Miracle Cures: Dramatic New Scientific Discoveries Revealing the Healing Powers of Herbs, Vitamins, and Other Natural Remedies
By Jean Carper
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About this ebook
Miracle Cures is the breakthrough book that presents scientific evidence of the effectiveness of natural remedies, culled from the world's leading doctors and scientists, research centers, and major international scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal, combined with the awe-inspiring first-person medically verified accounts of people who have successfully cured themselves with natural medicines.
Jean Carper Reveals the Natural Medicines
That Have Been Proven to:
Jean Carper
Jean Carper is America's leading authority on health and nutrition and the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Stop Aging Now!, Food -- Your Miracle Medicine, and The Food Pharmacy. She is a columnist for USA Weekend and lives in Washington, D.C. and Florida.
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Miracle Cures - Jean Carper
Miracle Cures
Dramatic New Scientific Discoveries
Revealing the Healing Powers of Herbs,
Vitamins, and Other Natural Remedies
Jean Carper
To all the Carpers
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Searching for the Truth About Natural Remedies
The Revolution Is Here: What You Need to Know to Join
Amazing Heart Energizer
(Coenzyme Q–10)
The Prozac of Plants
(St. John’s Wort—Hypericum)
Astonishing Memory Pill
(Ginkgo)
Zaps Cholesterol, Unclogs Arteries
(Grapefruit Fiber)
Nature’s Mighty Aspirin
(Feverfew)
Wonder Drug for Osteoarthritis
(Glucosamine)
Unique Infection Fighter
(Echinacea)
God’s Valium
(Valerian)
Little Liver Pills That Really Work
(Milk Thistle)
Mysterious Hay Fever Medicine
(Bee Pollen)
Nature’s Antinausea Drug
(Ginger)
Exotic New Tranquilizer
(Kava)
The Antabuse of Plants
(Kudzu)
The Universal Miracle Cure
(Fish Oil or Omega-3s)
Prostate Remedy of Choice
(Saw Palmetto)
Surprising Gout Medicines
(Celery and Cherry Juice)
New Answer to Chronic Fatigue Puzzle
(Licorice)
Fantastic Blood Vessel Fixer
(Grape Seed OPC and Pycnogenol)
Potent Cancer Therapy
(Diet and Supplements)
The Great Undiscovered Pain Medicine
(Peppermint Oil)
Marvelous New Heart Drugs
(Vitamins C and E)
Consumer Information and Advice
Selected References
Searchable Terms
About the Author
Praise
Other Books by Jean Carper
Copyright
About the Publisher
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I would like to thank the many scientists, researchers, doctors, and other health professionals who shared with me their research and expertise, making this book possible. In particular, Mark Blumenthal, executive director, American Botanical Council; Dr. Donald Brown, director of Natural Products Research Consultants; Luke Bucci, Ph.D., expert on natural products; Jerry Cott, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health; James Duke, Ph.D., formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the author of many books on medicinal plants; Norman Farnsworth, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago; Balz Frei, Ph.D., Boston University; Turan Itil, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry, New York University; Tricia LeFebvre, Primary Services International; Rob McCaleb, the Herb Research Institute; Dr. Michael Murray, author and national authority on natural remedies; Richard Passwater, Ph.D., author of many books on natural remedies; Norman Rosenthal, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health; Norman Salem, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health; Stephen Sinatra, M.D., assistant clinical professor, University of Connecticut; Daniel Tucker, M.D., Good Samaritan Medical Center, West Palm Beach, Florida; Varro Tyler, Ph.D., professor emeritus of pharmacognosy, Purdue University; Marcia Zimmerman, a California consultant, who was a primary source on OPCs.
I would especially like to double-thank Mark Blumenthal for his expert comments in reviewing sections of the book dealing with botanical medicines before publication. Also, I owe a special debt to Varro Tyler, Ph.D., a distinguished authority on botanical medicines, who patiently and expertly answered all my questions and sat for numerous interviews that contributed greatly to this book.
Dozens of people added to the vitality and importance of this book by sharing personal experiences of their miracle cures.
