Posts Tagged ‘alternative’

Conventional Medicine vs Alternative Medicine

September 9th, 2011 admin

These are two very different modus operandi in approaching the goal of physical wellness and it is worth taking a look at the differences between the two.

I would argue that each has a valid role and we only get into trouble with them when one or the other tries to perform a role to which it is not suited.

For example, if you are in an automobile accident and your leg is partially severed and your artery is pumping blood, taking vitamins or drinking green tea are quite frankly not going to help very much. If that ever happens to me my first stop I can tell you is going to be neither a nutritionist nor a chiropractor but the nearest casualty department where (I hope) I will be pumped full of anaesthetics and stitched back together again pronto. Having survived the immediate life-threatening situation thanks to the good offices of conventional medicine, which excels at that sort of thing, I will then set about a nutritional handling so as to optimize the efficiency with which the body achieves its long-term repair and recovery – and alternative medicine excels at THAT sort of thing.

So let’s have a quick layman’s look at the two modus operandi so one can decide which is the most appropriate for whatever it is one seeks to handle.

Conventional medicine excels in emergency/casualty type care and in dealing with life-threatening situations. To those scenarios it brings a fantastic amount of expertise and wisdom: just watching, for example, some paramedic team bring back to life a drowned child whose heart had stopped beating borders on the witnessing of miracles.

There are times when a quick fix is necessary. If your arteries are so clogged with cholesterol, for example, that if you move too suddenly you could drop dead, then it’s time to take the statins and get the cholesterol out of one’s tubing a.s.a.p. Eating a bowl of salad or a tin of sardines just ain’t gonna cut it. It is a life-threatening situation, so you do whatever you can to fix the guy up and keep him breathing.

Then, when the immediate emergency is over, you can look to your long term handling: a Mediterranean diet and so forth to sort out both the cholesterol problem and the damage done elsewhere in the body by the statins.

Where a necessary quick-fix is concerned there is often a trade-off in which death is averted but at the cost of some damage done to the body by the intervention. Most of us would consider this a fair trade.

The Conventional approach to the treatment of most illnesses, mild or serious, is routinely to hit the condition with drugs or surgery. Here again is a quick-fix even though immanent death is not being averted and drugs in particular that are designed to attack one set of symptoms invariably cause problems and malfunctions in other areas of the body.

Conventional medicine’s approach is to treat symptoms, not the underlying causes. For example, if one’s cholesterol is too high, your doctor will routinely prescribe statin drugs to remove it from the arteries. Very little is done to investigate and discover and understand the reason WHY, for that individual, cholesterol is rising. For example, the reason might be excessive homocysteine levels prompting the body to coat the arteries with a protective layer of cholesterol and homoscysteine – the actual CAUSE of the high cholesterol in this example – could be controlled with B vitamins with no price to pay in terms of side effects. In fact, an overall improvement in health is often achieved because adequate levels of B vitamins will have a whole spectrum of benefits.

Drugs are chemicals that are not part of the body’s evolution and operate on the body essentially as foreign matter. Using again the example of statins to treat cholesterol, these drugs work by blocking the production of cholesterol in the liver. This handles the symptom of excessive cholesterol production but at the price of also blocking the production of a vital enzyme – CoQ10 – that is key to energy production in the muscles.

Their financial value to the manufacturers lies in the very fact that drugs are not naturally occurring substances but invented: being invented they can be patented. The owner of the patent can then market the drug at a high price. Substances such as vitamins on the other hand, occurring in nature, cannot be patented and thus anyone can produce and market them, and that means their pricing must be competitive.

Conventional medicine treats the human body in parts, not as a whole: the departments in medical schools and hospitals tend to be organ-specific and produce doctors highly specialised in one organ or bodily function. This compartmentalisation does not reflect how the body and its components function because the body is a highly integrated system of complex interrelations.

The training of conventional medical doctors is based upon “rescue medicine,” thinking. It is perhaps an understandable over-emphasis considering how well conventional medicine has won at that particular game. However, we run into trouble when the quick-fix/rescue type of intervention is extended into long-term treatments. For example, a tranquilliser taken to calm down a person so violently and dangerously agitated they are likely to kill someone in their vicinity, if not themselves, can alleviate the immediate crisis without the side-effects doing too much damage if treatment is of short duration.

But the agitation is a SYMPTOM of some underlying problem. If the tranquiliser is used as a long-term suppressor of symptoms in place of finding and treating the underlying causes, then the damage it does to the body’s delicately interrelated systems will start to become evident. That damage can be serious and can become life threatening in itself.

