Introduction
It is one of the cardinal principles of natural medicine that treatment should aim not only to treat illness but also to enhance well-being, or wellness. According to this ideal, a proper course of treatment should improve the sense of general well-being, enhance immunity to illness, raise physical stamina, and increase mental alertness; it should also resolve specific medical conditions.
While there can be little doubt that this is a laudable goal, it is easier to laud it than to achieve it. Conventional medicine tends to focus on treating diseases rather than on increasing wellness, not as a matter of philosophical principle, but because it is easier to accomplish.
One strong force affecting wellness is genetics. Beyond this, commonsense steps endorsed by all physicians include increasing exercise, reducing stress, improving diet, getting enough sleep, and living a life of moderation without bad habits, such as smoking or overeating. However, it is difficult to make strong affirmations, and the optimum forms of diet and exercise and other aspects of lifestyle remain unclear. They may always remain unclear, as it is impossible to perform double-blind, placebo-controlled studies on most lifestyle habits.
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
Although no natural treatments have been proven effective for enhancing overall wellness, two have shown promise: multivitamin-multimineral tablets and the herb Panax ginseng.
Multivitamin-multimineral supplements. To function at their best, humans need good nutrition. However, the modern diet often fails to provide people with sufficient amounts of all the necessary nutrients. For this reason, the use of a multivitamin-multimineral supplement might be expected to enhance overall health and well-being, and preliminary double-blind trials generally support this view.
For example, in one double-blind study, eighty healthy men between the ages of eighteen and forty-two were given either a multivitamin-multimineral supplement or placebo and followed for twenty-eight days. The results showed that the use of the nutritional supplement improved several measures of well-being. Similarly, an eight-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ninety-five people with careers in middle management also found improvements in well-being. Furthermore, several studies have found that multivitamin-multimineral supplements can improve immunity in older people. General nutritional supplements may also help improve response to stress.
Panax ginseng. The herb Panax ginseng has an
ancient reputation as a healthful tonic. According to a more modern concept
developed in the former Soviet Union, ginseng functions as an adaptogen. An
adaptogen helps the body adapt to stresses of various kinds, whether heat, cold,
exertion, trauma, sleep deprivation, toxic exposure, radiation, infection, or
psychologic stress. In addition, an adaptogen causes no side effects, is effective
in treating many illnesses, and helps return an organism toward balance no matter
what may have gone wrong.
From a modern scientific perspective, it is not truly clear that such things as adaptogens actually exist. However, there is some evidence that ginseng may satisfy some of the definition’s requirements.
Several studies have found that ginseng can improve the overall sense of well-being. For example, such benefits were seen in a twelve-week double-blind trial that evaluated the effects of P. ginseng extract in 625 people. The average age of the participants was just under forty years old. Each participant received a multivitamin supplement daily, but for one set of participants, the multivitamin also contained ginseng. Level of well-being was measured by a set of eleven questions. The results showed that people taking the ginseng-containing supplement reported significant improvement compared to those taking the supplement without ginseng.
Similarly positive findings were reported in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of thirty-six people newly diagnosed with diabetes. After eight weeks, participants who had been taking 200 milligrams of ginseng daily reported improvements in mood, well-being, vigor, and psychophysical performance that were significant compared to the reports of control participants.
A twelve-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 120 people found that ginseng improved general well-being among women aged thirty to sixty years and men aged forty to sixty years, but not among men aged thirty to thirty-nine years. This finding is possibly consistent with the traditional theory that ginseng is more effective for older people. Other results suggest this as well. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of thirty young people found marginal benefits at most, and a sixty-day, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of eighty-three adults in their mid-twenties found no effect.
In addition, ginseng has shown some potential for enhancing immunity, mental function, and sports performance. These are all effects consistent with the adaptogen concept.
Other Proposed Natural Treatments
Besides P. ginseng, certain other herbs are regarded as adaptogens, including Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian ginseng), Rhodiola rosacea, ashwagandha, astragalus, suma, schisandra, and the Asian mushrooms maitake, shiitake, and reishi. Meaningful supporting evidence for their benefits, however, is scant. In one of the better studies, a small, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of R. rosacea, the herb seemed to improve physical and mental performance and sense of well-being in students under stress.
Although garlic is not generally regarded as an adaptogen, one study
found that garlic powder (but not garlic oil) enhanced well-being. However,
another study failed to find such benefits with garlic powder.
So-called green juices made from such substances as spirulina and
wheat
grass are widely marketed for enhancing well-being. A
double-blind study found that the use of one such product improved general
vitality, but so did placebo, and the differences between the outcomes in the two
groups were marginal.
Levels of the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) naturally decrease with age, and for this reason DHEA supplements have been widely hyped as a kind of fountain of youth. However, several studies have found that DHEA supplementation does not improve mood or increase the general sense of well-being in older people. A relatively large (about five hundred participants) double-blind study also failed to find selenium helpful in the elderly. Also, a smaller study failed to find evidence that vitamin B12 improved the general sense of well-being among elderly people with signs of mild B12 deficiency.
In some branches of alternative medicine, low levels of thyroid hormone are believed to be a common cause of impaired well-being. As part of this theory, it is said that the most commonly used medical form of thyroid replacement therapy (thyroxine, also called T4) is inadequate. Supposedly, better results are obtained when T4 is taken with the thyroid hormone known as T3, often in the form of “natural thyroid” extracted from animal thyroid glands. However, a double-blind study of 110 people designed to test this theory failed to find combined T3-T4 more effective than T4 alone.
Practitioners and other proponents of yoga have long claimed that its gentle
stretching exercises, special breathing techniques, and deep meditative states
enhance overall health. However, there is only limited evidence that yoga improves
general well-being and quality of life.
Numerous other alternative therapies are claimed by their proponents to improve
overall wellness, including acupuncture, Ayurveda,
chiropractic, detoxification, homeopathy,
massage, naturopathy, osteopathic manipulation,
Reiki, Tai Chi, therapeutic
touch, traditional Chinese herbal medicine,
and yoga. However, there is little meaningful evidence to support these
claims.
Bibliography
Dayal, M., et al. “Supplementation with DHEA: Effect on Muscle Size, Strength, Quality of Life, and Lipids.” Journal of Women’s Health 14 (2005): 391-400.
Ellis, J. M., and P. Reddy. “Effects of Panax ginseng on Quality of Life.” Annals of Pharmacotherapy 36 (2002): 375-379.
Graat, J. M., E. G. Schouten, and F. J. Kok. “Effect of Daily Vitamin E and Multivitamin-Mineral Supplementation on Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Elderly Persons.” Journal of the American Medical Association 288 (2002): 715-721.
Kjellgren, A., et al. “Wellness Through a Comprehensive Yogic Breathing Program.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 7 (2007): 43.
Oken, B. S., et al. “Randomized, Controlled, Six-Month Trial of Yoga in Healthy Seniors: Effects on Cognition and Quality of Life.” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 12 (2006): 40-47.
Rayman, M., et al. “Impact of Selenium on Mood and Quality of Life.” Biological Psychiatry 59 (2006): 147-154.
No comments:
Post a Comment