Positive Health Online

With the burgeoning of internet sites which instantly publish research information, including  links to social networking sites which can go viral, need I reiterate that at times the agenda and perspective and intention of the author and the site are almost as influential as the published research data?

Thus, to put it very crudely, one often reads and hears all the time about so-called 'breakthroughs' in cancer research and treatment from drugs and medical procedures, and about negative and scaremongering side effects of vitamins and minerals and complementary medicine practitioners.

So, as we go live with Positive Health PH Online May Issue 170, breaking news headlines have reported research from Imperial College scientists published in The Lancet that one-off sigmoidoscopy screening in people aged over 55 years could substantially (up to 43%) reduce mortality from bowel cancer.

"A single examination of the bowel using a tube-mounted camera could cut bowel cancer deaths by up to 43 percent among people over 55, researchers say. The examination could complement the screening test currently used by the NHS, which uses stool samples to test for bowel cancer."

Atkin WS, Edwards R, Kralj-Hans I, et al. Once-only flexible sigmoidoscopy screening in prevention of colorectal cancer: a multicentre randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. Published online 28 April 2010.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60551-X/fulltext  

This is indeed an extremely positive result, which if implemented, along with appropriate advice regarding diet, nutrition and exercise, could prevent many cases of bowel cancer and save many lives.

My point is that other published research, particularly regarding nutritional and herbal interventions, tends to be under- or never- reported. Here are extracted examples, some of which are included in this issue – PH Online Issue 170.

... the researchers found that the one quarter with the highest intakes of vitamin K2 were 28% less likely to have died of any one of the 22 different cancers than the one-quarter of men and women with the lowest intakes of the vitamin. Subjects in the highest quartile of vitamin K2 had a 62% reduced risk of lung cancer and lung cancer mortality. For prostate cancer this figure was 42% reduced risk.
www.positivehealth.com/article-view.php?articleid=2797  

PELUCCHI and COLLEAGUES, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy. pelucchi@marionegri.it  were investigating the possible links between consumption of certain micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – and risk of gastric cancer. They found Decreased Odds Ratios (ORs) for the highest versus lowest quartile of vitamin E were OR=0.50, for alpha-carotene OR=0.52 and beta-carotene OR=0.42.
www.positivehealth.com/research-view.php?researchid=4173  

EVANS and COLLEAGUES, Department of Clinical Sciences, Clinical Research Center, Lund University, University Hospital, 205 02, Malmo, Sweden tested the anticancer effect of TBS-101, a newly developed anti-cancer botanical agent containing seven standardized botanical extracts, including: Panax ginseng, cranberry, green tea, grape skin, grape seed, Ganoderma lucidum and chamomile in the treatment of prostate cancer.

...Treatment of the PC-3 cells with TBS-101 resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth, with an IC(50) of 1.4 microg/ml. A concomitant induction of apoptosis in PC-3 cells treated with TBS-101 was also observed. Upon the treatment with TBS-101, all three groups of mice bearing moderate or large tumours showed significant inhibition of tumour growth and invasion. In contrast, control mice treated with vehicle alone had significant tumour growth and lymph node metastasis.
www.positivehealth.com/research-view.php?researchid=4175

Evans S, Dizeyi N, Abrahamsson PA and Persson J. The effect of a novel botanical agent TBS-101 on invasive prostate cancer in animal models. Anticancer Research 29 (10): 3917-24. Oct 2009.

The Orthomolecular Medicine News Service has received complaints from readers who have tried, and failed, to correct what they think are a number of strongly biased declarations at the Wikipedia page on Orthomolecular Medicine

"(T)he broad claims made by advocates of megavitamin therapy are considered unsubstantiated by available medical evidence. Critics have described some aspects of orthomolecular medicine as food faddism or quackery. Research suggests that some nutritional supplements might be harmful; several specific vitamin therapies are associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, or death."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine  

Can you imagine the hysteria if a drug or medical procedure could reduce cancer risk by 50% or greater? Yet, such reputable research studies as extracted above are not unusual, but are strangely consigned to the nether world of the Great Ignored (apologies to the David Cameron Conservative Party Election Campaign Manifesto) research – a fate worse than disputed research.

Prior to the liberation granted to individuals by the internet, which has ended the monopoly and control by elite researchers and publishers, many of whom have been unmasked as being influenced or in the pay of the medical and pharmaceutical establishment, there seemed to be no remedy for the Great Ignored research, except to be consigned to never be seen, read or broadcast to interested readers.

However it is now almost impossible to suppress the existence of bona fide research which has been published in peer-reviewed journals and which documents the positive health results obtained using nutritional, herbal and other non-drug approaches to serious conditions. These results, instead of remaining hidden, ought to be embraced by the medical profession at large so that these results can be integrated into a truly Integrated Medicine for the 21st Century.

This May Issue 170 publishes a superb selection of editorial features by highly authoritative authors in their fields. Enjoy and broadcast to the world!
www.positivehealth.com/issue-view.php?issueid=166