Meanwhile, the cause of the problem remains in place and unaddressed and prevention of disease receives far less than the emphasis it by rights should receive.

Alternative medicine on the other hand approaches medical treatment by placing its focus primarily on finding the CAUSE of a condition or symptom and treating that on the one hand and overall wellness that PREVENTS disease on the other.

In that its treatment of a malady targets restoring optimum function to the interrelated system as a whole, alternative medicine can rarely achieve the quick fix but it also rarely causes the complications engendered by the quick-fix approach.

On the contrary, the overall wellness approach tends to produce a spectrum of benefits broader than the resolution of the particular malfunction that first red-flagged the need for a handling. Again, the use of the Mediterranean diet is an example: its benefits extend beyond the reduction of cholesterol in the arteries to overall liver, kidney and heart health, weight loss, restored energy levels and so on.

Conventional medicine, particularly its drugs with their tendency to set in train further complications requiring treatment, tend to be costly both to the individual pocket and government. The health services of many nations are creaking under the financial burden occasioned by declining health and escalating drugs costs. Alternative medicine on the other hand, by reason of its whole approach, tends to be a far less costly option.

Our societies are at this moment undergoing something of a seismic shift at grass roots levels in their approach to healing as the number of people turning to alternative therapies grows year by year. Nutrition as a science has advanced by leaps and bounds, practices such as chiropractics and kinesiology are increasingly recognised as bona fide therapies and confidence in conventional medicine is in decline, while the drugs manufacturers must work ever harder and more ruthlessly to maintain their market share. Even giant food manufacturing corporations, not hitherto particularly noted for their concern for our physical wellbeing, have jumped on the bandwagon with sometimes hilariously overblown claims for the nutritional content of their products.

This grass roots change has not been reflected yet in the orientation of most general practitioners. So many of them are still slow to direct their patients to alternative therapies and optimum nutrition. They still reach for the prescription pad and send the patient quickly on his way with some drug to nullify a symptom.

Alternative medicine is also notably more accessible to the layman, who can relatively easily learn many of its tenets and therapies for himself or become quite adept on the subject of nutrition.

Thus in large measure the layman can gain control over his own destiny so far as his health is concerned. Many a layman, becoming interested in the subject of nutrition, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and so on, is soon dismayed by the realisation that he apparently knows more about the subject than his GP!

Why is this culture-lag on the part of doctors happening?

The answer may lie at least in part in the fact that the driving force behind conventional medicine has for a long time been the pharmaceutical industry.

Most medical schools receive considerable funding from an industry that has a vested interest in marketing its medicines. Through this financial influence over the medical schools, plus relentless marketing of their products to doctors in general practice, the pharmaceutical industry has achieved overwhelming influence over conventional medicine ( what is called in the trade, “full spectrum dominance”), creating an ethos that is embraced by both modern doctors and pharmacists, many of whom think of their worth in terms knowing which drug to prescribe for a particular set of symptoms.

There are other factors at play too:

Funding of medical research favours conventional medicine over alternative medicine by a huge margin. For example just 0.08 percent (!) of the British National Health Service research budget is allocated to alternative research and out of $12 billion allocated every year by Congress to the National Institute of Health, a mere $5.4 million (an even smaller 0.054% percent by my reckoning) goes to the Office of Alternative Medicine to investigate the claims of approximately 50 therapies.

This neglect by government of alternative medicine research in favour of conventional drug-based medicine naturally constricts the speed at which the safe and cost effective alternatives can advance in research and the accumulation of expertise.

How might nutrition and its allied sciences have flourished had it had the psycho-pharmacy’s funding? As such it is a grave disservice to the citizenry who have every right to expect that government will protect and serve so far as their health is concerned.

Despite this, the field of nutrition for one has still managed to make considerable advances and evolve a level of understanding in many respects in advance of that of conventional medicine.

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Seven Advantages of Alternative Medicine

August 24th, 2011 admin

There are so many advantages of alternative medicine over modern medicine, that I want to spend a few moments looking at possible reasons why these are kept so well hidden, at least from the public eye.

If you were to listen to the media of the so called ‘free’ (western) world, you could be forgiven in thinking that there is no scientific evidence for, let alone advantages of alternative medicine. You would be convinced that modern medicine was the way to go.

But, according to Reporters Without Borders (for press freedom), the so called ‘free’ world doesn’t have free press. Britain only rates 23rd, Australia ranks lower at 28th and America trails at a miserable 36th for the 2008 figures.

So can you believe all you read?

Reporters Without Borders say “It is not economic prosperity, but peace that guarantees press freedom.”

