The answer to this question depends on both geographical, cultural, legal and time-related conditions. Many methods used in alternative medicine, in the Nordic countries, today may be accepted in other countries (for example, homeopathy (Germany), acupuncture (China), and Ayurvedic medicine (India)). Many methods once considered "alternative", are many places accepted today (for example, diet therapy and acupuncture).
As a researcher I am also an educator in EBM (evidence-based medicine), including both eb-CAM (evidence-based CAM) and eb-IM (evidence-based integrative medicine), so I will provide here first the five most authoritative official definitions of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) in current use, and offer some brief commentary, then finally offer a Working Definition of CAM based on a distillation of the best of these definitions and from decades of professional experience.
There are currently five authoritative definitions of CAM in widespread use:
NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)
“Complementary and alternative medicine is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine; that is, medicine as practiced by holders of MD (medical doctor) or DO (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses.” [1]
The Cochrane Collaboration (Cochrane)
“A broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health systems of a particular society or culture in a given historical period.” [2] Note that the Cochrane Definition has been adopted by the CAMDoc Alliance, constituted by The European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH), the European Council of Doctors for Plurality in Medicine (ECPM), the International Council of Medical Acupuncture and Related Techniques (ICMART) and the International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA), now representing 132 European associations of medical doctors actively practicing CAM.[7] See also their Model Guidelines for the Practice of Complementary Therapies (CAM) by Medical Doctors in the European Union [8].
British Medical Association (BMA)
“Those forms of treatment which are not widely used by the conventional healthcare professions, and the skills of which are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses.” [3]
CAMbrella
CAMbrella is a pan-European research project on CAM that has completed a comprehensive study of the nature and definition of CAM, and has just (2012) published its definition:
"Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) utilised by European citizens represents a variety of different medical systems and therapies based on the knowledge, skills and practices derived from theories, philosophies and experiences used to maintain and improve health, as well as to prevent, diagnose, relieve or treat physical and mental illnesses. CAM has been mainly used outside conventional health care, but in some countries certain treatments are being adopted or adapted by conventional health care." [4]
CAM-Expert Definition / Zollman/Vickers
From acknowledged CAM experts Catherine Zollman and Andrew Vickers, Research Council for Complementary Medicine, London, and now (Vickers) with Memorial Sloan-Kettering:
‘Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes all such practices and ideas self-defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well-being. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and that of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed." [5]
Commentary:
1. In general, complementary medicine refers to therapies used in combination with conventional medicine, while alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine, but what constitutes alternative or complementary when seen from a conventional medicine perspective may be, or become, traditional or mainstream for some ethno-cultural groups and/or at various points in history: thus use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by the Chinese community within which it is conventional not alternative.
2. It should also be noted that the complementary versus alternative subcategories are contextual, not absolute: thus acupuncture therapy is complementary in one context as for analgesia w/wo traditional analgesics, but is alternative in another, where acupuncture is used instead of physiotherapy for muscular pain.
3. In addition, boundaries within CAM, and borders between the CAM domain and that of conventional medicine, are neither consistently clear nor constant, and these boundaries and borders change and are shaped over time across a continuum of gradually increasing acceptance and integration with conventional medicine.
4. The BMA definition is an especially poor one in claiming that CAM skills "are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses." Even as of a 1989 survey [6], 64% of USA medical schools surveyed offered 1 or more courses in CAM, or these topics were covered in required courses, and 37% of the medical schools surveyed offered 2 or more courses. Since 1989, both the number of medical schools, and the number of courses on CAM within those schools, has increased dramatically.
5. Nonetheless both significant resistance and sometimes manifest hostility to, as well as ignorance about, CAM remains even today.
So based on experience and research, I will offer the following more constructive definition of CAM that has served well in instruction and in professional interaction:
WORKING DEFINITION OF CAM
An umbrella term for a collection of diverse approaches outside of the narrower framework of conventional medicine for the maintenance and improvement of health, for disease prevention and treatment, and for various associated supportive functions. In addition, when CAM is subject, as it must be, to the same methodological rigors of review and appraisal as any evaluable conventional modality using the protocols and constructs of EBM (evidence-based medicine), we term that eb-CAM (evidence-based CAM). Furthermore when CAM is integrated with conventional medicine, we term that Integrative Medicine and when that in turn is subject to EBM constraints and requirements, we term that eb-IM (evidence-based Integrative Medicine).
Forward Statement:
In systematic reviews and critical appraisals of CAM and its sister disciplines, eb-CAM, IM, and eb-IM, the weight of the evidence supports a finding of "probable efficacy" (Level I and Level II) for dozens of CAM modalities, supported by systematic review, meta-analysis, and critical appraisals, at the level of RCT (randomized controlled trial) [as, with melatonin, ginger, acupuncture, and numerous others evidenced within eb-CAM], and of course the judgment of only "possible efficacy" or "lack of (demonstrable) efficacy" for many more. As CAM, especially eb-CA matures, it is to be expected that significant bodies of CAM modalities, interventions and agents will be winnowed out by critical appraisal and failure in human clinical RCTs, but that nonetheless a significant albeit smaller body will achieve probably efficacy and be ultimately integrated into conventional medicine, a progress we are already beginning to witness.
