What Omega3s Can and Can't Do: The Truth About Omega-3s

(Extraído de thirdage.com)

 

Omega-3 supplements have become a health phenomenon, with claims that they can help protect against conditions as varied as heart disease and arthritis. And according to one survey, they are now the most commonly taken alternative supplement among adults. Here, from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, are some facts to consider before you jump on the omega-3 bandwagon:

First, know your terms. Commonly used dietary supplements that contain omega-3s include fish oil (which provides EPA and DHA) and flaxseed oil (which provides ALA). Algae oils are a vegetarian source of DHA.  But fish liveroils are not the same as fish oils. Although they contain omega-3 fatty acids,  fish liver oils also have vitamins A and D, which can be toxic in high doses.

Omega-3 fatty acids are important for a number of bodily functions, including muscle activity, blood clotting, digestion, fertility, and cell division and growth. DHA is important for brain development and function. ALA is an "essential" fatty acid, meaning that people must obtain it from food or supplements because the human body cannot manufacture it.

There has been a substantial amount of research on supplements of omega-3s, particularly those found in seafood and fish oil, and heart disease. The findings of individual studies have been inconsistent. In 2012, two combined analyses of the results of these studies didn’t find convincing evidence these omega-3s protect against heart disease. Eating seafood such as tuna and salmon a few times a week may provide some protection, but eating fish a lot doesn’t provide extra safety.

There is some evidence that omega-3s found in seafood and fish oil may be modestly helpful in relieving symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. For most other conditions for which omega-3s have been studied, there are no definitive conclusions yet, or studies haven’t shown omega-3s to be beneficial.

There is conflicting evidence about whether omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood and fish oil might increase the risk of prostate cancer. Additional research on the association of omega-3 consumption and prostate cancer risk is under way. Although omega-3 fatty acid supplements don’t usually have negative side effects, they can cause minor symptoms such as belching, indigestion, or diarrhea.

Some more serious considerations: It’s not known whether people with fish or shellfish allergies can safely consume fish oil supplements. The Omega-3 supplements may extend bleeding time (the time it takes for a cut to stop bleeding). People who take drugs that affect bleeding time, such as anticoagulants ("blood thinners") or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), should discuss the use of omega-3 fatty acid supplements with a health care provider.

Other studies have been conducted on the effect of omega-3s on various disorders, including allergies, asthma, cachexia (severe weight loss) associated with advanced cancer, Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, kidney disease, lupus, menstrual cramps, obesity, osteoporosis, and ulcerative colitis, as well as organ transplantation outcomes. So far, scientists can’t draw any conclusions about whether omega-3s are helpful for these conditions.

Further research is being done to see how omega-3s function in relation to various illnesses, including

Diseases of the brain or nervous system, such as cognitive decline and multiple sclerosis.

Mental and behavioral health problems, such as depression, borderline personality disorder, and schizophrenia.

Diseases of the eye, such as age-related macular degeneration) and dry eye syndrome. Studies have shown that people who eat diets rich in seafood are less likely to develop the advanced stage of AMD. However, a large NIH-sponsored study, called Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2), indicated that supplements containing EPA and DHA did not slow the progression of AMD in people who were at high risk of developing the advanced stage of this disease.

If you’re considering using omega-3 supplements, a few words of caution:

*Do not use omega-3 supplements to replace conventional care or to postpone seeing a health care provider about a health problem.

Consult your health care provider before using the supplements. If you are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or breastfeeding; if you take medicine that affects blood clotting; if you are allergic to fish or shellfish; or if you are considering giving a child an omega-3 supplement, it is especially important to consult your (or your child's) health care provider.

Look for published research studies on omega-3 supplements for the health condition that interests you. Information on evidence-based studies is available from NCCAM.

Tell all your health care providers about any complementary health approaches you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care.

