Sugar Proven Addiction
December 31, 2008 at 6:33 pm | In BioMedicine, Modern Research | Leave a CommentTags: Bias, Diabetes, perception, Sugar
From: http://tinyurl.com/a3bbja
It would be so nice to read a headline on a study like this that goes, “Scientists confirm what we all knew”. It would lead to such a different perception of the process.
As it stands, it seems to me that we give up our self-awareness to studies like this, simply by accepting that this kind of research “needs” to be done.
In all honesty, anyone with a smidgen of self-awareness knows that a human being can become addicted to anything.
Sugar? Well, absolutely.
So what’s the research for?
To find what particular pathways are affected.
To what end?
To help people come off their addiction. Ok, stop. Is sugar addiction really that strong? Are we so weak that we can no longer fight against pasta, bread, glucose-supplemented fruit juices and chocolate? There seems to be a slippery slope here somewhere… I am sure that someone, somewhere, has commented on the medicalisation of the human condition – “Why you’ve been hopelessly afflicted with the Human Condition? Egads, good thing we have a drug for that. Several actually…take a seat – they’re still experimental… but you’ll be helping us clear the path… good man”.
Maybe the benefits are in the spin-off research – if we study the pathways of sugar addiction we’ll find the cure to alzheimers. Or an anti-diabetes drug (or the solution for global warming!). All well and good when we put it that way…but isn’t a major issue for most diabetics “managing” sugar effectively? See my diabetes post for a discussion on this topic.
In any case, the idea is regarding the usefulness of research – something that is greatly critiqued in the bioethics community:
This is [...] to note that much of the scientific literature – perhaps especially the biomedical literature – is as much about waving arms as it is about communicating results. This is a vulgar glut that pollutes the scientific corpus. (Goodman 2003)
I hope that the next time we see a research article that seems to proclaim a re-invention of the wheel, we will stop and realise that in science, like in any other profession, there are factors at play which are very human in nature. See if the article says something really useful, and otherwise maintain a healthy skepticism – which, by the way, does not take a particular stance, other than to question until clarity occurs.
Bubonic Plague
December 20, 2008 at 12:46 am | In History Lesson | Leave a CommentTags: History
During the last years of the Qing Dynasty (around 1900), the bubonic plague swept through Hong Kong, then a British colony. British administrators divided patients into two groups, one of which was treated by Chinese medicine and the other by Western medicine, and evaluated the efficacy of each treatment. The first evaluation indicated that Chinese medicine was 50% more effective than Western medicine. Western doctors in Hong Kong challenged this evaluation and demanded a second evaluation with re-designed parameters. However, the second evaluation also showed that Chinese medicine was effective in 60% of the cases while Western medicine was effective in only 30% of the cases. As a result of this experiment the practice of Chinese medicine was officially allowed in Hong Kong. This historical case is recorded in a well known Chinese medicine book, Yi Xue Zhong Zhong Can Xi Lu (Modifying Chinese and Introducing Western Medicine, Zhang Xi-chun, 1935, reprint 1985, China).
Wow, that’s a lot of needles.
December 11, 2008 at 6:53 pm | In Acupuncture | Leave a CommentTags: Acupuncture
Lots of Needles
“The skilled physician uses 1 to 3 needles”
- Chinese Proverb
Season influences Asthma
December 11, 2008 at 3:07 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentIn Chinese Medicine, the Lungs are most vulnerable during the Autumn season, and breathing disorders, such as those described by the western medical term “Asthma”, are commonly seen during that time.
The following is from the New York Times (read the article here):
How, when and where a child is born may all play a role in lifetime asthma risk, new studies suggest.
Asthma occurs when airways in the lungs spasm and swell, restricting the supply of oxygen. The incidence of asthma in the United States has risen steadily for more than two decades, and about 6 percent of children now have asthma, up from less than 4 percent in 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The reasons for the increase are not entirely clear. Genetics probably plays a role in the risk for asthma, but an array of environmental factors — pollen, dust, animal dander, mold, cockroach feces, cigarettes, air pollution, viruses and cold air — have all been implicated in its development.
This month, The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine is reporting that children born in the fall have a 30 percent higher risk for asthma than those born in other seasons. The finding is based on a review of birth and medical records of over 95,000 children in Tennessee.
There is a Rhyme and a Reason
December 8, 2008 at 12:54 am | In Chinese Medicine, Herbal Medicine, Modern Research, Science | Leave a CommentTags: Chinese Medicine, Herbal Medicine, jargon, Skepticism, Theory
While I don’t like to go on about reductionism and its assumed evils and so forth, there are grains of truth in these criticisms.
There is a difference between a complex, open (interconnected) system and a small, (relatively) closed system – the former is like the weather, and the latter is like a motor vehicle. I believe we are all familiar with the viscissitudes of weather forecasting, and yet, on the other hand, how generally reliable and unperplexing our vehicles are.
In essence, the first system cannot be reduced without losing its essential complexity and interrelatedness, while the second one can (for a deeper discussion on the relative aspects of this idea, click here). This means that in order to understand a complex, open system, it must be met in its arena of effect. Reducing the arena changes the game and damages the data irretrievably.
In a previous post (Herb Comparable to Prednisone), I wrote about how the oversimplification of Chinese Medical principles tended to damage the effectiveness of the intervention, sometimes completely, and how it was important to understand that in Chinese Medicine we do things for a reason.
More careful research can illuminate some of these reasons, and I would like to provide you with a brief glimpse into one of these investigations:
Chinese Medicine almost always uses herbal combinations rather than single herbs, not only because a single herb has a weak effect, but because herbs can act in synergistic or antagonistic ways to each other (amongst other effects). Thus a properly constructed formula with the individual patient in mind provides a superior effect than the administration of a single herb, or of a non-individualised formula.
The following graph from the Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (2003;26(7):911-919) dramatically illustrates this phenomenon:
The blood concentration of wagonoside from HuangQinTang was twice as high as that of HuangQin alone.
HuangQin Tang is a Chinese Herbal Combination, Huang Qin is merely the lead herb.
HuangQin Tang contains: huáng qín, huáng lián, gé gēn, and zhì gān cǎo.
This type of investigation makes two points:
1. There is a reason that herbal combinations are the standard of care in CM.
2. Deconstructing an open, complex system is fraught with dangers if the aim is to illuminate the true mechanisms or energetic dynamics of said system.
In the western world, and even the eastern world, too much effort has been spent on “identifying” the one herb in a formula which provides the effect, and then further “isolating” “active ingredients” in order to provide the end-user with a “real” medicinal in a “more potent” form for, ostensibly, superior clinical effect.
It’s as if a scientist wanted to provide us with a better vehicle, and decided the active ingredient was the piston, made us a big giant piston to use and acted all proud.
It is my hope that our understanding of the ancient and wise medical systems of this world becomes much more mature in the next short little while.
Incidentally, HuangQin Tang is primarily used for something called “Damp-Heat in the Lower Burner”, one manifestation of which is dysentery. Years ago, a chemical called “berberine” was isolated from another herb in this formula, huáng lián, and used in cases of dysentery. And yes, you guessed it, it doesn’t work as well as HuangQin Tang for the indicated condition.
Oh well.
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