Integrative Medicine Alert – August 1, 2017
August 1, 2017
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Saffron and Depression: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go?
Saffron studies, while still preliminary, show potential for use of this ancient spice in combatting mild-moderate depression.
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Yoga for Lumbago?
A review of randomized, controlled trials of treatments for chronic non-specific, low back pain revealed that yoga provides improvements in back-related function compared to non-exercise controls at intermediate time points, and in pain scores in the short term. Also, yoga seems to be comparable to exercise interventions, although the quality of evidence was low enough to preclude us from knowing for sure.
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Prevalence of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Indigenous South American Tsimané
Tsimané, a population living in the Bolivian Amazon, have the lowest prevalence of coronary artery disease among any population studied; individuals ≥ 40 years of age have mean low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein of 91 mg/dL and 39.5 mg/dL, respectively, despite a high inflammatory burden from parasites and pathogens.