5 types of ‘wellness woo’ that borrow from mainstream medicine
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What we consider “fringe” or “mainstream” changes over time. That applies to health and medicine too.
For instance, massage was once considered a fringe therapy but in the 19th century it morphed into what we know today as physiotherapy.
Likewise, Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner wasn’t taken seriously when he said we should eat oats and fruit for breakfast. But he was onto something: he invented muesli.
There has also been traffic in the other direction. Legitimate medical therapies have turned up in the weird health borderland of beauty and “wellness”.
When untrained or barely trained people use these therapies, they can do real harm.
Here are five examples of wellness trends that borrow from mainstream medicine.
1. Ozone therapy
Ozone (O₃) is a form of oxygen. Ordinary oxygen (O₂), sometimes with ozone added, can be applied to wounds via a bag or sealed chamber to help them heal. It does this by helping the body fight infection and form collagen.
But “ozone therapy” – the weird, unlicensed version – puts ozone, or ozone and oxygen, directly into the person’s body. It can go in via the lungs, or via intravenous injection, or it can be pumped into the rectum or vagina.
Practitioners claim it can reduce inflammation, or even treat cancer or HIV/AIDS, despite no evidence for such health benefits.
It can also cause fatal air embolisms – bubbles of gas in the bloodstream that can block blood flow to vital organs.
2. Vitamin drips
If you don’t get enough of a certain vitamin or mineral through your diet, you can take a supplement. But if that doesn’t work, in some cases, you might need to go to hospital or a doctor’s surgery to get a medically supervised infusion that’s delivered into the vein (an IV infusion).
For instance, iron infusions help people with serious iron deficiencies.
But celebrity endorsements have helped fuel the rise of “vitamin drips” at wellness centres and therapy lounges. These drips promise all sorts of outcomes, from boosting your immune system, to treating pain or depression.
IV needles in untrained hands can be dangerous. They can cause phlebitis (inflammation of the vein) and infiltration (when the IV fluid or medication leaks into the surrounding areas). They can also lead to infection.
And unlike therapeutic vitamin IV infusions administered in hospital, these non-traditional treatments are not regulated by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration. So you might also not be getting the magic IV potion you’re paying for.
3. Botox
The bacterium Clostridium botulinum produces a neurotoxin – a poison that affects nerves. For decades, it’s been used therapeutically to treat excess sweating and migraine, among other conditions. Today, we call this neurotoxin Botox.
Since about the 1990s, health professionals have been injecting it into people’s faces to temporarily paralyse the muscles that cause wrinkles.
It’s legal, it’s a registered product, and in trained hands it’s safe to use.
But as of September 2 this year, it’s been wrapped in an extra layer of regulation.
People who deliver any non-surgical cosmetic procedures – including Botox – will now be required to demonstrate higher skill levels under tougher policies.
This comes after several cases where nurses allegedly imported injectables from overseas. But these products weren’t registered for use in Australia and may not have been safe to use.
4. Apheresis
Apheresis is the process of separating blood into its component parts by spinning it at high speed in a special machine.
Clinicians use this process to separate out and remove specific molecules or antibodies in some diseases – what’s called “selective apheresis”.
For example, if a person has very high cholesterol that doesn’t respond to normal treatments, they can undergo lipid apheresis to “wash out” harmful lipoproteins from their blood.
It’s easy to see how the idea of “washing” your blood could be misunderstood and misapplied.
English actor Orlando Bloom announced earlier this year that he’d undergone apheresis to remove microplastics from his blood.
Microplastics in the body are a cause for concern – but there’s no evidence to suggest apheresis can cleanse human blood of them.
5. Hyperbaric therapy
When a diver gets “the bends” from too much nitrogen forming in their body, they can be treated in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, where they receive 100% oxygen in a pressurised chamber.
But hyperbaric therapy is also touted as a treatment for autism, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, strokes, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
There isn’t enough good science to back up any of these claims. There also isn’t enough science to suggest it makes your skin look younger.
