Alternative Healing
Herbal Remedies & Alternative Healing - Open Minded Discussion of Herbs and Alternative Healing practices.
As with all advice the user takes all responsibility for the consequences. Please read and understand fully before attempting any self medication ... nothing is ever "completely" safe.
Traditional Herbal &Plant Knowledge, Identifications
September 30, 2008, 07:58:07 PM by He Walks With Bare Feet
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Valerian - for depression and SAD {not just a sleep aid}
September 14, 2008, 09:53:12 PM by siguie
I thought it might be helpful for those of you who are into herbs anyways 
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Quote from: aafp.org
Valerian
SUSAN HADLEY, M.D., Middlesex Hospital, Middletown, Connecticut
JUDITH J. PETRY, M.D., Vermont Healing Tools Project, Brattleboro, Vermont
Valerian is a traditional herbal sleep remedy that has been studied with a variety of methodologic designs using multiple dosages and preparations. Research has focused on subjective evaluations of sleep patterns, particularly sleep latency, and study populations have primarily consisted of self-described poor sleepers. Valerian improves subjective experiences of sleep when taken nightly over one- to two-week periods, and it appears to be a safe sedative/hypnotic choice in patients with mild to moderate insomnia. The evidence for single-dose effect is contradictory. Valerian is also used in patients with mild anxiety, but the data supporting this indication are limited. Although the adverse effect profile and tolerability of this herb are excellent, long-term safety studies are lacking. (Am Fam Physician 2003;67:1755-8. Copyright©2003 American Academy of Family Physicians)
The root of valerian, a perennial herb native to North America, Asia, and Europe, is used most commonly for its sedative and hypnotic properties in patients with insomnia, and less commonly as an anxiolytic. Multiple preparations are available, and the herb is commonly combined with other herbal medications. This review addresses only studies that used valerian root as an isolated herb. As with most herbal products available in the United States, valerian root extracts are not regulated for quality or consistency. Independent testing laboratories (such as www.consumerlab.com) generally use valeric acid content as a marker for pharmacologic activity and represent one source for reliable information to support product ...
SUSAN HADLEY, M.D., Middlesex Hospital, Middletown, Connecticut
JUDITH J. PETRY, M.D., Vermont Healing Tools Project, Brattleboro, Vermont
Valerian is a traditional herbal sleep remedy that has been studied with a variety of methodologic designs using multiple dosages and preparations. Research has focused on subjective evaluations of sleep patterns, particularly sleep latency, and study populations have primarily consisted of self-described poor sleepers. Valerian improves subjective experiences of sleep when taken nightly over one- to two-week periods, and it appears to be a safe sedative/hypnotic choice in patients with mild to moderate insomnia. The evidence for single-dose effect is contradictory. Valerian is also used in patients with mild anxiety, but the data supporting this indication are limited. Although the adverse effect profile and tolerability of this herb are excellent, long-term safety studies are lacking. (Am Fam Physician 2003;67:1755-8. Copyright©2003 American Academy of Family Physicians)
The root of valerian, a perennial herb native to North America, Asia, and Europe, is used most commonly for its sedative and hypnotic properties in patients with insomnia, and less commonly as an anxiolytic. Multiple preparations are available, and the herb is commonly combined with other herbal medications. This review addresses only studies that used valerian root as an isolated herb. As with most herbal products available in the United States, valerian root extracts are not regulated for quality or consistency. Independent testing laboratories (such as www.consumerlab.com) generally use valeric acid content as a marker for pharmacologic activity and represent one source for reliable information to support product ...
Kevin Trudeau - Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About
August 04, 2008, 12:45:15 PM by He Walks With Bare Feet
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Study Entices Thoughts Of Hands-On Healing
August 04, 2008, 10:43:37 AM by Violet19
Study Entices Thoughts Of Hands-On Healing
By HILARY WALDMAN | Courant Staff Writer
July 28, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT researcher and department of surgery Professor Gloria Gronowicz has spent her career studying the biology of bone cells. She recently led a study in which Therapeutic Touch performed by trained energy healers significantly stimulated the growth of bone and tendon cells in lab dishes. (STEPHEN DUNN / HARTFORD COURANT / July 21, 2008)
Steeped in white-coat science since she earned her Ph.D. in cell biology at Columbia University 20 years ago, Gloria Gronowicz is about the last person you'd expect to put stock in the touchy-feely discipline of energy medicine.But then the University of Connecticut researcher saw it with her own eyes, under a high-power microscope in her own laboratory, where, once, only well-accepted biological building blocks — proteins, mitochondria, DNA and the like — got respect.
Therapeutic Touch performed by trained energy healers significantly stimulated the growth of bone and tendon cells in lab dishes.
Her results, recently published in two scientific journals, provide novel evidence that there may be a powerful energy field that, when channeled through human hands, can influence the course of events at a cellular level.
"What she's showing is an association that defies explanation with what we currently know," said Margaret A. Chesney, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and former deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. "She's Daniel Boone."
"Should somebody with osteoporosis or a broken leg go to their Reiki practitioner?" Gronowicz said. "We don't know."
Through history and across cultures, spiritual healers have long believed that the laying on of hands could cure disease and relieve pain. In the last 30 years or s...
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By HILARY WALDMAN | Courant Staff Writer
July 28, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT researcher and department of surgery Professor Gloria Gronowicz has spent her career studying the biology of bone cells. She recently led a study in which Therapeutic Touch performed by trained energy healers significantly stimulated the growth of bone and tendon cells in lab dishes. (STEPHEN DUNN / HARTFORD COURANT / July 21, 2008)
Steeped in white-coat science since she earned her Ph.D. in cell biology at Columbia University 20 years ago, Gloria Gronowicz is about the last person you'd expect to put stock in the touchy-feely discipline of energy medicine.But then the University of Connecticut researcher saw it with her own eyes, under a high-power microscope in her own laboratory, where, once, only well-accepted biological building blocks — proteins, mitochondria, DNA and the like — got respect.
Therapeutic Touch performed by trained energy healers significantly stimulated the growth of bone and tendon cells in lab dishes.
Her results, recently published in two scientific journals, provide novel evidence that there may be a powerful energy field that, when channeled through human hands, can influence the course of events at a cellular level.
"What she's showing is an association that defies explanation with what we currently know," said Margaret A. Chesney, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and former deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. "She's Daniel Boone."
"Should somebody with osteoporosis or a broken leg go to their Reiki practitioner?" Gronowicz said. "We don't know."
Through history and across cultures, spiritual healers have long believed that the laying on of hands could cure disease and relieve pain. In the last 30 years or s...
Red wine compound may kill pancreatic cancer cells
July 03, 2008, 02:57:10 AM by siguie
Oh and another plus is that "resveratrol" is also considered one of the "youth" compounds
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Quote from: Reuters
Red wine compound may kill pancreatic cancer cells
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- A compound found in the skin of red grapes and red wine may help induce pancreatic cancer cells to malfunction and die, a lab study has found.
The compound, called resveratrol, is produced by certain plants as part of their defense arsenal against pathogens. A handful of foods, including raspberries, blueberries and peanuts, contain resveratrol, but it is most abundant in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, red wine.
In the new study, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York treated human pancreatic cancer cells with resveratrol, either alone or in combination with radiation.
They found that the wine compound disrupted the activity of the cancer cells' mitochondria, energy-producing centers needed for cells to function. Resveratrol also impaired certain cancer-cell proteins that thwart chemotherapy by pumping drugs out of the cell.
In combination with radiation, but not alone, the compound bumped up the production of cell-damaging substances called reactive oxygen species -- potentially making the cancer cells more destructible.
And, in fact, cancer cells treated with the combination were more likely to self-destruct, the study found.
"While additional studies are needed, this research indicates that resveratrol has a promising future as part of the treatment for cancer," lead investigator Dr. Paul Okunieff said in a university statement.
He and his colleagues report the findings in the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.
What the results mean for cancer patients is not ...
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- A compound found in the skin of red grapes and red wine may help induce pancreatic cancer cells to malfunction and die, a lab study has found.
The compound, called resveratrol, is produced by certain plants as part of their defense arsenal against pathogens. A handful of foods, including raspberries, blueberries and peanuts, contain resveratrol, but it is most abundant in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, red wine.
In the new study, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York treated human pancreatic cancer cells with resveratrol, either alone or in combination with radiation.
They found that the wine compound disrupted the activity of the cancer cells' mitochondria, energy-producing centers needed for cells to function. Resveratrol also impaired certain cancer-cell proteins that thwart chemotherapy by pumping drugs out of the cell.
In combination with radiation, but not alone, the compound bumped up the production of cell-damaging substances called reactive oxygen species -- potentially making the cancer cells more destructible.
And, in fact, cancer cells treated with the combination were more likely to self-destruct, the study found.
"While additional studies are needed, this research indicates that resveratrol has a promising future as part of the treatment for cancer," lead investigator Dr. Paul Okunieff said in a university statement.
He and his colleagues report the findings in the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.
What the results mean for cancer patients is not ...