So economic prosperity actually makes us less free. How? Well, one example is if a prosperous company spends millions of dollars advertising in say, a newspaper, the editors are going to be very reluctant to print anything controversial about said company.

Next time you open your newspaper or switch on a radio or TV channel with advertising, check out the biggest advertisers.

That may give you some idea why alternative medicine is not as popular as one would expect from the documented results.

There’s a saying that all truth goes through three phases.

It is ridiculed.
It is violently opposed.
It is accepted as being self evident.

Judging by the media publications in 2008 at least in some parts of Europe, I think the west has now advanced to stage two!

So lets look at some of the advantages of alternative medicine. As my expertise lies with homoeopathy, I’m going to be focussing on this, but some of the reasons will apply to other alternative therapies too.

  1. There are no side effects. This is because alternative medicine works WITH the body, not in suppressing symptoms, as modern medicine does.
  2. Medicines are cost effective. This means they are generally affordable by even the most financially compromised families.
  3. Alternative medicines are generally ‘green’. By that I mean that they use natural substances processed simply. No high tech manufacturing processes which use hazardous and polluting chemicals or carbon polluting energy.
  4. Substances or ingredients of ‘complexes’ are readily available, so you can even grow some of your own medicines, allowing you to keep control of the whole process. No secrecy or patents here!
  5. Alternative medicines don’t just heal ailments. In the process, they allow for growth. In homoeopathy we see children putting on a growth spurt after they recover from a naturally treated disease. This doesn’t happen with a medically treated disease. Rather, it appears to hold the child back.
  6. Alternative medicine recognises the true nature of disease and sickness. That it is necessary for a growing child to experience as only this experience allows the immune system to develop into a healthy one by adulthood. It’s a bit like learning to ride a bicycle. You need to practice before you can ride properly.
  7. Alternative medicine recognises that physical symptoms only develop when you ignore the mental and emotional signs and symptoms. Which allows you the freedom to deal with these problems as they arise, and so never develop physical symptoms.

When you can fully grasp the advantages of alternative medicine, it truly blows your socks off. No longer are you kept in a state of fear by what might happen. Instead, you know your healthy immune system will work well for you, and that when it struggles, you will know.

No more scare mongering of impending pandemics for you! Because you are now in control of your life and your health, and as you are fully aware of the advantages of alternative medicine, you can be at peace with the world.

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Alternative Medicine

February 15th, 2011 admin

Basic Principles of Complementary/ Alternative Therapies

JUST AS MAINSTREAM MEDICINE has a fairly consistent approach to illness, so does al-ternative medicine. Most prevalent in alternative medicine are the six naturopathic principles. In one form or another, these principles are revisited again and again throughout Section Two of this text. The following principles are described by Dr. Catherine Downey and excerpted from her chapter on naturopathic medicine.

1. The Healing Power of Nature (Vis medicatix naturae)

The body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent: nature heals through the response of the life force. The physician’s role is to facilitate and augment this process, to act to identify and remove obstacles to health and recovery, and to support the creation of a healthy internal and external environment. In short, give the body the appropriate tools and it will heal itself.

2. Treat the Whole Person (The multifactorial nature of health and disease)

Health and disease are conditions of the whole organism, involving a complex interaction of physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, and social factors. The physician must treat the whole person by taking all of these factors into account. The harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual is essential to recovery from and prevention of disease and requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment.

3. First Do No Harm (Primum no nocere)

Illness is a purposeful process of the organism. The process of healing includes the generation of symptoms, which are, in fact, an expression of the life force attempting to heal itself. Therapeutic actions should be complementary to and synergistic with this healing process. The physician’s actions can support or antagonize the actions of the vis mediatrix naturae; therefore methods designed to suppress symptoms without removing underlying causes are considered harmful and are avoided or minimized. Therapeutic actions are applied in an ordered fashion congruent with the internal order of the organism.

4. Identify and Treat the Cause (Tolle causam)

Illness does not occur without cause. Underlying causes of disease must be discovered and removed or treated before a person can recover completely from illness. Symptoms are expressions of the body’s attempt to heal, but they are not the cause of disease; therefore naturopathic medicine addresses itself promptly to the underlying causes of disease, rather than symptoms. Causes may occur on many levels, including physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual. The physician must evaluate fundamental underlying causes on all levels, directing treatment at root cause rather than at symptomatic expression.

