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Link:http://www.examiner.com/x-18331-Natural-Health-Examiner~y2009m8d22-The-two-best-sunburn-relieversGenevieve Kiger.jpg)
There are Many Natural Remedies for Sun Burns
photo by Phil KatesEveryone's done it – stayed out in the sun far longer than they should have, until the skin is red, angry, possibly even blistered. A sunburn.
When all is said and done, whether the burn comes from the sun or a hot oven, the effects on the skin are virtually the same, and thus the treatments are virtually the same, as well.
One often-repeated home remedy you should never use, is to apply butter to a burn. According to Prescription for Herbal Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, "don't put butter on a burn. It does not accelerate healing (actually, it can trap heat and worsen a burn), and may contain bacteria." Similarly, any thick, heavy oils should be avoided..jpg)
Aloe is the Top Treatment Recommended for Sunburn
photo by Andrew RivettAlmost unanimously, from natural medicine practitioners, to "mainstream" Western medicine doctors, to traditional home remedies, the top recommendation remains the same for burns: Aloe Vera. In addition to simply being wonderfully soothing for any kind of burn, it "is also anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal, and it speeds healing," according to The Herbal Drugstore, by Linda B. White, MD, and Steven Foster. The best method is to pick a fresh leaf, slice it open, and scoop the healing gel out and apply directly to the burned skin. Failing that, every drugstore and pharmacy will have Aloe Vera gel for sale, usually right next to the sunscreens. Just be sure to get one that doesn't have any colorants or other chemicals added.
The second leading recommendation for sunburn relief is almost as clear: lavender essential oil. It is soothing and cooling, and is antiseptic and promotes swift healing. It can be applied neat (without diluting first) on the burn, or mixed with water (shake well) and applied to a cloth for a cooling compress.
Link:http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/christmas-cures-three-healing-gifts-1846974.htmlThe gold, frankincense and myrrh in the Christmas story all have a place in modern medicine – and now mistletoe injections are even being used to treat cancer. Jane Feinmann reports
REX
In Germany a fermented injectible extract of mistletoe has been widely used as a complementary therapy for cancer for more than 90 yearsExactly 2009 years after the Magi handed over the first gift set to baby Jesus, gold, frankincense and myrrh are still essential Xmas- factors – whether as props in the school nativity play or essential ingredients in the "Ooh, that smells lovely" response to the Neal's Yard school of present-giving. What's more, along with mistletoe, holly and ivy, they all lay claim to having serious health benefits. But do these claims stand up to scrutiny – or are they are all Christmas quackers?
Gold
Gold injections have been an established treatment to halt the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for more than a 100 years. Today they're used only as a last resort, now that more effective biologically engineered therapies have become first-line treatment. But gold could regain its therapeutic importance now that scientists have finally gained an understanding of the particular properties of gold that halt this unpleasant disease.
Gold salts, according to a breakthrough study published in 2008, inhibit the production of a molecule (HMGB1) that provokes the inflammation responsible for RA when it accumulates in excessive quantities in the tissue around the joints of the hands and feet. This molecule, it seems, is implicated in a whole range of inflammatory and infectious diseases. And the discovery relating to RA is being hailed as a pivotal advance which could lead to gold as the base for new, safer- acting treatments for RA – and perhaps create a new way of approaching inflammatory diseases.
There's less enthusiasm, however, for aurum metallicum, a homeopathic preparation made from very diluted gold – and which according to homeopaths is "renowned for its ability to cure the deepest imaginable depressions and suicidal states". If you or a loved one have bought aurum metallicum from a reputable homeopathic pharmacy on the off-chance that it might do what it says on the tin, let's hope it worked. If so, it might be well to recall the wise words of that scientist of laughter, Dara O'Briain: "Homeopathy is just water. You're healing yourself. Why don't you give yourself the credit?"
Frankincense
The resin from trees of the Boswellia family, frankincense (also known as B Serrata), has been used as a medicine for thousands of years as well as for perfume production and in religious ceremonies. As such, it has proved of considerable interest to modern scientists, with more than 40 clinical trials testing the impact of chemical derivatives of frankincense for a wide range of health problems including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, knee osteoarthritis and colitis.
Unfortunately, these studies have been too small to deliver robust findings, says Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at Exeter University. But they do confirm that this ancient cure-all is safe, with a clinical impact that is "encouraging but not compelling", according to Ernst. For knee osteoarthritis, for instance, the research is "interesting but the patient numbers are small", says Professor Philip Conaghan of Leeds University, who is a spokesman for the Arthritis Research Campaign. He recommends first trying muscle strengthening exercises, shock-absorbing footwear, and weight loss.