The key message?
The history of medicine is full of stories about when mainstream forms of medicine have harmed instead of healed.
Humans have also always wanted to manage their own health. This has been going on for centuries, with both risks and benefits.
But just because a therapy has been used in a hospital for one reason doesn’t necessarily mean it works in a wellness clinic for another.
People can be easily convinced by aggressively marketed wellness therapies, which can be magnified by social media and celebrity endorsements.
However these therapies can come with a lack of evidence to support their wider uses, and they may harm.
Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.
Philippa Martyr, Lecturer, Pharmacology, Women’s Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Smart Hearing – by Katherine Bouton
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The author’s hearing loss began in her 30s, and now she’s in her 70s with even less hearing, and/but much more experience. Having worked at the Hearing Loss Association of America for much of that time, she has a lot to share.
This book is a practical guide to adult-onset hearing loss, and aims to help the reader navigate not just the difficulties inherent to the condition, but also the complexities around it that are largely societal, administrative, financial, and so forth.
She advocates for early intervention where possible, and that most people in the early stages of hearing loss don’t realize what’s happening. They will tend to just blame the noisy environment, or the speaker, for example. And beyond just hearing tests, she recommends specifics that you might not have heard of, such as the speech-in-noise test.
With regard to technology, she covers the various options,and also ways to pay for them (because Medicare won’t)—which latter is specific to the US, so if you’re from somewhere else, then probably a) this advice won’t help, but b) you probably won’t need it, as most places have more comprehensive healthcare coverage.
The style is quite personal while remaining professional; she often uses her own story as an illustration, but covers experiences other than hers just as thoroughly, so that no major variant of hearing loss gets overlooked.
Bottom line: if you and/or a loved one aren’t hearing/understanding auditory things so well as you used to, this book can help guide you into a position of more practical empowerment, without the need for quite so much trial and error as you might otherwise find alone.
Click here to check out Smart Hearing, and live better with hearing loss!
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Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook – by Jess Damuck
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The author is a classically trained chef (worked with Martha Stewart for a long time!), and while health is the focus here, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all, so there’s a lot of attention given to pleasure also. Which, after all, is not a zero-sum game—we can have both!
So, the title and subtitle together sum up the ethos of the book pretty well.
The recipes themselves are divided into categories by meal-type, snacks, desserts, etc. They’re varied enough to suit most moods and seasons, as well as being equally appropriate for cooking for one, or a family, or entertaining. Many (but not all) of the recipes are vegan, though where they’re not, the substitutions are mostly easy and obvious, or explained, or else alternative recipes are given (for example a vegan “tuna” recipe).
In terms of complexity, these are not very complex, yet include everything they need to to make things interesting. That said, the ingredients are also not obscure, and should be easy to find in any reasonably well-stocked supermarket.
One small downside is that many of the recipes are not illustrated, but the instructions are clear enough that this isn’t really a problem, in this reviewer’s opinion.
Bottom line: if you’d like to broaden your kitchen repertoire with plants-forward cooking from an accomplished chef, then this is a good book for that.
Click here to check out Health Nut, and enjoy the feel-good food!
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Small Pleasures – by Ryan Riley
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When Hippocrates said “let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food”, he may or may not have had this book in mind.
In terms of healthiness, this one’s not the very most nutritionist-approved recipe book we’ve ever reviewed. It’s not bad, to be clear!
But the physical health aspect is secondary to the mental health aspects, in this one, as you’ll see. And as we say, “mental health is also just health”.
The book is divided into three sections:
- Comfort—for when you feel at your worst, for when eating is a chore, for when something familiar and reassuring will bring you solace. Here we find flavor and simplicity; pastas, eggs, stews, potato dishes, and the like.
- Restoration—for when your energy needs reawakening. Here we find flavors fresh and tangy, enlivening and bright. Things to make you feel alive.
- Pleasure—while there’s little in the way of health-food here, the author describes the dishes in this section as “a love letter to yourself; they tell you that you’re special as you ready yourself to return to the world”.