5. Prevention (Prevention is the best “cure”)

The ultimate goal of naturopathic medicine is prevention. This is accomplished through education and promotion of lifestyle habits that create good health. The physician assesses risk factors and hereditary susceptibility to disease and makes appropriate interventions to avoid further harm and risk to the patient. The emphasis is on building health rather than on fighting disease. Because it is difficult to be healthy in an unhealthy world, it is the responsibility of both the physician and patient to create a healthier environment in which to live.

6. The Physician as Teacher (Docere)

Beyond an accurate diagnosis and appropriate prescription, the physician must work to create a health-sensitive, interpersonal relationship with the patient. A cooperative doctor-patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value. The physician’s major role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility for health. The physician is a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating the patient to assume responsibility. It is the patient, not the doctor, who ultimately creates or accomplishes healing. The physician must strive to inspire hope as well as understanding. Physicans must also make a commitment to their personal and spiritual development in order to be good teachers.

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Alternative Medicine – Avenue for Medical Tourism

August 21st, 2010 admin

The history of alternative medicine is a rather interesting one, and has its
origins in traditional methods of medicine. Alternative medicine has been
in existence since time immemorial. Being a primeval science, this medicinal
system has been known to man since the early days of his time on Earth. Using
natural ingredients to prevent and cure most illnesses has perhaps been man’s greatest foray into medical science. Traditional medical practitioners aimed at prevention of diseases associated with an increase in resistance of the human body. As an expert rightly pointed out, “The study of the history of alternative medicine is fascinating on a variety of levels, not just concerning other and often better ways of preserving and restoring health.”

 

Practised for thousands of years, alternative medicine includes systems like
Acupuncture, Ayurveda and traditional Asian medicine. Alternative medicine branches
out from the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatments and
therapies. CAM is often combined with formal, conventional medicine, integrating
both medical practices, in order to give the best results to patients. It can be said that
the earlier methods of medicine were attempted at achieving a balance between bodily
and natural energy. Energies were sought as positive and negative energies, where
positive energies were to bring in happiness and health and negative energies an
incapacitation of resistance to face any ailments. Matters of utmost importance in
deciding therapies or treatments in these earlier medical systems were factors like
one’s lifestyle, one’s habits of eating and one’s occupational pressures.

 

The earliest use of traditional remedies dates back to 2800 BC in China.
Practised all over the world in more than a hundred disciplines, alternative medicine
has aided medical tourism in an unprecedented manner. Using alternative medicine
and following alternative medical practices not only removes any possible additional
affects of the illness but also increases the resilience of the body. It is generally
claimed that natural remedies are not only less inimical to human physiology
but they also help in retaining body pliancy. Systems of natural, traditional
medicines use a combination of ingredients to restore the bodily constituents. In
fact, natural remedies are considered more as food, given their natural constituents.
Since alternative medicine is based on completely natural methods and there is
no usage of any chemicals, there is no danger of any interference with the organic
system. A holistic approach as opposed to looking at a set of symptoms and a
treatment that delves into the root-cause of an illness are some of the distinct and
highly acknowledged features of alternative medicine. It is also opined that
widespread use of modern medicine has deteriorated the immune system in the
human physiology and has resulted in these modern medicines becoming less
effective. It is also often said that alternative medicine is the only way to cure
some incurable diseases.

 

A Brief History of Alternative Medicine

The history of alternative medicine can be traced back to some 5000 years, when the Chinese and Indians discovered traditional and Ayurvedic therapies to heal the body and the mind. The real objective was to identify the deterrents in the body system which caused ailments, and
strengthened the body’s immunity. The therapies mainly incorporated self-care, lifestyle
changes and various preventive measures. The normal practices that were followed in the early stages of the history of alternative medicine include the extractions of the bark of willow trees. Many kitchen ingredients were also used for treating patients. The treatments were considered as the blessings of God, as it brought immense relief to the writhing bodies and prayer was considered as one of the strongest weapons in waging war against ailments.
Source: “A Brief History of Alternative Medicine”, http://www.med-help.net/med-history-of-alternativemedicine.
html

 

Alternative Medicine and Medical Tourism

Today, alternative medicine holds out immense potential in attracting medical
tourists. For example, India is likely to become a major hub for medical tourism,
with revenues from the industry estimated to grow from US$333 million in 2007
to US$2.2 billion by 2012, says a study by the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) and McKinsey.3 The major competitive advantages that India faces are cost
effectiveness and traditional medical systems like Ayurveda and Naturopathy.
The world has witnessed the development of many traditional as well as modern
systems of medicine in the 20th century. Path-breaking discoveries like penicillin,
technological advancements in modern surgery, major research advancement in stem
cell research and genetic structure, and the development of traditional medical systems
like traditional Chinese system of medicine, Acupuncture, Osteopathy, Homeopathy,
Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and others have all been a part of developments in the
omnipotent territory of global medicine. The major competitive advantages that India
has are cost effectiveness and traditional medical systems like Ayurveda and Naturopathy.
The last few years have seen countries with their own individual expertise attracting
tourists from all over the world and promoting medical tourism like never before.