¡Olvídate de las infecciones! Te contamos de 5 antibióticos naturales

(Extraído de contenido.com.mx)

Los antibióticos químicos están perdiendo eficacia por su consumo indiscriminado y, cuando se usan incorrectamente o por razones equivocadas, las bacterias se vuelven inmunes, de acuerdo a Asociación de Profesionales de Terapias Naturales de España, ” las posibilidades que ofrece la medicina natural para paliar las infecciones” y reivindica el uso de los antibióticos naturales.

Se sabe que existen alrededor de 1.700 tipos de estos antibióticos naturales, conocidos como péptidos antimicrobianos (AMP), los cuales podrían ser más eficaces a largo plazo que los antibióticos tradicionales, ya que los gérmenes no son capaces de desarrollar rápidamente la resistencia contra ellos, según los investigadores de las cuatro universidades europeas.

1.- EQUINÁCEA.

Rica en compuestos vegetales que elevan las defensas naturales del cuerpo, esta planta es apropiada para parar una enfermedad leve o moderada de las vías respiratorias.

Sus polisacáridos estimulan la actividad de los macrófagos, células de la sangre que contribuyen a destruir las bacterias, los virus, otros invasores y restos metabólicos.

También activa la producción del interferón, una proteína que protege a las células contra los virus.

2.- AJO

Es un antibiótico natural, antimicrobiano, fungicida, detoxificador y antioxidante. Utilizado en superficie, el ajo es excelente para desinfectar y evitar la infección de heridas abiertas.

Es un antihelmíntico natural, utilizado para expulsar los gusanos intestinales y parásitos desde la antigüedad. Es especialmente útil contra lombrices intestinales, giardia, tripanosoma, plasmodium y leishmania.

3.-CEBOLLA

Además de la vitamina C y la quercetina, las cebollas contienen isotiocianatos, componentes antiinflamatorios que inhiben enzimas que causan condiciones inflamatorias, tales como el dolor y hinchazón que provoca la artritis, es bueno para el asma, y también para la congestión respiratoria asociada al resfriado.

Es muy útil para tratar las infecciones del tracto respiratorio, gripe, bronquitis, faringitis, etc. Si se utiliza externamente, es un gran desinfectante.

4.-PROPÓLEO

Este producto, que elaboran las abejas con resina vegetal, posee atributos antisépticos, antibacterianos, antiinflamatorios y anestésicos, y es eficaz contra el ‘staphylococcus aureus’, causante de infecciones respiratorias.

Su composición de aceites y minerales le hacen eficaz contra una amplia gama de bacterias, virus y hongos. El propóleo tiene una larga historia de uso medicinal, que data del año 350 antes de Cristo.

5.- ROMERO

Considerado el ‘ginseng’ ibérico, esta planta contiene más de cuarenta sustancias antibacterianas y más de veinte antivirales.

La infusión de romero puede ayudar a combatir bacterias que afectan el sistema respiratorio o intestinal.

Contiene vitamina C, vitamina E, carotenos, hierro y ácido fólico. Su aceite esencial, usado por vía tópica, tiene una acción estimulante de la circulación y, además, es efectivo como antifúngico.

MANUAL DE INSTRUCCIONES Y BUEN USO

“Los AN tienen su máxima eficacia cuando aparecen los primeros síntomas de la infección y, usados de forma preventiva, ayudan al organismo a rechazar patógenos indeseados. Una vez declarada la infección el organismo no necesita mayor estímulo que dichos compuestos naturales, aunque pueden ser un complemento en fases más avanzadas de enfermedad”, explica el presidente de la asociación profesional.

“los AN cubren el espectro total de infecciones sin limitarse a las bacterianas, carecen de efectos secundarios y no provocan nuevas enfermedades, como la depresión de la flora intestinal y sus posibles consecuencias sobre el sistema inmunológico, debidas a la ingesta de antibióticos de síntesis” indican los especialistas.

Dr Rajan Sankaran: 2nd Live Cases Seminar

 

25 - 27 October 

Holiday Inn Regents Park, 

London, UK

Homeopathic education is a rich tapestry of learning built of many strands. Undoubtedly amongst the finest of these is to take part in a live cases seminar with one of the masters of homeopathy.  A chance to bring our own knowledge and experience to bear and to build on this together with colleagues from around the country and abroad. 

Following a highly successful seminar in March which received very positive feedback, Dr Rajan Sankaran will again be conducting three days of live case taking in London in October of this year. 

We attach details of this second seminar which comes at the request of delegates to the March event who realised the huge learning potential of taking part in the case taking process at that level.   As Rajan will be in Germany in October he has agreed to add London to his schedule.

The Format

The Seminar will follow the same format as the previous one with teaching arising from the observation of and analysis of the live case taking and the  materia medica covered will depend on the patients.

But What of The Follow-Ups?

Responses to the homeopathic prescription are as we all know as individual as the patients themselves and often test our confidence at sticking to the selected remedy, however well chosen. Therefore the follow ups are as invaluable as the actual case taking as a learning tool.  This will therefore be an on-going process with delegates provided with progress reports on the patients at regular intervals.  

As we are hoping that live case taking seminars with Rajan will become an annual event in the UK (as they are in Germany), the patients are also invited back to give their follow ups, to ensure continuity of care for the patient, and continuity of learning for participants.

For further details, please go to the Pinnacle website, or contact us:

Telephone: + 44 (0)20 8946 2650

pinnacleseminars@dsl.pipex.com

www.pinnacleseminars.co.uk

Hoping to see you in October.

Warm regards,

Clare, Ilana, Penny

Pinnacle Seminars

99 Cottenham Park Road

London

SW20 0DS

tel. +44 (0)20 8946 2650

e: pinnacleseminars@dsl.pipex.com

www.pinnacleseminars.co.uk

Especialistas del IPN tendrán acceso a información de la Universidad de Beijing

(Extraído de elpuntocritico.com)

Escrito por Edmundo Olivares Alcalá

Para dar mayor sustento científico a terapéuticas como la acupuntura, acucatgut y acutomo, especialistas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) podrán acceder a la base de datos de la Universidad de Beijing, donde existe una amplia gama de revistas de medicina tradicional cuya información estará disponible para apoyar trabajos de investigación.

Roberto González González, catedrático y especialista en Acupuntura Humana de la Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía (ENMH) de esta casa de estudios, dijo que China produce alrededor de 250 revistas que contienen artículos científicos, los cuales pueden ser un punto de partida para que especialistas y alumnos del IPN realicen investigación científica.

Dijo que son fundamentales de la especialidad de Acupuntura Humana es buscar nuevos esquemas para el tratamiento de enfermedades de alto impacto epidemiológico sustentados en el conocimiento científico, de ahí la importancia de contar con información de alto nivel como la que se produce en China.

“Como parte de su preparación, todos los estudiantes de la especialidad deben realizar un trabajo de investigación con alguna de las terapéuticas que se aplican en la Clínica de Acupuntura de la ENMH. Actualmente se desarrollan protocolos con acucatgut y acutomo con mucho éxito”, destacó.

González González aclaró que el acucatgut y acutomo no están desplazando a la acupuntura -que es la más conocida entre la población-; se trata de terapéuticas complementarias y cada una de ellas es efectiva para el tratamiento de distintos padecimientos e inclusive hay casos en los que se pueden combinar simultáneamente.

Indicó que la acupuntura tiene un impacto impresionante para quitar el dolor de cabeza y es la terapéutica de primera elección para tratar la parálisis facial en la etapa aguda, problemas digestivos (síndrome de intestino irritable), algunos tipos de lumbalgias y enfermedades inflamatorias agudas de la rodilla o del hombro, entre otras.

“Esta técnica ofrece excelentes resultados en el tratamiento de padecimientos como depresión, asma, epilepsia y, en general, para afecciones del sistema nervioso; por ello, tenemos planeado realizar varias líneas de investigación en el campo de las neurociencias, una de ellas relacionada con la enfermedad de Alzheimer”, señaló.

