Popular Natural Remedies, Part XIII

This will be the 13th in a series of articles that I've written about natural products. As I have frequently mentioned in previous articles, I believe that a number of employees at Wright State use natural products to treat a wide variety of medical conditions. The purpose of these articles is not so much to give advice for treatment, but it is to make sure that you are using your hard-earned money to buy products with which there is at least some documented benefit. It has always been my opinion that the vast majority of natural products are either worthless, have not been proven, or their use is based more on folklore rather than sound, scientific evidence. When I write these articles, I am trying mainly to find products whose use has been scientifcally determined and for which their use has some documented medical beneficial affect. Furthermore, I sometimes try to debunk some popular natural products, as I'm about to do with the first product, Fluid Joint.

A natural product getting a lot of press recently has been Fluid Joint. It is being touted in the commercials as being the best thing since sliced bread. If one reads the label of Fluid Joint, one will see that it contains per serving 1 gram of carbs, 2 grams of protein, 20 mcg of vitamin B1, 20 mcg of vitamin B2, and that's it. Listed under inert ingredients is listed milk protein concentrate. It is the contention of the people that make Fluid Joint, that milk protein concentrate affects one of the five immunoglobulins, IgM, which mediates the body's immune response causing the symptoms that we see in rheumatoid arthritis. The company reports that their milk protein concentrate comes from a special herd of cows that is fed a special food that, in turn, causes the cows to produce this chemical in their milk, which is then extracted and refined and put into Fluid Joint. Unfortunately, there have been zero independent scientific articles with good clinical data showing that Fluid Joint works. There was a small study, with what the researchers believed was a similar product to that used in Fluid Joint. In that small study there was, at best, only a slight increase in the benefits seen to arthritis patients. This information is per the Drug Information Center at the Raabe College of Pharmacy at Ohio Northern University. It is my opinion as a pharmacist, it is highly unlikely that the special herds of unknown cows being fed a special unknown diet, is truly producing a chemical that will modify the body's own IgM response causing rheumatoid arthritis.

It seems that every couple years there are new health food fads out there about how we can eat better and live longer. In 2004, we have the Adkins Diet, South Beach Diet, all of which report that a diet low in carbohydrate is beneficial to weight loss and one's well being. Over the years there have been many other diets. The one constant in these diets is that chocolate is usually not in the list of approved foods, and is considered detrimental to your benefit. The good news to all you chocolate lovers is that medical thinking may be changing after all these years of hearing chocolate has no redeeming value. It is now thought that dark chocolate does have some medicinal benefits. Just as we are seeing the use of dark leafy vegetables, such as spinach, and certain types of fruits, such as blueberries, being used for their antioxidant affect in prevention of cancer, it is now being postulated that dark chocolate also has an antioxidant affect and will protect the body against certain types of cancer as well. That said, one must remember that dark chocolate will have the nonbeneficial affects that you would expect. It will affect blood sugar in diabetics, it will affect your weight, and can have unhealthy side effects for you. However, like most things, if consumed in moderation dark chocolate may indeed protect the body against certain types of cancers. Like all natural products, chocolate contains a number of chemicals. Per The U.S. Pharmacists, February 2004, cocoa beans contains polyphenols, gallic acid, and patechin. The derivatives of these chemicals are theogallin, gallozatechin, etiatechin, and etigallochatechin. It is generally accepted that flavonols and polyprocyanidins have anti-carcinogenic activities. The anti-carcinogenic affect of polyphenols have been mostly researched in things such as green tea, grapes, and berries. To date, there has not been a lot of research with the polyphenols founds in cocoa. However, recent studies using cocoa powder and extracts with differing amounts of flavonols in a related polycyanidin oligomers have shown growth inhibition on human colonic adenocarcinoma, in vitro. Oxygen free radials have been implicated as a major cause of DNA damage. There is evidence that cocoa liqueur polyphenols are effective in preventing the damaging chemical reaction by scavenging active oxygen radicals. In vitro, biological activity of polyphenols has been proven, but the in vitro activity depends on the amount of phenols reaching the target cells. For the record, in vitro studies are those outside the human body, and in vivo studies are those inside the human body. It is estimated that the health benefit of dark chocolate comes from eating three to four bars, 1.5 ounces, per week of dark chocolate, or having a daily cocoa drink with skim milk and a small amount of sugar.

From the Aboriginal people of Australia, a relatively new natural product brought to the American market is emu oil. This product was originally used by the Aboriginal people of Australia and in recent years has been used for a wide variety of conditions. The Emu Producers International Cooperative Oil Refineries, produces 5,000 pounds of oil daily for commercial uses in cosmetics, such as eye cream, moisturizers, and hair products per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products. Per the Pharmacist's Letter, people use emu oil for improving cholesterol levels, as a source of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids for weight loss, as a cough syrup for colds and coughs, for sore muscles, aching joints, pain or inflammation, carpal tunnel, sciatica, shin splints, and gout. However, per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, nearly all clinical and scientific studies focus on the anti-inflammatory properties of emu oil. Again, per The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, probably the best definitive clinical study to date was when five different preparations of emu oil were examined in Wistar rats. The oils came from birds raised in five different habitats. Three of the groups had injections of emu oil, and two others had topical application. All five groups showed clinical benefit of emu oil in the treatment of arthritis. The topical use of emu oil was roughly equivalent to the administration of oral ibuprofen in rats. In a very small study of 10 men, emu oil was used for approximately six months on surgical scars to reduce scarring. When compared to the placebo group, emu oil did show significantly greater reduction in scarring. Per the Pharmacist's Letter, emu oil contains a number of chemicals including, but not limited to, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linolic, and linolenic fatty acids. It is the linolic acid is the agent that is believed to ease muscle aches and joint pain. Oleic acid is considered to have local anti-inflammatory affect. Emu oil appears to have the ability to penetrate the skin, perhaps in part because it does not contain phospholipids. Some animal studies suggest emu oil is more affective in acute inflammation than in chronic inflammation. Emu oil is not known to have any adverse side effects, interactions with foods, interactions with drugs, or interactions with disease states. In theory, it could affect anticoagulant drugs, and patients taking anticoagulant drugs should check with their physician before using emu oil. Perhaps the bottom line on emu oil is that large clinical trials are lacking in this product. There have been several small promising clinical trials, and perhaps its best use is in acute instances of inflammation and injury to joints or muscles.