Myrrh
This resinous and bitter plant extract has been used for centuries in all sorts of healing rituals. It was an essential oil in biblical times, according to Dr David Stewart, in his book, Healing Oils of the Bible. It featured in Psalms as well as the Song of Solomon. Egyptian pharaohs were embalmed in it and the (wealthy) Greeks used it to treat ill health generally – and it's also a key therapeutic agent in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.
Today, the plant's glittering reputation is tarnished. Mirazid, a myrrh-derived drug, marketed by the Egyptian pharmaceutical company Pharco, was briefly heralded as a "miracle" cure for schistosomiasis, a tropical disease caused by liver fluke, with early trials claiming a total absence of side effects and a cure rate of 91.7 per cent. More recently, a rigorously scientific head-to-head study revealed that Mirazid performed very poorly compared with Praziquantel, the first-line treatment for schistosomiasis. "Mirazid is not in fact antischistosomal," the authors concluded.
Together, frankincense and myrrh are also big business in the cosmetic industry. You can barely move in Neal's Yard or Space NK for revitalising lotions containing frankincense and myrrh – especially at Christmas when the fact that these are anti-ageing ingredients as given to the baby Jesus is an extra selling point.
Whether these cosmetics work or not – and whether it matters – divides critics of complementary medicine. Professor Ernst insists that it's not just clinical claims that should be backed by good evidence. He points out that there are currently more than one million websites on frankincense, and hundreds of thousands about myrrh, almost all of which fail to offer reliable information as to their effectiveness: "Their trade names speak for themselves: regeneration body balm, intensive eye serum, supernatural instant youth serum, lifting and firming body lotion, joie de vivre face lotion, radiance anti-ageing, joint and muscle balm, ultra inflammactin. These cosmetic claims are not supported by the evidence."
But Andy Lewis, founder of Quackometer.net and normally a fearless critic of all things complementary, takes a different view. He goes all soft and fluffy when discussing the "daft" claims made by the beauty industry for products such as Neal's Yard's Organic Frankincense Toning Body Cream. Apparently, as long as it smells nice and doesn't claim to cure AIDS it is "tolerable quackery" and therefore entirely ok.
Christmas cures: Holly, ivy and mistletoe
The holly and the ivy both have a following for their health benefits. Mate, a stimulating herbal tea – an acquired taste for Europeans but much-sipped in South America, particularly in Argentina – is made from a species of holly bush found in the rainforests of South America. It is claimed to reduce cholesterol even in people already taking statins, and may also suppress appetite and thereby aid weight loss. Meanwhile ground ivy is an expectorant and a key ingredient in several herbal cough remedies.
But it's mistletoe that could be the real plum in the Christmas remedy pudding – with growing interest in the impact on cancer of the white-berried plant, best known in the UK for encouraging Christmas kisses.
For in Germany a fermented injectible extract of mistletoe has been widely used as a complementary therapy for cancer for more than 90 years – and today it is all but accepted as a mainstream medicine.
Mistletoe was first claimed as an anti-cancer therapy by the mystic, Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s. He believed it was a perfect example of "anthroposophical" medicine, which is "an organic culture of mind, body and spirit". He claimed, rather bizarrely, that as the parasitical plant feeds on and eventually strangles its host tree, just like cancer does in the body, mistletoe would have "killing-like-with-like" homeopathic effect on the human disease. But if the rationale doesn't stand up to scrutiny, the remedy itself certainly does.
Modern mistletoe products such as Iscador or Viscumalbum are prescribed for two out of three German cancer patients, most of whom insist on being treated with a product they are confident will safely stimulate the white blood cells that are depleted during cancer treatment – thereby improving quality of life during treatment, and possibly extending life.
The problem for many UK experts is that, as with so many herbal remedies, while there is anecodotal evidence supporting its use, no clinical study proves conclusively whether this mid-European enthusiasm is misplaced or not. In 2008, an authoritative Cochrane review published the result of a thorough investigation into the existing published studies – and found that there was not enough evidence to reach clear conclusions about its effects on the outcome of cancer.
"There is some evidence that it does have a weak but positive effect on cancer patients," says Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at Exeter University. "To really believe in this remedy, you have to cherry-pick the positive findings and ignore the equal number of negative studies – though I understand why patients want what they see as a drink from the last straw that promises survival."
But it could be used throughout the cancer journey, as happens in Germany, according to George Lewith, Professor of Health Research at Southampton University's Complementary & Integrated Health Research Unit. "This is a largely safe remedy that is made to high quality standards and has been taken as an adjunct to mainstream treatment for many decades by cancer patients in a country only a couple of hundred miles away from the UK," says Professor Lewith.
