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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.

Yoga for chronic low back pain

Categories: Yoga research

Indian researchers have compared the effect of a short-term intensive residential yoga program with physical exercise (control) on pain and spinal flexibility in subjects with chronic low-back pain (CLBP). Eighty women with CLBP, were randomly assigned to receive yoga or physical exercise. The yoga consisted of a one-week intensive residential yoga program consisting of yoga postures designed for ...

Yoga improves menopausal minds

Categories: Yoga research

A study carried out in India has assessed the efficacy of yoga therapy on cognitive abilities in climacteric syndrome. One hundred and eight perimenopausal women between 40 and 55 years old were randomly allocated to yoga or control groups. The yoga group practised breathing exercises, yoga postures and meditation, whereas the control group practised a set of simple physical exercises under superv ...

Yoga good for menopause

Categories: Yoga research

The effect of yoga on menopausal symptoms, has been examined by Indian researchers. One hundred and twenty participants (ages 40-55) were randomly divided into two study arms. The yoga group practised a sequence of twelve yoga poses, plus breathing exercises and meditation, while a control group practised a set of simple physical exercises for eight weeks (one hour daily, five days per week). The ...

Yoga beneficial for heart failure

Categories: Yoga research

An eight-week regimen of yoga, in addition to standard medical therapy, can improve exercise tolerance and positively affect levels of inflammatory markers in patients with chronic heart failure. Nineteen patients were randomised to yoga treatment (YT) or standard medical therapy (MT). Graded exercise stress test time and peak oxygen intake were significantly improved in the YT versus MT groups. A ...

Get the right amount of sleep to live longer

Categories: Lifestyle research

Getting just the right amount of sleep is unequivocally associated with living longer, according to a systematic review by English and Italian authors. The researchers investigated the relationship between duration of sleep and all-cause mortality, analysing 16 studies which included 1,382,999 participants (follow-up range 4-25 years). Meta-analysis showed that people who generally slept for less ...

Highflying women at greater risk of heart disease

Categories: Lifestyle research

Young women with stressful jobs are more likely to develop heart disease, a Danish study has found. The Danish Nurse Cohort Study prospectively followed a total of 12,116 nurses, aged 45-64 years at baseline, for a total of 15 years. By the end of the study, 580 women had been admitted to hospital with heart disease. The results showed that women who said their job was a little too stressful were ...

Deet is neurotoxic

Categories: Lifestyle research

Deet (for N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), the active ingredient in most insect repellents, has been found to be toxic to the central nervous systems of both insects and mammals. Using toxicological, biochemical and electrophysiological techniques, French researchers found that deet inhibits the activity of acetycholinesterase, a key central nervous system enzyme, in a manner similar to organophosphat ...

Gallstone risk reduced by exercise

Categories: Lifestyle research

People who exercise more are significantly less likely to develop gallstones, according to UK investigators. A prospective cohort study followed 25,639 volunteers over 14 years for symptomatic gallstones, dividing them into four different levels of activity. Comparing the highest level of physical activity against the lowest three levels, an increase of just one activity level corresponded to a 17 ...

Artificial sweeteners may increase risk of preterm birth

Categories: Lifestyle research

A large Danish study has found a correlation between the amount of diet drinks consumed by women and their risk of going into preterm labour. The prospective cohort analysis of 59,334 women found that the risk of preterm birth was increased by 38% for women drinking an average of one can of artificially sweetened soft drink per day. Regular intake of four or more cans of soft drink per day was fou ...

Alcohol reduces risk and severity of rheumatoid arthritis

Categories: Lifestyle research

Drinking alcohol appears to reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and also reduces the risk of developing the disease, in a dose-dependent manner, according to research from the UK. 873 patients with erosive RA, and 1004 healthy controls were included in the study. The risk of developing RA decreased according to frequency of alcohol consumption, such that non-drinkers were four times a ...

Breast milk gives infants intestines a protective coat

Categories: Lifestyle research

A large part of human milk consists of complex sugars that are undigestible by babies, but American scientists have worked out that its purpose is instead to influence the composition of bacteria in the infant's gut. The researchers have found that strains of the bacterium Bifidobacterium longum infantis, commonly found in the faeces of breast-fed infants, possesses genes that enable it to thrive ...

Antibiotics on verge of being useless

Categories: Lifestyle research

A sobering paper in the prestigious journal Lancet Infectious Diseases predicts a disastrous near future in which antibiotics are no longer effective against infectious diseases. The article explains how a new gene called NDM 1 discovered last year by the paper's author Professor Tim Walsh, can pass easily between enterobacteriaceae such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, making them r ...

Mind-body therapies beneficial for menopause symptoms

Categories: Lifestyle research

A systematic review by American authors suggests that mind-body therapies may be beneficial for alleviating specific menopausal symptoms. Eighteen clinical trials, involving a total of 882 women, met their inclusion criteria. Interventions included yoga and/or meditation programs, tai chi and relaxation practices. Eight of the nine studies of yoga, tai chi, and meditation-based programs reported i ...

Beer may cut prostate cancer risk

Categories: Lifestyle research

A German study has found that xanthohumol, a compound found in hops, can block the stimulating effect of testosterone on prostate cancer cells, raising hopes that it may one day be used in cancer prevention. The researchers found that xanthohumol binds directly to androgen receptors on the cancer cell's surface, preventing the receptor from translocating to the cell nucleus, and thus inhibiting it ...

Drinkers exercise more

Categories: Lifestyle research

According to an American study people who regularly drink alcohol are more likely to exercise than teetotalers, and the more they drink, the more likely they are to work out. The authors of the study analysed data from a phone survey of 230,000 Americans, and found a strong association between alcohol use and moderate to vigorous exercise. The authors suggest that people who consume alcohol recogn ...

Official: Whiskey hangover worse than vodka

Categories: Lifestyle research

A US study confirms - as drinkers have long maintained - that drinking whisky results in a worse hangover than vodka. However, the study also found that drinking vodka all night instead of whisky did not improve performance the next day. Ninety-five volunteers, all healthy heavy alcohol users, had one 'acclimatisation' night, before drinking either whisky or vodka the following night (enough to pu ...

Big bum protects against heart disease and diabetes

Categories: Lifestyle research

Unlike abdominal fat, which is known to be harmful, it appears that fat stored on the thighs actively protects against heart disease and diabetes. UK authors have reviewed the evidence and potential mechanisms for a protective role of gluteofemoral body fat on metabolic health. Recent publications have reported that gluteofemoral fat and a larger hip circumference have been shown to promote health ...

Exercise can overcome genetic obesity

Categories: Lifestyle research

A study by Swedish researchers has revealed that with regular exercise, teenagers genetically predisposed towards obesity can lose weight and keep it off. The study was carried out in ten European countries over 14 months and involved 753 teenagers. The A allele of a gene called FTO (fat mass and obesity associated gene) is known to be linked with high body mass index (BMI), such that possession o ...

Being good or bad increases physical endurance

Categories: Lifestyle research

Two US studies suggest that performing actions that have a moral implication, whether good or bad, may increase people’s capacity for willpower and physical endurance. In the first study, participants were given a dollar which they could either keep or donate to charity. They were then asked to hold up a 5lb weight for as long as possible. Those who donated to charity held up the weigh ...

Clean smells promote clean living

Categories: Lifestyle research

A US study has revealed that people behave in a more ethical manner in an environment that smells clean. The study was designed to test levels of honesty and charity in a group of volunteers who were exposed to citrus-scented window cleaner, compared with a group that was not. All the volunteers were asked to perform the same variety of tasks; some were in rooms sprayed with the cleaning product, ...