Just this week, coincidentally, the results of three new clinical studies confirmed the value of three classic Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments: ginger, acupuncture, and ginseng.

In the studies, which were conducted at different universities, researchers discovered that ginger reduces the nausea that often follows chemotherapy treatments, acupuncture beats conventional medical treatment for low back pain, and Asian ginseng is a natural anti-inflammatory. Here are the details.

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Ginger
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) supplements relieved post-chemotherapy nausea by 40% in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study funded by the National Cancer Institute. The study will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting on May 30, in Orlando, Fla.

In the study, conducted by scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, 644 cancer patients (66 percent were women with breast cancer) were randomly assigned to one of four groups. They were given a placebo, 500 mg of ginger, 1,000 mg of ginger, or 1,500 mg of ginger in addition to antiemetic medication (Zofran, Kytril, Navoban and Anzemet) to prevent vomiting. The participants took the ginger for six days, starting three days before the start of their chemo cycles.

“Antiemetics are very effective against vomiting but not against nausea, because nausea is not the same as vomiting,” says Julie L. Ryan, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology and radiation oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the lead author of the study.

“Nausea precedes vomiting, but people can be nauseated and not vomit,” she says. What’s more, she says, “Cancer patients complain more about nausea than they do about vomiting because they are unable to relieve the severe nausea.”

How does ginger relieve nausea? That hasn’t yet been determined, Ryan says. “We believe that ginger’s absorbent and anti-inflammatory properties act directly on the gut to reduce nausea,” she says, and points out that nausea is a difficult symptom to study because it is subjective and based on perception, which varies from person to person.

To measure nausea in this study, Ryan and her team used a seven-point rating system so that people could rank their feelings of nausea from one (not at all nauseated) to seven (extremely nauseated). Those who took 500 mg to 1,000 mg of ginger a day had the best results.

Ryan says 500 mg equals one-fourth teaspoon of dried, ground ginger. New Chapter makes Daily Ginger, an organic ginger supplement, which is widely available at health food stores; GNC also sells ginger root capsules.

Next page: Acupuncture for back pain, ginseng for inflammation

The notion that a therapist can pass her hands over your clothed, supine body for an hour or so and successfully coax every iota of stress out of you has a too-good-to-be-true ring about it. But that’s been my experience with Reiki, a Japanese technique said to promote healing.

Nothing sounds odder: According to reiki.org, the official website for the practice, Reiki heals by “flowing through the affected parts of the energy field and charging them with positive energy. It raises the vibratory level of the energy field in and around the physical body where the negative thoughts and feelings are attached. This causes the negative energy to break apart and fall away. In so doing, Reiki clears, straightens, and heals the energy pathways, thus allowing the life force to flow in a healthy and natural way.”

That sounds totally out there in weirdville—even to me. Making it even weirder is the fact that anyone can learn Reiki basics by taking a weekend’s worth of classes; advanced training can be accomplished in a weekend too.

A less woo-woo explanation: Reiki practitioners believe they can transmit healing energy to you through their hands, an ability they learn during Reiki training.

 

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Reiki is on the menu at top hospitals
Reiki isn’t considered weird at all by at least 60 hospitals across the country who offer treatments to their patients, often free of charge. Among them are highly respected mainstream establishments, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, Children’s Hospital of Boston, Cleveland Clinic Center for Integrative Medicine, Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Two federally funded clinical trials are currently underway at the Cleveland Clinic. One will look at Reiki’s effects on the physical consequences of acute stress; another will determine whether treatments can lessen anxiety, affect cancer progression, or affect post-surgical pain and urinary symptoms for men with prostate cancer. Both studies will be completed in August.

In a study published last year, however, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle concluded that Reiki didn’t have any effect on fibromyalgia pain.

My Reiki experience: deep relaxation
I first tried Reiki back in the awful fall of 2001. I was traumatized and fearful after Sept. 11, and decided to see if what I’d heard about Reiki was true—that it could soothe even very disturbed emotional states.

I was ushered into the basement rec room of the Reiki practitioner’s utterly ordinary suburban home—I remember that she was a golfing enthusiast, which I thought was an odd fit for an esoteric healer. There was a standard-issue massage table onto which I climbed, fully clothed except for my shoes.