References
1. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. Available at http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camsurvey_fs1.
2. Wieland LS, Manheimer E, Berman BM. Development and classification of an operational definition of complementary and alternative medicine for the Cochrane collaboration. Altern Ther Health Med 2011 Mar-Apr; 17(2):50-9.
3. British Medical Association (BMA). Complementary Medicine—New Approaches to Good Practice. Available at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/publicpetitioncam.
4. Falkenberg T, Lewith G, di Sarsina PR, et al. Towards a Pan-European Definition of Complementary and Alternative Medicine – a Realistic Ambition?. Forsch Komplementmed 2012;19(suppl 2):6–8.
5. Zollman C, Vickers A. What is complementary medicine? Br Med J 1999; 319: 693–696.
6. Wetzel MS, Eisenberg DM, Kaptchuk TJ. Courses involving complementary and alternative medicine at US medical schools. JAMA 1998 Sep 2; 280(9):784-7.
7. CAMDoc. The CAMDoc Alliance. Available at: http://www.camdoc.eu/index.html.
8. CAMDoc. The CAMDoc Alliance. Model Guidelines for the Practice of Complementary Therapies (CAM) by Medical Doctors in the European Union. Available at: http://www.camdoc.eu/Pdf/Model%20Guidelines%20CAM%20Practice.pdf.
Constantine Kaniklidis
Director of Medical Research,
No Surrender Breast Cancer Foundation (NSBCF)
European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
Diet therapy ...alternative medicine?
Alternative medicine is for me any therapy without scientific background evidence and or without a evident link between treatment and efficacy.
It would have been better to only use the designations documented and undocumented medical methods. The group of undocumented methods will then contain both harmful and ineffective methods, but some of the methods may with time prove to be effective.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care. Standard care is what medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and allied health professionals, such as registered nurses and physical therapists, practice. Alternative medicine means treatments that you use instead of standard ones. Complementary medicine means nonstandard treatments that you use along with standard ones. Examples of CAM therapies are acupuncture, chiropractic and herbal medicines.
The claims that CAM treatment providers make about their benefits can sound promising. However, researchers do not know how safe many CAM treatments are or how well they work. Studies are underway to determine the safety and usefulness of many CAM practices.
NIH: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Alternative medical systems may be alternative to the coventional allopathic system rather than treatment of disease..All complemetary and alternative systems are used frequently as firstline of treament in china and some part of india where the conventional medical system has already established. Eventhough scientific documentation of the treaments and results have been started, it takes longer time to prove infront of modern medical science. In my opinion all these medical systems works on 4 limbs of health rather mere physical.
The terms "alternative medicine" and "complementary medicine" often are used interchangeably, but according to the National Center and Alternative Medicine, "Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that aren't generally considered to be part of conventional medicine." Complementary medicine is used with conventional medicine, whereas alternative medicine is used instead of conventional medicine. For more detailed information please go to www.nccam.nih.gov
Complementary or alternative medicine is simply defined as medical interventions and techniques that are not modern medicine such as chinese medicine, massage, diet therapy, aromatherapy, etc.
Homeopathy, Ayurveda and the other indigenous practices that are tried and tested are alternative or complimentary medicines.
The search for a definition is certainly a worthwhile one but for me it is more pertinent that we address the question of how some medical practices become regarded as 'alternative' and how others acquire the quality of orthodoxy. What are the power structures that denominate this kind of distinction and how are they historically constituted?
True but some medical practices may not be documented ,making it not inclusive in the traditional systems of medicine,eg.folklore medicine.
The allopathy medical system is a million dollar business with Pharma companies listed in the Stock exchange. They go for clinical trails and many practices that are part of manufacturing any medicine in this field is out of the knowledge of ordinary men. They are patenting their inventions and these medicines are expensive and out of the reach for many in the developing world. They can be called rather a mainstream medical practice, followed widely across the globe.
There are innumerable side effects as result of administering these medicines and alternative medicines are mostly chosen to reduce these side effects. For example, my brother underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radio therapy for esophageal cancer. He tried Homeopathy medicines simultaneously with the advice of the doctor to reduce the side effects. Homeopathy doesn't depend on variety of diagnostic tests. It prescribes medicines based on the symptoms the patient put it to the doctor.
Ayurveda and Homeopathy medical practices and the Chinese medical practices like acupuncture are are practices worldwide but not to the extent of the mainstream medical practices that depends on innumerable diagnostic tests.
A critical political economy of mainstream medical field VS alternative sectors would helps us to understand how the listed companies are dominating the scenario. They have ample of funds and resources for research and development. They have already established their dominant hegemony and it is difficult to crack.
They could build huge empires by violating several practices. Wastage dumps, and clinical trails have violated several environmental and human rights issues.