India

In India, medical tourism in alternative medicine has its ancestry in South India
and some places in North-Eastern India. Internationally famed for its natural remedies and therapies, Kerala’s schools of medicine have embraced Siddha,
Naturopathy and Ayurveda in treating their patients. These traditional medical
practices are estimated to attract high-end medical tourists from Europe and
Middle Eastern countries. The vital advantages that a country like India faces
with regard to medical tourism are its traditional therapies like yoga and Ayurveda
combined with tourist attractions in states like Kerala and north-eastern states.
Naturopathy, a therapeutic system based on natural remedies, trusts natural
elements like air, water and sunlight, combined with therapeutic massages and
conditioning and toning of the human body. Naturopathy believes that the human
body has the capacity to heal on its own, provided it is in a healthy environment.
With a holistic approach to well-being, Naturopathy believes that the three
physical entities – the physical body, the supernatural soul and the mind – must
be integrated through natural energies. “A recent survey shows that 76% of global
drugs are consumed by USA and European countries. We believe that freedom
from diseases and drugs can only be achieved by living a natural life style.”4
Ayurveda, the most ancient health care system, takes its ingredients from nature.
The use of herbs, materials like gold and mercury and many household ingredients
make this science easily accessible to common man. Ayurveda claims to cure diseases
like diabetes with the aid of nature. The Siddha medical system, which is a part of
Ayurveda, employs herbs, minerals and advanced scientific techniques under ancient
principles of medical science to cure many chronic diseases. It is named as one of
the most complicated and intricate forms of medicine. Siddha considers nature
and man as one essential entity. It claims that physiological characteristics like
human aging can itself be arrested with natural remedies.

Naturopathy has evolved medical tourism in India in more than one ways.
With its systems of medication using all natural ingredients to restore the holistic
disease-fighting nature of the human body, the medicine has created increased
chances of its own survival through tourists from all parts of the world visiting
India to reap its benefits. As Vitthal Kamat of the Kamat Group of Hotels says,
“With Naturopathy and Ayurveda along with the world renowned tourist attractions
and heritage places, the tourism sector can grow in leaps and bounds.”5 Naturopathy
in “KayaKalp”, a naturopathy centre in Himachal Pradesh, run by the Vivekananda Medical Research Trust in India has served medical tourists in detoxifying, immunizing and rejuvenating through Yoga, Pranayama, Panchkarma, Meditation and Naturopathy. Its therapies are claimed to be drug-less and extremely natural. Naturopathy takes the help of Ayurvedic preparations for healing processes like Panchkarma and improvement of blood circulation.

India’s pioneer in alternative therapy – medical tourism, Kerala, has visitors
from all over the world in the months of June, July and August. These months are
looked upon as the best period for cure of bodily ailments through Ayurveda.
High quality medical facilities provided at low prices are the main tourist attraction
in Kerala. Mr. M Narayanan, head of Poovar Island Resort says that there are
tourists from countries like Australia, Europe and Germany. The packages offered
in these Ayurvedic spas include services like Ayurvedic oil massages, powder
massages, vegetarian diets, detoxification programs and a lifestyle change. In fact
it is little known that Ayurveda includes not just massages, but a whole gamut of
services like herbal and natural diet plans, natural healing therapies, and therefore
a full-fledged medical system.

Ayurveda Gram, a unique Ayurvedic Institution in Bangalore offers Ayurveda
in its wellness form to medical tourists. It offers services like Customized Yoga,
Pranayama, Meditation, and a vegetarian diet to boost metabolism. Its sprawling
campus full of medicinal herbs and natural surrounds helps in the processes of
cure for specific ailments like Arthiritis, Spondilytis, Cholesterol, Sinusitis, Peptic
Ulcer and Obesity. Other therapies by Ayurveda Gram include Stress Management
therapies, Panchkarma and rejuvenation therapies.

AYUSH, the department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha
and Homeopathy was formed under the Indian Medicine Central Council Act,
1970. One of the most recent awareness activities undertaken by AYUSH was a
health fair organized in parts of Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore and New Delhi.
AYUSH ensured that the major Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha manufacturers in
India participated in this health fair.

