September 10, 2002 [Volume 3, Issue 18]

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In this issue of To Your Health:

• No Need to Fear Chiropractic
• Should You Forget Ginkgo Biloba?
• Worth the Occasional Mustache
• Big Spenders

No Need to Fear Chiropractic

Hotly contested by health practitioners is whether chiropractic manipulations of the neck can increase risk for strokes, which occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a clot formed in an artery. Many claim that cervical chiropractic adjustments lead to strokes in patients after manipulation, while chiropractors and their patients are obviously concerned if there is any truth to these allegations.

A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimated the risk of stroke in a series of cases covered by the Canadian Chiropractic Protective Association (CCPA). The authors reviewed malpractice records to evaluate stroke claims following chiropractic treatments from 1988-1997. This number was compared to the total number of cervical manipulations performed yearly by chiropractors covered by the CCPA.

Twenty-three cases of stroke after chiropractic adjustment were on record; approximately 135 million cervical adjustments were carried out by these chiropractors over the 10-year period. Based on the fact that Canada has 4,500 licensed chiropractors, the odds that a patient will suffer a stroke after receiving cervical manipulation are one per 8 million office visits, or one per roughly 6 million cervical manipulations.

These data indicate that stroke is probably much less likely in chiropractic patients than has been estimated by neurologists (about one per 500,000-1 million). If you have any questions or concerns about stroke related to chiropractic, ask your chiropractor for more information.

Reference: Haldeman S, Carey P, Townsend M, et al. Arterial dissections following cervical manipulation: The chiropractic experience. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2001:165(7), pp. 905-906.

For more background information on chiropractic, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/find/whatis.html.

Should You Forget Ginkgo Biloba?

The herb ginkgo biloba has been used in China for hundreds of years to enhance memory, improve mood, and alleviate headaches. Many Americans currently take the supplement for the same reasons, as it is marketed to offer these benefits, but proof of its success has been limited to few tests of memory and to people suffering from an illness.

In a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 115 people over 60 years old took 40 milligrams of ginkgo three times per day (the recommended dosage) for six weeks, while another 115 took a placebo at the same frequency for comparison. Neither group was aware of which type of pills they were taking.

No improvements in memory or mental sharpness were observed in either group, based on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Even when different outcome measures like verbal memory, concentration, and attention were looked at separately, the supplement offered no significant benefits.

So should you bother taking ginkgo biloba? The verdict is still out. If the supplement does offer improvements to concentration and memory, it has yet to be scientifically proven. In the meanwhile, other ways to keep a sharp mind include an antioxidant-rich diet, low alcohol consumption, and performing regular leisure activities to give your mind a workout.

Reference: Solomon PR, Adams F, Silver A, et al. Ginkgo for memory enhancement: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002:288(7), pp. 835-840.

To read more about herbal supplements, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/tyh/herbs.html.

Worth the Occasional Mustache

One of the most prevalent and dangerous cancers is colorectal cancer, or cancer of the large intestine. Colorectal cancer causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other type except lung cancer, but there may be a way to help avoid it. Research suggests that consuming milk and dairy products may protect against this disease.

To evaluate the association between consumption of dairy products and the risk of colorectal cancer, cancer cases reported by the Finnish Cancer Registry were determined over approximately 25 years. This European Journal of Clinical Nutrition study was conducted in Finland because it has one of the highest per-capita rates of milk consumption in the world.

People who consumed the most milk and milk products were less likely to develop colon cancer than those who consumed the least, although there was no significant link between rectal cancer and milk and/or milk products. Those with diets high in lactose (a sugar found in milk) also had a reduced risk of colon cancer, but vitamin D and calcium intake did not reduce the risk.

Lactose may have properties that inhibit the growth and development of cancer cells in the bowels. The best known natural source of lactose is milk, so be sure to consume the U.S. recommended daily allowance of dairy products (2-3 daily servings for adults; 3-4 for children), and always try to stick to the low-fat versions.

Reference: Jarvinen R, Knekt P, Hakulinen T, et al. Prospective study on milk products, calcium and cancers of the colon and rectum. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2001:55, pp. 1000-1007.

For more facts about nutrition, check out https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.

Big Spenders

We've all seen the recent increase in television commercials for various drugs. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reduced its restrictions for mass media advertising of prescription drugs, allowing pharmaceutical companies to air TV commercials without including details on the side effects of these drugs. Drug companies have been spending much more on advertising as a result.

Using data on advertising costs and prescription drug sales from 1999-2000, the authors of a recent study investigated whether drug sales are being disproportionately influenced by increased advertising, through a sampling of approximately 40,000 retail outlets.

Merely 1% of all prescription drugs in the U.S. accounted for half of the money spent on drug advertising. In other words, nearly 50% of the money spent on the total of almost 10,000 available prescription drugs was spent on the 50 most-advertised drugs. The sale of these drugs jumped approximately one-third, while sales of all other drugs combined increased only 14%.

In 2000, the arthritis drug Vioxx topped the list for advertising costs, at $160 million - 7% of the total $2.3 billion per-year drug-market spending. Prilosec (for stomach ulcers) and Claritin (for allergies) followed Vioxx in advertising costs. Of concern is that doctors and their patients are seeking particular drugs because they are well known; not necessarily because they are the best or safest treatments for a condition.

Reference: Findlay S, Sherman D, Chockley N, et al. Prescription drugs and mass media advertising, 2000. National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Education Foundation, November 2001. Online at http://www.nihcm.org.

If you're interested in studies like this one, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general/consumer/index.html.

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