They are mentioned throughout the book, sometimes by actual name, and sometimes by a pseudonym at their request, to protect their privacy.
This book could not have been written without the enormous contribution of two researchers who tracked down patients, doctors, and research studies: Brenda Turner and Peggy Noonan. Special thanks to Brenda for devoting her full four-month sabbatical from her job as an editor at USA Weekend to making this book happen.
As always, thanks to both my publisher, Gladys Justin Carr, and my agent, Raphael Sagalyn, for seeing the potential of this book and making its realization possible.
It is hard to imagine writing a book without the expert editorial input of my longtime friend, television producer Thea Flaum, who knows how much I treasure and respect her advice.
This book will educate the reader about natural drugs, remedies, treatments, medicines, cures, and dietary supplements.
It is based on the personal experiences, research, and observations of the author, who is not a medical or naturopathic doctor. This book is intended to be informational and by no means should be considered a substitute for advice from a medical or health professional, who should be consulted by the reader in matters relating to his or her health and particularly in respect to any symptoms that may require medical attention. While every effort has been made to ensure that drug selections and dosages are in accordance with current recommendations and practices, because of ongoing research and other factors, the reader is cautioned to check with a health professional about specific recommendations. Anyone with a known disease or serious health condition or who is taking prescription medications should especially seek professional medical advice before taking the natural remedies described in this book. There could be interactions between the natural remedies and other drugs. Also it should be noted that all dosages discussed in this book apply to adults, not children, unless otherwise stated. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained in this book.
INTRODUCTION
Searching for the Truth About Natural Remedies
I went not only to the doctors, but also to barbers, bath-keepers, learned physicians, women, and magicians who pursue the art of healing; I went to alchemists, monasteries, to nobles and the common folk, to the experts and the simple.
PARACELSUS (1443–1541)
This book is a personal investigation into the validity of natural drugs, remedies, treatments, medicines, and cures, and their accelerating integration into mainstream medicine. While writing and researching the book, I was constantly surprised and impressed by the vigor of this national trend. The incorporation of natural medicinals into conventional medicine is happening much faster than most people realize. And it will eventually have a dramatic beneficial impact, if it has not already, on all of us personally and on the quality and cost of our health care. We are talking about major changes and reforms in a basic structure of all medical systems, from ancient to modern: the appropriate use of drugs to overcome sickness.
Here’s what surprised me most:
The intensity and persistence of people in seeking safer, effective cures outside conventional treatments, even in the face of resistance from establishment medicine.
The willingness, even eagerness, of leading doctors and scientists at the very core of modern scientific medicine—at the National Institutes of Health and prestigious research and academic centers—to explore the potential of unconventional remedies.
The mounting scientific evidence supporting the validity and safety of natural remedies.
The extensive study and use of such natural remedies among mainstream doctors in other countries, especially Germany.
The utter chaos of government regulations regarding the use of natural medicines, which is reflected in a consumer nightmare in the marketplace.
When I started this book, I knew, of course, that Americans are embarked on a new direction in seeking solutions for their own health problems. But I had no idea of the strength and pervasiveness of this quest at all strata of society. It was inspiring to talk to people from all walks of life who had developed their own personal health agendas, expending enormous energy to find alternative treatments when they felt mainstream medicine had failed them by providing ineffective treatments or treatments that carried more risk than they wanted to take. Dozens of people openly expressed sentiments ranging from discouragement and resentment to enthusiasm and hope about their personal predicaments. I collected case histories and personal stories from truck drivers, boat captains, airline pilots, doctors, lawyers, secretaries, librarians, journalists, factory workers, computer operators, biochemists, psychologists, teachers, athletes, pharmacologists, botanists, and legislators. Each one had a story of how he or she had suffered and been helped by what is called alternative
or complementary
medicine—something not typically offered by conventional medicine.
