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Research Archive

Welcome to our Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages. We add to the content of these pages continuously as more research news comes in. Browse through the complete archive below or use the category links on the right.

Please note that the most twenty recent research archive items are free to view but access to the thousands of items in the archive require a journal subscription.

Eat three meals a day

Categories: Diet research

Eating regular meals is better for health than eating one large meal a day. In a crossover study carried out in the USA, a small group of volunteers participated in two eight-week meal-treatment periods, consuming either all their required weight-maintenance calories in one meal or in three meals a day. At the end of the eight-week study period, the groups swapped over, therefore acting as their o ...

Vitamin D protects against heart disease and cancer

Categories: Diet research

Vitamin D deficiency is already known to be associated with osteoporosis, now two new studies suggest that it may also be associated with heart disease and poorer prognosis for some cancers. A US cohort study of 1739 people with no cardiovascular disease at baseline, showed that those with low blood concentrations of vitamin D had twice the risk of a first cardiovascular event, such as a heart att ...

Caffeine and miscarriage

Categories: Diet research

Too much caffeine during pregnancy may double the risk of miscarriage. In an American cohort study, 1,063 pregnant women were interviewed about their caffeine intake. An increasing dose of daily caffeine during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, compared with no caffeine intake. Of 264 women who had consumed no caffeine, 12.5% had miscarriages. The miscarriage rate was ...

Categories: Diet research, Allergies

Another mother and child study, this time from the Spanish island of Menorca, supports a potential protective effect of

Apples and fish during pregnancy protect against atopy

Categories: Diet research, Allergies

Intake of apples and fish by women during pregnancy may reduce the risk of their children developing atopic conditions, according to the results of a longitudinal cohort study of nearly 2000 Dutch children. Mothers completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) during pregnancy, and children in the cohort were followed up at five years of age with a symptom questionnaire and FFQ. Food groups analy ...

Diet improves fertility

Categories: Diet research

Following a 'fertility diet' may favourably influence fertility in otherwise healthy women. A cohort of 17,544 American women, without a history of infertility, were followed for eight years as they tried to become pregnant. Researchers calculated a dietary score of one to five points for each woman, based on factors previously associated with reduced ovulatory infertility (higher consumption of m ...

Echinacea prevents and treats colds

Categories: Diet research

A new meta-analysis suggests that taking Echinacea can cut the chances of catching the common cold by 58% and reduce its duration by 1.4 days. American researchers combined the results of 14 randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials involving nearly 3000 patients, making it the largest meta-analysis on the subject to date. The research backs up a previous study that found Echinacea to be an e ...

Fast for a healthy heart

Categories: Diet research, Geriatric

New research suggests that Mormons' habit of fasting for one day a month may benefit their hearts. A study in Utah, where the religion is based, surveyed 515 elderly people undergoing coronary angiography for suspected heart disease about their lifestyle. Those who fasted were 39% more likely than non-fasters to have a healthy heart. About 8% of those surveyed were not Mormons, and those who regul ...

Food restriction increases rats pleasure

Categories: Diet research

A brain-imaging study of genetically obese rats has added to existing evidence that dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with reward, pleasure, movement and motivation, plays a role in obesity. Investigators found that obese rats had lower levels of dopamine receptors than lean rats. They also demonstrated that restricting food intake can increase the number of dopamine receptors, which can a ...

Eat less, stay fit

Categories: Diet research

Caloric restriction has previously been shown to extend lifespan in animal models. New research shows that it can also maintain physical fitness into old age. A study on rats that had been maintained on a severely calorically restricted diet since birth showed that they had significantly higher physical performance scores at ages comparable to 50-70 years in humans, than animals fed a normal diet. ...

Diet and diabetes

Categories: Diet research

Research into the impact of diet on diabetes is showing that a variety of nutritional interventions can help prevent or ameliorate both forms of the disease, confirming TCM theories. A meta-analysis which pooled data for six cohort studies including 286,125 participants concluded that whole grain intake is inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes. A two-serving-per-day increment in whole ...

Coffee may increase hypertension

Categories: Diet research, Hypertension

Coffee drinking seems to increase the risk of requiring antihypertensive drug treatment. Researchers determined daily coffee consumption via questionnaire in 24,710 Finnish subjects and observed them prospectively over 13 years. They concluded that coffee drinking was associated with a slightly increased risk of requiring antihypertensive treatment. This risk was higher in subjects with low-to-mod ...

Refined carbs are bad for the eyes

Categories: Diet research, Eye disorders

People who eat more refined carbohydrates have a higher risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the retinal disease that is the leading cause of blindness. A prospective study of 4000 people, aged 55-80, in the USA examined the relationship between dietary carbohydrate quality, measured by glycaemic index (GI) and the progression of AMD. The results showed that participants who consumed t ...

Diet and dementia

Categories: Diet research

A recent article by Canadian authors highlights associations between dietary choices and risk of dementia. According to the authors, diets high in fat, especially trans and saturated fats, adversely affect cognition, while those high in fruits, vegetables, cereals and fish are associated with better cognitive function and lower dementia risk. They point out that adults with diabetes are especially ...

Yoga improves cancer survivors sleep

Categories: Yoga research

A brief yoga intervention significantly improves sleep quality for cancer survivors. 410 non-metastatic, cancer survivors were randomised to either standard care monitoring or standard care plus a four-week yoga intervention (twice weekly for 75 minutes per session). The yoga intervention utilised the Yoga for Cancer Survivors (YOCAS) program, consisting of breathing exercises, gentle yoga posture ...

Yoga helps with eating disorders

Categories: Yoga research

Yoga can reduce eating disorder symptoms in adolescents, according to a study from the USA. A total of 50 girls and four boys aged 11-21 years were randomised to an eight-week trial of standard care (every other week physician and/or dietician appointments) vs. individualised yoga plus standard care. The yoga group demonstrated greater decreases in eating disorder symptoms. Specifically, the eatin ...

Yoga's health benefits rival exercise

Categories: Yoga research

A review of studies comparing the effects of yoga and exercise indicates that yoga may be as effective as or better than exercise at improving a variety of health-related outcomes. Eighty-one studies comparing the effects of yoga and exercise in both healthy and diseased populations met the American author's inclusion criteria. In the studies reviewed, yoga interventions appeared to be equal or su ...

Yoga experts show less inflammation and stress

Categories: Yoga research

Expert yoga practitioners exhibit lower levels of inflammatory markers compared with novices, possibly due to differences in their responses to stress. American researchers compared inflammatory and endocrine responses of novice and expert yoga practitioners before, during, and after a yoga session, as well as two control conditions. Fifty healthy women, 25 novices and 25 experts, were exposed to ...

Yogis have healthier hearts

Categories: Yoga research

Heart rate variability, which is indicative of a healthy heart, has been shown to be higher in yoga practitioners than in non-practitioners, according to Indian research. The team analysed the HRV spectra of the electrocardiograms of 42 healthy male volunteers who were not practitioners of yoga, and 42 who were experienced practitioners. From this they concluded that there was strengthening of par ...

Yoga reduces anxiety

Categories: Yoga research

Participation in yoga classes can lead to significant reduction in anxiety in women who suffer from anxiety disorders. Sixty-five women suffering from depression and anxiety were randomly assigned to an experimental or control waiting list group. The experimental group participated in twice weekly 90 minute yoga classes for two months. The average prevalence of depression in the experimental group ...