Sep 30
Some studies suggest that Chinese medicine may help with the symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome:
“It [Tourettte's] is considered incurable with Western medicine as the syndrome can easily recur after disappearing for several months, the association said. Moreover, Western science is at a loss to explain the origins of the disease, it said.
However, Chinese medical practitioner Lin Pao-hua (林寶華) told attendees that traditional Chinese medicine can be effective in treating patients.
Lin said Western medicine usually tries to “besiege, tranquilize and obstruct” the symptoms, but this can lead to more complications such as depression.
Lin, who has treated 335 Tourette’s patients in his clinic, said the illness is similar to jingfeng (驚風) disease described in Chinese medicine.
The syndrome manifests dry (燥) and heat (熱) symptoms, said Lin, using the language of Chinese medicine.
He added that Chinese medicine prescriptions used to smooth the blood circulation may be given to patients. Restoratives such as ginseng, on the other hand, may worsen patients’ symptoms, he said while showing video clips of his patients.
“Traditional Chinese medicine is made of plants, minerals and animals and thus is more natural. The medicine can be better absorbed by patients with neurological illnesses,” Lin said.”
Sep 30
Chinese bilogists are using herbs to help milk cows cope with heat (and increase their milk production):
“hinese biologists have used herbs to help dozens of milk cows in Shanghai to weather a summer heat wave and boost their milk production by 20 percent.
Aromatic herbs were added to the regular feed of 60 Holsteins at a Shanghai-based farm. “The special recipe, which included herbs such as mint, ageratum and fragrant thoroughwort, has proved effective and free from adverse side effects,” said Hua Xiuguo, vice dean of agricultural and biological school of the Shanghai Jiaotong University who led the experiment.
The herbs boost the appetite and immunity to heat-related ailments of the cows, which previously suffered heatstroke and showed symptoms of anemia, high blood pressure and depression in scorching weather, according to Hua. “
Sep 29
“What five foods pack the highest antioxidant punch? They are, in order of strength: blackberries, grape juice, artichoke hearts, walnuts and strawberries.
These can be added to the list of those more famous for their super-food status: blueberries, red wine and chocolate. The latest study used a measurement method called the FRAP — ferric-reducing ability of plasma — to test total concentration of antioxidants for 1,113 foods and beverages commonly consumed in the U.S.”
DAAN’s Hemotune can have the following health benefits:
* May promote eye health and prevent macular degeneration, cataracts, and other degenerative eye diseases. The benefits of antioxidants were examined during the Age-Related Eye Disease Study.
* May help Keep the immune system in good shape, or boost the immune system when it has been compromised.
* May help Promote cardiovascular health and help prevent artherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases. Antioxidants can decrease LDL and cholesterol, increase high density lipoprotein(HDL), and lower blood pressure.
Sep 20
“A study suggests that traditional acupuncture can bring significant benefit to those with lower back pain.
Lower back pain is common. In the UK, around 16 per cent of the population will consult their family doctor about lower back pain during a year. Two per cent of adults say they try acupuncture for a range of conditions, including lower back pain. But the evidence on its effectiveness has been unclear, so researchers studied a group of 241 patients aged 18 to 65 referred to them by British Acupuncture Council practitioners. All had persistent lower back pain.”
Our acupuncture practioner Susan S. Yen, MSTCM, L.Ac. has a wealth of experience providing acupunture treatment. After earning her BS from the University of California Santa Cruz, Susan went on to study traditional Chinese medicine at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland, California. She has received her MSTCM there with honors. Since the early 1990’s, Susan has traveled overseas as well as in the Bay Area to receive tutorial education from distinguished doctors of traditional Chinese medicine who specialize in treatment of pain, TCM gynecology (with an emphasis in PMS), and TCM internal medicine. Susan is currently co-writing a book on gestational and postpartum health care.
Please call Susan Yen toll free at 877-322-6168 or 415-433-3277 to make an appointment.
Sep 18
Gustenfelden, Germany – “Helped by state farm advisors, German farmers are discovering herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as cash crops to supply the alternative-treatments market in Europe.”
DAAN carries an extensive selection of Chinese herbs, including the finest quality of ginseng. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, American Ginseng promotes Yin energy, cleans excess Yang in the body, calms the body. The reason it has been claimed that American ginseng promotes Yin (shadow, cold, negative, female) while East Asian ginseng promotes Yang (sunshine, hot, positive, male) is that, according to traditional Chinese medicine, things living in cold places are strong in Yang and vice versa, so that the two are balanced.