Dijo que en la ENMH se llevan a cabo diversas líneas de investigación con acutomo, básicamente del aparato locomotor, y algunas afecciones tratadas con esta terapéutica son síndrome de túnel del carpo, cefalea tensional y dolor cervical; en esta última patología se ha comprobado que la mejoría que se logra con una sola sesión es similar a diez de acupuntura.

“El impacto que tiene la acupuntura para el manejo de dolor, náusea, fatiga y estados emocionales (depresión y ansiedad) es realmente impresionante, porque se les da una calidad de vida distinta y eso es altamente satisfactorio. También hicimos un grupo piloto de aplicación de catgut en pacientes de cuidados paliativos para manejo de fatiga y el resultado fue extraordinario”.

Mencionó que a pacientes con hernias discales muy severas que comprimen la médula espinal y que requieren cirugía, se les puede aplicar dichas técnicas antes y después del procedimiento quirúrgico para mejorar su condición y lograr que la recuperación post operatoria sea más rápida.

Explicó que es posible tratar distintas patologías desde los primeros meses de vida con acupuntura, acucatgut y acutomo. “El acucatgut se comenzó a aplicar en China en la década de los años sesenta en niños con parálisis cerebral. Yo lo aplico a lactantes con síndrome de West, que es una enfermedad caracterizada hasta por diez crisis convulsivas al día, lo cual produce un deterioro neurológico impresión ante; con el acucatgut reducimos significativamente esos episodios e inclusive los eliminamos”.

Scientists Show How Antibiotics Enable Pathogenic Gut Infections

(Extraído de sciencedaily.com)

Sep. 1, 2013 — A new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine could help pinpoint ways to counter the effects of the antibiotics-driven depletion of friendly, gut-dwelling bacteria.

---

A number of intestinal pathogens can cause problems after antibiotic administration, said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology and the senior author of the study, to be published online Sept. 1 in Nature. Graduate students Katharine Ng and Jessica Ferreyra shared lead authorship.

"Antibiotics open the door for these pathogens to take hold. But how, exactly, that occurs hasn't been well understood," Sonnenburg said.

In the first 24 hours after administration of oral antibiotics, a spike in carbohydrate availability takes place in the gut, the study says. This transient nutrient surplus, combined with the reduction of friendly gut-dwelling bacteria due to antibiotics, permits at least two potentially deadly pathogens to get a toehold in that otherwise more forbidding environment.

In the past decade or so, much has been learned about the complex microbial ecosystem that resides in every healthy mammal's large intestine, including ours. The thousands of distinct bacterial strains that normally inhabit this challenging but nutrient-rich niche have adapted to it so well that we have difficulty living without them. They manufacture vitamins, provide critical training to our immune systems and even guide the development of our own tissues. Antibiotics decimate this gut-microbe ecosystem, which begins bouncing back within a few days but may take a month or more to regain its former numbers. And the ecosystem appears to suffer the permanent loss of some of its constituent bacterial strains.

It is thought that our commensal, or friendly, bacteria serve as a kind of lawn that, in commandeering the rich fertilizer that courses through our gut, outcompetes the less-well-behaved pathogenic "weeds." It has also been suggested that our commensal bugs secrete pathogen-killing factors. Another theory holds that the disruption of our inner microbial ecosystem somehow impairs our immune responsiveness.

"While these hypotheses are by no means mutually exclusive, our work specifically supports the suggestion that our resident microbes hold pathogens at bay by competing for nutrients," Sonnenburg said.

When that defense falters, as it does shortly after a course of antibiotics begins, marauding micro-organisms such as salmonella or Clostridium difficile can establish beachheads. Once they reach sufficient numbers, these two parasitic invaders can mount intentional campaigns to induce inflammation, a condition that impairs the restoration of our normal gut ecosystem but in which salmonella and C. difficile have learned to prosper.