Their exuberance over their successes affirmed the title of this book. Virtually all of them used the term miracle cure
in recounting their experiences. Even doctors, I found, often used the word miracle
in describing what happened when a patient suddenly got well after taking a natural remedy. The word miracle
is defined in dictionaries as a wonder, a marvel,
as well as an act or happening that departs from the laws of nature. Thus, when a person recovers after taking a natural substance, the event is so incongruous with conventional medical expectations that the first words of surprise and overwhelming gratitude are typically: It’s a miracle cure.
We often say the same thing about conventional treatments that amaze us.
You may also be surprised to learn what the word cure
means medically. It is not a complete and permanent medical resolution, as most people think. Cure
actually means, according to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary: The course of treatment of any disease, the successful treatment of a disease or wound, a system of treating diseases, a medicine effective in treating a disease.
My own consciousness has been dramatically raised while writing this book. My own miracle cures have not been for life-threatening diseases, but have nevertheless been of major importance to me. About two years ago I began taking glucosamine sulfate, at the suggestion of Dr. Michael Murray, a nationally known naturopathic doctor, to treat the beginnings of osteoarthritis in my hands. I am convinced it has helped save me from much distress by slowing progression of the disease and relieving pain. The sharp stabs of pain in the joints of my fingers and thumbs have virtually disappeared (they came back only when I temporarily stopped taking glucosamine), and my grip for opening jars and holding a tennis racket is much firmer and stronger than it was. I have recommended all the remedies in this book to friends and family. My brother and one of my sisters, both of whom suffered heart attacks, take 200 milligrams of coQ–10 daily. Another sister’s cholesterol plunged after she took the grapefruit fiber detailed in this book. I have handed out more than one kava pill to friends when they are anxious. My niece is taking feverfew to prevent migraine headaches. My brother-in-law is taking St. John’s wort instead of Prozac. My ninety-two-year-old mother has been taking ginkgo biloba for two years, since her memory began to falter. I think it has helped her greatly.
Doing the research for this book was formidable and quite different from the research for the other nineteen books I have written, most on related health and nutrition subjects. In researching other books, I found that much of the medical literature was readily available. It was mostly a matter of gathering it, analyzing it, checking it out with many well-credentialed scientific authorities, and translating it into concepts and advice that can be understood by readers. Gathering information on natural remedies, however, was like sailing on uncharted waters. Although the amount of research appearing in mainstream medical journals has recently picked up dramatically, much of the research on natural remedies is in foreign journals, some not translated into English or not reported in mainstream medical databases. Nor are there the familiar touchstones of medical expertise in academic centers to confirm and illuminate the facts that are emerging. Instead, the people who know most about the clinical use of natural remedies are practitioners and patients, spread throughout the country. And much of the research in the United States is being conducted in scattered fashion by individual interested doctors and scientists, rarely under the usual centralized auspices of the National Institutes of Health. Without a bedrock of established and familiar sources, research was a matter of tracking down leads from many divergent sources, based on tips from scientists, doctors, and patients.
My file drawers are full of information not appearing in this book. In the beginning, with the help of two wonderful researchers, I jumped in to take a closer look at practically every natural remedy we had read or heard about. At places like the big Expo Health Fair trade shows in Baltimore, we collected shopping bags full of information on hundreds of products claiming to be natural remedies. We read dozens of magazines, tracked down every legitimate-sounding lead on people who reputedly had used natural medicines successfully. We scoured the Internet for cases and information. We did database searches on the purported remedies in both the popular press and the scientific journals. We talked to pioneering scientists who were reportedly using and researching a variety of natural substances. We talked to leading herbal authorities, naturopathic doctors, professors at universities, and highly regarded industry representatives who make the natural remedies in the United States and in Europe.
It was exhilarating, inspiring, informative, enlightening, and often discouraging and disheartening. As a mainstream medical journalist, I was both wildly enthusiastic about and sometimes appalled by the claims for some remedies. Often I was saddened and irritated by a closed-minded medical establishment’s unwillingness even to hear about or try a perfectly safe, medically tested botanical medicine, such as feverfew to prevent migraines. Other times, I understood some of the skepticism and cynicism surrounding natural remedies, especially when the claims were so wild, the products so irrational, and the prices so outrageously exploitative.
