It’s been a while since we’ve run this feature, updating you on recent news in the world of acupuncture. We hope you find these news bits interesting.

Acupuncture May Ease Chronic Headaches
The largest study to date using acupuncture to ease headaches found that those using acupuncture reported greater pain improvement than those who stayed with their usual care alone. Published in the journal Cephalagia (Sep 2008), German researchers followed more than 15,000 adults with chronic migraine or tension headaches. All participants received 15 acupuncture treatments over a 3-month period.

CNN Medical News Names Acupuncture #1 Alternative Medical Treatment
In 1999, eight academic medical centers, including Harvard, Duke and Stanford, banded together with the purpose of encouraging research and education on alternative medicine. Nine years later, the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine has 38 member universities, and has gathered evidence about what practices have solid science behind them. Hands down, the No. 1 recommendation from this panel of experts is acupuncture for pain. The panel also recommended acupuncture for other problems including nausea, allergies and asthma.

Acupuncture Effective for Allergies
An Australian study has found that acupuncture can significantly reduce the symptoms of persistent allergies. Both real and “sham” acupuncture were evaluated in this randomized single-blind trial. Significant improvements were seen in the real acupuncture group, and these benefits persisted for 3 months following the end of treatment. There was also a significant reduction in the use of allergy medication in the treatment group.

Acupuncture Better than Increased Heartburn Drugs
If drugs fail to control symptoms of heartburn and reflux, current standard management is to double the dosage of these drugs. A clinical trial compared this protocol against use of acupuncture and found that those who added acupuncture without doubling their medication dose showed the best results with significant improvements in day and nighttime heartburn and acid regurgitation. The double dose group showed no improvement.

Acupuncture Equivalent to Drugs for Migraines
A review of current studies on acupuncture and migraines concludes that a 6-week course of acupuncture is equivalent to a 6-month course of drugs aimed at migraine prevention, and suggests that acupuncture should be incorporated into existing migraine therapy protocols.

Acupuncture Helps Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS affects about 4 million women in the US and is a common cause of menstrual problems and infertility. In a recent review article, Swedish researchers describe improvements in PCOS with acupuncture and speculate that results are due to modulation of the neuro-endocrine system that exerts long-lasting beneficial effects on metabolism, hormones and ovulation.

Chinese Herbal Medicines, Heavy Metals, and Prop 65
by Carl Hangee-Bauer, ND, LAc

If you’ve purchased Chinese herbal medicines recently, you may have seen a sticker attached to the label warning that “This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm.” Needless to say, this can be alarming to the health care consumer, reinforcing the perception that Chinese-made products are all tainted and feeding fears that these herbs may do more harm than good. You’ve probably also noticed a large warning sign using similar language every time you walk into your grocery or department store.

At San Francisco Natural Medicine, we want to reassure our patients that we carefully choose all manufacturers and suppliers of herbal medicines and nutritional supplements based on product safety, quality assurance, reliability of dosage, and cost effectiveness. Our primary goal is the improvement of our patients’ health and wellness, and we filter the products we use through these standards.

In 1986, Californians passed Prop 65, The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, designed to address public concern about toxic chemicals, a very worthy cause. Unfortunately, Prop 65 allows lawyers and law firms to act as private enforcers, and some law firms have targeted specific industries with Prop 65 lawsuits. A few years ago, the Chinese herbal medicine industry in California was targeted, and many companies settled suits in part by agreeing to put this language on their products. Two of the suppliers we use at SF Natural Medicine have agreed to add these labels to their products.

Unfortunately, for many reasons, these labels can be very confusing to the consumer. The labels say that there are unsafe substances in the products when in fact there may be none at all. Even if only a few of a company’s products show any lead, for example, all that company’s products must be labeled.

In addition, Prop 65 levels are set very low. International levels for lead in herbs is 10 parts per million (ppm). The strictest standard outside California is 3 ppm. The lowest lead level that can be tested is 0.5 ppm. However, according to Prop 65, any herb product sold in California containing more than 0.08 ppm must carry a warning label—making the Prop 65 standard unreasonably lower than the levels allowed anywhere else in the world and not even based on scientific analysis of actual risks.

It is ironic that while the makers of legally imported Chinese herbal medicines are forced to put these labels on their products, the vast majority of herbs, vitamins and supplements do not have this requirement simply because those industries have not been targets of lawsuits. Additionally, Prop 65 warnings are not required for herb companies with 10 or fewer employees.

It is of the utmost importance to us that we provide our patients with the safest and most effective natural therapies available, and we trust all the vitamin and herb companies that we work with. There is more information on Prop. 65 labeling on our web site at www.SFnatmed.com, on the page on Chinese Medicine. We also have a more detailed document at the front desk for your review. Your doctor is also happy to answer any of your questions.