Isopropanolic black cohosh extract and recurrence-free survival after breast cancer.
Zepelin HH, Meden H, Kostev K, Schröder-Bernhardi D, Stammwitz U, Becher H
Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2007 Mar;45(3):143-54
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of an isopropanolic Cimicifuga racemosa extract (iCR) on recurrence-free survival after breast cancer, including estrogen-dependent tumors. METHODS: This pharmacoepidemiologic observational retrospective cohort study examined breast cancer patients treated at general, gynecological and internal facilities linked to a medical database in Germany. The main endpoint was disease-free survival following a diagnosis of breast cancer. The impact of treatment with iCR following diagnosis was analyzed by Cox-proportional hazards models, controlling for age and other confounders. RESULTS: Of 18,861 patients, a total of 1,102 had received an iCR therapy. The mean overall observation time was 3.6 years. Results showed that iCR was not associated with an increase in the risk of recurrence but associated with prolonged disease-free survival. After 2 years following initial diagnosis, 14% of the control group had developed a recurrence, while the iCR group reached this proportion after 6.5 years. The primary Cox regression model controlling for age, tamoxifen use and other confounders demonstrated a protractive effect of iCR on the rate of recurrence (hazard ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.69 0.99). This effect remained consistent throughout all variations of the statistical model, including subgroup analyses. TNM status was unknown but did not bias the iCR treatment decision as investigated separately. Hence, it was assumed to be equally distributed between treatment groups. Correlation analyses showed good internal and external validity of the database. CONCLUSION: An increase in the risk of breast cancer recurrence for women having had iCR treatment, compared to women not treated with iCR is unlikely.
PMID: 17416109 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
A new Italian experimental study has demonstrated that aspartame causes cancer in rats, particlularly leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancers. Doses in the study were about equivalent to 2.5 cans soda per day for a young 50 pound child. Nonetheless, the FDA has not reviewed the study and continues steadfastly to refuse to ban the material despite the accumulating evidence of apsartame neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity. The Reuters report has further info links…
Reuters Link
The long awaited document from the FDA on GMP’s for US dietary supplement (which includes botanicals) manufacture is released as of June 22. At over 800 pages, its going to take some digesting. The ostensible purpose of the rule is to ensure that dietary supplements are produced in a quality manner, do not contain contaminants or impurities, and are accurately labeled. More on this later, especially for small businesses and practitioner made remedies. FDA link starts here:
FDA Issues Dietary Supplements Final Rule
There is little doubt that J M Thurston was the key theoretician of the physiomedical movement. His decisive work was published in 1900 - The Philosophy of Physiomedicalism. Although the Eclectics are often viewed as the progenitors of modern herbal medicine (especially in the US) in fact the physiomedicalists Lyle, Cook and Thurston laid the foundations of modern western herbalism. Thurston was the thinker - and he developed a lucid and coherent critique of the regular (mainstream) medicine if his day which is applicable almost word for word to the modern situation. Although the language of physiomedical therapeutics is arcane at times, (which tends to push people towards the materia medica writings of Cook and Lyle which are relatively accessible) the strength of this text is its philosophical clarity. Where today are the philosophers and theoreticians of Western herbal medicine? For those who might be put off by some of the historically bound language and semantic density of the physiological thinking of the physiomedical therapeutics, the recommended section to start with after the introduction is “Food , Medicine, and Poison“. Brilliant. A direct line connects us to this tradition, especially via Priest and the UK School of Phytotherapy in the 60’s and 70’s.
Thanks to Avi Solomon for the grunt work: the pdf file has been bookmarked with Thurston’s section titles.
Download direct from here, or visit the downloads page of the main herbological site. (2.5 Mb pdf)