Doctors don't regularly prescribe natural remedies to patients, but a new study finds physicians and nurses are more likely than the general public to use alternative and complementary medicine for their own health ailments. The new study looking at alternative and complementary medicine use in Americans appears in the journal Health Services Research. "Nurses and doctors are reflecting current societal trends being swept up in a grassroots movement that they have resisted for the last three decades," says alternative and complementary medicine expert Guy Riekeman, DC, president of Life University, a chiropractic school in Atlanta. (He was not involved in this study.)

THE DETAILS: For the study, complementary and alternative medicine included things like acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, Pilates, meditation, use of herbs, and a vegetarian diet. Compared to the 63 percent of the general working population that taps these natural healing methods, 76 percent of healthcare workers reported using complementary and alternative medicine. Looking strictly at healthcare workers, doctors and nurses were more than twice as likely to seek treatment from a massage therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, or other practitioner-based alternative medicine provider compared to other workers in the healthcare industry, such as technicians, assistants, or administrators. Doctors and nurses were more than three times as likely to tap natural remedies for self-treatment (herbs, exercise, yoga, and the like). "As insiders, healthcare workers understand what's missing in our medical system. They're more educated than others about orthodox and alternative medicine," alternative medicine practitioner Joya Lynn-Schoen, MD, said in a statement from the Health Behavior News Service.

"Mainstream medicine will say, 'Here's a pill' or 'Have an operation' or 'There's nothing wrong with you, you're just tired,'" Lynn-Schoen said.

Scientists from Wayne State University have discovered that a compound found in chocolate, called epicatechin, seems to trigger the same muscle response as vigorous activity such as jogging.

Additionally, when small doses of chocolate are consumed in combination with regular exercise, performance is increased by 50 percent, the study found.

The researchers found that epicatechin seemed to increase the number of mitochondria, tiny powerhouses in cells that generate energy.

"Mitochondria produce energy which is used by the cells in the body. More mitochondria mean more energy is produced the more work can be performed," study leader Dr. Moh Malek at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, told the UK Telegraph.

"Aerobic exercise, such as running or cycling, is known to increase the number of mitochondria in muscle cells. Our study has found that epicatechin seems to bring about the same response - particularly in the heart and skeletal muscles," he added.

The number of people hospitalized with pica, the disorder in which people eat non-edible substances including dirt and chalk, has nearly doubled within a decade, a new study finds.

Between 1999 and 2009, yearly hospitalizations in the United States for this disorder increased 93 percent, from 964 to 1,862, said the report from the government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Pica is most commonly found in children, pregnant women and people with autism and other developmental disabilities. In many cases, the disorder lasts several months and then disappears without treatment, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Little is known about what causes the disorder, and researchers said they can only speculate as to why pica hospitalizations have jumped. But it may be due, at least in part, to the recent rise in the number of diagnosed autism cases.

Some Tanzania men on anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs have experienced abnormal breast enlargement similar to that of women. There are even cases where women taking the life prolonging drug against HIV complaining of queer side effects including becoming disabled.

Joseph Mkanda, 43, one of the victims, said he developed strange symptoms plus growing breasts after taking the drugs. Initially, he suspected the cause to be lack of a balanced diet. But he soon realised that the main problem was the type of drugs he was taking.

"I feel very much ashamed to go out of my house, because I have developed breasts like a woman. ...I fear that other people would laugh at me," he said from his Mtwara-base.

"I went to one of the medical doctors in my village, who told me that such signs were normal for people suffering from AIDS who have been taking the drugs for a long time. At the moment, I don't know what to do or where to go," said Mkanda.

Salima Omar, 36, from Mtwara said she developed strange symptoms after taking the drugs. Salima, a mother of seven, said one of her daughters died shortly after birth in 2006 when she had undergone the HIV test.

Federal Law for Sellers of Food, Supplements, and Medical Devices

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) gives authority to the FDA to regulate interstate commerce of supplements, drugs, and devices. According to the FD&C, by definition, only drugs can claim to cure, prevent, mitigate, or treat a disease [section 201(g)]. Nothing else may make that claim - certainly not a food or supplement.

