The Harm

Is alternative medicine just a load of hocus pocus?

The recent death of a student using Chinese herbal medicine has reignited controversy over alternative therapies. With little regulation and scant evidence of effectiveness, are users risking their health?

Ling Wang, a 25-year-old PhD student, died after taking Chinese herbal medicine to treat a stomach upset and skin rash.

An inquest last month heard that Ling, from Newcastle, fell into a coma and died shortly after taking the medicine in tea or pill form last August.

One in five Britons uses some kind of complementary therapy, according to an ICM poll, but the industry is largely unregulated and there’s little or no evidence that many of the therapies work.

In fact, only osteopathy and chiropractic therapy are covered by regulations insisting that practitioners be qualified with a relevant body.

A woman dies cause of the unregulated alternative and complementary (CAM or quackery or bull shit).

Hidden danger of herbal remedies
We told last night how PhD student Ling Wang died from liver failure after she used a herbal remedy to tackle a skin rash and stomach upset.

An inquest heard the 25-year-old, of Spital Tongues, Newcastle, fell into a coma after taking an unknown Chinese medicine.

Pathologists said Jin Bu Huan could have been the remedy she had taken.

Prof Margaret Bassendine, head of hepatology at the university, said: “Traditional Chinese herbal medicines are widely available in Western society and are popular as a form of ‘natural’ alternative medicine.

“Their use is increasing, as they are perceived to be free of side-effects, but they remain largely unregulated. We describe two patients who suffered severe hepatitis, one of whom died, after taking Chinese herbal remedies for minor complaints.

“Two products appear to be implicated frequently: Jin Bu Huan was taken by 11 patients, and Dictamnus dasycarpus was taken by six patients, including both severe cases.

“It is difficult to provide conclusive evidence of what caused hepatitis but these cases highlight not only the potential dangers of these products, but also the need for greater control.”

Dr George Rae, regional spokesman for the British Medical Association, advised caution.

He said: “It’s well recognised that doctors will get patients coming in asking about herbal medicine and you have to be aware of the fact herbal medicine can have side-effects the same as traditional medicine.

“Herbal preparations can, on occasion, interact with the conventional medicine people are also taking. The advice is always to speak to your GP or pharmacist.”

Death by supplements

In 1996, my colleagues and I published a study on selenium in prostate cancer prevention. In brief, we found an unprecedented 60% reduction of prostate cancer in men who received dietary supplements of selenium. Our study was imperfect and while it produced an interesting hypothesis - selenium reduces prostate cancer incidence - it had not been designed to give a definitive answer. Last year, a National Cancer Institute report found that selenium supplementation is associated with more aggressive prostate cancer and prostate cancer death. In other words, despite the hope given by our imperfect 1996 study, it may actually be that selenium supplements accelerate prostate cancer.

Doctors in Texas have now reported that two men developed aggressive prostate cancer after taking the same herbal supplement which they bought over the internet; they reportedly later died of prostate cancer. They had bought the supplement to improve muscle strength and sexual vigor. Both had had normal prostate examinations in the not-so-distant past. Both had unusually aggressive clinical courses. Laboratory analysis of the supplements revealed unlisted ingredients, including testosterone, and potent cancer-cell promoting properties of these supplements. The FDA has now become involved and the supplements have been taken off the market. But what about all the other supplements still available? What’s in them? We cannot easily know.

Why would any one buy “supplements” of the internet?

Popular Alternative Therapy For Psoriasis Performs No Better Than Placebo

Anecdotal evidence touting the healing power of the Indian spice turmeric for psoriasis received a setback in a prospective study published recently by a leading dermatology journal stating that the low response rate of patients who ingested the active ingredient of the exotic spice was probably a result of the placebo effect.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that despite strong scientific evidence in the laboratory demonstrating the ability of curcumin (the active ingredient in the spice turmeric) to inhibit a critical pathway of psoriasis, the positive response in patients was so low that scientists suggest the placebo effect or the disease’s natural remission might be the reason.

“Alternative and complementary websites and newspapers publish anecdotal reports that the Indian spice has been successfully used to treat psoriasis,” says Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, of The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “However, spontaneous improvements in psoriasis are common, and based on our study, until larger, placebo-controlled trials are conducted, oral curcumin should not be recommended for the treatment of psoriasis given lack of proven efficacy.”

One thing proponents of CAM should realise, anecdotes are not evidence.
Turmeric: use it as a spice not medicine

Death sparks safety concern over popular pain remedy

A STRONG and healthy man died of catastrophic liver failure after taking an alternative medicine made from crab and lobster shells, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Norman Ferrie, 64, died within weeks of starting a course of glucosamine, the popular over-the-counter remedy, to tackle pain in his arthritic joints.

A liver expert told a fatal accident inquiry it was one of three similar cases that showed up at the same time in the Tayside area.

Ninewells Hospital consultant gastroenterologist, Dr John Dillon, 44, said the public should be warned about the potential danger of alternative remedies.

He said there was a public perception that alternative remedies were safe, despite them not undergoing strict clinical testing like prescribed medication.

Dr Dillon told the inquiry at Perth Sheriff Court: “We were confident the liver had been normal and that something had attacked it. It was an illness of weeks’ duration.

“He had been taking glucosamine to help with pain and arthritis in his joints. The dating of his illness was within a very short time frame of starting to take that.

“We had two other cases where the patient became ill after taking this. We were becoming suspicious of glucosamine causing a reaction and causing liver failure.

“He had stopped taking the glucosamine by the time we saw him. Our advice to him was not to re-start taking it,” Dr Dillon said.

Dr John Dillon is absolutely right, people think alternative medicines are safe despite the lack of clinical testing. CAM (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) or fake medicine has not gone through the rigorous testing that real medicine has yet people don’t seem to trust real medicine and trust fake medicine.