Category: Health

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Acupuncture really does reduce pain, say researchers

Sceptics dismiss it as a placebo, but acupuncture really can reduce pain, and scientists have used brain scanners to prove it.

Acupuncture needles affect the way the brain perceives and processes pain, say researchers from University Hospital in Essen, Germany.

They tested acupuncture’s pain-relieving capabilities on a group of 18 volunteers, who had an electrical device attached to their ankles.  They had brain scans when they had acupuncture needles placed in three areas, and when the needles were removed.  All the time the device was causing pain and discomfort.

Areas of the brain that process pain had changed significantly when the acupuncture needles were inserted, the scientists discovered.

(Source: Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Chicago,  November 30, 2010.



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Cancer is a man-made disease, research concludes

(NaturalNews) Diet, pollution and modern living conditions have been implicated as the factors responsible for cancer, concluded researchers, after analysing the remains of almost 1,000 individuals from ancient Egypt and Greece.

The investigation, conducted by a team from Manchester University, looked into medical literature of the time for descriptions of cancer symptoms as well as examining today’s remains for signs of the disease. They did, for the first time, manage to identify cancer in one Egyptian mummy but this remained the only example in their widespread search. With this in mind, the scientists concluded that cancer was even rarer than previously thought.

Professor Rosalie David, who led the study, said: “In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. In ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”

The research team painstakingly pieced together the development of cancer over the last 3,000 years, much longer than several other scientific papers. They found that cancer only began to emerge as a common disease in the 1700s, and its rate of occurrence dramatically rose during the 20th century. Continue reading “Cancer is a man-made disease, research concludes”

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Nobel scientist discovers scientific basis of homeopathy

In the week that doctors have described homeopathy as ‘nonsense on stilts’, a Nobel prize-winning scientist has made a discovery about the nature of water that suggests the therapy does have a scientific basis.

Professor Luc Montagnier, a French virologist who won the Nobel prize for discovering a link between HIV and AIDS, has shocked fellow Nobel prize-winners by telling them that water has a memory that continues even after many dilutions. The idea is one of the foundations of homeopathy, which maintains that the potency of a substance is increased with its dilution.

Montagnier has discovered that solutions containing the DNA of viruses and bacteria “could emit low frequency radio waves”. These waves influence molecules around them, and turn them into organised structures. These molecules in turn can emit waves. He has discovered that the waves remain in the water, even after it has been diluted many times.

Montagnier’s statement couldn’t happen at a worse time for doctors. Last week, the UK’s British Medical Association (BMA) – the trade union of doctors – passed a resolution to stop homeopathy being made available on the National Health Service. It also wants all homeopathic remedies to be placed in a special area marked ‘Placebos’ in health shops and pharmacies. The NHS currently spends around £4m a year on homeopathy, mainly by funding four homeopathic hospitals in the UK.

(Sources: Sunday Times, July 4, 2010; British Medical Association).



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Ginger relieves severe muscle pain, new research shows

Forget the aspirin and Big Pharma pills for your muscle pain. According to a new study just reported in the Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, daily doses of raw or heat-treated ginger effectively relieve muscle aches and discomfort — and that includes even severe pain following strenuous exercise.

For centuries, ginger has been used by practitioners of Chinese medicine and by traditional Indian and Japanese healers to treat a host of conditions including vomiting and nausea, chronic coughs, morning sickness, gastrointestinal complaints and migraine headaches. It has also been used to treat both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. However, Western medicine has only recently started to seriously study the medicinal qualities of ginger. Continue reading “Ginger relieves severe muscle pain, new research shows”

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Cranberry juice could stop MRSA infection, say researchers

Cranberry juice is a powerful infection fighter – and it might even be able to combat MRSA, the killer bug found in hospitals and nursing homes. It is already successfully used in cases of E.coli and urinary tract infections, but one clinical trial suggests that it could even fight staph infections, including MRSA. Continue reading “Cranberry juice could stop MRSA infection, say researchers”