A new study by The George Institute for International Health has found Tai Chi to have positive health benefits for musculoskeletal pain. The results of the first comprehensive analysis of Tai Chi suggest that it produces positive effects for improving pain and disability among arthritis sufferers.

The researchers are now embarking on a new trial to establish if similar benefits can be seen among people with chronic low back pain.

“This is the first robust evidence to support the beneficial effects of Tai Chi. Our study proves that Tai Chi relieves pain and disability among people with arthritis and shows a positive trend towards effects for overall physical health. We now want to see if these benefits are the same for people suffering from low back pain”, said author Dr Chris Maher at The George Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: Amanda Hall, arthritis, Australia, Author, back pain, China, Chris Maher, exercise therapy, George Institute, George Institute for International Health, low back pain, north America, pain, Tai Chi

It is said that hosting the Olympic games is an opportunity to showcase your country and this will lead to increased tourism over the coming years. Well China seems to have had another side effect to hosting the Olympics and that is getting more people interested in exercise and fitness.

The end of the Olympic Games has not been the end of exercise for Beijing, for people’s enthusiasm for keeping fit has been encouraged.

In a country where going to gyms was not as common, even in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, as in developed countries the immediate aftermath of the Games has seen greater interest in exercise.

“I liked watching the basketball games most. I myself wanted to play when I saw the players fight hard on the field, so I came here with my friends,” the 19-year-old Liu Bing said at an outside basketball field in downtown Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: basketball, Beijing, Capital Indoor Stadium, China, CNY, exercise, fitness, olympic games, outdoor exercise, Shanghai, sports fields, the Olympic games, the Olympics, USD, volleyball, Zhu Mo

The Center for Disease Control is reporting that Measles Cases are at the highest rate in over 10 years. Most of the reason for the really high rate of Measles outbreaks is because of the fear of Autism from kids getting the

More measles cases have been reported in the United States since Jan. 1, 2008 than during the same period in any year since 1996, according to a report released today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Measles Results for 2008

Between January 1 and July 31, 2008, 131 cases were reported to CDC′s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). At least fifteen patients, including four children younger than 15 months of age, were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Academy of Pediatrics, Anne Schuchat, Arizona, Arkansas, Austria, Autism, Belgium, California, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, D.C., director, encephalitis, Europe, Georgia, Germany, hawaii, Illinois, immunization, India, Israel, Italy, Louisiana, measles, Michigan, Missouri, mmr vaccine, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Mumps, National Center for Immunization, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, New Mexico, New York, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, preventing infections, Respiratory Diseases, rubella, Russian Federation, Switzerland, the Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, vaccination, vaccination program, vaccination status, vaccines, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

I have often thought that exercise can help get rid of the symptoms and even the effects of Diabetes and today I see that there is yet another study that says that exercise can at the very least stop you from getting type 2 diabetes. It is one thing to say that exercise and good health stops you from getting sick but if you are not sick some will argue that you are just genetically predisposed to not getting sick.

Group-based diet and exercise lifestyle interventions over six years can prevent or delay diabetes for up to 14 years after the intervention period. But whether lifestyle interventions also lead to reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality remains unclear. These are the conclusions of authors of an Article in this week’s Diabetes Special Issue of The Lancet.

While several major clinical trials around the world have shown the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions to reduce diabetes incidence in people with impaired glucose tolerance*, questions remain over how long post-intervention these strategies remain effective. Professor Guangwei Li, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China, and Dr Ping Zhang, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and colleagues did the China Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Outcome Study (CDQDPOS), which followed-up patients 20 years after enrollment. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlanta, Beijing, cardiovascular disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, CVD, diabetes, diabetes prevention, disease control and prevention, Finland, Georgia, glucose tolerance, Guangwei Li, Helsinki, Jaana Lindström, Matti Uusitupa, National Public Health Institute, Ping Zhang, professor, United States, University of Helsinki, University of Kuopio

The Native American herbal medicine tradition is often overlooked these days in favor of Chinese or Ayurvedic traditions. This is a great pity when all of the herbs used by the native healers grow wild in the USA. Instead of growing them in our gardens, we pay hundreds of dollars to have the equivalent shipped to us in bottles from China or India. At the same time, we ignore many of the other lessons that Native American healing has for us.

Traditionally it was believed that the power of herbal medicine to heal rests partly in the plants, partly in the healer and partly in the person being healed. Today, conventional western medicine encourages us to believe that all power lies with the doctors and the medication. We do not take any share of the responsibility for our own sickness or healing, and that is a great mistake.

