It’s frothy. It’s green. It’s a type of tea, but decidedly different looking and tasting than most brews. It’s matcha! Whether you’ve tried it or not, you’ve probably seen matcha-based drinks being sold in coffee shops and health food stores from Los Angeles to Tokyo. The claim is that matcha is essentially an elevated form of green tea. But, is this assertion backed up by anything more than historical accounts and slick advertisements?

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The old adage goes, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is”. The field of alternative medicine is replete with examples of this truism. Countless ancient and innovative remedies, often carrying hefty price tags and inadequate and/or unreliable evidence, are promoted as virtual panaceas both online and in health food stores worldwide. However, as another saying goes, “There are exceptions to every rule”. It’s all the better when these exceptions happen to be economical and safe.

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The current issue of The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, features a meta-analysis assessing the efficacy of influenza vaccines. The review evaluated 14 observational studies and 17 randomized controlled trials. The conclusions of the summary brought forth several key findings. Among them, the researchers noted that the effectiveness of the vaccines was not consistent across all age groups and varied from season to season. For instance, live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV) were found most protective among young children aged 6 months to 7 years. On the other hand, the authors commented that, “Evidence for protection in adults aged 65 or older is lacking”. Ultimately, a call for new and improved vaccines is trumpeted as a necessity in order to reduce “influenza-related morbidity and mortality”.

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When I search for new topics in medical databases and journals, I frequently stumble upon a promising item or more about black, green or white tea. This is the latest batch of gems I’ve discovered about Camellia sinensis. In July 2011, a study was published in the journal Experimental Dermatology that offers hope for the millions of men concerned about male pattern baldness. The experiment describes how the topical application of EGCG, a component of green tea, counteracts testosterone-induced death of hair follicles. Direct contact with green tea can also protect your teeth. Just last month, researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil discovered that the addition of green tea to conventional soda limits the extent of erosion caused to dentine. In Japan, an evaluation of 2,050 elementary school students determined that drinking 3 to 5 cups of green tea daily resulted in a 38% to 46% lower likelihood of influenza infection as compared to drinking <1 cup/day. In addition, the track record of green tea vs. cancer was recently bolstered by a Chinese study involving over 60,000 middle aged to senior men. In the examination, consuming green tea at least three times a week afforded significant protection against colorectal cancer (-46%). The authors of the trial explained that a 12% decline in risk was found for every cup of tea consumed by non-smokers.

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The majority of positive research on nutritional supplements never makes the mainstream news. In fact, if you used the information presented in the most popular magazines, newspapers and television news programs exclusively, you’d probably have a relatively negative impression about the utility of non-prescriptive herbs, essential fatty acids and various other so-called “nutraceuticals”. The reality is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of relevant studies published each year in prestigious medical journals about dietary supplements that you probably should know about.
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Propolis isn’t nearly as well known as honey. In fact, it serves no culinary purpose in the human food chain. However, for bees, it plays an essential role in building and maintaining beehives by acting as a glue of sorts. It is also commonly employed as an ingredient in many natural cold and flu remedies. I was recently reminded of this while visiting a number of integrative pharmacies throughout France. But popularity doesn’t necessarily equate to efficacy or safety. One of the questions I sought to answer upon returning to the US was scientific evidence to support the modern and traditional use of bee propolis.
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One of the hardest “sells” in natural medicine is demonstrating that there can be substantive differences between products that seem similar. Many years ago a skeptical customer was discussing a supplement with an employee at a health food store. At that time, I was a consultant who assisted the owner of that establishment to choose which lines and products to stock. I overheard the conversation and decided to try to help out. The position of the customer was that all echinacea products should be comparably priced. His view was that they all came from the same plant, the same soil, the same planet and therefore should reflect that in their price point. My first approach was to provide details about the specific differences between the brands he was considering – variable concentrations of active ingredients, flower vs. root extracts, the scientific research conducted on certain products, etc. I was unable to sway him with that data. So I tried a different tactic. I asked, “Is it reasonable to pay the same amount for a brand new BMW as you would a used Honda Civic?” “Of course not”, he scoffed. I continued, “Why not? They’re both made with similar materials. They both have four tires and a steering wheel. You can use both cars to get to where you want to go.” Read more »