As I lay there, her hands glided over my body, skimming, sometimes gently touching, sometimes just hovering over a particular spot. I felt—or at least, I think I did—a warmth emanating from her hands, and I know I felt a deep sense of relaxation. So deep, in fact, that I remember thinking I might be in a trance-like state. It was extremely pleasurable, and when the session ended, I remember feeling aglow with energy, as if I’d just recharged my body’s battery. I went back to her time after time, and after each treatment, I experienced the same wonderful feelings.

A Reiki treatment generally costs about as much as a typical day-spa massage, and a large day spa will often have a Reiki practitioner. To learn more about Reiki, visit reiki.org.

Previous posts by Sara Altshul:

By Sara Altshul

Sneezing, a runny nose, itchy eyes—nagging allergy symptoms like these can put a damper on anyone’s enjoyment of spring’s tender beauty. And the treatments your traditional doctor may offer aren’t much less annoying than the symptoms: weekly desensitization injections, drugs, and nasal sprays laced with steroids.

I know this firsthand. Back before my days as a natural medicine writer, I was saddled with allergies that sent me from doctor to doctor in search of relief. After skin testing finally suggested I was sensitive to certain spring-flowering trees, I endured weekly allergy shots, took drugs that made me dopey, and still I suffered through the entire season.

Matters worsened when I moved from Manhattan to a house in the country. As much as I loved my new home, I was miserable for those lovely spring weeks when I should have been celebrating the beauty that surrounded me.

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Homeopathy to the rescue
Then, thanks to an assignment to write about homeopathy, I experienced a dramatic cure that ended my allergies on the spot. Truly. Call it a placebo effect, call it mind over matter, call it whatever you want. The fact is that after one two-hour visit to a homeopath, I was cured of my spring allergy symptoms. Now, years later, I’m still symptom-free.

When I got the assignment to write about this 200-year-old medical practice that defies credulity, I decided to pit homeopathy against my stubborn allergy symptoms. I found Joyce Frye, DO, an osteopath trained in homeopathy. At the time I saw her, Dr. Frye was practicing in Philadelphia; she has since joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine integrative medicine staff.

Homeopathy didn’t make much sense to me. In fact, it sounded completely wacky. Homeopathic remedies are made from plant, animal, and mineral sources, diluted to such an extent that not even a molecule of the original substance may still remain. The theory is that by ingesting minute amounts of a substance that would normally cause symptoms (such as an allergic reaction) in a healthy person, you can trigger some kind of healing response, instead.

I didn’t expect homeopathy to work on my allergies, but since it seemed safe enough to try, I gave it a shot in the interest of research.

Next page: Fear of spiders + breast cancer = allergy cure?

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This old-fashioned “it” drink fights cavities, eases anxiety, and soothes irritated skin. View slideshow.

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“We Three Kings” is, hands down, my favorite Christmas carol. The image of the noble men on camels following a star through the desert, the mournful melody, and the mystery of myrrh and frankincense fascinate me. I always wondered why the wise men considered the stuff as precious as gold, so I did some digging.

Turns out, these two resins from desert-dwelling shrubs have had spiritual significance for thousands of years. Egyptians used myrrh to embalm the pharaohs, and it was also used to anoint Jesus Christ after the crucifixion. In ancient India, frankincense was burned during religious ceremonies.

Frankincense may ease anxiety…
Clues in ancient writings suggest that it wasn’t just frankincense’s heavenly aroma that made it a church and temple staple. Dioscorides, an eminent first-century Greek physician, wrote that frankincense causes madness. The Talmud mentions it as a wine potion given to “benumb the senses” of prisoners awaiting execution. Some scholars even suspect that the drink given to Jesus before his crucifixion was laced with the stuff.

According to modern-day researchers, the ancients may have been onto something: Frankincense may have a psychoactive effect on worshipers, suggest the results of a recent study. A group of American and Israeli scientists from institutions such as Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Tel Aviv University wondered whether this resin, from the Boswellia plant native to the Red Sea region, could be a psychoactive substance with anti-anxiety drug potential. So they conducted experiments using mice to see how they reacted to doses of frankincense.

Why mice? “Mice are rather anxious creatures and prefer dark spaces (presumably where the cats won’t see them or find them),” Raphael Mechoulam, study author and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, tells me. “When we administered incensole acetate, the active component of frankincense, they became less anxious and spent more time outside the dark spaces.”

Next page: …And boost your mood

Plantlife.net

In December, I avoid the mall like the plague. That is, until I’m due at a party where gifts will be exchanged—and I realize I forgot to shop early (again), and I’m still empty-handed.