In the end, after I had sought out patients, doctors, and scientists for their opinions, I had to make judgments, based on my best overall appraisal of a few hundred or more natural remedies. Which to include in this book? Which seemed best? Which had the most scientific support? Which were leading authorities in the field using and recommending? Which were safe? Which were attracting the most mainstream scientific attention as most promising for future use? Which would I myself use personally or recommend to friends and family—because of or even regardless of substantial mainstream evidence of effectiveness?
The last consideration was the deciding factor for me—whether I, knowing what I know, would enthusiastically and comfortably use a natural remedy myself and recommend it to those I care about. That is the main rationale to explain why certain remedies are detailed in this book and others are not.
As I whittled away at the long list of candidates to write about, I discarded some remedies because I could find no authentic value in them; others seemed too risky or just plain irresponsible or silly. I admit that a few remedies got into the book because of my respect for the personalities who use them—Dr. Jim Duke, the colorful botanist; Dr. James Gordon, a pioneering doctor; and Tom Harkin, a U.S. senator with the power and interest to help determine the future of natural medicines in this country. All of them are responsible, intelligent, and even wise in their commonsense approach to trusting their own experiences of natural remedies. Sometimes the validity of a remedy is in the successful use, not in a controlled scientific study, as Dr. Gordon points out.
In short, this is a book about what many scientists, doctors, and patients are saying and doing about natural medicines and what you can learn from them. Unquestionably, in my mind, there is new, exciting, and mounting evidence that should rally Americans to embrace many of these natural remedies sensibly. Not to give them serious consideration is to remain unenlightened. Here’s why, according to what I discovered while writing this book:
Herbs, vitamins, and other natural remedies do work, according to many patients, doctors, and scientific researchers.
They are safe if chosen and used appropriately.
They are often as effective and safe as, or more effective and safer than, conventional mainstream medical drugs or treatments.
They are usually far less expensive.
They have accomplished miracle cures
for many people, and they may do the same for you or someone you care about.
This book, I hope, will inspire you to try them.
The Revolution Is Here:
What You Need to Know to Join
Do those potions you see in health food stores, drugstores, supermarkets, mail order outlets, and discount chains really work? Is there any scientific validity to their seemingly extravagant promises? And, most of all, will these natural drugs help cure you or someone you care about of minor vexatious illness, such as flu and low energy, or major debilitating and life-threatening diseases, such as heart failure, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, cirrhosis, depression, and mental deterioration?
You might ask those same questions of millions of people around the world who have successfully used natural remedies. The resounding answer is yes. Some Americans might say the same thing. However, sadly, America generally is far behind other countries in the use of natural medicines, because of a lack of knowledge about their scientific validity and a failure of our medical profession and the government to properly evaluate and endorse their use. Consequently, you and millions of other Americans are being deprived of the opportunity to choose natural treatments in place of strong, often harmful and expensive pharmaceutical drugs. Yet, such natural medicines could reduce or eliminate some of the harsh consequences of our conventional treatments, in terms of both human and economic suffering. At least, we should explore the incredible potential healing powers of those natural remedies that have been widely tested and extensively used with governmental approval in many foreign countries, including Germany, France, and England—all countries with impeccable scientific and medical standards. Unless we do, we cannot say that we have access to the best medical care in the world.
Fortunately, the attitude toward natural treatments is rapidly changing in the United States. More scientific information on natural medicines is coming into the country; prestigious scientists and doctors here are increasingly testing and using such natural remedies and comparing their effectiveness and safety with pharmaceutical drugs. And Americans are embracing the natural medications and so-called alternative
or complementary
treatments with enthusiasm.
It’s no secret that the American public is turning in droves to nontraditional remedies. A startling 1993 report in the trusted New England Journal of Medicine showed that one-third of Americans use nonconventional treatments, spending $10.8 billion yearly, but most never tell their doctors. A 1997 Prevention magazine survey of the general public (not just its readers) found that about one-third of adult Americans, or 60 million, say they frequently use herbal remedies.