And sometimes, just sometimes, we probably all need a little of that.
Bottom line: if you’d like to bring a little more joie de vivre to your cuisine, this book can do that.
Click here to check out Small Pleasures, and rekindle joy in your kitchen!
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Good Health From Head To Toe
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It’s Q&A Day!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
This newsletter has been growing a lot lately, and so have the questions/requests, and we love that! In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small
Q: I am now in the “aging” population. A great concern for me is Alzheimers. My father had it and I am so worried. What is the latest research on prevention?
Very important stuff! We wrote about this not long back:
- See: How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk
- See also: Brain Food? The Eyes Have It!
(one good thing to note is that while Alzheimer’s has a genetic component, it doesn’t appear to be hereditary per se. Still, good to be on top of these things, and it’s never too early to start with preventive measures!)
Q: Foods that help build stronger bones and cut inflammation? Thank you!
We’ve got you…
For stronger bones / To cut inflammation
That “stronger bones” article is about the benefits of collagen supplementation for bones, but there’s definitely more to say on the topic of stronger bones, so we’ll do a main feature on it sometime soon!
Q: Veganism, staying mentally sharp, best exercises for weight gain?
All great stuff! Let’s do a run-down:
- Veganism? As a health and productivity newsletter, we’ll only be focusing veganism’s health considerations, but it does crop up from time to time! For example:
- Which Plant Milk? (entirely about such)
- Plant vs Animal Protein (mostly about such)
- Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later) (discusses one benefit of such)
- Staying mentally sharp? You might like the things-against-dementia pieces we linked to in the previous response!
- It’s also worth noting that some kinds of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, can begin the neurodegenerative process 20 years before symptoms show, and can be influenced by lifestyle choices 20 years before that, so it’s definitely never too early be on top of these things!
- Best exercises for weight gain? We’ll do a main feature one of these days (filled with good science and evidence), but in few words meanwhile: core exercises, large muscle groups, heavy weights, few reps, build up slowly. Squats are King.
Q: I am interested in the following: Aging, Exercise, Diet, Relationships, Purpose, Lowering Stress
You’re going to love our Psychology Sunday editions of 10almonds! You might like some of these…
- Relationships: Seriously Useful Communication Skills!
- Purpose: Are You Flourishing? (There’s a Scale)
- Managing stress: Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)
- Also about managing stress: Sunday Stress-Buster
- Also applicable to stress: How To Set Your Anxiety Aside
Q: I’d like to know more about type 2 diabetic foot problems
You probably know that the “foot problems” thing has less to do with the feet and more to do with blood and nerves. So, why the feet?
The reason feet often get something like the worst of it, is because they are extremities, and in the case of blood sugars being too high for too long too often, they’re getting more damage as blood has to fight its way back up your body. Diabetic neuropathy happens when nerves are malnourished because the blood that should be keeping them healthy, is instead syrupy and sluggish.
We’ll definitely do a main feature sometime soon on keeping blood sugars healthy, for both types of diabetes plus pre-diabetes and just general advice for all.
In the meantime, here’s some very good advice on keeping your feet healthy in the context of diabetes. This one’s focussed on Type 1 Diabetes, but the advice goes for both:
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A New Contender For “Best Diet For Heart & Brain” In Aging
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
We previously wrote about how the Mediterranean diet‘s close cousins DASH and MIND were voted (by a panel of 69 doctors and nutritionists) as best for heart and brain health, respectively.
Here is that article, for reference: Which Diet? Top Diets Ranked By Experts
When we say “close cousins”, in this case we mean that DASH and MIND are variations of the Mediterranean in any case; see: Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
And for more on the Mediterranean Diet itself, see: The Mediterranean Diet: What Is It Good For? ← More to the point: what isn’t it good for?
- It’s also been found, societally, to reduce general healthcare costs—basically, people get sick less and so have fewer healthcare costs.
- It’s been found to reduce all-cause mortality, which is about the best thing one can say of any diet.