I am Greek. According to the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates of Cos, there is no such thing as Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Placebo effect is just one example of it. Placebo effect exists in conventional medicine and in CAM too. So, let's say that is a matter of nonmenclature, rather than quality.
Alternative medicine is complementary.
Main stream medicine like modern medicine (I hate to call it (Allopathy) where the care provider has documented evidence to have some confidence of the outcome. Evidence gives it some objectivity.
Complimentary is everything else. This is based on culture, perception etc. (as a comment earlier) To me this is subjective.
Another classification I would suggest is as follows. Mainstream medicine like modern medicine is one which offers possibility of cure. Alternative is the one which enhances quality of life. This could be during treatment or when there is none.
As a researcher I am also an educator in EBM (evidence-based medicine), including both eb-CAM (evidence-based CAM) and eb-IM (evidence-based integrative medicine), so I will provide here first the five most authoritative official definitions of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) in current use, and offer some brief commentary, then finally offer a Working Definition of CAM based on a distillation of the best of these definitions and from decades of professional experience.
There are currently five authoritative definitions of CAM in widespread use:
NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)
“Complementary and alternative medicine is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine; that is, medicine as practiced by holders of MD (medical doctor) or DO (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses.” [1]
The Cochrane Collaboration (Cochrane)
“A broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health systems of a particular society or culture in a given historical period.” [2] Note that the Cochrane Definition has been adopted by the CAMDoc Alliance, constituted by The European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH), the European Council of Doctors for Plurality in Medicine (ECPM), the International Council of Medical Acupuncture and Related Techniques (ICMART) and the International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA), now representing 132 European associations of medical doctors actively practicing CAM.[7] See also their Model Guidelines for the Practice of Complementary Therapies (CAM) by Medical Doctors in the European Union [8].
British Medical Association (BMA)
“Those forms of treatment which are not widely used by the conventional healthcare professions, and the skills of which are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses.” [3]
CAMbrella
CAMbrella is a pan-European research project on CAM that has completed a comprehensive study of the nature and definition of CAM, and has just (2012) published its definition:
"Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) utilised by European citizens represents a variety of different medical systems and therapies based on the knowledge, skills and practices derived from theories, philosophies and experiences used to maintain and improve health, as well as to prevent, diagnose, relieve or treat physical and mental illnesses. CAM has been mainly used outside conventional health care, but in some countries certain treatments are being adopted or adapted by conventional health care." [4]
CAM-Expert Definition / Zollman/Vickers
From acknowledged CAM experts Catherine Zollman and Andrew Vickers, Research Council for Complementary Medicine, London, and now (Vickers) with Memorial Sloan-Kettering:
‘Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes all such practices and ideas self-defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well-being. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and that of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed." [5]
Commentary:
1. In general, complementary medicine refers to therapies used in combination with conventional medicine, while alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine, but what constitutes alternative or complementary when seen from a conventional medicine perspective may be, or become, traditional or mainstream for some ethno-cultural groups and/or at various points in history: thus use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by the Chinese community within which it is conventional not alternative.
2. It should also be noted that the complementary versus alternative subcategories are contextual, not absolute: thus acupuncture therapy is complementary in one context as for analgesia w/wo traditional analgesics, but is alternative in another, where acupuncture is used instead of physiotherapy for muscular pain.
3. In addition, boundaries within CAM, and borders between the CAM domain and that of conventional medicine, are neither consistently clear nor constant, and these boundaries and borders change and are shaped over time across a continuum of gradually increasing acceptance and integration with conventional medicine.
4. The BMA definition is an especially poor one in claiming that CAM skills "are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses." Even as of a 1989 survey [6], 64% of USA medical schools surveyed offered 1 or more courses in CAM, or these topics were covered in required courses, and 37% of the medical schools surveyed offered 2 or more courses. Since 1989, both the number of medical schools, and the number of courses on CAM within those schools, has increased dramatically.
5. Nonetheless both significant resistance and sometimes manifest hostility to, as well as ignorance about, CAM remains even today.
So based on experience and research, I will offer the following more constructive definition of CAM that has served well in instruction and in professional interaction:
WORKING DEFINITION OF CAM
An umbrella term for a collection of diverse approaches outside of the narrower framework of conventional medicine for the maintenance and improvement of health, for disease prevention and treatment, and for various associated supportive functions. In addition, when CAM is subject, as it must be, to the same methodological rigors of review and appraisal as any evaluable conventional modality using the protocols and constructs of EBM (evidence-based medicine), we term that eb-CAM (evidence-based CAM). Furthermore when CAM is integrated with conventional medicine, we term that Integrative Medicine and when that in turn is subject to EBM constraints and requirements, we term that eb-IM (evidence-based Integrative Medicine).
