DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

Kampo, widely used traditional medicine in Japan, has it roots in Chinese medicine:

“Of the many ancient holistic medical systems that have withstood the test of time, Kampo is one of the more successful ones, particularly in Japan. In a nationwide study of Japanese mainstream medical practitioners performed in October 2000, 72 percent regularly used Kampo medicines. Today, nearly 150 Kampo drugs are available for reimbursement under Japan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) program. Kampo is slowly making inroads into the West as well.

The roots of Kampo are embedded in Chinese medicine, having entered Japan between 700-900 AD, but since then it has evolved on its own. Although predominantly herb-based, there are instances of the use of acupuncture too. The most major ingredient in nearly two-thirds of leading commercial Kampo formulations is the Chinese liquorice root (Glycyrrhizae Radix), followed by ginger.

Today Kampo medicine is the focus of worldwide clinical research in an ever widening list of clinical conditions - Sho-saiko-to (H09) for the treatment of hepatitis C being researched at New York Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (phase II clinical trial), and in the treatment of hepatitis-C induced liver cirrhosis at the UCSD Liver Center. Kampo has been evaluated through placebo-controlled trials in the treatment of headaches, hypertension, fertility problems, insomnia, chronic fatigue, stress-related health problems, and numerous more trials are under way.

The boom in traditional herb therapy noticed in recent years across the world may be part of a greater holistic undercurrent that is prevalent in medicine, but more importantly, it is the realization that it is time modern medicine took a closer look at its folk roots. Folk medicine, as it is increasingly being realized, is much less harmful and more effective that the “traditional” pharmaceutical industry would lead us to believe, than many industrial chemicals to be found in modern pharmacopeias.”

Tags: General, Culture by DAAN
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Interesting article about the ginseng harvest in South Korea, and single plants worth $65,000!

“The restaurant’s only customers, a small group of ginseng seekers, had assembled for a breakfast of tofu soup before driving off to a nearby mountain that they planned to scour for the sought-after plant.

Despite the early hour and the rain, their conversation grew increasingly animated with each retelling of the news from the night before: someone had just found an 8.3-ounce, 30-year-old ginseng plant, valued at $65,000!

“Just because the ginseng plant weighs more, it doesn’t necessarily mean that its quality is superior, as the television report was implying,” said the group’s leader, Pae Young-gun, seeking to puncture the expanding balloon of unrealistic expectations pre-emptively.

South Korea’s news media periodically report on the discovery of extremely rare wild ginseng plants that command tens of thousands of dollars and fuel the dreams of ginseng seekers across the country. In South Korea and elsewhere in Asia, wild ginseng’s roots have traditionally been prized for their supposed preternatural healing powers, properties believed to be missing in the farmed variety.

So armies of ginseng seekers forage in the country’s thickly forested mountains where wild ginseng can be found — if it can be found at all — in nooks with the right mix of air, sunlight and humidity.

As mountains are regarded as holy places, the searches tend to take on a spiritual, or at least superstitious, dimension. The finder of the $65,000 ginseng was reported to have seen three pillars of fire in a dream just before stumbling on the plant on Sobaek Mountain, in the middle of South Korea.”

Tags: Ginseng by DAAN
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An informative article about the history of many different kinds of tea and the benefits of drinking green tea:

“Tea was first drunk in China and next in India. It was expansion of trade and reduction in import tax in 1746 that gave birth to the famous British tea at five o’clock tradition.

While categorizing, there are five varieties of Chinese tea. Most popular within China is green tea, which retrains its original colour and whose leaves are heated to prevent fermentation or oil effusion in boiling water. The most famous green tea are Longjin (Dragon well), Miffing and Biluochun.

Black tea in China is called hong cha-red tea. Its leaves are fermented before being heated and it contains oils that dissolve in hot water, giving it its darker colour. This kind of tea making has only been popular in China since the 17th century. The finest of hong cha are Qihong, Dianhong, Suhong Chuanhong and Huhong.

The third category of tea is unique to China and has no equivalent in any other country. It is oolong tea, which is partially fermented and occupies an intermediate position between green and black tea. Oolong specialists are all situated in China’s southern provinces. The most famous black tea is Iron Guanyin.

Compressed tea produced in briquettes is convenient for storage and shipping. Often referred to as black, it is not the same as the black tea drunk in Europe. It is produced mainly in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces.

Aromatized tea is a mixture of tea-leaves and flowers, although tea made exclusively from flowers is no rarity. Jasmine tea is most popular in northern China, where it is believed that aromatized tea improves the digestion through helping break down fats.

In Chinese restaurants around the world, tea is served before anything else, regardless of whether or not it has been ordered. And is very often free of charge. Dinners order oily and spicy dishes without fear of gastric repercussions, as a drink of green tea ensures easy digestion.

To Chinese people, tea is like a faithful and beloved wife who commands complete loyalty. Virtually every citizen of the Celestial Kingdom has their favourite tea from which they seldom stray.

There is a Chinese saying: It is better to live three days without salt than one day without tea.

Tea is considered a remedy for many diseases with traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners insist that bitter tea relieves inflammation, prevents upset stomachs, whets the appetites, and restores good spirits. Tea is rich in Vitamin C, which combats cholesterol, arteriosclerosis and hypertension. The Vitamin B in tea helps to clean blood-vessel walls and soften capillaries, and its other Vitamins prevent formation of blood pigmentation and melanoma.

Another tea ingredient-tannin- soaks up melanin and flushes it out of the body, keeping the skin soft and health looking. Tea also contains alkaline minerals that decompose fats and help digestion, which means regular tea drinking is an effective method of weight control. Finally, the caffeine in tea stimulates the metabolism and produces insulin, which is why many diabetics drink it as a therapeutic agent.”

DAAN carries many types of tea.

Tags: Tea by DAAN
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A restaurant in Taipei is distinguishing itself by using medicinal Chinese herbs to create yummy and healthy foods:

” What happens when three 20-something female fitness instructors decide to shift careers and enter the culinary business? The answer is a homelike barbecue restaurant that offers a wide variety of grilled delicacies spiced up with healthy sauces prescribed by practitioners of Chinese medicine.

Rarely adopted in other barbecue joints, Chinese herbs are key ingredients in the eatery’s savory sauces, dressings and beverages. The signature teriyaki marinade, for example, is made with various medicinal herbs that are added to the broth.

For those who like their food simple and palatable, the de-shelled shrimp plate (NT$90) comes highly recommended, not just for the competitive price, but also for the simple salt and pepper seasoning that brings out the freshness of the food. The juicy boneless beef sparerib (NT$150) is another favorite that is flavored with sesame oil and the specially concocted blend of Chinese herbs. “

Tags: Herbs, Food by DAAN
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Traditional Chinese martial arts such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong can improve the immune system, and in particular help increase the effectiveness of the flu vaccine:

“Move on mosquitoes. Step aside sweat bees. Before long, another unwelcome, but predictable, pest will return: the dreaded, oft-spotted flu bug.

But as this year’s sniffling-sneezing season approaches, there’s also a hint of hope present in the pre-germ-season air. In a study scheduled for publication in the August issue of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, a team of kinesiologists at the University of Illinois suggest that older adults who adopt an exercise regimen combining Taiji and Qigong may get an extra boost from their annual flu shot.

“We have found that 20 weeks of Taiji can increase the antibody response to influenza vaccine in older adults,” said the study’s lead author Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology and community health, and a Taiji master with 30-plus years of experience as a practitioner and instructor.

“In this study, we found that five months of an easily performed behavioral Taiji and Qigong intervention could improve the magnitude and duration of the HI anti-influenza antibody titer response in a small cohort of older adults,” write the authors, who also include Karl S. Rosengren, a U. of I. professor of psychology and of kinesiology and community health, and Jeffrey A. Woods, a kinesiology and community health professor who researches the effects of exercise on immune function. Rosengren and Woods helped design the study. Other co-authors are former U. of I. graduate students Rachel A. Mariani and Jay Verkuilen, and Scott A. Grubisich and Michael Reed of the Center for Taiji Studies, Champaign.

According to Yang, one problem with the flu vaccine is that older adults often do not reach what are considered to be “protective levels” after receiving the vaccination.

Tags: Disease by DAAN
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A Confucius institute, dedicated to Chinese medicine, will be the first in the world to offer courses in Chinese medicine:

” Britain is to establish a Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine, the first in the world which offers courses in Chinese medicine.

London South Bank University (LSBU) has negotiated terms of agreement with the Office of Chinese Language Council International, China (Hanban) to set up the Institute at its campus, according to officials of the University Tuesday.

The Confucius Institute will also offer courses in areas of worldwide developing interest including Chinese Massage, Acupuncture etc. Courses will be open for Applicants from both the UK and overseas and teaching will be in both Chinese and English.

“We are very excited to be working with leading partners in China to launch this new initiative. The institute will be a non-profit making education institution with the purpose of enhancing international understanding in the UK by sponsoring courses in Chinese language, culture and Chinese Medicine,” Min Liu, Director of Asia Pacific from the LSBU said.