There are two primary forms of evidence that are generally accepted in modern medical research. One variety is known as anecdotal or empirical evidence which is basically first-hand accounts of medical failures and successes as interpreted by individuals and those treating them. These types of observations were the primary basis for selecting healing techniques in the “old world”. Simply put, healers experimented on their patients using their best educated guesses. They continued using what seemed to work and stopped using what didn’t. Therefore, most of the data collected was subjective in nature. The current state of medicine tends to strongly favor scientific evidence that can be applied to many people at once in a controlled manner. The results of scientific studies are considered more objective and reliable because the risk of influence by individual variables is largely excluded from the mix. Read more »

A few weeks ago, I visited a local emergency room and was greeted with a special flyer that described symptoms and precautions pertaining to the H1N1 virus. Over the past month or so, the “Swine Flu” has directly affected several people that I know. In each instance, all of these friends and acquaintances have recovered completely. But judging by a review of various journals, magazines and newspapers, it doesn’t seem as though the level of interest and preoccupation with H1N1 has diminished substantially. Part of the reason is likely due to a very minimal number of cases where this particular strain of influenza has lead to tragic outcomes. One such instance was the focal point of a recent Larry King Live program. Read more »

South African geranium (Pelargonium sidoides) is a medicinal plant that is attracting a lot attention in the scientific community. This cold and flu season may be a good opportunity for this traditional herbal remedy to broaden its reach. There’s a great deal of attention and concern about the H1N1 novel flu virus these days. No one knows how much of an impact this current viral strain will ultimately have. But we do know that upper respiratory infections will certainly affect millions upon millions of people in the coming year alone. Therefore, I think it’s advantageous to know about as many safe and natural resources as possible. These immune boosting supplements may help protect us from the risks that we know about and those that may or may not come to pass. Read more »

News reports about the H1N1 and seasonal flu rarely mention alternative remedies that may shield one from influenza or possibly hasten recovery from it. The official reason for this is because such natural options rarely have sufficient proof of efficacy and safety data. The trouble with that explanation is that when new studies on alternative remedies are published, they frequently go unnoticed by conventional physicians and media outlets. Read more »

Maybe you’ve had the following experience. You’re looking over the shelves of cold and flu remedies at your local health food store. Most of the supplements have familiar names such echinacea, elderberry, vitamin C and zinc. But every once in a while, an unfamiliar bottle catches your eye. Andrographis paniculata doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but you may have seen it around. Sometimes it’s just one of several ingredients in immune boosting nutritional blends. Other times, it’s the featured herb in supplements used to address seasonal allergies, the common cold, influenza and sinusitis. Read more »

News reports about the so called Novel H1N1 Swine Flu continue to roll in from around the world. On a daily basis, governmental agencies and medical specialists offer the best information they currently have about how to contain the spread of this pandemic. There’s no question that it’s important to keep up to date on the breaking news. But more and more, it appears that acting on a personal level is one the best options we have. I’m referring, specifically, to measures that we can each take to keep ourselves well. Staying healthy contributes to a grassroots effort to help minimize the impact of this virus. This is a way of applying the “think globally, act locally” philosophy to this worldwide health matter. Read more »

It’s been a dramatic day in Swine Flu news. Firstly, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) publicly estimated that up to 40% of all US citizens may contract this novel H1N1 virus over the next couple of years. The WHO (World Health Organization) also just released a statement warning that pregnant women, school-aged children and seniors should be on special alert because the virus appears to be “gaining momentum” in these sensitive populations. Perhaps that’s the reason why the CDC changed its prior stance on influenza vaccines earlier today. They now recommend that all children in the US (6 months – 18 years of age) receive a seasonal flu vaccine. Those are the biggest stories in the conventional press. Read more »

Traveling can be a lot of fun provided that you stay healthy along the way. This isn’t always as simple as it seems. Whether traveling by plane, train or automobile, you can pretty much count on being exposed to a wide assortment of germs and microscopic spoilsports that, under the wrong circumstances, could dampen your good time. Fortunately, there are things you can do to help fortify your immune system and keep you running strong. Whenever we hit the road, I use three specific supplements to shield myself from the unseen hazards of travel. Read more »

Summer is nearly upon us and the last thing anyone wants is to come down with a dreaded summer cold or flu. The fact that many people vacation during this season makes it even more important than usual to keep the immune system in prime shape. One way to do this is to utilize the fortifying power of ginseng, an ancient medicinal root. My most recent encounter with Panax quinquefolius (North American ginseng) was kind of like running into an old friend. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were many new developments in the life of this traditional remedy. I’ll share some of my recent findings about ginseng in today’s column and in a second part that I’ll post next week. Read more »