Forward Statement:
In systematic reviews and critical appraisals of CAM and its sister disciplines, eb-CAM, IM, and eb-IM, the weight of the evidence supports a finding of "probable efficacy" (Level I and Level II) for dozens of CAM modalities, supported by systematic review, meta-analysis, and critical appraisals, at the level of RCT (randomized controlled trial) [as, with melatonin, ginger, acupuncture, and numerous others evidenced within eb-CAM], and of course the judgment of only "possible efficacy" or "lack of (demonstrable) efficacy" for many more. As CAM, especially eb-CA matures, it is to be expected that significant bodies of CAM modalities, interventions and agents will be winnowed out by critical appraisal and failure in human clinical RCTs, but that nonetheless a significant albeit smaller body will achieve probably efficacy and be ultimately integrated into conventional medicine, a progress we are already beginning to witness.
References
1. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. Available at http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camsurvey_fs1.
2. Wieland LS, Manheimer E, Berman BM. Development and classification of an operational definition of complementary and alternative medicine for the Cochrane collaboration. Altern Ther Health Med 2011 Mar-Apr; 17(2):50-9.
3. British Medical Association (BMA). Complementary Medicine—New Approaches to Good Practice. Available at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/publicpetitioncam.
4. Falkenberg T, Lewith G, di Sarsina PR, et al. Towards a Pan-European Definition of Complementary and Alternative Medicine – a Realistic Ambition?. Forsch Komplementmed 2012;19(suppl 2):6–8.
5. Zollman C, Vickers A. What is complementary medicine? Br Med J 1999; 319: 693–696.
6. Wetzel MS, Eisenberg DM, Kaptchuk TJ. Courses involving complementary and alternative medicine at US medical schools. JAMA 1998 Sep 2; 280(9):784-7.
7. CAMDoc. The CAMDoc Alliance. Available at: http://www.camdoc.eu/index.html.
8. CAMDoc. The CAMDoc Alliance. Model Guidelines for the Practice of Complementary Therapies (CAM) by Medical Doctors in the European Union. Available at: http://www.camdoc.eu/Pdf/Model%20Guidelines%20CAM%20Practice.pdf.
Constantine Kaniklidis
Director of Medical Research,
No Surrender Breast Cancer Foundation (NSBCF)
European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
Treatment forms other than the Principal System of medicine for the area under consideration is alternative system of medicine for that particular area. Now, may be some where aromapathy is also used but is not the Primary system of medicine, there Aromapathy will be Alternative System of medicine.
"Complementary" refers to natural or holistic methods used along with main stream Western medicine. "Alternative" refers to natural or holistic methods used instead of main stream Western methods. Generally speaking this is how the terminology is used in North America currently.
There is still applied kinesiology and nutrition, which had also attributed to alternative medicine. Most importantly, find the root cause of the disease, then it will be correctly list the treatment and nobody has cancelled the faith of the patient
A question to Mr. Sudah Yehuda Kovesh Shaheb. What is Symbolic of healing?
Complementary medicine is when other system of medicine (ayurved, homeopathy, siddha even yoga) is used along with mainstrem medicine (allopathy) to enhance the therapeutic outcome or to improve quality of life of pateint. While alterantive medicine means when one of this system is used as a sole therapy for a disease.
Thank you very much! I realized. Good luck. With respect Olga Shnaybel
Complementary means the medical scinces with there respective basic principles mena allopathy having its own base like wise Ayurveda , homeoapathy etc. , while alternative means the scinces which having no base for example Traditional medicine, Folklore medicine etc.becase these comes from generation to generation which will be continued in there own familys only.
It is important to remember that many interventions are considered "complementary" or "alternative" because they are not consistent with the beliefs and norms of "mainstream" medicine, which is based on EBM. A procedure, such as using an antibiotic for an ulcer might have been considered "alternative" by many two decades ago, possibly even quackery. So it is important that for those of who principally EBM, there is so much we don't know, and randomized trials will likely never test, that we have to be open-minded, listen to and learn from our patients if they tell us that something we'd never heard of before "actually worked." Thus, a chinese herbal, a form of meditation, or acupuncture for a given physical symptom or illness might be "alternative" (or even "flaky") in today's EBM, but "cutting edge" in a future EBM.
We also need to consider that what is considered EBM is actually only according to (the opinion of) studies that have been published in the English language. Studies in Spanish, Russian, Chinees, Japanese, Portuguese and other languages are nearly always excluded from big trails and studies. Makes you wonder how evidence based these studies actually are.
When we speak of CAM in research projects we think in terms of chronic disease (where CAM excels) and acute disease (where allopathic generally excels). Any honest medicine, regardless of what it is called must essentially go underlying causes, and not settle for superficial signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms are merely sign posts that lead us to underlying causal factors.
We find that there are only seven underlying causes to all chronic disease: 1) Dehydration, 2) Sleeplessness, 3) Nutritional Deficiencies, Toxicity (heavy metal, polypharmacy, food additives, environmental toxins), 4) Unhealed injuries, including trauma, 5) Untreated infections, 6) disuse, including sedentary ifestyle, 7) Psychosocial Mind/Body stressors.
Everything else is secondary to these, including metabolic and cellular responses we call diabetes mellitus 2, CVD, cancer, etc. CAM tends to be more honest medicine when it addresses the most basic of causes and gently shepherds the body--working with "Dr. Mitochondria"--to repair and restore itself.