The Confucius Institute is being set up in partnership with two Chinese partners - Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine and Harbin Normal University, both in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. “

Tags: East and West by DAAN
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Acupuncture can be a good alternative to traditional, Western fertility treatments:

“To encourage women/couples to use Chinese Medicine FIRST and to conceive naturally, Dr. Lucas has created the new Your Healthy Fertility Choice program. This program uses acupuncture, herbal prescriptions, nutritional recommendations, and potentially other therapies in Chinese Medicine to:

* Improve you overall health
* Increase blood and positive Qi energy flow to the reproductive organs; the uterus especially needs a healthy blood flow to assure implantation
* Improve the function of the ovaries to produce better quality eggs
* Regulate the menstrual cycle
* Reduce stress by relaxing the patients and improving energetic and emotional balance
* Affect the autonomic nervous system which can make the lining of the uterus more receptive to receiving an embryo
* Balance hormones

Traditional Chinese Medicine should be your healthy and first choice for fertility success, according to Dr. Lucas. It replaces hormone therapy and invasive procedures that can be painful and are well known for creating mood swings, weight gain and other uncomfortable and potentially unhealthy side effects. She would like couples to use the healthy safe fertility opportunity that Chinese Medicine offers FIRST when trying to conceive.”

Tags: Acupuncture, Women's Health by DAAN
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Acupressure bands, that work by applying pressure to a particular point, are tested and found to be effective. Of course, you don’t need the bands to use acupressure for nausea, but they may help isolate the correct spot:

“Thousands of years ago, the Chinese started using acupressure to treat nausea. They would firmly press a spot just below the wrist — known as the P6 point — until the queasiness passed. Even today, a Chinese bus careening around winding roads will be full of passengers practicing acupressure on the fly.

In this country, the acupressure remedy for nausea has entered the modern age (which is another way to say that it involves a gadget and can cost you money). For about $10, you can buy a pair of Acuband or Sea-Band wristbands that claim to ease queasiness courtesy of a hard knob that, when positioned properly, sits over the acupressure target. The bands are widely available in drugstores, often next to the Dramamine.

The claims: Ads and packaging for both Acuband and Sea-Band claim that the wristbands can relieve nausea caused by motion sickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy. Ads for Acuband say you’ll “never again be unprepared for the effects of nausea.” The packaging for Sea-Band promises “effective relief . . . without causing drowsiness or other side effects.”

The bottom line: Whether you wear a wristband or simply press the P6 point with your thumb, acupressure really can help ease motion sickness, morning sickness and nausea that follows chemotherapy, says Robert Stern, a professor of psychology at Penn State University who studies motion sickness and nausea. In a study published in 2001, for example, Stern and colleagues tested Acuband wristbands on subjects who had endured a session in a stomach-churning machine that uses spinning images to trigger motion sickness. As advertised, the bands helped fend off queasiness.

Wristbands have a couple of slight advantages over the thumb method, Stern says. People wearing a band may have an easier time finding their P6 point because once in place, the wristbands don’t slip around, and the knob may help focus pressure.”

Tags: General by DAAN
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An interesting report from CNN about the continuing popularity of traditional Chinese medicine in China:

“My first stop was something that I had been looking forward to for some time: a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic. Immediately upon entering, I saw two young gentlemen in short white coats carrying around what appeared to be dried snakes on small white pieces of paper. They quickly showed the “prescription” to the doctor and after getting her approval, they wrapped it up and handed it to the patient. “Was that dried snake?” I asked the doctor. She nodded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her attitude was not surprising given that 95 percent of people in China use what is called TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine. There are huge textbooks with descriptions of medications that vary from rhinoceros horn to turtle shells and yes, snakes. In the book are not only doses, usually around 15 - 30 grams, but also specific uses such as “thins the blood, acts as a tonic” or my favorite, “restores the yang.”

Now, if you are imagining a rustic, rural place in a small Chinese village, think again. The TCM clinic we visited was right in the middle of Beijing, one of the largest cities in the world. Right outside the office doors were fancy electronics and boutique stores selling high-end goods, and there was a long waiting line of well-dressed people with ailments ranging from arthritis to nausea to the common cold. One woman who came in for persistent vomiting was given a seven-day prescription of herbs and dried animal parts, including four different kinds of roots, orange peel, a huge spool of bamboo, shaved bull horn and a touch of turtle shell. The final prescription took up nearly the entire counter with each daily dose the size of a small salad. She was told to pour the entire quantity into a pot of hot water and drink the liquid as a tea. Judging by her happy reaction, she was quite confident this would fix what ailed her.”

Tags: General by DAAN
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Acupuncture proves to be an effective treament for two individuals

“CHAPEL HILL - Right around Halloween two years ago I (along with my 10-year old cocker spaniel Max) proved the laughingstock of just about everyone we knew outside of the San Francisco Bay Area where we then lived. Why?

After our regular veterinarian diagnosed Max with a spinal rupture, the treatment plan outlined was straightforward — if over-the-top expensive. Immediate spinal surgery. Price tag: $4,000.A”

Tags: Uncategorized, Acupuncture by DAAN
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