While some plants certainly have medically observable effects, it is also true that our attitude when we use a remedy has a great deal of power. Belief that the treatment will help you is important, and so is having a genuine wish to get well that is not undermined by a desire for the attention that being sick can get us.

The power of herbal treatments used by Native American people was reinforced by the trust that they had in the spiritual, almost magical, power of the healers. The medicine man or shaman was chosen according to his birth position in society and his natural talent. Often there would be a family connection with medicine and tribal religion. It might be considered that blind faith in modern doctors would have the same effect, but it does not because the spiritual aspect is missing.

Medicine was seen as a question of dealing with the spirit as much as the body, and many ceremonies were practiced both by healers and also by the person being treated or his or her family. A major effect of the ceremonies that the healer performed was to increase his awareness and concentration so that even without any of the laboratory tests that are done these days, he could correctly diagnose the problem and see the best remedy – not just for the disease, but for the person. Ceremonies undertaken by the afflicted person would cleanse the body and mind to prepare them to make the best possible use of the remedy when it was taken.

This spiritual aspect of herbal medicine is completely ignored today. We take herbal remedies in much the same way that we take chemical medications, assuming that the substance has all of the power and we have none.

In fact, many doctors as well as alternative medical practitioners today would agree that it is the sick person who does the healing, and not the remedy. The body’s ability to heal itself, known as homeostasis, is at the root of all recovery. It works by expelling toxins, fighting back against disease with antibodies. All that medication does is to help the process along and remove obstacles to recovery.

If we can get away from the mainstream western view that the body and mind or spirit are two separate things, the importance of a spiritual aspect to healing becomes very clear. The state of the sick person’s mind is as important in the recovery process as the state of his body.

This does not mean that we have to perform tribal dances or complicated rituals. We can replace them with other spiritual practices including meditation and prayer. But studying the spiritual aspect of Native American herbal medicine can help us shift our focus and understand that in a sense, we always have to heal ourselves.

Tags: antibodies, chemical medications, China, Herbal Remedies, India, meditation, United States

Many different illnesses are able to be treated using the procedure of acupuncture and one of those illnesses that is able to be easily treated is Depression. Even though Depression is a mental illness and not a physical ailment, the whole process of acupuncture is able to cure almost any mental disorder that the Chinese used back in ancient civilizations to cure.

There is no doubt, also, that ancient Chinese individuals and society did suffer from the horrible affects that some people call Depression. Of course, Depression has lots of other names and there are actually many other mental illnesses that should be able to be treated with acupuncture.

Aside from Depression, though, many types of anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with a whole plethora of other mental illnesses, need to be treated with this revolutionary medicine that has been available in China for the past thousand of years but has just been introduced to the United States in recent decades. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: acupuncture, acupuncture therapist, acupuncture therapy, ailments, anxiety disorders, China, chinese individuals, depression, Far East, mental disorder, mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, traumatic stress disorder, United States

MSN has a Q and A with Dr Andrew Weil about the different kinds of teas and what they are good for. The thing that I like about Dr Weil is the huge depth of knowledge that he has about alternative medicines and I remember reading one of his early books and just reading that book changed a lot of my preconceptions about the voodoo behind alternative medicines

Green Tea Alternatives – MSN Health & Fitness – Diet & Fitness

Black Tea

The color refers to the leaves; the beverage is deep amber. Black tea varieties include Darjeeling and Earl Grey; flavors range from spicy to flowery.

Benefits: May lower risk of heart disease and colon cancer; inhibits bacteria that cause cavities and bad breath.

Green Tea

If you find the flavor too “grassy,” try my favorites: jewel green matcha, which I enjoy every morning, and Japanese sencha.

Benefits: Has been shown in numerous studies to help prevent many kinds of cancer, lower cholesterol, and boost immunity.

Oolong Tea

Midway between green and black tea in color, flavor, and antioxidant action, oolong has a fresh floral or fruity aroma.

Benefits: Drinking 3 cups a day can help relieve itchy skin rashes.

Pu-Erh (poo-air) Tea

This dark red tea has an earthy flavor that reminds me of coffee and tobacco. It’s considered a delicacy in China (you can purchase it online), where its processing is a highly guarded secret. The most oxidized of teas, pu-erh is said to mellow and improve with age, like wine.

Benefits: May reduce cholesterol.

White Tea

Rare and expensive, this least processed tea has a flavor that’s a bit too subtle for me.

Benefits: Contains more antioxidants than other teas. Test-tube studies show that it blocks DNA mutations (which trigger tumor formation); a study on rats discovered it prevented precancerous colon tumors.

