Browse Integrative Medicine Articles by Topic

Acupuncture to Treat Low Back Pain in Older Adults

A multisite, three-arm, parallel-group randomized clinical trial of older adults in the United States with chronic low back pain found improvement in both pain and disability with the addition of acupuncture treatment compared to usual medical care alone.

Cycling into Cognitive Health: Lessons from the U.K. Biobank

In this large prospective study, active travel (especially cycling) was associated with lower dementia incidence both overall and for specific types of dementia as well as greater hippocampal volume.

Can Vitamin D Supplementation Slow Cellular Aging?

In a large randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, vitamin D3 supplementation modestly but significantly slowed the rate of leukocyte telomere shortening over four years.

Weight Loss Without Bone Loss: Mediterranean Diet and Exercise in Older Women

This systematic review found that, among older women undergoing intentional weight loss, bone density is better preserved with a calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity, compared to a standard Mediterranean diet alone.

Sweating for Sleep: Examining Evening Exercise and its Effects on Sleep Duration

This small, randomized crossover trial demonstrates that short, repetitive bouts of early evening exercise lead to an increase in total sleep time compared to prolonged sitting.

Is It Past Time to Change Dietary Guidelines for Alcohol Use?

Analysis reveals that previous studies demonstrating the health benefits of moderate alcohol drinking were of low quality and that the relatively few published studies meeting the minimal quality criteria to avoid this problem do not show significantly lower mortality risk for moderate alcohol drinkers.

CVD Risk from Ketogenic Diets

A recent analysis of the UK Biobank data found that subjects on a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet had higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B, and an increase in incident major adverse cardiovascular events over a 12-year follow-up than subjects on a standard diet.

Turmeric (Curcumin) Helps Patients with Dyspepsia and Acid Reflux

In a randomized, controlled trial, curcumin demonstrated comparable efficacy to omeprazole in treating dyspepsia and acid reflux.

How Many Steps a Day Will Improve Patients’ Longevity?

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of the association of step counts and cadence with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events showed the benefits in these outcomes are statistically significant, at about 2,600 steps/day and peak at about 8,000 steps/day. Also, faster step cadence augments these benefits.

Incident Dementia Cases Connected to Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure

Researchers reported fine particulate matter from agriculture and open fires to be especially harmful.