2014 Press

December 28, 2014
Acupuncture Point Sensitivity Linked to Menstrual Pain
Health CMI

Tenderness at acupuncture point SP6 (Sanyinjiao) is linked to incidences of menstrual cramping with pain. Tenderness at this lower leg acupuncture point has been associated with dysmenorrhea in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for over a thousand years. Now, researchers have completed a randomized study to test the scientific basis for this phenomenon. The researchers discovered a significant “tenderness at Sanyinjiao (SP6) exists in women undergoing primary dysmenorrhea.”  Read more.

December 19, 2014
Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP): A health promotion model of childbirth education?
The International Journal of Birth and Parent Education

Can mindfulness practice address some of the complex issues facing this generation of expectant parents,assisting them not only to obtain the healthiest births possible in each of their unique circumstances, but also to learn life skills for healthy parenting and living in the world of today? Read more.

December 15, 2014
New Treatment for Menstrual Cramps
The Doctors Television Show

A clinical trial shows that vitamin K shots in specific pressure points could help combat severe cramps. Learn more about the study and when the treatment might be available. Watch the video.

December 12, 2014
‘Working Out’ PTSD – Exercise is a Vital Part of Treatment
The Conversation

In 1954, the first director-general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Brock Chisholm, famously stated: “Without mental health there can be no true physical health.”

More than half a century later, we have large numbers of studies backing up his belief. Surprisingly, given the known effectiveness of exercise as an additional part of treatment for depression, there have been few studies investigating the use of exercise in the treatment of people with severe PTSD. Read more.

November 13, 2014
Air Pollution Linked to ADHD
ADDitude Magazine

Mothers-to-be know they need to be vigilant about what they eat and drink, because of the impact it can have on their developing fetus. Previous reports have even shown that the expectant mother’s habits and experiences – including stress, sleep and mood – can affect the baby’s future health. Now, a new study from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University shows that even air quality can influence cognitive development en utero. Read more.

November 9, 2014
Acupuncture Vitamin Injections Ease Menstrual Pain
Health CMI

Acupuncture point injections of vitamin K ease dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain and cramping). Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) injected vitamin K1 into acupuncture point SP6, located on the lower leg. The women participating in the study experienced less menstrual pain and a shorter duration of menstrual symptoms. A survey of the participants finds 94% “agreeable to receiving injection therapy” and 77% would receive monthly injections if the treatment were made available. The researchers note, “This finding is consistent with outcomes from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Shanghai, China, where the protocol was developed.” Read more.

November 7, 2014
A Guide to ADHD Books for the Distracted Parent
(#8: ADHD Without Drugs by Dr. Sanford Newmark)
TIME Magazine

Psychiatrists, parents, educators and sufferers all have plenty to say about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—and, of course, expertise to offer. Who has the energy (or the attention span) for them all? Here are 10 books to choose from, each with a different perspective. Read more.

Winter 2014
“The Experts” column: Natural Treatments
ADDitude Magazine

Sandy Newmark answers your questions about non-drug therapies.

• Pesticide Exposure and ADHD
• Does Mindfulness Help ADHD Symptoms? (no longer online)
• Can Brain Training Improve ADHD Symptoms?

October 15, 2014
Want To Train Your Brain To Feel More Compassion? Here’s How
Fast Company Co.exist

Scientific evidence shows that we can teach our brains to feel more compassion, both for others and ourselves. Imagine how the world might be different if we all learned this skill. Read more.

September 24, 2014
Motherhood Mindset: Three Ways to Practice Mindfulness With Your Baby
Huff Post: The Third Metric

It’s not uncommon for new mothers to feel overwhelmed as they adapt to the myriad changes that becoming a mother requires. Adjusting to becoming a family of three, loss of pre-baby freedom and functioning on little sleep are all aspects of a shifting identity that emerge during this time. As women become acquainted with their new maternal roles, they often grieve the loss of their former selves. Read more.

Fall 2014
“The Experts” column: Natural Treatments
ADDitude Magazine

Sandy Newmark answers your questions about non-drug therapies.

• Why Don’t All ADHDers Need Meds?
• A Cup of Medication?
• Mercury and Fish Oil

September 5, 2014
Integrative oncology expert discusses management
OncologyPractice.com

Integrative oncology gained a solid foothold in mainstream oncology in the past decade, but it still has a long climb ahead before it’s available and accepted everywhere, Dr. Donald I. Abrams says.

Dr. Abrams gives an in-depth overview of the strengths and weaknesses of integrative oncology in this video interview, including common misconceptions among conventional oncologists and his own take on controversial topics like antioxidants. Read more. Video link.