All of these Teas are readily available at most health food stores or even in some supermarkets

Tags: Alternative Medicine, Andrew Weil, beverage, cancer, China, colon cancer, colon tumors, Darjeeling Grey, Earl Grey, health food stores, Health Issues, heart disease, tumor

Melamine was the biggest problem in the dog food recall a couple of weeks ago that was a result of dangerous dog food killing animals throughout north america. After that food scare some people started looking at the human food sources that may have melamine in them.

Today the FDA came out with a press release that stated that food for people does not seem to be dangerous. Here are a couple of quotes from that press release.

There is very low risk to human health from consuming meat from hogs and chickens known to have been fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine and melamine-related compounds, according to an assessment conducted by scientists from five federal agencies.

In the most extreme risk assessment scenario, when scientists assumed that all the solid food a person consumes in an entire day was contaminated with melamine at the levels observed in animals fed contaminated feed, the potential exposure was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered safe. In other words, it was well below any level of public health concern.

The risk assessment is an important new science-based component of the continuing federal joint investigation into imported wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate from China that contained melamine and melamine-related compounds.

The risk assessment was conducted by scientists from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This team is now compiling a scientific assessment of the risk to animal health associated with ingestion of animal feed containing melamine and its compounds.

Hopefully now we will not have to worry about melamine and can concentrate on all of the other issues from pesticides to salmonella in our food.

Tags: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, couple, dangerous dog food killing animals, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, dog food, Environmental Protection Agency, fda, feed, food, food and drug administration, food health, Food Safety and Inspection Service, food scare, human food sources, pet food scraps, potential exposure, U.S. Department of Agriculture

With the rapid failure of fad diets and realization of the fact that prescription drugs do more harm than good, everyone is looking forward to losing weight naturally. This is the reason why they are interested in knowing whether green tea can help them lose weight or not. If you too are interested in it, read this article to find out the answer.

As a matter of fact, human beings have been using green tea for thousands of years for the purpose of boosting their health. Green tea is popular among the Asian community, particularly China and Japan. The Japanese and Chinese believe that green tea helps them live a long and healthy life. But does it really help with weight loss?

Green tea is made by steaming fresh leaves. This is why green tea is rich in a flavonal compound called polyphenol. In fact, you can say that almost 40% of green tea contains this flavonal compound. This is the reason why this tea is so nutritious for our body and so vital for its health. Green tea has the potential to stop several harmful diseases dead in their tracks, such as cancer.

Green tea also helps the body burn fat by boosting its metabolic rate. Now as a matter of fact, it has the power to boost your metabolism without making you workout for long hours or taking help of any unhealthy weight loss methods, As such, you would be able to lose weight naturally and healthily with the help of green tea, not to mention the fact that there is no side effect.

Do you know that a chemical compound called epigallocatechin gallate helps a person lose weight, and that this compound is in plenty in green tea? Epigallocatechin gallate enhances your metabolic rate, which in turn helps you burn calories and fat. As your body burns more and more fat and converts them into energy, you start losing weight.

So the answer is: yes, green tea indeed helps one lose weight and become slim. So what are you waiting for? Don’t forget to take at least one cup of hot green tea regularly in the morning, along with your breakfast.

You may drink green tea in its raw form but I prefer to mix a bit of lemon juice and honey to it so as to make the tea taste great. Also keep in mind that there is no restriction that you should drink tea only once per day; you can drink it as often as you want, and remember that the more you drink green tea, the faster you would lose weight.

Tags: cancer, chemical compound, China, energy, Japan

Today being Halloween and with two little kids I thought I would just drop a bunch of links to health news for you to check out at your leisure.

A new sex study was released which found nothing new as far as I see although others may believe that it is more interesting than I think (I have no idea why I don’t write more about sex issues on this blog…should I?)

Here in Canada Kentucky Fried Chicken has announced that it will be cutting trans fats from their chicken. To bad that they are two years too late and that the yummy chicken is really more poison to your arteries than food.

A new strain of H5N1 otherwise known as bird flu has been found in china. Flu season is just about to get started so I guess we will see more of these kinds of stories and the whole health industry is holding it’s breath for bird flu to become a pandemic with so few people in the third world being protected against it.

And finally. I am a sucker for reading about the craziest diets and the Diet Blog today has an article about the OXO diet. You know what OXO is it is those little salty spice cubes for making soup. apparently one man found that they were a good meal replacement and he has lost weight with them. Of course this will work and is a very cheap meal replacement, but remember there are no nutrients in an OXO cube either

Tags: Bird flu, China, food, Halloween