Placebos as a Viable Treatment

A study performed by researchers at Harvard University has shown that placebos can be an effective treatment even when patients are not deceived into thinking they are taking actual medicine. The scientiests divided the 80 participants - all sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) - into two groups. One group was a control group and didn't receive any kind of treatment. The other group was given pills to take two times a day, however the scientists explained to the group that the pills were similar to sugar pills. The participants were never told that the pills contained any medicine, and even the container was labeled "placebo."

At the conclusion of the study, about thirty-five percent of the people who received no treatment at all reported an improvement in symptoms. Unexpectedly, nearly sixty percent of the participants who recieved a placebo reported an improvement in symptoms. Additionally, the placebo group graded their improvements similarly to the improvement generally reported by people who take IBS medications.

Two medications, Lubiprostone and Alosetron, have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of IBS, but they are used only as a last resort as they have a number of unpleasant or unhealthy side effects.

If a harmless placebo can have the same result, it is a better alternative than taking medications that may make patients feel worse than their actual illness. A number of other studies have reported between thirty and forthy percent of people who took placebos had an improvement in their conditions, but that was under deception, when the patients didn't know that they weren't taking actual medication.

And these findings are not only relevant for for IBS sufferers. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that placebos have virtually identical effects as widely prescribed antidepressants on patients who suffer from mild to moderate depression.

Using Ginger to Treat Stomach Problems

Ginger could be used to effectively treat functional dyspepsia, reports a small-scale study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. A stomach condition which is characterized by pain in the abdomen, functional dyspepsia is often responsible for a painful, uncomfortable feeling of fullness after ingesting food (much like the symptoms associated with indigestion).

For this study, 11 participants who suffer from functional dyspepsia took either a ginger supplement or a ginger placebo before eating meals. Among the participants who were took ginger, the researchers reported faster gastric emptying (the amount of time it takes for food to exit the stomach and go into the intestines). However, taking ginger didn't seem to improve the gastrointestinal symptoms.

Ginger could be used to help treat other stomach-related problems. For example, research has shown that the anti-inflammatory herb ginger has been used to help relieve nausea caused by morning sickness. Some evidence also exists that ginger may used to help relieve upset stomach experienced by those who are undergoing chemotherapy.

Read more about herbs for treating ailments at the Herbal Supplement Blog.

Many Who Have Brain Tumors Use Alternative Treatments

Many patients who have incurable brain tumors utilize alternative treatments, including taking vitamins and using homeopathy, on top of their standard treatments, according to a study published in the December 14, 2010 issue of Neurology®.

Nearly forty percent of patients with brain tumors who took part in the study utilized alternative treatments, such as homeopathy, taking vitamin supplements, and psychological therapy.

The study included 621 patients who had incurable grade II to grade IV gliomas who filled-out a questionnaires regarding their use of alternative treatments. Alternative treatments were defined as methods or compounds not generally utilized in routine clinical procedure, and which are not scientifically tested.

Younger patients, women, and those who were more highly educated had a higher likelihood of using alternative therapies than older people, men and those who were less educated.

Answering from a compiled list of reasons why people utilized alternative therapies, the most popular answers were "to support conventional therapy," "to build up body resistance" and "to do something for the treatment by myself." The least popular answers were "because I am afraid of the conventional methods" and "because the physicians don't have enough time."

Of the patients who utilized alternative therapies, nearly forty percent used homeopathy, almost thirty percent took vitamin supplements and about thirty percent utilized various types of psychological therapies.

Lemon Grass to Treat Headaches

Griffith University researchers have discovered that native lemon grass, which is used by native Australians as part of their traditional medicine, has some ability to help relieve headaches and migraines.

The findings of this five-year research study were published in the academic journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Headaches and migraines can result in abnormal activities within the body, including changing serotonin levels or disrupting normal function of blood platelets. Platelets form clumps for repairing wounds, but they may also create dangerous internal clots that starve the brain of oxygen and possibly result in a stroke.

Extracts of the lemon grass were tested on human blood platelets. The compound eugenol displayed similar functionality as aspirin. Eugenol appears to inhibit the clumping of platelets as well as the release of serotonin.

Serotonin plays a role in the regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and a variety of cognitive functions.

Generally, traditional medicines have not been researched in-depth and many unstudied plants may have as yet unknown therapeutic and healing properties.

This research project also collected a number of other traditional Australian medicinal plants to study, including Cymbopogon Ambiguus which is found in the Northern Territory.

Rising Medical Costs Resulting in Increased Popularity of Alternative Medicine

A growing number of Americans are resorting to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), particularly people who have a hard time paying for the costs of conventional care, a new study reports. This study regarding CAM trends is published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

According to researcher Dejun Su, PhD, a sociologist at the University of Texas - Pan American, “The rising cost of health care is outpacing inflation and salaries, and there’s a good possibility that that is linked to increasing CAM use."

Complementaray and alternative medicine, which often includes practices and techniques including yoga, massage, herbal medicine, and meditation, has been growing in popularity for a number of years. In 1990, nearly one-third of Americans had utilized some type of CAM. By 2002, the percentage of people who had used CAM had almost doubled. This trend, the report finds, remains on the rise.

This study compared data from the 2002 and 2007 National Health Interview Surveys, which are performed every year by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, in order to monitor the health care situation of Americans as well as their access to health care.

Over one-third of people who stated they used CAM in 2007 also reported that they had a medical need they couldn't pay for or had delayed in seeking out medical care. Su suggests that this is can be partly attributed to the greater affordability of CAM, including provider-based CAM practices, as compared to conventional practices.