July 16, 2012
The social patient network CureTogether reported in February the results of study among 227 people who rated 31 treatments for bipolar disorder. It is one of the first such studies that blend social media, patient-stated outcomes with integrated therapy options.
“Patients rate regimented sleep, reduced alcohol, and exercise as helpful for their symptoms, as well as yoga, mindfulness meditation, and Lamictal*.” (more…)
June 19, 2012
NCCAM Director
Josephine Briggs
In the last couple of years, NCCAM has gradually developed its web site to be more responsive to public interest in CAM and integrative medicine. In May it took another step and launched a blog written by director Josephine Briggs, MD. Readers may make comments on each post, which are reviewed before being added.
In her post of May 24, “Integrative”—What Is in a Word?
Briggs focuses on a topic of signal importance as the field begins to become far more integrated with and understood by convention practice and therapy: the definition of “integrative medicine.” (more…)
October 29, 2010
The Truth is In There: Mining for Integrative Medicine Outcomes
Consumer and practitioner demand may accelerate CAM inclusion in the inpatient settings, and hospital leadership should be … prepared to engage their constituencies regarding its place within the healthcare delivery construct.
October 25, 2010
Newly blended collaborations on the integrative health landscape:
October 22, 2010
Homo Sapiens: Coqtivore?
Heribert Watzke, Nestle
In this entertaining presentation at the TED Global conference in London last July, Heribert Watzke, a food research scientist at Nestle, focuses on two notable if rarely connected factors in human health:
December 28, 2009
National Cancer Institute Funds 20,000-person Trial in Early 2010
In a recently released video NCI’s Dr. John Milner, chief of the Division of Cancer Prevention’s Nutritional Science Research Group, describes how changing scientific perceptions of the medicinal power of foods and the knowledge of the human genome is influencing cancer research.
Citing “rather compelling evidence” that shows “30% of cancers are related to dietary habits,” Milner observed that in cancer-averting diets, “You must assume that those foods are supplying some bioactive food component.”
“It is an area that somehow we have thought is very simple,” he notes. “But is not very simple.” (more…)
November 19, 2009
On Nov. 9 I had the opportunity to participate in a symposium that had the feeling of a seminal moment for the integrative health community. The “Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) Stakeholder Symposium” held in Baltimore focused on changes now underway that may well redefine how evidence is defined in medical research. The trend has evolved over the last decade, independently of the growth of integrative practice. It has come about largely because of dissatisfaction with the results of narrowly constructed but long accepted traditional research methodologies (i.e., random controlled trials).
As a result, in the next two years, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) will be channeling $800 million into a formal program for Comparative Effectiveness Research.
November 18, 2009
NCCAM’s 10th Anniversary Event Goes Deep into Human Biology
NCCAM’s symposium on Dec. 10 at NIH will include discussions of its early research projects starting to focus on the the processes of disease and illness at the microbiological level and on the neurological factors related to integrative approaches like meditation.
NCCAM Director Josephine P. Briggs, M.D. will host the day-long event that includes these topics:
Natural Products, moderated by Robert Nussenblatt, M.D., Acting Scientific and Clinical Director, Division of Intramural Research, NCCAM (more…)
Getting2IH&W 