Sep 12
“Consumers have a new list of allies when it comes to decreasing the risk for disease and delaying the onset of age-related conditions. A recently released study measured the total concentration of antioxidants for more than 1,000 commonly consumed foods and beverages. The study ranked the items by antioxidant concentration per serving size, and the five foods with the highest antioxidant levels were blackberries (1 cup), walnuts (1 ounce), strawberries (1 cup sliced), artichoke hearts (1 cup) and cranberries (1 cup).”
DAAN’s Antioxidant-Hemotune is a super potent antioxidant version of Hemotune is the answer to fight against free radicals roaming through our body, destroying elasticity of blood vessel walls and causing mal-function in our organs
Sep 11
An exerpt from an upcoming book, “Shadow of the Silk Road” includes an interesting story about the importance of the foot in Chinese medicine:
Then he said: “It’s a kind of therapy. Traditional Chinese footwashing.”
Twenty minutes later we were sitting in a massage parlour while two pretty girls in green brocaded jackets and white kerchiefs tugged off our shoes. Some of these places are not what they pretend, but this one was. Our feet were dunked in scalding pails of herbal medicine, then pummelled and kneaded into pink purée. The foot — so Chinese tradition goes — is a microcosm of the body, with its own lungs, heart, kidneys: and as my attendant chopped my soles with fingers like steel rods, I started to believe it. My feet had migraines and heart attacks. The girl smiled sweetly: “Foreign feet are so big!”
Meanwhile, on an overhead television, Edward Cheung of China Assets Management discussed the foreign-equities outlook with Brian Chu of the Associated Trading Department. I affected to relax like a consequential businessman, but the girl began pulling my fingers from their sockets. They went off like pistol shots.
Then the girl transferred her attention to my toes. I had forgotten I had so many. They suffered strokes and seizures. For a while longer she beat a steely tattoo on my calves and shins, knuckling my insteps, frowning a little. Then, just as Brian Chu was clinching his theory about foreign- exchange reserves, it was all over and I hobbled off with Hongming into the shaking city lights.”
Sep 11
Interesting article about the wealth of herbs in Malaysia:
Malaysia’s incredible biodiversity makes it a treasure house of herbs such as misai kuching, (left, with white flowers), seruntung, (centre) and hempedu bumi (right), a fact that regrettably few Malaysians seem aware of.
DO you know that we live in the heart of the oldest rainforest in the world? Yes, we were never hit by an Ice Age like the Amazon was some 13,000 years ago. Not only that, Malaysia is a mega-diversity nation. We rank 12th in the world and fourth in Asia. Indeed, one in eight herbs that grow on the planet, grow here.
It is even more amazing when you consider that Malaysia is truly the home of Asian traditional medicine. For more than 500 years, the three major races of Asia — Malays, Indians and Chinese — have practised their unique traditional systems in harmony.
Yet Malaysians are more familiar with imported herbs. How sad! Would your grandmother have taken an imported herb like St John’s Wort or Echinacea? No way!
When we talk about foreign herbs, you do not have much a choice. They do not grow here. You can only purchase them as dried herbs or in dosage forms such as capsules or creams. You also do not benefit from direct experience of the herb. Nor do you enjoy its freshness.
The wonderful thing about getting to know and studying local herbs is that they grow in our gardens and backyards. You can actually see and feel them in their natural state and habitat. You can take them raw or process them as an infusion (tea) or paste. You may even combine them with other herbs for the necessary synergy. If you are adventurous, you could dry the leaves, powder them and the make your own capsules using empty capsule shells that you could easily purchase in the pharmacy
Sep 07
“Winter in the UK brings about the advent of numerous common colds that effect us all to a greater of lesser degree. They are caused by viral infections of the upper respiratory tract and are therefore difficult to treat. There are numerous products available to provide relief of the symptoms caused by these viruses, but none that can cure them. The key to staving off such colds thus lies in prevention rather than cure, knowledge which Chinese medicine practitioners have based their treatment on for millennia.”
DAAN carries some popular cold remedies, including:
Sep 06
WE started with an appetiser that was almost French and ended with a dessert that truly was. Nothing unusual except that dinner was at a Chinese restaurant, Chef Choi, in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