The particular nutrients Sonnenburg's team looked at were sialic acid and fucose, a couple of members of the sugar family. While not household words like glucose, fructose or lactose, these two sugar varieties are produced in every cell in our bodies and are absolutely necessary for our healthy survival. They are also found in meat, eggs and dairy products.

Cells that line the gut extrude long chains consisting of exotic and familiar sugars linked together and known by a catch-all term: mucus. This homely product serves two valuable functions. First, by coating the inside intestinal wall, mucus forms a reasonably impervious protective barrier to keep the resident microbes, which serve useful purposes inside the gastrointestinal tract, from getting out of the gut and into the bloodstream, where they could be lethal. But the mucus has a second function as well: It gives our resident microbes a guaranteed source of various sugars, like sialic acid and fucose, that they can snap off and use in a number of ways. They can, for example, break these sugar molecules down and derive energy from them.

"Our gut microbes have become very adept at eating mucus," Sonnenburg said.

For the Nature study, he and his associates experimented on mice that had been born and bred in a germ-free environment. These mice's guts were devoid of bacteria, unlike normal mice, which harbor hundreds of bacterial species in their bowels just as humans do. Into these germ-free mice the Stanford investigators introduced a single bacterial strain, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. B. theta is a member of a well-studied and important class of commensal microbes that populate the human gut. It has the enzymes necessary to pry sugar molecules loose from the mucus chains streaming from the gut lining. In the case of sialic acid, it lacks the enzymes that would allow it to break down either of these two molecules for its own snacking purposes.

Chipping off sugar molecules it can't chop up for food may seem a waste of B. theta's time. But in a normal gut, there are plenty of other microbes that have tools for digesting sialic acid and fucose, and that can produce other materials B. theta needs. It's a barter system, which ecologists call symbiosis. (It also may just be that B. theta lops off these sugar residues to get to other, edible sugar residues underneath.)

In a series of separate experiments, the investigators introduced either S. typhimurium (a salmonella strain) or C. difficile in the B. theta-loaded experimental mice. Both types of bacteria can cause severe and potentially life-threatening disease associated with antibiotic use. They also share a common capacity for using sialic acid as an energy source, but not for slicing it off intestinal mucus. After discovering that C. difficile can neither liberate nor lunch on fucose, the Sonnenburg team focused their efforts on determining how the two pathogens make use of sialic acid.

Introducing one friendly and one pathogenic bacterial strain into the guts of the formerly germ-free mice, the scientists were able to show that, in this approximation of an antibiotic-decimated gut-microbe ecosystem, the levels of sialic acid soared to high levels in the absence of a complete set of intestinal microbes that ordinarily would keep those levels from climbing. In the presence of these sugars and absence of competition, both pathogens were able to replicate more rapidly. B. theta generated a sialic-acid surplus that, in the absence of the other hundreds of normal bacterial species, were bequeathed to the pathogenic strains.

When the researchers investigated the effects of antibiotics on mice with normal intestinal ecosystems, they saw the same sialic-acid spike -- and pathogen population explosion -- in the wake of the carnage. If the mice were not exposed to the pathogens, but only treated with antibiotics, the sialic acid concentrations returned to their original levels after about three days post-antibiotic treatment as commensals began to recover.

"The bad guys in the gut are scavenging nutrients that were liberated by the good guys, who are casualties of the collateral damage incurred by antibiotics," said Sonnenburg. "Antibiotics cause our friendly gut bacteria to unwittingly help these pathogens.

"We believe that bacterial pathogens in the gut cause disease in two steps," he continued. "Others have shown that once these pathogens attain sufficient numbers, they use inflammation-triggering tricks to wipe out our resident friendly microbes -- at no cost to the pathogens themselves, because they've evolved ways to deal with it. But first, they have to surmount a critical hurdle: In the absence of the inflammation they're trying to induce, they have to somehow reach that critical mass. Our work shows how they go about it after a dose of antibiotics. They take advantage of a temporary spike in available sugars liberated from intestinal mucus left behind by slain commensal microbes."