Another famous Ayurvedic centre in India is the C V N Kalari Centre for
Ayurveda. Kalari is one of the approved Ayurvedic centres recognized by the
Kerala Tourism Department.6 Kalari has its customers from many foreign countries. The centre specializes in Marma Chikitsa (the application of pressure on specific
nerve points) and other special practices of healing. Having both therapeutic and
rejuvenative aspects in them, these specialized healing procedures take extensive help
of Ayurveda to treat the ailing.
Some Ayurvedic resorts have formulated Ayurvedic kitchens that help improve
the effectiveness of oil treatments. Diet regimens, detoxification programs and other
processes that give a glowing skin to the customer are very popular. Some of these
Ayurvedic resorts also arrange for cooking classes to help their customers acquire
and maintain the lifestyle that they are introduced to in these spas and resorts.
Ananda, an Ayurvedic Spa in the Himalayas is one of the most famous destination
resorts in India. It offers specialty Ayurvedic packages like Aroma therapy massages,
reflexology programs for rejuvenation, stress release programs, personalized Yoga
sessions, body composition analysis and weight reduction programs through Yoga
and Ayurveda. Ananda claims that its packages and therapies cure many ailments
like headaches, nausea, climatic disorders, facial paralysis, insomnia, asthma, neuralgia
and does general improvement of metabolism.

China

The 3000 year-old method of traditional medicine in China has gained popularity
as the world’s most popular medicine, being used by more than a quarter of the
world in treating even chronic diseases like cancer, AIDS, allergies and heart diseases.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses medicinal herbs, therapeutic exercises
and acupuncture to cure ailments. TCM diagnoses illnesses based on the five elements
theory and the yin-yang theory. The five elements theory base their evaluation on the
five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water to establish a connection between
human physiology and pathology and the natural environment.7 The movement of
these five elements constantly rules the functioning of the human body and thus
establishes the interdependence of both.

The yin-yang theory calls for comprehending the bright and dark sides of
the universe, in other words, the opposite properties of the universe.8 The relative
nature of yin and yang represents the interrelationship between substance and function. As traditional chinese medical practitioners say “Only with ample
substance can the human body function in a healthy way; and only when the
functional processes are in good condition, can the essential substances be
appropriately refreshed.”

Chinese herbal medicine is more known as Chinese materia medica. This includes
Chinese crude medicine, prepared drugs in pieces, traditional Chinese patented
medicines and simplified Chinese medicinal preparations. Chinese herbology, a major
aspect of TCM addresses the art of combining medicinal herbs.10 It visualizes the
entire human body’s balance of energies and spirit to treat a medical condition.
Herbs are combined into different potions of various characteristics for the sake of
different individuals being treated by TCM practitioners. Herbs like Astragalus,
Ginkgo, Ginger, Green Tea, Siberian Ginseng and Garlic are used to treat several
ailments. Around 300 mineral and animal extracts and 400 formulae are used to
cure diseases, in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Acupuncture, as part of TCM is used to unblock the flow of vital energy through
the human body.11 One of the oldest healing techniques in the world, this traditional
method aims at “restoring health through simulation of specific points on the body.”12
Ailments like nausea, addictions and some kinds of pains are claimed to be treated
with the help of acupuncture.

Taking advantage of its abundant human resources, China is luring medical tourists
into its web of alternative medical therapies. Wellness packages in China come at
low costs and without any side-effects, thanks to proliferated Traditional Chinese
Medicine. Several massages and spas have been set up in recent times that provide
mental health and physical well-being to medical tourists with the help of Chinese
medicinal herbs. Wellness apartments are established for the purpose of serving
senior medical tourists. These wellness apartments facilitate these tourists in
practising their own hobbies and also conducting medical activities like Taiji.

Germany

Germany’s alternative medical practices have their origins in Homeopathy, a
medical system that was developed by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician.
Homeopathy considers symptoms as disturbances of vital forces that have
connection with the human body. Homeopathic advocators believe that this
medical system has the ability to cure acute diseases like flu, cold, pains, depression
and fatigue, constipation, irritability other than chronic diseases. It is claimed to
cure allergies and allergic disorders like Eczema and Asthma. Moreover, this
medical system is child friendly, in the sense, that the medication given by
homeopaths is sweet to the tooth and therefore acceptable. Homeopaths are known
for debonair and their hands free treatment of patients. They concentrate more
on the patient’s state of mind and attitude towards life. The preparation of different
potions in Homeopathy is done mostly with the help of herbs, minerals and
animal extracts. Also, it is often reasoned that since the dosage that homeopaths
prescribe is in such minute constitutions and because they come in dilutions of
substances like water and alcohol there is no chance of any side-effects.
Germany also stands famous for its herbal remedies. Regulated by Commission
E14 on the purity and pharmaceutical activity, these herbal medicines in Germany
have come a long way in preventing and curing many diseases like cancer, AIDS and
other serious ailments. Most physicians in Germany are required to be educated in
Alternative therapies, so that it serves complimentary to modern medical treatments.
As Mark Blumenthal, chairman of the American Botanical Council points out, “Most
of the clinical research that’s conducted on the leading herbal medicines in the United
States comes from Germany.”15