Then, nutrition becomes medicine, treatment becomes the gentle modalities, and assessment looks to underlying biomarkers that provide a clearer picture of homeostasis. Any medicine that does this is an honest medicine, everything else is lacking.
Yes, something that seems to have escaped the notice of the research community in general relative to why heavy metal toxicities are on the rise of the larger population is the lack of natural chelates in the food supply. I had attributed that to the irradiation of food before placed in the market and to GMOs which are lower in trace minerals.
We see kids today with higher lead levels, for instance, than we had in the 1960s and 1970s and a manifold increase of learning disorders that is alien to earlier generations. Yet lead is out of commercial fuels for autos (still heavy in aviation and some industrial fuels). Lead is still in 16 brands of lipstick in the US and in varying levels in other products. The lead in the paint found in Chinese-manufactured toys about 6 years ago for which the government appointed CEO was executed was from a US toy paint formula of the 1980s, I understand. High lead levels are particularly high in public water in many older cities, and in cities near mining operations and heavy industry.
I mention these as an illustration as to why we still need the natural chelates that have before carted off a lot of the heavy metals that have been us from before the industrial age. The Black Plaques, as you know, were not so much about fleas, rats, and viruses, but about the high lead levels in large cities of the day, but not in the small Jewish villages near the cities...the Jewish men buried many of the dead of the nearby cities unscathed of the bacteria because their immune systems had not been compromised. To me, this ought to garner the attention of every honest scientist and health professional who wishes to bring a reversal to the current sad state of the young today--of course, I am not an expert as to this same problem existing in all nations, but it is a very ubiquitous problem in the US and virtually ignored by those who should be paying attention.
Thank you for opening the door for further illumination as to why the whole of medicine and wellness should be headed toward the best that CAM approaches offer. The bullying approaches of allopathy may be necessary for acute disease, but are impacting the rising trends in chronic disease in a very concerning way.
Yes, Ahed, but keep in mind that the big money is on telling us what the vested interests want to hear. I have chaired many doctoral research committees. When a project to test a CAM approach for kids with ADHD (the pilot study was astoundingly successful in proving CAM over drug therapies), the world came apart at the seams, my job was on the line, and the project was canceled faster than you can shake a stick. That kind of bias and fear in academia is pervasive, I'm afraid, and inhibits true critical thinking and objective research.
Yes, my wife and I have spent a lot of time in UK over the years, and thought the lead connection to the Plaque and Jewish immunity to disease was documented in your literature, but maybe not as prominently as I thought. The homeopathic philosophy, as you know, is that immunology trumps bacteriology when to comes to human susceptability to pathogens. Not only do we see that in history but presently--the N1F1 fluvirus that affected only those with weakened immunology and had virtually no affect on robust systems. If bacteriology was no respector of persons we would all get sick from the same pathogens...and as immunologydeclines in the general population (falling cellular pH levels) more and more disease is arising in the population. In every category of disease we see pandemic/epidemic rises in diabetes 2, CVD, cancer, digestive disorders---these are not stand alone issues but are interconnected to the same causal bases.
Ahed asked about academia, where the serious research is financed by vested interests who stand to gain or lose from the outcomes; hence, the conflicts we see in underfinanced independent research showing terrible health damage of statins versus robust financing on behalf of pharma companies showing positive outcomes that really are ephemeral at best--it is embarrassing to the entire scientific community, but who dares raise the question when it means losing grants and funding of research? If a cure for cancer actually happened, who would dare crash the stock market, kill myriad companies, and through millions out of work--even the fundraisers on their perpetual search for a cure are at odds with such a noble individual. Bringing it up in an open forum as this invites trouble to the messenger, as well. Perhaps Ahed's research projects are independent and not troubled by the practical considerations of where funding is coming from; but the vast majority of current research has troubling incentives and conflicts of interest attached...or it stops.
Just some thoughts.
Yes, you are correct, but that is where the big money in research is. I've said since the introduction of statins that they weaken the heart muscle, cause diabetes, and harm the liver. There are so many good, gentle ways to tackle the lipidemia problem, changing the diet to raise pH (which incidentally takes the ascorbic acid as one of the key components as Sydney has noted--acetic acid, also). Great discussing this with you.
All: I meant the N1H1 fluvirus in the post above--the one that a virologist traced back to a government financed lab in north Arkansas in the US...was predicted by political interests to cause 300,000 deaths, when in fact we traced to fewer than 600, and those were all people who were already seriously ill. The media tried to keep the hyteria going with headlines such as "Young Man Dies of N1H1 in Colorado"....but one of my doctoral students who happened to know the young man they were speaking of told us that he was 30 years old, alcoholic, morbidly obese, insulin-dependent diabetic, and on heavy psychotropic meds, statins, BP meds, etc. The news services failed to bring out these details and the public really thought the young people were being attacked by it, as well, when only the very sick showed any signs from it. Such are the politics of disease and something those of us in the scientific community need to enlighten a misled public wherever possible. If not the proponents of CAM, then who?