September 4, 2014
7 Natural Ways to Soothe a Sore Throat
Men’s Health

A sore, scratchy throat is annoying, but probably not alarming enough to call your doc. Good thing, too, because you may be better off soothing your throat at home: A 2014 British study found that most of the time that people visit their doctors for a sore throat, antibiotics aren’t even necessary. Why? Bacterial infections are responsible for a small percentage of scratchy swallowing cases. Allergies, dry air, and viruses like the common cold and flu can all be culprits. And while you should always see your doctor if symptoms persist, start soothing your sore throat with these natural remedies at home. Read more.

August 21, 2014
Inner Selfie
Science Notes, University of California, Santa Cruz

Wolf Mehling noticed his breath for the first time at age 27. He’d spent three years battling a crippling pain that shot through his back and legs. When told by doctors the agony could only be cured with surgery, he turned to “breath therapy,” a form of alternative treatment popular in Germany in the 1970s.

The treatment, which made him focus on his breath, left him healed—and intrigued. Today, Mehling’s workspace at UC San Francisco holds no signs of a person disabled by pain. Floor-to-ceiling windows open the small office to a view of the crowded streets below. A thumb-sized Buddha perches on the window; a rolled-up yoga mat unfurls in the corner, as though it’s more accustomed to lying flat. It is unusually thick, the sort used by serious practitioners. Read more.

August 4, 2014
Vaporized Medical Marijuana Study Given Green Light
ABC7 News

A clinical trial of medical marijuana could provide new hope for people suffering from sickle cell anemia. The study happening at San Francisco General Hospital is so cutting edge that the government almost stopped it from happening.
At Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the walls are lined with just about every pot plant you could imagine. But across the room at the state’s largest cannabis dispensary, something else is on sale. It’s liquid marijuana — including some kinds that are rich in a chemical called CBD.

“CBD is another cannabinoid, one of the active ingredients in the plant. It’s not psychoactive, but it is active against inflammation and pain,” Dr. Donald Abrams said. Read more.

August 4, 2014
CSU Institute for Palliative Care Announces First Fully Online Self-Paced Business Case for Palliative Care Course
Digital Journal

The Business Case for Palliative Care, starting August 18, is designed to orient clinical and administrative leaders to the critical concepts behind the business case for palliative care. The self-paced course introduces the analyses needed to assess the impact of existing programs while identifying growth opportunities for hospitals, clinics, and home-based palliative care providers.

The CSU Institute for Palliative Care’s Executive Director, Helen McNeal, said, “A serious business evaluation of the benefits and challenges of a palliative care program will ultimately benefit the organization and those they serve. It is important that clinicians and administrators understand the financial analysis behind an effective palliative care program and how their program can demonstrate its value. This course is a great place to start.”  Read more.

July 21, 2014
A Trend Toward Patient-Driven Health Care
SFGate.com

Ezekiel Emanuel, a medical doctor and former chief health policy advisor to President Obama, has a pretty good idea of what we can expect to see in health care over the next decade – things like the end of insurance companies as we know them, an increased focus on treating the chronically and mentally ill, the emergence of digital medicine and the transformation of medical education. As he summarized it during a talk last month at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, we should expect nothing less than “the restructuring of our system from a sick care system to a health care system.” Read more.

July 20, 2014
6 Essential Vitamins and Minerals for Managing ADHD
ADDitude Magazine

Omega-3s for concentration. Zinc for impulsivity. Iron for better behavior. Plus three more supplements shown to improve ADHD symptoms. How to augment your treatment plan with vitamins and minerals that work — and skip those that don’t. Read more.

June 23, 2014
Milking the Evidence: Diet Does Matter by Donald Abrams, MD
Journal of Clinical Oncology

Dietary risks now rank number one among 17 leading risk factors contributing to the number of deaths and percentage of disabilityadjusted–life-years for both sexes combined in the United States.1 The aggregate of the 14 subcomponents of diet (ie, diet low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, milk, fiber, calcium, seafood omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids; diet high in red meat, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans-fatty acids, sodium2) assessed by the US Burden of Disease Collaborators surpasses the impact of tobacco smoking on the nation’s morbidity and mortality and does not include high body mass index and physical inactivity (ranking fourth and fifth in contributing to overall deaths). It has been estimated that as many avoidable malignancies are related to diet as tobacco (30% to 35%), again not accounting for the significant additional contribution of obesity (14% to 20%).3 As oncologists become more aware of these undeniable associations, it becomes a critical part of our job to be able to answer patients’ questions about nutrition during and after cancer treatment and not default to the unhelpful “it doesn’t really matter, eat what you want” which may not be in the best interest of the patient. Read more.

June 19, 2014
Exercising with Cancer, Why and How it Helps
Cure Panel Talk Show

June 6, 2014
Spreading the Well-Being of a Mindful Childbirth
UCSF Science of Caring

May 27, 2014
Dr. Donald Abrams: Taking a Holistic Approach to Cancer Treatment
The Giving Comfort Blog [This article is no longer available online.]