To legally market a drug (that is, any substance that can claim to cure, prevent, mitigate, or treat a disease), it must go through the lengthy and expensive FDA drug approval process. Any violation - that is, any sale of a "drug" that is not FDA-approved - can lead to seizure of the product, injunctions against its sale and distribution, and criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for the manufacturer.

And as we have noted many times before, if a substance is natural, it is not patentable, and companies can only recoup their huge investment (as much as a billion on average, although estimates vary) in FDA approval if they can make it up through the high prices that patent protection makes possible. Therefore, natural products in supplement form will never be able to claim to treat disease, including cancer [section 201(ff)].

Government: Senators ask White House to release EPA's proposal to create new list of substances

The White House is under pressure from two democratic senators to release a list of chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency says could endanger human health or the environment. This so-called chemicals of concern list would include eight phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and bisphenol A.

The chemical industry has attempted to block release of EPA's proposed list over the past year.

Congress granted EPA the authority to create such a list in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which was signed into law in 1976. But EPA hasn't attempted to use this authority until now.

Now, Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) are calling on the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to finish its regulatory review of the EPA list, which it began in May 2010. The list would not propose controls on the chemicals included, but it is nonetheless considered a regulation. Generally, OMB finishes its review of proposed regulations within three or four months.

Animal fat is demonized in our society, and this includes pork lard. People are brainwashed into thinking that eating pork lard, or any animal fat, will "clog" their arteries, causing heart attacks and strokes. Animal fat seems to be blamed as the cause of almost every conceivable disease. This is truly ironic, as animal fat, especially pork lard, was the most popular cooking fat for most of humanity, throughout most of history.

The traditional diets of two of the healthiest peoples studied in modern times, the Georgians of the Caucasus, and the Okinawans of the Pacific, were quite different in the actual foods they ate. Yet both of these healthy peoples did share a favorite food - pork lard and fatty pork. Despite the fact that these healthy peoples ate large amounts of pork lard, along with fatty pork, heart disease and strokes were very rare for them. Both of these cultures were known for a very high number of people who lived to be 100 years old, or older, and were healthy at that advanced age.

Middle age can be a testing time. Mounting responsibilities, falling energy levels and the knowledge that youth is fast receding and old age is the next stage are the classic ingredients for a mid-life crisis.

The children are still at home, the career is not quite where it should be and the mortgage is a long way from being paid off.

In general terms, levels of anxiety and depression increase as people reach their 30s and 40s and tail off again when the pressure and stress lessens during our 50s and 60s. Unsurprisingly, happiness levels follow an entirely contrasting pattern.

But are the British particularly prone to despair and depression during their 40s and early 50s?

A recent survey of 13,000 people in 12 different countries found that 27% of the Britons in this age group said they suffered from depression, compared with just 17% internationally.

This is compounded by a gloomy outlook on life in which 45% of British 45-54-year-olds say they feel negative about their financial situation, 30% feel negative about their career and 21% feel negative about life in general.

These figures are all higher than the international average.

E. coli 0157:H7 isn't a lonely foodborne villain any more.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said today that six uncommon strains of E. coli will be banned from ground beef due to risks of illness. Consumer groups are hailing the move as the biggest advance in meat safety in years.

But meat processors warn it will cost consumers more money, and say the scientific evidence doesn't justify the new expense.

The new rule will require USDA meat inspectors to conduct new E.coli testing that the agency says will make it easier to prevent infected meat from reaching the market, and will make it easier for the agency to pull products from the market if they are found to be tainted.

A reader asks an important question about the laws threatening integrative doctors. We lay it all out.

We recently received this question from David J. Getoff, CCN, CTN, FAAIM, vice president of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation:

I continually hear physicians say (at conferences) that it is illegal for them to treat patients with natural means (diet and supplements), and that in California and other states, it is illegal to treat cancer other than with chemo, surgery, and radiation.

I have been unable to locate the regulations which prohibit this and if I am going to mention this in my lectures, I need to be able to cite the actual legal regulations.

Can you help me?