Rather than subjecting myself to a hectic, last-minute shopping blitz again this year, I took myself to an old-fashioned health-food store last Saturday. By old-fashioned, I mean the kind of shop that’s been in business for years and is the go-to place in the community for all things natural and organic.

Such a shop will have a friendly, knowledgeable staff; healthy food; beauty and personal care products; and a full line of herbal remedies, vitamins, and nutritional supplements. What it most likely won’t have is crazy bargain shoppers, long lines, and questionable merchandise that will make you wonder about the true health and safety of your gifts.

Compared to a crowded mall or downtown department store, my shopping trip was a blissful experience, and I found plenty of inexpensive goodies that delighted my inner Santa (and my budget). Here are a few:

Soaps
My husband Frank is a soap-softy who adores aromatic bars that look homemade—the more fragrant, the better. (But no florals, please: He’s a man’s man.) I wafted these before his nose, and they got his approval.

• Plantlife Aromatherapy Herbal Soap Bars ($4.25) in Cedar Sage, Bergamot Lime, and Ambrosia.

• Biggs & Featherbelle’s prettily packaged bars ($4.49) include Polar Bar, scented with peppermint oil, and fragrance-free Bar-tender, made with rich plant oils for sensitive skin.

Next page: Teas, spice rubs, and gift packs, oh my!

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At one time in the not too distant past, asking a doctor about an herb or an acupuncture treatment for your child’s health problem would probably get you a patronizing glance, if not an outright sneer and a reputation as an irresponsible parent.

But that attitude is changing. One day soon, your pediatrician may suggest some decidedly non-white-coat treatments for your child, especially if he or she has a chronic health condition. Here’s why: This week’s issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, published a guide for doctors who want to learn more about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for kids.

Practices such as acupuncture, massage, and guided imagery were once considered on the fringe but are now proven to be so safe and effective that scores of hospitals across the country are integrating them into children’s treatment programs. To name just two: Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California has a comprehensive in-patient CAM program within its neonatal and pediatric departments. And Columbia University Medical Center in New York City has established the Integrative Program for Children With Cancer, offering acupuncture and other treatments designed to make beating a deadly, scary disease a little easier.

The Pediatrics report was written by Kathi J. Kemer, MD, the Caryl J. Guth chair for holistic and integrative medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C. In it, she and her colleagues note that doctors who use integrative methods combine the best practices of alternative, complementary, and Western medicine to promote healing by focusing on the whole person (your child), rather than just the bits that hurt, so to speak.

Next page: Alternative therapies: What works for kids

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I was always shy about massage. I worried about handing my naked body over to a stranger and I was embarrassed about feeling fat. Getting touched intimately by hired hands intimidated me. And just where would those hands be? I wondered. What if it felt too good? When it came to massage, I was George from Seinfeld: way too uptight to enjoy the experience.

All that changed one day when I had to research massage for the book New Choices in Natural Healing for Women.

I scheduled a massage at the Open Center in New York City, which offers classes and programs about holistic healing. I went in full of nerves and worry and expectation. What happened, however, was amazing and memorable—almost like great sex, only in a totally nonsexual way.

Set your mind at ease
It began as all good massages should. I entered a dimly lit room and heard the requisite neo-native flute music. The masseuse made me feel instantly at ease: She must have sensed my apprehension and was an experienced diffuser of my worries and bodily concerns. She told me to undress and get onto the massage table between soft sheets so that my body was modestly covered, and she left the room till I was settled.

Knowing that I was writing about the experience, she explained that most people don’t really know how to receive a massage. People let their minds wander during the experience, or focus on their nervousness, or on their discomfort with the intimacy of the experience. She was reading my mind, it appeared.

Melt into those hands
She told me to focus. The best way to receive a massage is to be totally present, she said. I was about to dismiss that as a piece of new age fluff, but instead I asked her exactly what she meant. She told me to consciously relax the places on my body that her hands touched—to “melt into her hands.” If my mind wandered, I was to bring it back to the union of her hands and my body.

So, as her hands worked their way through all of my knotty crannies, I was present. Every minute, every second, I made myself be completely aware instead of just zoning out. It was my key to achieving complete relaxation and a lasting energy recharge.

Now, whenever I’m lucky enough to get a massage—whether it’s a full 60-minute spa session or even a quick hand rub during a $9 manicure—I use my power of laser focus. I’m aware of every instant of the experience, and I mentally urge my skin and tissues to relax where they’re touched. At the end, I’m always grateful for the experience of being fortunate enough to enjoy feeling peaceful and at ease in my own skin.

As for massage technique, that’s a different story. For the real deal, it’s important to choose an experienced, licensed practitioner. Visit the American Massage Therapy website to find one near you. In my next blog, I’ll talk about a few different kinds of massage and which might be best for you.

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By Sara Altshul

I’ve been reporting on the wild world of alternative medicine since the mid-nineties. I’ve gone to herbal seminars held in rustic, remote lodges. I’ve attended lectures at Columbia and Harvard about acupuncture, qigong, Reiki, aromatherapy, healing touch, and even the power of prayer. I’ve ventured to Cuba, Italy, Costa Rica, and Germany to discover that in countries other than ours, doctors who use “natural” medicine are more the rule than the exception.

I’m not just an observer of alternative medicine, I’m also a user—especially of herbs. When I feel a cold coming on, I reach for echinacea and it usually stops symptoms in their tracks. I’ve learned not to loathe the musty taste of valerian, an herb proven (scientifically and personally) to help induce sleep. I swear it’s also the reason I have such interesting dreams: Last night’s featured Clint Eastwood in a supporting role. And I’m about to start dosing with ginkgo: There’s scientific evidence it improves circulation to the brain and may buck up my fading memory.

My experience has taught me that everyone reacts differently to herbal medicine. I took black cohosh for a year or so to chill out my menopause symptoms, and was thrilled when it slashed my hot flashes from several a day to one or two. But when I recommended it to my BFF Duston, it gave her terrible headaches. She ended up taking Prozac, which she says worked just fine.

From the weird to the wacky
When I found myself at the Natural Products Expo East—a trade show featuring 2,100 exhibitors offering thousands of herbal supplements—in Boston last weekend, it reminded me yet again how tricky it is to choose a good herbal product. There were herbs in every possible incarnation, including practically handmade medicines from veteran herb companies like Herbalist & Alchemist and Herb Pharm Inc. There were weird and wacky products: herbal detox kits illustrated with disgusting photos of the ropey green gunk you excrete after use, and herbal foot pads that supposedly draw toxins out of your system through the soles of your feet.

So it seems timely to offer some guidance about selecting a good herbal medicine. Here are few tips I’ve learned after years of consorting with experts.

1. Do your homework. Know what herb works best for your condition—and which part of the herb is effective (root versus flower versus leaf). For example, the roots and flowers of stinging nettle contain scopoletin,  an anti-inflammatory compound, but only the roots contain the steroid-like compounds that herbalists recommend for men with benign prostate problems. In the cases of some rare or expensive herbs, an unscrupulous company will use the non-medicinal parts, usually leaves, instead of the roots. So if the specific plant part isn’t listed—or is the wrong part—take a pass on the supplement. Two sources I turn to often are the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the University of Maryland’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine Index.
2. Read the label. It should have the herb’s scientific name, plant part, and an expiration date. It’s also nice to see the plant’s place of origin and whether it was grown organically or wild-crafted (picked in the wild).
3. Avoid bargain brands. For the most part, these are sold in drug and discount stores. It’s best to stick with brands from reputable health-food stores. The Food and Drug Administration does not regulate herbal medicine, and the claims made on a bottle or in an advertisement are not necessarily true—so it’s nice to be able to trust the provider as much as possible.
4. Stick with single herbs. This is a good rule to follow when you’re starting out, unless an herbal practitioner recommends a specific formula. Think of the way you experiment with unfamiliar cooking herbs: You use one at a time until you know how it tastes. As you gain experience, you start blending them. Same goes for medicinal herbs: Start off slowly, learn how each herb affects you, and then you can start blending them or using herbal formulas. Just be sure to read the labels to see how much of each herb the formula contains.
5. Find a pro. Visit the American Herbalists Guild to learn about healers who are qualified to practice herbal medicine. Although there’s not a large list of herbalists around the country, the site does provide questions to ask and information about what to look for while doing research in your community.

(PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO)

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Here’s a beautiful reason to stop by the supermarket today: Certain foods have powerhouse ingredients that keep skin supple and smooth and help fight age-related damage, says Nicholas Perricone, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and author of Ageless Face, Ageless Mind. Wondering what to eat and what to smooth on? Click the links below to find out: These skin-saving foods help both ways. (Be sure to do a skin-patch test first, and wait 24 hours to see if you have an allergic reaction.)

PHOTO BY AMY NEUNSINGER