Sonnenburg said he thinks researchers may someday be able to find drugs that, co-administered with antibiotics, could inhibit the enzymes our friendly gut-bugs use to liberate sialic acid from intestinal mucus, so that a pathogen-nourishing spike doesn't occur. Alternatively, probiotics in the form of bacterial strains that are especially talented at digesting sialic acid could achieve a similar effect.

Aplican vacuna homeopática contra el cólera en Granma, Cuba

(Extraído de lademajagua.co.cu)

Sábado, 31 de Agosto de 2013 07:43 Por Anaisis Hidalgo Rodríguez

La vacuna homeopática Prevengho-Cólera ya se aplica en los municipios de Bayamo(Mabay y áreas del policlínico René Vallejo) y Yara, ambos de la sur oriental provincia cubana de Granma.
El doctor Luis Popa Salcedo, director del Centro provincial de Medicina Natural y Tradicional, dijo a La Demajagua que en la medida que se disponga del producto por el Instituto Finlay, de La Habana, se extenderá al resto de las localidades.
Se aplicará una dosis de cinco gotas una vez al día por tres días consecutivos, y luego una dosis adicional a los siete días de la primera.
Recomienda a la población tener la boca limpia y libre de olores fuertes antes del consumo de la dosis. No comer, beber, cepillarse los dientes ni fumar 20 minutos antes y después de su aplicación.
En caso de ser sensibles a este solvente hidroalcohólico se deben diluir las gotas en un cuarto de vaso de agua potable y mantener la disolución en la boca por cinco segundos.
Se aplicará a personas de cualquier edad, a niños mayores de un año y gestantes.
El producto no ocasiona reacción adversa ni hace interferencia con ningún otro medicamento.
"La garantía de inmunidad radica en tomar todas las dosis", enfatizó el también máster en Medicina Natural y Tradicional.
Deben seguirse aplicando el resto de las medidas de contención del cólera, como el lavado sistemático de las manos y el rigor higiénico en la elaboración de alimentos.

Anxiety Linked to a Need for More Personal Space

(Extraído de MedlinePlus.gov)

Anxious people perceive threats as closer than others do, and may react defensively, study suggests

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

THURSDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- It might be a good idea to back off a bit when dealing with people who suffer from anxiety, according to a new study, because the disorder seems to affect the need for more personal space surrounding the body, also called "peripersonal space."

British researchers found that people with anxiety perceive threats as closer, compared with those who are not anxious. They said their findings could be used to link defensive behavior to levels of anxiety, particularly among those with risky jobs, such as firefighters and police officers.

In conducting the study, Dr. Chiara Sambo and Dr. Giandomenico Iannetti, from University College London, recruited 15 people ranging in age from 20 to 37 and gave them a test to rate their level of anxiety in certain situations.

In addition, the researchers applied an electrical stimulus to a nerve in each participants' hand, which caused them to blink. This hand-blink reflex, which is not controlled by the brain, was monitored as the participants held their hand at four different distances from their face: ranging from about 2 inches to nearly 2 feet. By measuring the strength of their reflex, the investigators determined how dangerous the participants viewed each stimulus.

The study, published in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, revealed that those who scored higher on the anxiety test reacted more dramatically to stimuli about 8 inches from their face compared with those who had lower anxiety scores. People who reacted strongly to the stimuli farther away were classified as having a large "defensive peripersonal space," the study authors said.

Anxious people viewed threats as closer than those who were not anxious -- even if the perceived threats actually were the same distance away, the researchers said. Although the brain does not trigger defensive reactions, the study authors said, it could control their intensity.

"This finding is the first objective measure of the size of the area surrounding the face that each individual considers at high risk, and thus wants to protect through the most effective defensive motor responses," Iannetti said in a university news release.

SOURCE: University College London, news release, Aug. 27, 2013