Alternative & Integrative Health Archive

Prostate cancer is the most common internal malignancy in American men; it's second only to lung cancer among the leading causes of male cancer deaths. That makes it an urgent problem, and it is finally getting the scientific respect it deserves. Still, despite thorough investigations that have yielded major advances, many aspects of the disease remain unknown.

One area of uncertainty is the cause of prostate cancer. Genetics certainly play an important role, but heredity cannot explain most cases. Lifestyle factors have also been implicated; the leading candidate is diet. A high consumption of saturated fat from animal sources is linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, while whole grains, tomatoes, some vegetables, fish, and soy appear protective. Although the data are less complete, red wine may be protective, while a very high consumption of calcium may be harmful. Some studies also implicate alpha-linolenic acid, the omega-3 fat in flaxseeds and canola oil, as a risk factor. Other lifestyle elements that have been linked to the disease include obesity, lack of exercise, and heavy smoking and drinking.

According to the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, only about 40% of people with major depression receive adequate conventional treatment, so it's important to get a better understanding of the other measures depressed patients are taking. A survey of American women indicates that a high proportion of them use alternative and complementary medicines for depression.

Researchers analyzed a national telephone survey of more than 3,000 women, with Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans, and African Americans somewhat over-represented in order to get a picture of ethnic differences. Of these women, 220 said they had been medically diagnosed with depression in the previous year, and 54% of them had used alternative medicine to treat the symptoms. The authors point out that the percentage would have been even higher if they had been able to include depressed women who never received a medical diagnosis.

Syrup of Ipecac is on its way out the door. Although ipecac is commonly considered a staple in households with young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends the routine use of this remedy for accidental poisonings.

There are a number of reasons that ipecac has fallen out of favor. Studies have shown the sooner ipecac is taken after accidental ingestion of a poison, the greater the amount of the poison removed from the stomach through vomiting. But even when ipecac is taken immediately after ingestion of a poison, not all of the toxin is removed. So the potential for harm from the poison may still exist despite the use of ipecac. The persistent vomiting caused by ipecac can also reduce the effectiveness of other oral treatments for poisoning, such as activated charcoal — the most effective way of drawing poison out of the body. In addition to causing vomiting, the syrup can also produce diarrhea and lethargy. These symptoms, especially lethargy, can be confused with the effects of some drugs that a child may have accidentally ingested. Furthermore, when syrup of ipecac is readily available in the home, it is easily and likely used at inappropriate times and without the advice of a physician or poison control center.

A dozen yoga poses, performed daily, may increase bone density.

 Image: tetmc/Thinkstock

Like most of us, you may have become accustomed to thinking that only common weight-bearing exercises—walking, running, jumping, and lifting—provide enough stress on your bones to maintain or increase their density. So a scientific paper titled "Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Routine Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss" came as a surprise. And it appeared to offer women another option to build bone.

What the study found

The researchers who designed the study noted that yoga's established benefits—including better balance and coordination—protect against falling, a major cause of osteoporotic fractures. They wanted to determine whether the yoga poses they selected might also increase bone density by imposing force on the spine and hips.