Even people in the industry were surprised. Herbs are becoming more mainstream much faster than we ever expected,
said Mary Burnett, spokesperson for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a Washington, D.C., trade association for the nutritional supplement industry.
Yes, herbal remedies, botanical medicines, and natural drugs of all kinds, available anywhere without restriction or prescription, are being embraced by Americans. Medical experts say that over the past ten years, more people have been turning to more kinds of alternative therapies than ever before,
wrote New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata in June 1996. Some see this movement as a return to our roots,
a desire for natural medicines used by our ancestors. But it is also driven by a seemingly unstoppable coalition of social and economic forces—soaring health care costs, a growing disillusionment with the limitations and hazards of high-tech medicine, increasing concerns about adverse effects from pharmaceutical drugs, and a reaction against an authoritarian medical system in which doctors appear to play God. In such circumstances, natural remedies seem ideal solutions; they are usually far cheaper, are perceived as much safer, and give patients increased freedom to direct their own health care.
Some mainstream doctors fear the growing use of alternative therapies, but others believe it makes social and scientific sense. They are open to the idea that other cultures and countries may have valid ways of curing diseases that could be good for Americans. We love to say we have the best health care in the world, but that is debatable, and even so, it is costing us a fortune—a situation that threatens to worsen as our population ages. Some health authorities believe we are squandering our national resources needlessly, even as we fail to control our epidemic of chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. It’s just possible we can learn something about the human complexities and traditions involved in healing, not only from Asian healers but also from scientifically minded Western physicians in Germany and France, where natural remedies are treated as legitimate mainstream medicines, not as aberrations of an unenlightened populace.
One reason people turn to alternative
medicine is that our mainstream medical system is failing. The fact is, we are in the midst of an epidemic of inadequately treated chronic illness. Sixty million Americans have hypertension, 40 million suffer from arthritis, and 23 million of us have migraine headaches. A million Americans each year are being diagnosed with cancer, and close to 40 percent of us will, at one point or another, have this terrifying and often deadly disease. The prevalence of asthma, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, immune deficiency syndrome, HIV, and a host of other debilitating conditions is increasing. Conventional biomedicine—so strikingly successful in the treatment of overwhelming infections, surgical and medical emergencies, and congenital defects, has been unable to stem the tide of these conditions.—James Gordon, M.D., a Washington, D.C., psychiatrist and a clinical professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine
MAINSTREAM MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
Indeed, the idea that natural substances have a genuine place in modern medicine is spreading, attracting advocates in high places in the United States—at academic and governmental medical centers, such as Harvard and the National Institutes of Health. The credibility of natural therapies is infiltrating mainstream medicine. Many studies of impeccable quality showing the value of natural medicines are now appearing in prestigious scientific journals such as The Lancet, the British Medical Journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the journals of the American Heart Association, as well as in leading German and Japanese publications. Using rigorous scientific standards, many prestigious investigators at leading research centers are testing natural substances to treat some of our most serious diseases and even comparing the effectiveness and safety of these natural drugs with conventional pharmaceutical drugs. Often they find strong pharmacological activity in nature’s remedies. Sometimes the natural agents are fully as effective as the hard-hitting drugs of choice
of mainstream medicine. Usually the natural medicines are much safer, often having little or no toxicity and few if any significant adverse side effects.
This prompts one to ask whether our concept of which treatment should be called alternative
is topsy-turvy. In standard American medical practice, conventional hard-hitting drugs are always the first choice, with unconventional remedies considered a last-resort alternative.
Isn’t it more logical to try a more benign remedy first most of the time, and then proceed to a stronger, more risky remedy as the alternative
if the first does not work? Many more doctors and patients than ever before think that makes sense, and their thinking is reflected in changes that are bringing natural remedies to mainstream attention.
Witness the establishment of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in 1993. The office, though underfunded, is committed to research on alternative
therapies and has given grants to leading institutions and practitioners to study the efficacy and safety of botanical medicines, among other nonconventional treatments. In June 1996 a blue-ribbon panel of the Office of Alternative Medicine urged medical and nursing schools