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Flu

Integrative Medical News Update

This week we feature a round up of integrative medical news published in the last 30 days. Prebiotics Support Beneficial REM Sleep and Reduced Stress Response Emergency Room Doctors Warn of “natural cures” that promote high-concentration peroxide cleanses. Lianhuaqingwen’s antiviral activity and immunomodulatory effects discovered on viral influenza infections.  Read

Echinacea & Elderberry Reduces Flu Duration

The coincidental timing of holiday air travel and flu season poses an increased health risk for patients. Two new studies on elderberry or a combination of Echinacea purpurea and elderberry may reduce the duration and severity of symptoms from colds and flu. The first study examined the use of elderberry

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Larch Arabinogalactan and Immune Response

Influenza A

In 2013, a study, Immunomodulatory Effects of ResistAid™: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multidose Study, evaluated the ability of a proprietary arabinogalactan extract from the larch tree (ResistAid™, Lonza Ltd., Basel, Switzerland) to change the immune response in healthy adults to a standardized antigenic challenge of tetanus and influenza vaccines in a dose-dependent manner compared to placebo. As it is flu season, Today’s Practitioner is revisiting the study and the subject with an interview with Bryan Rodriguez, Global Products Manager, of Lonza, makers of Resist Aid. Download the full study at the end of this article.

Double-blind, Randomized Trial on Cystine, Theanine and the Common Cold

The common cold, an acute infection properly known as “cold syndrome,” is the most common human illness. The majority of cases of cold syndrome are acute infections of the upper respiratory tract, and its major cause is viral infection. Conventional methods of treatment use medications, such as analgesic agents and antihistamines, but these are only effective for the alleviation of symptoms, such as sneezing and runny nose. The incidence of subjects with colds during this trial was significantly lower in the CT group than in the placebo group, although the duration of the colds was not significantly different between the groups. These results suggest that CT supplementation may be useful for the prevention of the common cold. By Shigekazu Kurihara, Takenori Hiraoka, Masahisa Akutsu, Eiji Sukegawa, Makoto Bannai, and Susumu Shibahara, published in J of Amino Acids, Vol, 2010.