Dietary Rule # 1. Food Only Please.

Dietary counseling is an an integral part of my practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Chinese medical principals dictates a few basic common sense guidelines of how a healthy diet should be structured. Of course, there is no shortage of dietary advice of all orientations and prejudices.

I think however, that there is one obvious recommendation that any rational view of human dietary needs would agree on. A human being should only consume food. Substances that are not food should not be something that people are putting in their mouths on a regular basis.

Specifically what I am talking about here is the intake of pesticides, preservatives, chemical dyes, chemical additives, highly engineered substances such as aspartame, and the other various non-sugar sugars. Historically of course, Chinese medicine had nothing to say about these modern day substances. If one was pushed to identify the health consequences of these substances through the prism of the TCM model, they would be classified as a form of poisoning.

This may sound a bit harsh but how else would you classify a "diet" soda ?

The New Alzheimer's Disease Study

A new study released today on the causes of Alzheimer's disease caught my attention.

The new research shows that an insufficient supply of sugar glucose, transported by blood, sets off a biochemical chain reaction resulting in the accumulation of the neuron-attacking proteins that cause Alzheimer's.

"This finding is significant because it suggests that improving blood flow to the brain might be an effective therapeutic approach to prevent or treat Alzheimer's," said Robert Vassar, a professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, and lead author of the study.

"A stroke is a blockage that prevents blood flow and produces cell death in an acute, dramatic event," he explained. "What we are talking about here is a slow, invidious process over many years where people have a low level of cardiovascular disease."

"It is so mild, they don't even notice it, but it has an effect over time because it is producing a chronic reduction in the blood flow," he added.

Ancient and modern TCM practitioners have long understood the link between blood flow and mental function. In the ancient Ling Shu, it says, "When blood vessels are harmonious and uninhibited, the essence spirit can abide there." In the Xue Zheng Lun it says, "Whoever's heart has static blood will also be affected by poor memory".

Yan De-Xin is a famous contemporary TCM practitioner in China, who after 54 years in practice, has come to the conclusion that static blood is the chief mechanism of senility. He has written extensively on this topic and has formulated a number of herbal prescriptions that he tested extensively in his clinic. His work has laid the groundwork for a new systematic approach to geriatrics, including the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

I will talk a little more about the clinical signs and symptoms of the TCM pattern of blood stasis in a later post.

An inquistive and open mind is valuable for both acupuncturist and patient.

Here is Dylan teaching me that thorough investigation and examination is important in order to get to the root of the problem.

TCM and Preventative Medicine.

One of the great strengths of Chinese medicine is that it is inherently preventative in nature. In ancient China it was generally thought that a wise doctor was one who worked with his/her patients to help them stay healthy and avoid illness. The less accomplished practitioner was one who allowed his patients' disease process to take root and deepen and thus have to spend his efforts tending to the sick.

I love reading the ancient Chinese texts. The Su Wen, which dates to approximately the late 1st century BCE, has this wonderful passage:

...for healing " the sages did not treat those who were already ill; they instructed those who were not yet ill. They did not rule those who were already rebellious; they guided those who were not yet rebellious."

"Treating an illness after it has begun is like suppressing revolt after it has broken out. If someone digs a well when thirsty, or forges weapons after becoming engaged in battle, once cannot help but ask: Are not these actions too late?"

It also should be noted that even though great emphasis is placed on preventive care and appropriate lifestyle, the text itself is dedicated primarily to the art of healing diseases. The ancients had obviously figured out that good advice is not always followed.

TCM, Fertility, and Egg Quality

It is well known that advanced female age is an important factor in low pregnancy outcomes. As a woman progresses through her reproductive years, her ovarian reserve diminishes, with an approximately 50% decrease in fertility rates in women attempting pregnancy at the age of 40 onwards, and a two to-three-fold increased risk of miscarriage. Common causes for a much reduced conception rate in women aged 40+ with her own eggs are:

1) diminished egg quality and quantity with poor endocrine readings such as high FSH or low estrogen levels.
2) Less frequent monthly ovulations or reduced cervical mucus secretions.
3) Reduced blood perfusion to the ovaries and uterus.

The question often comes up in the clinic if Chinese medicine can help when there is a suspected poor egg quality evidenced by a high FSH reading. While it cannot turn back time and improve egg quality in an older woman, Chinese medicine (which has to include the prescription of Chinese herbs) can improve the growth of the dominant follicle within an ovary as well as improve the environment an egg matures in, and thus indirectly influence its maturity and quality. Chinese medicine can improve the thickness of the endometrial lining (and thus the endometrial receptivity to the embryo), increasing the chances of a successful conception and pregnancy. Research as well as clinical experience has shown that both Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture can improve ovarian and uterine blood flow, regulate the endocrine hormones FSH & LH (luteinizing hormone), increase estrogen and progesterone and normalize both the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle.