All Posts Tagged With: "Traditional Chinese medicine"

Food Allergies, with comments by Dr. Gordon

Food allergy/sensitivities contribute to most chronic diseases to a greater or lesser extent, as explained by my FIGHT program. This review has some new developments from mainstream medicine that you need to be aware of for managing this huge problem for most patients.

“In this review, we will examine the relationship between food hypersensitivity and oral tolerance and explore novel therapeutic approaches to modulate the food allergic response.”

They are moving into mucosally targeted strategies instead of injections for management of this problem.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com         

Link: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/733146?sssdmh=dm1.659803&src=journalnl

Excerpt:

Abstract

Purpose of review Recent investigation has resulted in significant advances toward definitive therapeutic options for food allergy. In this review, we will explore novel immunotherapeutic interventions for the active treatment of food allergy.
Recent findings Because the injection route for allergen immunotherapy to foods has been associated with an unacceptable risk of severe anaphylactic reactions, use of mucosally targeted therapeutic strategies is of significant interest for food allergy. Allergen-specific immunotherapeutic approaches such as oral, sublingual, epicutaneous, and peptide immunotherapy have demonstrated efficacy in increasing threshold dose and inducing immunologic changes associated with both desensitization and oral tolerance in animal and human trials. More global immunomodulatory strategies, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and anti-IgE therapy have been shown to effectively target the allergic response, and clinical trials are ongoing to determine the efficacy and safety in human food allergy.

Summary 
The advent of therapies that target the mucosal immune response to promote oral tolerance have shown great promise in the treatment of food hypersensitivity. However, there is still significant risk of adverse reactions associated with these therapeutic strategies and further study is needed to carefully advance these therapeutic modalities toward general clinical implementation.

Antiviral Activities of Artemisinin, Artesunate

Traditional Chinese medicine commands a unique position among all traditional medicines because of its 5000 years of history. Our own interest in natural products from traditional Chinese medicine was triggered in the 1990s, by artemisinin‐type sesquiterpene lactones from Artemisia annua L. As demonstrated in recent years, this class of compounds has activity against malaria, cancer cells, and schistosomiasis. Interestingly, the bioactivity of artemisinin and its semisynthetic derivative artesunate is even broader and includes the inhibition of certain viruses, such as human cytomegalovirus and other members of the Herpesviridae family (e.g., herpes simplex virus type 1 and Epstein‐Barr virus), hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and bovine viral diarrhea virus. Analysis of the complete profile of the pharmacological activities and molecular modes of action of artemisinin and artesunate and their performance in clinical trials will further elucidate the full antimicrobial potential of these versatile pharmacological tools from nature. Continued