With more than 300 spa towns, Germany has become the premier destination
for health and wellness in Europe.16 One of the most famous resorts in Germany
is the Baltic Spa Resort in Warnemunde. Situated on the shore of the Baltic Sea,
it idealizes the sea as a “homeopathic pharmacy” and claims that “it contains all
important trace elements and has a similar composition to human blood”17 Sea water is said to have revitalizing effects in treating bodily ailments like respiratory
illnesses, sleep disorders and obesity. Other than these, mental disorders like
depression, anxiety and agony are claimed to be cured with the help of the sea.
Sea breeze is said to be specifically effective in treating cardio-vascular as well as
dermatological conditions. Major advantages that Germany faces are in terms of
both cost and quality. As Axel Steller, the CEO of the Arab German Health
Foundation points out, “In the US, operations are four to five times more expensive
as they are in Germany”.

Japan

Japanese medicine is known as Kanpo or Kampo, a herbal medicine that forms part
of well-researched modern clinical methods and also traditional methods of
medicine. A Japanese variant of the traditional Chinese medicine or the Oriental
medicine, Kanpo adheres to the body’s natural instincts and natural mechanism
of healing. For this purpose, medical treatment involves diagnosis of the tongue,
abdomen and pulse. At each stage of the treatment, different formulae that are
necessary to bring the body back to normalcy, are prepared by the physician.
These herbal medicines are regulated by the Japanese Government. Kanpo
medicine is used to cure many acute and chronic ailments like cardio-vascular,
respiratory, digestive, reproductive and dermatological conditions and immune
system corrections and even disorders like bedwetting, high cholesterol and
hepatitis. Though Kanpo therapies take longer than usual to work, this medical
system uses some very natural diagnosis and treatment methods and concepts
like water, blood and air to identify bodily symptoms. Also, it is claimed that
these herbal medicines produce no side-effects because of their natural
compositions. Japanese therapists of Anma visit countries like India and Singapore
to help in promotion of health tourism. Anma, a traditional Japanese massage, is
said to be a complete form of Shiastu19 that treats the body to release blood flow
in a proper manner to rejuvenate the body.

Apart from attracting tourists for its natural herbal medical treatments, Medical
tourism in Japan has become popular thanks to its volcanic areas that have allowed
the formation of some hot mineral water springs called Onsen. Japanese Onsen serve as places where the ailing can get alternative treatments to modern medical
practices. These have medicinal properties that heal wounds, alleviate pains and
replenish energy levels. Senior tourists and people suffering from many kinds of
aches and pains come flocking to these mineral water springs. The healing
properties of these springs are accentuated by the surrounding volcanic soil that
is composed of many minerals and curative elements.

Outlook of Medical Tourism in Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is here to stay, claim some traditional medical practitioners.
Given its perceived advantages over the modern medical techniques and the expensive
western medicines, alternative medical therapy is gaining ground in many developing
as well as developed countries. Practices like Ayurveda and Homeopathy claim that
surgery may always be the last option in case of treatment of an ailment. Natural
medicines like herbs and minerals can all be partaken as food and not medicines as
such, since their composition is all natural. Alternative medicine is used in conjunction
with modern medicine to treat many chronic ailments like diabetes and AIDS. This
helps modern medical practitioners to evolve a closer relationship with the patient
and cure him to a greater extent, thus giving him a new perspective to life. It follows
that one should never overlook the disposition of the traditional cures suggested by
our ancestors. These provide a standpoint from where one can comprehend the
profundity of traditional and alternative medicine, and gauge the tremendous potential
of alternative medicine in medical tourism.

Please seek author’s permission for reprint. Send a reprint request to kirrti82@gmail.com.

References
1. www.hinduonnet.com
2. “Kerala”, www.takekerala.com
3. “Prospects of Medical Tourism in India”, www.mpiweb.org
4. “Medical Tourism push for Penang and Langkawi”, http://thestar.com.my
5. www.wikipedia.com

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7 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Coconut Oil

August 4th, 2010 admin

It is a common misconception that coconut oil is bad for you. People all over the world are experiencing the healthy benefits of using coconut oil. It is actually one of the healthiest oils you can consume. Here are the top seven reasons why you should use coconut oil as an alternative to other common cooking oils.