May 26, 2014
Going to the doctor for back pain can be a slippery slope
Washington Post

Back pain is one of the most common health complaints, affecting more than one in four adults every year, and a popular reason for physician visits. But most people recover from back pain whether they’re treated medically or not, says Wolf Mehling, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

For people who do see a doctor, research shows that while the vast majority get better, a small percentage get worse. In a recent study, Mehling and his colleagues interviewed 521 people six months after they’d seen doctors for acute back pain; 81 percent of them were completely recovered or much improved, while 16 percent were the same or slightly improved and 3 percent were worse off. Read more.

May 7, 2014
Your Fridge Is Your First-Aid Kit
Men’s Health Magazine

1. Eat garlic for colds. Ignore the side effect of bad breath. “Garlic boosts the immune system, so eating a baked head of garlic as soon as you start to feel a cold coming on can help you recover faster,” says Priscilla Abercrombie, Ph.D., a nurse practitioner at the University of California San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Drizzle a head of garlic with olive oil and bake until soft. You can put it on bread or crackers, but you’d have to eat the whole thing to win the immune boost, Abercrombie says. Read more.

May 2, 2014
ADHD medicine’s long-term safety still a question
Reuters

(Reuters Health) – Scant research has been done on the long-term safety of drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new analysis shows, though millions of American children have been taking them for decades. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 11 percent of American children between the ages of four and 17 – or 6.4 million – had been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011. About half were taking drugs to treat the disorder.

“We have too few long-term studies on the effects of these medicines,” Dr. Sanford Newmark told Reuters Health. “There’s a big, big gap in our understanding of what the effects of these medicines might be. It’s worrisome.” A pediatrician from the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Newmark was not involved in the current study. Read more.

April 25, 2014
Specialized Yoga Program Could Help Women with Urinary Incontinence
UCSF.edu

An ancient form of meditation and exercise could help women who suffer from urinary incontinence, according to a new study from UC San Francisco. In a study scheduled to be published on April 25, 2014 in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, the official journal of the American Urogynecologic Society, UCSF researchers discovered that a yoga training program, designed to improve pelvic health, can help women gain more control over their urination and avoid accidental urine leakage. Read more.

April 5, 2014
Meaningful Innovation for Aging Populations
Open Gov Underground [This article is no longer available online.]

My father John Wilbur, a former NFL player, lived with brain and nerve damage – symptoms that describe the phenomena we call “dementia,” where cognitive ability is lost. He passed away this December. Living with him the last year of his life was something that opened my eyes to the diversity of ways we experience the world, especially in a time when over 35.6 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s or memory loss caused by dementia.

March 19, 2014
Chemist says omitting MSG cured daughter’s autism
San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com

Katherine Reid, a Bay Area biochemist with a daughter who was autistic, believes she may have found an antidote to the neurodevelopment disorder – and it’s as simple as changing a person’s diet.

Because there is no Food and Drug Administration-approved medical treatment for the core symptoms of autism, people have turned to homeopathic remedies, probiotics, invasive therapies and alternative diets. It has become increasingly popular for parents of children with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to turn to gluten- and casein-free, or dairy-free, diets in hopes that it will make a difference. Read more.

March, 2014
Can ADHD Be Prevented?
Scientific American Mind

From the start, Tzippora Gold was a smart and loving little girl, with a strong independent streak and tons of energy. During infancy and toddlerhood, her family noticed nothing amiss. But when Tzippora entered preschool, she did not listen to the teacher or sit in a circle. “I had never in my life thought that a three-year-old could get sent to the principal’s office,” recalls her mother, Sara Gold of New York City, a graphic designer. “But she was. I pulled her out in the middle of the year because they couldn’t handle her. And this was supposed to be a top-of-the-line preschool.” Read more, including quote by our neurodevelopmental pediatrician Dr. Sanford Newmark (fee for full article).

February 26, 2014
Death Cafe: Talk about dying and eat cake, too
San Jose Mercury News

…By creating a safe, sanctioned place to share our thoughts, we can demystify dying and make it easier to face, says Shelley Adler, a University of California-San Francisco medical anthropologist who held the first San Francisco Death Cafe this past spring. On Saturday, Adler will hold her third discussion at the guesthouse of the Zen Hospice Project, where she is director of education. Read more.

February 25, 2014
Death Cafe: Talking About Death — While Eating Cake
KQED State of Health

In a dimly lit room decorated with several Buddhas and a large red-and-white Zen illustration, twenty-nine people sat in a circle. Some were eating chocolate bundt cake. It was an unusual setting to be discussing the topic at hand: death and dying. These death cafes have sprung up around the world to address the taboo subject head-on. Organizers hope that increased awareness of death will help people make the most of their lives. