses on clinicians enrolled in an online course about alternative medicine and supplements, the study still gives some interesting tidbits: first off, over 80% of the practitioners used some form of herb or supplement. The top choices are things like multivitamins and specific vits; but herbs such as green tea, chamomile, flax, cinnamon and Echinacea are right up there. I keep saying that things are changing with the new batches of allopaths coming out of the medical and nursing schools: I hope the positive attitudes can translate to good education, both of the care providers and their patients!

Salacia oblonga for type 2 diabetes

A tropical shrub used in Ayurveda for controlling obesity and its associated health complications, Salacia oblonga (a.k.a. Saptrangi) has shown promise in some limited trials that looked at its ability to reduce high blood sugar in diabetes. A new trial goes into more detail: the extract of the root and stems of this plant lowered post-meal blood glucose by about 25%, while also reducing the amount of circulating insulin in the blood. Thus, it seems to sensitize the physiology to insulin, which reverses the trend of insulin resistance seen in type 2 diabetes. A 25% reduction is significant: it could bring a diabetic patient with postprandial blood glucose levels over 150 down to the "normal" range of 120.

Curcumin and Alzheimer's

Though these findings come from a test tube, the results are nonetheless pretty interesting: a study carried out at UCLA reveals that immune cells are much more active against the amyloid plaques thought to contribute to Alzheimer's disease when treated with curcumin, one of the many compounds in turmeric.
This delicious rhizome in the ginger family has been conclusively shown to have anti-inflammatory power, and now this in-vitro research seems to hint at power beyond simple reduction of inflammation.
Amyloid plaques, which are tangles of protein thought to interfere with neuronal function in Alzheimer's disease, have a close link to inflammatory processes. Perhaps ongoing ingestion of turmeric in the diet can have a protective effect if initiated early on in life. I'd be interested in epidemiological reviews of the incidence of Alzheimer's in cultures who use a lot of curry (rich in turmeric) versus those who use none...