1. Coconut oil doesn’t turn to fat in your body.

Unlike many other common oils, like soy (vegetable) and corn, coconut oil won’t make you fat. Coconut oil contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are an easy fuel for the body to burn, without turning to fat. Most other cooking oils and fats contain long-chain triglycerides (LCT). LCT’s are usually stored as fat. Since coconut oil is a MCT, it is more easily absorbed and converted to energy quicker.

People in the tropics have relied on coconuts as a traditional staple in their diet for centuries. They consume large amounts of coconut oil every day. Instead of getting fatter, it helps them stay healthy, lean and trim. When they switch from coconut oil to our modern oils, they develop obesity and the health problems that our modern society faces.

Some other people who have known this truth for a long time are people who are in the animal feed business. When livestock are fed vegetable oils, they put on weight and produce more fatty meat. When they are fed coconut oil, they become very lean.

2. Coconut oil increases your metabolism.

Not only does coconut oil convert to energy quicker in your body, it increases your metabolism, which promotes weight loss. Because it boosts your metabolism, it helps your body burn fat more effectively.

Coconut oil may triple your calorie burn. Since coconut oil is a MCT, it is converted to energy so quickly that it creates a lot of heat. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, MCT’s burn three times more calories for six hours after a meal than LCT’s.

The February 15, 2005 issue of Woman’s World magazine stated that coconut oil is the “underground high-metabolism secret.”

This is great news for people who have thyroid problems, since coconut oil improves sluggish thyroids by stimulating the production of extra thyroid hormones. Most other common oils, like vegetable (soy) and corn have been shown to inhibit thyroid function.

3. Coconut oil has omega 3 fatty acids.

Most cooking oils contain omega 6 fatty acids, something we get way too much of in the United States. Our omega 6 to omega 3 ratio should be 1:1 but it is more like 50:1. We need to drastically cut back our omega 6 oils and consume much more omega 3 oils to be healthy. And coconut oil is filled with these healthy omega 3 fatty acids.

4. Coconut oil gives you energy.

Because of the healthy omega 3 fatty acids and the fact that it increases the metabolism, most people that switch to coconut oil feel a burst of added energy in their daily life.

This is because coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT’s), which increase metabolic rates and lead to weight loss. MCT’s promote thermogenesis, which increases the body’s metabolism, producing energy.

This is because coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT’s), which increase metabolic rates and lead to weight loss. MCT’s promote thermogenesis, which increases the body’s metabolism, producing energy. Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia have found that adding coconut and coconut oil to their diet was helpful to them.

5. One of the best things you can use on your skin and hair is coconut oil.

Coconut oil one of the best things you can apply directly on your skin and hair. It gives temporary relief to skin problems like rashes. It aids in healing and restoring skin to a younger appearance. It has also been known to help with people who suffer from yeast infections in the skin, as well as many other skin problems.

Not only does is soften and smooth your skin, coconut oil has antioxidant properties that protect the skin from free radical damage. Coconut oil makes excellent massage oil too.

6. Coconut oil has healthy benefits that most other oils do not.

Evidence is mounting that coconut oil has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects when both consumed and used topically on the skin.

Most oils oxidize and turn rancid very quickly causing free radical damage in our bodies. Coconut oil is not easily oxidized and does not cause harmful free radical damage like polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Free radical damage is thought to be responsible for many ailments in our body from arthritis to increased susceptibility to cancers.

Coconut oil also helps our bodies absorb other nutrients more effectively, such as Vitamin E.

7. Coconut oil is one of the best oils you can use for cooking.

It has a higher smoke point than olive oil, which means it can take higher temperatures better. There are several healthy omega 3 oils we can choose to consume, such as flax and olive oil, but they don’t do well under the high heat we use for cooking. Coconut oil can be used in higher cooking temperatures.

It is harder for coconut oil to go rancid, unlike other cooking oils, which are usually rancid long before you even bring them home. Rancid oils cause free radical damage in the body, which is a leading cause of cancer. Coconut oil is stable for over a year at room temperature.

Because of the misinformation we have been given for years, we have lost out on the healthy benefits that coconut oil has given the people of the tropics for centuries. But now it has been rediscovered! Coconut oil is so effective, it won’t be long before we see coconut oil supplements promoted, but you can get the jump on the popular crowd and start consuming and cooking with coconut oil today!

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