CAM's are considered any treatment, medication, or other practice or substance that can not be patented. They are customarily used by practitioners who main goal is to eradicate the medical problem. The Western Medical Model advocates for the pharmaceutical companies whose primary goal is to get the maximum number of people dependent of "life saving medication" until they die. Considering the fact that several indigenous peoples do not have diabetes, CVD, hypertension, and other chronic diseases there must be something about their culture and/or their diet that prevents them in the first place. Complementary and Alternative medicine and practice differs from 'Traditional". Many people attempt the traditional path and most stay with it. However, others who do find answers look to where they have been answered for over 5,000 years. There was a French team around 2000 who used radioactive dye and an MRI scan to map the meridian identified by Chinese acupuncturists possibly during the Neolithic period up to 10,000 years ago. Traditional medicine does many good things but CAM practitioners truly attempt to cure the individual of the ailment and its root cause. As a medical anthropologist and individual, I trust a system that has worked for thousands of years with natural products over one that has only been around for a few hundred and lives by chemicals that are expensive and toxic.
Live, Laugh, Love
What a bold group! Thank you, all. There is a large, but mostly silent cadre of professionals who see the same things that are expressed here. Sydney is right--alternative should be mainstream and current mainstream, sophisticated as it is in complexity, still places it in alternative--or as I say, for acute disease.
dear Sydney,
Have always used BOTH possibilities myself. Our modern (read Western) medicine can be very very helpful, but also sadly useless. Have advocated using both to my patients as well.
I am shocked to hear that even here, your RG score was negatively 'influenced'.I wish you all the best.
Lots of politics and collusions in medicine, varying from country to country. But an enlightened people will go where they can be healed not just managed, and therein, in my feeling, is the answer: to educate the public and with their feet go where they get the most help. In the US, more and more are doing just that.
Totally agree. Choices in health programs are needed to bring differing approaches into the universe of healthcare.
Alternative medicine is what we know less.. mANY of the times lesser is known about what should be known the most. But not everything is decided by merit..
The socalled modern medicine or allopathy as we call it in India is a mere 200 years and overall 500 years old, arguably, on borrowed knowledge and training in ancient and world's first universities of Bharat i.e. India- for the world. India itself has the history of world's first medical workers and institutions that dates back as old as 3000 years of organized system which has been today lost to the colonial onslaught!
I quote one of the ancient verses by one of very celebrated ancient doctor-- (I put the meaning..)--"अमंत्रमक्षरं नास्ति ......." "what letter doesnt have charm/ what root is not medicine/ which human is not able, diffcult is the seer who can discern these " that means, everything in nature given by Ishwar (GOD) can be used as food &\or medicine but that only comes from the knowledge of all and everything..
The path of knowledge starts with some enlightened seer what we call Brahman rest are only the followers. And in due course errors accumulate after complacency.
So dear friends, medicine is everywhere but all may not be material.. it could have variouys routes and means.. I dont take away the credit of modern medicine and it has developed more than what it once borrowed and its doing quite well but then the worse only comes later and inprovement is the code for excellence..
I know there is not one means of treatment, its not only a drug for me, a breathing act Pranayam is also a medicine..a right advice to mmend life is also meidicne.. just like a refrain is too. We have to have a million eyes to look out for all those (socalled alternative) medicines ...and there are..!
I know Ayurved beside the socalled modern medicine and I have a million things to dispense.. there cannot be a general corollary or analogy.. every system of medicine has its forte and its limitations.....
Shailesh, while I've never considered myself an expert in Ayurvedic medicine, I noted the historical connections many years ago in my studies and have lectured on the bases of some of the most effective medicine having its roots in Ayurvedic. Thank you for rendering a reminder on the power and proven efficacy of traditional knowledge.
Its time for a new question: Why isn’t nutrition a bigger part of conventional medical school education? https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_isnt_nutrition_a_bigger_part_of_conventional_medical_school_education
Reposted from other question column: I agree with the premise of the question totally, Geir. In my work as a Professor of Behavioral Medicine, many MDs seem to be drawn to the program, only to find that their knowledge on nutrition, psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), and a plethora of CAM modalities (all steeped in science) to be sorely lacking. On the other hand, when they take a pharmacology or psychopharmacology course they find they have not been adequately prepared to profile medication side/interaction/withdrawal effects--this is a huge area!--that they prescribe routinely, or for that matter when safety issues ensue (via litigation, studies, patient experience) they often feel it a matter of finding a "different medication" when in fact medication used for chronic conditions is a major problem, posing entirely new pathologies in public health. A case in point is the new classification of Young Parkinson--a committee I once was asked to chair on this topic found that Young Parksinson was actually an entirely man-made phenomena, comprising both lifestyle and aversive medical treatment of same. The cascade we found was so alarming that we realized we could not investigate it in the usual manner, and even then we risked stepping on a lot of highly vested toes in doing so. So, the need for education that brings medical practitioners up to date in these areas, nutrition being the true medicine of the body, is a badly needed area to pursue.
Dear DR Bjorklund
CAM defined as methods of therapies which are alternative or in cooperation with conventional medicine. If they belong to a particular country, they are called traditional medicines such as Chinese traditional medicine, Indian traditional medicine, Iranian traditional medicine,... Other terms for CAM are: untested, unproven, unconventional and unorthodox. Your question about nutrition is very important and thought provoking.
I agree with you for education of nutrition as a basic part of education in conventional medicine schools. But which education is suitable? Are all new nutritional guidlines or recommendations suitable? There are some considrable differences in modern and ancient nutritional recommendations.
In Iranian traditional medicine, nutrition is considred as an important factor in keeping health and treatment of patients. Traditonal physicians recommend specific nutrition by considering uniqueness of individuals. I think personalized therapy is the biggest advantage of traditional medicines.In modern medicine, there are some nutritional recommendations that have later been violated. Probably, researchers do not consider individual differences.
Regards
SH.P
That which is open minded enough to explore all aspects of nutrition, mainly that which is organic and/or bioavailable is good, in my feeling. The narrow view of nutrition, where no distinctions are made within physical and immunological behaviors or types of preparations, is limiting. When I review a study on nutrition, for instance, I want to know what they actually studied. As an example, I consulted with the investigators of a study on echinacea some years ago that concluded there was absolutely no health benefit in its use by humans. I asked the lead investigator by telephone what type of echinacea was used.
The reply was something to the effect that it was the kind purchased at drug stores all over the country. I asked if was angustifolia or purpurea, root or leaf? No distinction was made by the investigator and he essentially didn't know what I was talking about. So, my assistants tracked down what was being sold in the local drug stores only to find it was leaves of purpurea--essentially about as effective as capsules filled with grass clippings.
The study was also given over a short period, I believe 30 days as I recall. National television and print media picked up on the study and blared the headlines from shore to shore that echinacea was a waste of money and those who stand by its medicinal or health properties were fanatics to be disregarded. Furthermore, the study in question was financed by a grant by a large phamaceutical firm.
Now, that is the kind of biased "science" we find so often debunking whether Omega 3 is safe or dangerous, whether vitamin E (rarely distinguishing between synthetic and the eight known types of Vitamin E) or CoQ10, an essential vitamin that varies widely in its commerical offerings. Organic nutrition is at te heart and soul of human health, but the topic seems to be badly abused or neglected in mainstream health and research considerations, while CAM investigations, if good science and design are utilized, tend to render superior reports on both efficacy and safety.
I'm with you totally, Sudah. Organic is what the body recognizes, and our work shows dramatic differences in immune response (ie, proinflammatory cytokine response to commercial nutrition vs anti-inflammatory response to organic).
That is also why we advise patients to abstain from microwaving their food--once they stop microwaving and eating more fresh vegs and fruits and whole grains inflammatory scores (CRP, Gelactin-3, etc.) plunge. A1C hemoglobin scores drop below 5.0 on many Type 2 Diabetics. It is astonishing when these measures are used with dietary changes. Cellular pH (average at acidosis level of 7.0 in the US) rises to 7.3 or higher when diet is changed. When cellular pH rises, inflammatory disease falls and patients get well without proinflammatory response medications. We see this cascade over and over and wonder why medicine is not paying attention, instead opting for predisone and NSAIs.
I appreciate your bold assertions and concur completely!
These two concepts are quite different. Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. An example of a complementary therapy is using aromatherapy to help lessen a patient’s discomfort following surgery. Other examples are of complementary medicine are acupuncture, yoga, aromatherapy, therapeutic massage, meditation, and others. Their purpose is to enhance and improve the ability of the patient to heal or be relieved of symptoms.
Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a conventional doctor.
Alternative medical systems are built upon complete systems of theory and practice. Often, these systems have evolved apart from and earlier than the conventional medical approach used in some countries. Examples of alternative medical systems that have developed in Western cultures include homeopathic medicine and naturopathic medicine. Examples of systems that have developed in non-Western cultures include traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.
Good analysis, Jorge. There is much good to be used from all types of medicine, and I would think the conscientious clinician would borrow from all of them in some way.
A good example of the interchangeability between conventional and alternative are the many allopathic approaches that are built upon homeopathic principles. For instance, if one were to do a side effect profile of many allopathic medications they will find that a medicine designed for a given symptom can also produce the symptom in a patient when it is not needed. That is a homeopathic principle. And as we see the recent phenomenal advances in homeopathy utilizing attraction of cells with like cells that is precisely where stem cell research is going. The interchange of the two schools of thought brings altermative European medicine with western medicine into a complimentary medicine. And we are seeing more and more the same with Ayurvedic medicine and allopathic medicine in some regions. Remarkable progress occurs when minds open and new approaches are tried in the best laboratory of all, the research practitioner setting.
I would like to add my admiration for the people/person behind the naturalnews site. This site offers a lot of information in a number of languages to anyone interested in staying healthy in this toxic period in history....Recommended for all. Just an example here below.... http://www.naturalnews.com/041295_children_arsenic_exposure_toxins.html
Another blogger with a very informative website:
http://www.boogordoctor.com/2010/08/pediatric-sinusitis-asthma-better-living-through-less-chemistry-our-food/
It is so hard to pursue good nutrition free of hormones and pesticides. Even organic labeling is difficult. Some organic products contain high levels of sugar. It doesn't really matter if it is pure cane sugar it is still that. Even organic canned soup and chili has problematic ingredients for many people.
While we are on the organic sub topic, Mary and Esther, my greatest concern after the fact that so few organic items survive the mass food juggernaut of the United States, is the irradiation of organic (as well as the GMOs that comprise the other 95% of the fresh fruits and vegs) items available at local super markets. The amount of irradiation used reportedly has increased to kill more bacteria but at the same time killing the live part of the fresh food inventory. So you are correct Mary that it is troublesome in terms of labeling. Those of us who are advising seekers of good health to go more organic are finding our advice not as feasible as we would like it to be. I am looking forward to retail movements like Whole Foods etc. to overtake the national chains someday soon but only if they do away with that irradiation procedure. Few nations allow irradiation if their grains and fresh food supply. New Zealand where we are visiting now reportedly does not allow GMOs or irradiation. To my thinking we need to let the public know what has happened the past couple of decades to their food supply.
OMG, irradiation! Forgot about that in food. We all need victory gardens and oh yeah by the way test the soil first. Make sure your inner city garden is not farmed on the love canal. Thanks for your cogent comments, Max!
Thank you, Mary. And I concur fully about the Love Canal (adding in a lot of other places in industrial areas. Remember lead permeates the soils wherever mining and heavy industry has occurred. It is arguable today that we get more lead from the soils our food is grown in than any other single source today, contributing mightily to the recent rises in developmental and learning disorders in the young and pervasive chronic disease in everyone else.
Good points all, Sudah. Those symbols to which you refer may actually produce therapeutic effects much like psychotherapy in our culture. In beahvioral medicine we recognize the power of mind/body medicine and its clinically significant benefits. Just as the "white coat syndrome" can produce anxiety in some people in Western medicine, the symbolic manipulation of indienous people may have as strong effect in a beneficial way, as you ably pointed out.
Why these practices are alternative? Why don't they become part of the conventional system? Does human physiology cahange according to various systems of medicine? If not there cannot be alternative systems. There is only one type of science. Either the so called alternative medical systems are not scientific or scientists fail to expose the science behind these systems. Remember how Hahnemann formulated the system of homeopathy by self administrating quinine. Quinine is the medicine for malaria under homeopathy as well as well as modern medicine. Only difference is the explanation on the mode of action under these systems. I need not tell you which explanation is correct. The point is the treatment suggested by alternative sysems might work but how it works need to be explained scientifically. When that is done both the systems will converge.
Dear Geir
Alongside the officially recognized medicine coexist in our midst and other diagnostic practices related to health care . The trend in the literature is to classify them under the term complementary and alternative medicine
Unconventional medicine may be defined functionally as interventions that are not widely discussed in medical schools and are generally not available in hospitals or are not in accordance with the standards of the medical community
The most common forms include : herbal medicine , massage, homeopathy, prayer to God , self-help groups , folk remedies , diets programs , acupuncture, chiropractic , physical exercise , among others . What is conventional in place , it is not necessarily in other
The increased popularity of alternative complementary medicine reflects changing needs and values in modern society. This includes an increase in chronic diseases , increased access to health information and increase awareness of the right to quality of life
The rapid increase in the public interest and the use of complementary and alternative therapies is exerting a strong influence in medical education
Most Brazilian medical schools do not have on his resume a space for discussion of this issue
The growth of alternative medicine , even though an increasingly present reality in health services , presents great challenges to its institutionalization , such as : reduced number of trained human resources , insufficient funding for most practices , and few institutional spaces for your development services.
In a paper published in Brazil, comparing utilization of complimentary medicine ,the conclusions were
Utilization of complementary and alternative medicine was of 8.9% when only those involving costs such as homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractics, techniques of relaxation/ meditation and massage are considered and of 70.0%, when all therapies found were included. Prevalent were prayers to God (52.0%), popular medicines (30.9%), physical exercises (25.5%), faith healers (15.0%), popular diets (7.1%), massage (4.9%), relaxation/meditation (2.8%), homeopathy (2.4%), and groups of self-help (1.9%), chiropractics (1.7%), acupuncture (1.5%) and orthomolecular medicine (0.2%). Women, Catholic, married of higher income and education were positively associated with utilization of therapies involving expenses.
Source:
Medicina Complementar e Alternativa: utilização pela Comunidade de Montes Claros, Minas Gerais
João Felicio Rodrigues Neto et al., Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros,
Rev Assoc Med Bras 2009; 55(3): 296-30
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