- It’s especially good for heart health and against cancer.
- It’s particularly recommended for the prevention or management of diabetes.
What about best against aging?
We’ve written about eating vs aging, too:
How Much Does A Vegan Diet Affect Biological Aging? ← the answer is, it’s a lot, measurable even over the course of just 8 weeks of vegan eating:
As to the difference it made over the course of the 8 weeks…
❝Various measures of epigenetic age acceleration (PC GrimAge, PC PhenoAge, DunedinPACE) were assessed, along with system-specific effects (Inflammation, Heart, Hormone, Liver, and Metabolic).
Distinct responses were observed, with the vegan cohort exhibiting significant decreases in overall epigenetic age acceleration, aligning with anti-aging effects of plant-based diets. Diet-specific shifts were noted in the analysis of methylation surrogates, demonstrating the influence of diet on complex trait prediction through DNA methylation markers.❞
~ Dr. Varun Dwaraka et al. ← there’s a lot of “et al.” to this one; the paper had 16 collaborating authors!
This is not too surprising, since the Mediterranean diet is mostly plant-based anyway with very little meat and some fermented dairy,
Is there an alternative?
Yes there is! So if you don’t want to put aside all animal products, the diet we’ll talk about now is the one you want.
On the other hand: if you do want to put aside all animal products or are already vegan, then, this diet does not require animal products; it merely permits the inclusion of a few of them.
It’s called the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and (though one could quibble over definitions) it is generally considered to have been launched in 2010.
You may be wondering: if it was launched in 2010, why is it being described as a new contender for “best for heart and brain” in aging?
And the answer is: that is new, in the category of anything we want longitudinal studies for. While some markers of aging can be measured over the duration of a short RCT, as in the vegan study we quoted above, to be able to categorically declare its long-term benefits to organs, we need long-term science, and that takes time.
All so recently, a 15-year longitudinal study has “matured”, as it were, and been published. Specifically, the study followed 2,473 adults aged 60+ for 15 years to examine the effect of dietary patterns on multimorbidity (two or more chronic conditions).
The diets they examined:
- Alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED)
- Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND)
- Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)
- Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Index (EDII)
What they found, in few words: The AMED, AHEI, and MIND diets were linked to a slower accumulation of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric conditions, while a pro-inflammatory diet (EDII) was (shocking nobody) associated with faster disease accumulation.
This was “dose dependent”, too, in the sense that those with the highest adherence to MIND and AHEI accumulated about two fewer chronic diseases over 15 years compared to those with the lowest adherence, and AHEI generally showed the most consistent protective associations.
It’s also worth noting that the benefits for cardiovascular disease appeared greatest in women and in participants aged 78+, though the extent to which those benefits showed themselves depended slightly on the statistical modelling method used.
You can read the paper here: Dietary patterns and accelerated multimorbidity in older adults
What’s in the AHEI Diet?
There is a little room for flexibility, and different studies may have slightly different definitions (which we will discuss), there is a clear general theme.
When we discussed the AHEI a few months ago, talking about a 30-year retrospective study (so, looking back on previous data and tallying it against the index that was created after the data was collected), and for that study it was parametered as essentially the Mediterranean diet with three small tweaks:
- no seafood, but long-chain omega-3 fatty acids include to compensate
- no sugar-sweetened beverages or fruit juices
- “no” sodium (in other words, minimal sodium, since almost everything contains trace amounts)
Indeed, they noted:
❝Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes and low-fat dairy products were linked to greater odds of healthy aging, whereas higher intakes of trans fats, sodium, sugary beverages and red or processed meats (or both) were inversely associated.❞
Read in full: Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging
With this in mind, in this 15-year longitudinal study, they included three additional stipulations, namely:
- little to no butter/cheese, ideally none
- little to no red meat, ideally none
- no processed meats
…which latter may be considered a de facto necessity under the “minimal sodium” directive, but the point is, this time it was spelled out.