"It's certainly not a cure-all but there do seem to be strong suggestions that it could make cancer treatment easier to bear and possibly improve the chances of survival – all for about £30 a month. If you can afford it, why wouldn't you use it?"
Link:http://www.bharatbhasha.com/health.php/188972Gout has been plaguing people every single decade. Currently over 5 million people in the States suffer this condition. Hippocrates called it the "disease of kings" because it affected people who eat rich food.
There are good free natural remedies for gout that can help you deal with an attack. These may involve rest, changes in diet and a simple ice pack.
As you know gout is a form of arthritis that attacks your joints with deep pressures of pain on a consistent basis. It predominantly affects the joints of your big toes.
Fortunately there are treatments and readily available options to deal with gout. If you've multiple attacks of acute arthritis; arthritis attacks that happen consistently and vanish quickly or a particular arthritis pain in a certain body part such as elbows, heels, wrists, fingers or other body part - you've a gout symptom that needs to be dealt with.
What are helpful natural remedies to ease gout attacks? You can start by resting the joint for a term of 24hrs until the attack eases. This is a logical one but often people get desperate, don't rest and their panic make the inflammation worse. After resting for 24-48hrs, try to elevate the painful joint that was hurting, slowly, often improves the condition.
You may also apply an icepack to a painful joint. Just be sure to ask a healthcare provider how long you should do this..
Diet may also contribute to an attack so it is important to eat a balanced diet and limit or avoid high-purine foods such as beef or pork. These foods may contribute to higher uric acid levels which can be a contributor to a gout attack.
Whilst not a natural remedy, taking a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) may also work in recovery from your gout attacks. This is something to discuss with your doctor or healthcare practitioner.
Some of NSAIDs have been pulled from the market so you might be on the hunt for herbal gout remedies. These remedies can reduce joint pain, reduce inflammation and detoxify your body of the substances that can contribute to a gout attack.
Detoxification is important because some substances in your body, like alcohol for example, make contribute to an increase in gout attacks.
The great thing about herbal remedies for gout is that they don't give you the side effects of NSAIDs so they are certainly worth using.
Whether you use natural remedies or some other medication, it'd be smart to seek medical assistance first!
Link:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091222/jsp/northeast/story_11892161.jspNagaon
A joint forest management committee nursery at Doboka in Nagaon. Telegraph pictureThe reserve forests of Nagaon and Morigaon will soon be redolent with the aroma of medicinal plants and herbs.
The state forest department will seek to cover 400 hectares of depleted forestland under a special programme, with financial assistance from the National Medicinal Plants Board.
A departmental source said the local division would be the forest development agency and five joint forest management committees would work under it.
Almost 150 hectares under the Kalapani joint forest management committee under Salona range, 80 hectares under the Modartoli committee in Kathiatoli range, 70 hectares under the Jagiroad Bon Unnayan Committee under Dharamtul range and 50 hectares each under Mejigaon committee in Salona range and Silchang committee in Dharamtul range were selected for the plantation programme.
The National Medicinal Plants Board, set up in November 2002 by the Centre, has the primary mandate regarding all matters relating to medicinal plants and support policies and programmes for growth of trade, export, conservation and cultivation.
The board comes under the department of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, siddha and homoeopathy of the ministry of health and family welfare.
“We are continuing the preliminary work like field survey and demarcation and opening a central account in the name of the forest development agency. We hope the funds start flowing soon and we don’t have to wait long,” the source said.
“The board has identified nine species of medicinal and aromatic plants to be covered under the programme — agor, keturi, Gandhi kachu, ashoka, bos, pipoli, sarpagandha, bogitora and bhatghila. Of the nine, the first three have been selected for Nagaon and Morigaon,” said Nagaon divisional forest officer Aftab Uddin Ahmed.
Medicinal plants are not only a major resource base for the traditional medicine and herbal industry but also provide a livelihood for the people.
Ahmed said the forestland in Nagaon was suitable for agor cultivation.
Gandhi kachu, which is generally found in the jungles of Barak Valley, would be cultivated only on an experimental basis.
According to him, immediately after receiving financial assistance, a nursery would be put up at the Salona range from where plants would be distributed among the sister committees for plantation.
Nagaon deputy commissioner J. Balaji said another 440 hectares of the district outside the reserve forests would also be brought under two separate nationally sponsored programmes.
“Already 140 hectares under an agriculture department programme and 300 hectares under NREGA needs to be covered. We shall then go for planting ginger, citronella and patchouli. We plan to cover 5,000 hectares of land in the next five years and are discussing the opening of a federation-type district-level apex body to channelise markets for the future,” he said.
Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/22/kew-gardens-new-plant-speciesIan SampleBotanists at Kew unveil a bumper crop of new plant species for 2009 including one that had been growing under their noses for 50 years
Isoglossa variegata was discovered in the Princess of Wales Conservatory at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Photograph: RBG KewThe quest to catalogue Earth's rich flora has taken botanists to the farthest flung and most treacherous corners of the world, from the humid rainforests of the Amazon to the highest peaks of Borneo.
Which made it all the more surprising when Iain Darbyshire stumbled upon a species of plant unknown to science while taking a lunchtime stroll around the Royal Botanic Gardens in west London.
Darbyshire, an expert in African botany at Kew, happened upon the foot-tall plant in full bloom, its striking green and grey heart-shaped leaves set off by tiny white and pink flowers.
"I just happened to take a different route through the glasshouse that lunchtime and stumbled across it," Darbyshire told the Guardian. "I knew instantly that it was a new species. It was just sat there waiting for someone to study it."
Record books revealed the plants had been donated by Swedish botanists in the 1990s after an expedition to the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania. Unsuspecting gardeners had tended them for more than a decade, using them as tropical bedding in Kew's Princess of Wales Conservatory.
The plant was officially named Isoglossa variegata last month and is among more than 250 new plant and fungus species discovered and described by the gardens' botanists in the past year.
Almost a third of all the species are believed to be facing extinction as their habitats are eroded or destroyed by logging, climate change and other environmental disruption.
In western Madagascar, Kew botanists hiked across extraordinary landscapes of limestone pinnacles and discovered several new species of wild coffee plant, the most traded commodity in the world after oil.
This unique environment has given rise to coffee plants that look nothing like those found elsewhere. Some of the species are conspicuously hairy, and two, Coffea labatii and Coffea pterocarpa, have colourful winged fruit.
The region experiences torrential seasonal downpours that create ephemeral rivers and pools across the stoney forest floor. "These winged fruit float very well, so the feature might be an evolutionary adpatation to aid their dispersal," said Aaron Davis, a coffee expert and taxonomist at the Gardens.
Alternatively, the wings may ensure the fruit are scattered far and wide by making them more visible to lemurs, which feed on the coffee beans.
The hirsute coffee plants might have sprouted hair to protect against harsh ultraviolet rays in the dry season.
"There's a misconception that we've found all the plants there are to find, but we are still in a golden age of discovery," said Davis. "We don't know our planet well enough and we are running out of time. Species are going extinct before we even know about them."
Around 70% of wild coffee species are in danger of extinction.
Elsewhere in Madagascar, botanists noticed two new species of small flowering plants called Gymnosiphon. The bizzare plants draw their energy not from the sun, but from fungi that live underground.
Further expeditions to the rainforests of Cameroon led to the discovery of three giant trees that grow to more than 30m high. One, Berlinia korupensis, is a member of the pea family. The tree towers above its neighbours at 42m high and produces foot-long pods that explode when they ripen, propelling seeds far across the forest floor.
Among some of the smallest species identified this year are tiny wood-rotting fungi from Australia that are less than a millimetre wide and cover trees like a thin coating of paint.
"They are small, but they perform a vital role in decomposition of plant material and recycling of nutrients," said Brian Spooner, a Swedish fungus expert working with Kew researchers.
In South Africa, botanists spotted a plant with lumpy wooden tubers that grow up to a metre high. The species was identified as a yam, but only 200 or so are known to exist in the wild. It is under threat from local medicinal plant collectors who use it as a treatment for cancer.
Some 20 new species were discovered in Brazil alone, the most striking being a red passion flower that is probably pollinated by hummingbirds and produces edible egg-shaped fruit. The plant was spotted in an expedition to the Amazon rainforest in Mato Grasso, Brazil.
The largest haul of new species came from Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Borneo, where botanists Jeff Wood and Phil Cribb have identified 38 new species of orchid. Nearly 900 different species live in a 1,200sq km area of the island.
Each new species is identified by detailed visual inspections that are often backed up my genetic analyses. To identify all the world's flora could take another 50 years, but the effort is crucial for conserving rare species and reintroducing species that only exist in protected areas.
Stephen Hopper, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, said the speed of discovery and classification of new species is increasing under the organisation's Breathing Planet Programme.
"These new discoveries highlight the fact that there is so much of the plant world yet to be discovered and documented. Without knowing what's out there and where it occurs, we have no scientific basis for effective conservation," said Hopper.
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