Scientia Press

The Afghan Herbal Medicines for Addiction and Depression project aims to conduct clinical trials of promising herbal medicines drawn from Afghanistan’s high-potential medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) sector, in keeping with traditional Unani medicine. Addiction (overwhelmingly from opiates) and depression (some from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the horrors of Afghanistan’s wars, and some from mistreatment of women) represent especially salient targets, and they possess worldwide importance. Unani herbal medicines have been reported in preliminary Iranian clinical studies to be effective and safe in these indications, and they possess certain advantages over synthetic drugs. However, thorough, scientific, multicenter trials need to be done.

Amid the fanfare regarding initiatives to treat the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, a noteworthy finding has been overlooked. After more than two decades of debate, experimentation by patients, and scattered clinical testing of non-drug therapies of HIV, we now know much better which ones actually work.

1. Biophotonic Therapy is the use of light to activate the healing properties of the blood. BT is photomedicine and has a well-characterized clinical profile. A dozen books and some 400 articles in the German, Russian, and English-language medical literature describe Biophotonic Therapy. Other common names for BT are Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation and Photoluminescence Therapy.
2. In BT’s extracorporeal form, ultraviolet and visible light are used to treat a small amount of blood, which is then reinfused.
3. In BT’s intravenous form, a low-intensity laser (generally at 632.8 nm) shines through a waveguide inside a needle into the blood. BT can also be administered sublingually.
   Continue reading 10 Key Points about Biophotonic Therapy

Micromin exploits a capability that human beings have inherited from distant ancestors. Its action suggests that in certain circumstances human beings can exhibit behavior reminiscent of medusa and polyp stages; and that the transition between the two can convey certain unusual benefits, especially in the area of gynecology and obstetrics. Micromin’s abilities to bypass the liver and to provide a steady supply of micronutrients differentiate it from gastrointestinal feeding and may explain some of its effects. There are some indications that Micromin’s mechanism of action overlaps with—and thus may elucidate—the mechanism of action of Traditional Chinese Medicine moxa therapy (moxibustion). In turn, this may mean that Micromin will prove effective in the various and at times remarkable indications for which moxa has traditionally been employed.

Identifying the best ways to stimulate the immune system to fight infectious diseases and cancer makes eminent sense and could provide highly attractive benefits. But it is not easy to do. Here is a list of category-leading immunostimulants, followed by a discussion of the issues involved.

Cytokines: IL-2 has shown itself to be an effective general immunostimulant in scores of clinical trials against different indications and appears promising against HIV (Cohen and Powderly, 2004). Used in high doses, IL-2 has significant side effects, so it is best used as a low-dose adjuvant. Other cytokines of proven general merit include G-CSF and GM-CSF, both for hematopoiesis. Interferons may work in specific cases, but their side effects make them less suitable as broad-spectrum adjuvants.

Microbial fragments/toxins: Of the large number of candidates, beta-glucans (also found in plants) are the most frequently investigated as an approach to provoking a general immune response (Wagner, 1999).

It is a little-known fact that one can treat respiratory infections quite effectively without drugs, primarily with the use of physical therapies and correctly applied remedies. Here are three methods:

1. Therapeutic Gargling (TG). Many respiratory viral and bacterial infections commence with a sore throat or a small infection in the inside lining of the mouth–for instance, inside the cheek. In these cases, the invading microbe appears to establish a beachhead in the throat or mouth lining where it can safely multiply before the immune system can develop a response sufficient to wipe it out. Once the numbers of microbes reach a high enough level, they can break out and spread the infection throughout the respiratory tract or even system-wide.

The finding that NSAIDs can cause heart attacks and strokes in certain patients  has disrupted the lives of millions of arthritis patients as well as throwing a scare into the pharmaceutical industry.

But it needs to be put in perspective. There is no better place to start than with the famous dictum of the Swiss Renaissance physician Paracelsus: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison. It is the dose alone that makes a thing not a poison.” In the case of the painkillers, it is likely that lower doses and limits on the duration of therapy would avoid most problems. Quite possibly, some of the people who suffered heart damage belonged to high risk categories for whom most or all prescription painkillers would be dangerous. In fact, NSAIDs and other pain relief drugs have shown themselves to be very effective and safe for certain groups of patients in modest doses for limited periods of time, so it is unreasonable to withdraw them from the market. Of course, they should compete there on the basis of their merits compared to other drugs.

The treatment of severe depression remains a forbidding scientific frontier (Nemeroff, 2007). No current pharmacological therapy seems more than occasionally effective on those who suffer from it. Of the traditional device-based treatments, only Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) has shown itself effective, and ECT is only effective to some extent and in some cases. ECT also comes with a significant price tag and consistent mid-level side effects. Many patients do not respond to any therapy, while the suicide rate among victims of severe depression remains tragically high.

Treatment-resistant depression, whether moderate or severe, is an unusually expensive disorder because it tends to affect people at relatively young ages, making them less able to perform at work, frequently absent from work, or simply unable to work at all for decades on end (Crown, 2002). Researchers are currently investigating various novel approaches to the treatment of severe depression. But expanding the range of possible approaches to such a refractory syndrome can in the long run lead to a more optimal outcome. Here are three new approaches not currently under consideration.

Caffeine, the world’s most widely used psychoactive substance, attracts a lot of research. Caffeine also attracts controversy. Some scientists argue that caffeine is a benign and useful drug whose side effects are only of concern in regard to a small number of “sensitives”, including those with pre-existing anxiety or similar symptoms. They note that caffeine improves attention, reaction time, numeric and verbal memory, and work output and endurance in long-term exercise.

But other researchers claim that caffeine causes multiple damaging effects ranging from boosting blood pressure to disrupting sleep, and that these affect hundreds of millions.

If you eat a healthy diet, you probably don’t need to take supplements at all. Still, there are solid arguments for taking at least a few supplements; and in special categories such as pregnancy and over-65 years of age, you are well-advised to take specific supplements.[1]

Here is a list of suggestions with attached rationales. Clearly, you need to adjust this list to your circumstances and consult with a medical practitioner, especially if you have a specific condition or are considering megadoses.

Key Supplements

Many nutrition experts confidently recommend the Mediterranean Diet. Its vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, limited dairy products, and other natural foods provide a full range of nutrients even while minimizing or eliminating red meat and processed foods considered detrimental to health. But the question of whether one can gain further benefit from adding supplements to protect against hidden deficiencies or optimize health and performance remains open.

Certainly, turning to supplements would seem to violate the spirit of the Mediterranean Diet. Shouldn’t we trust Nature to provide us ample, complete nutrition in the form of food when we make the right choices? Didn’t the original models of the Mediterranean Diet–the Cretans of the 1950s–do very well without supplements? Shouldn’t we avoid excessive or even paranoid concern about hidden deficiencies and rather bask in the Mediterranean sun (or its local equivalent) while tasting the savory concoctions of Mediterranean chefs?