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Better Than The Mediterranean? ← this is about what happens if we simply remove the remaining animal products from the Mediterranean Diet.
Enjoy!
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What is cannabis use disorder? And how do you know if you have a problem?
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Around 41% of Australians report they’ve used cannabis at some point in their life.
Research estimates that 22% of recreational cannabis consumers meet criteria for a cannabis use disorder. This condition can make it difficult to control how often or how much cannabis they use.
For medicinal cannabis, our research estimated the percentage of cannabis consumers who meet criteria for a cannabis use disorder was similar, around 25%.
These figures may come as a surprise, as the perceived risks associated with cannabis have been steadily declining in many countries.
So, how can you tell if your cannabis use is a problem?
What does cannabis use disorder look like?
A person might use cannabis to relax after a stressful day at work or to help them sleep. At first, they might do so every now and then. But over time, they might come to rely on using cannabis to stop feeling uncomfortable, stressed and sleepless.
They might begin to use cannabis daily to feel “normal”.
With regular use, the body develops tolerance to the effects of cannabis. So the person needs to use more cannabis to get the same “high”.
People who consume cannabis might use more cannabis than they intended or might have problems performing at work because they’re high at the start of the work day, or they fail to do important things such as paying bills, and buy cannabis instead.
The person might keep using cannabis despite noticing their use is causing clouded thoughts, memory issues and anxiety.
Friends and family might notice problems with their cannabis use and recommend they stop or cut back. This can be difficult for people with cannabis use disorder because they may feel anxious, irritable and have difficulty sleeping if they suddenly stop using cannabis.
Some people who use cannabis can’t function like they used to. PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock These withdrawal symptoms can make it harder to quit or cut back. Withdrawal symptoms are quickly relieved by using cannabis, creating a cycle of relapse.
How is it diagnosed?
Health professionals use specific criteria to diagnose a cannabis use disorder.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a person may have a cannabis use disorder if they show at least two symptoms within one year. Symptoms can include:
- using larger amounts over longer periods than intended
- cravings for cannabis, where the person feels a strong urge or desire to use cannabis
- trying and failing to cut back on cannabis use
- continuing cannabis use despite worsening physical or psychological problems
- failing to fulfil major role obligations at work, school or home
- needing to use a greater amount for the same effect, known as tolerance
- experiencing withdrawal symptoms such as feeling anxious, irritable or having trouble sleeping.
According to the DSM, two to three symptoms indicate a mild cannabis use disorder and few problems. A moderate disorder involves four to five symptoms, while six-plus symptoms means a severe disorder.
Who is at greatest risk?
In both recreational and medicinal consumers, the risk of cannabis use disorder is higher for people who use cannabis:
- frequently, especially daily
- by smoking or vaping
- with higher levels of THC or in larger amounts.
Other risk factors are starting cannabis use at a younger age and using cannabis to relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression and chronic pain.
What’s the relationship with chronic pain?
People struggling to manage their pain may turn to cannabis hoping to find relief.
However, recent studies question the effectiveness of cannabis to manage pain.
People who use cannabis to relieve chronic pain often use it more frequently. AYO Production/Shutterstock So people may increase how often they use cannabis or use more potent cannabis products in an unsuccessful attempt to control their pain.
This can lead to a cannabis use disorder, making it more difficult to manage their pain and impairing their ability to cope with the demands of everyday life.
How to reduce your risk
Legal changes in many countries, including Australia, have allowed greater access to cannabis for medical reasons. People now often use cannabis for both recreational and medical reasons (dual-use).
If you use cannabis, reduce your risk of developing a cannabis use disorder by avoiding daily use and avoiding cannabis products with high THC.
If you’re concerned about your cannabis use, consult your medical practitioner or contact the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 for confidential advice.
Danielle Dawson, PhD Candidate, School of Psychology and National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland; Valentina Lorenzetti, Deputy Director, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre Program Lead, Neuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Australian Catholic University, and Wayne Hall, Emeritus Professor, National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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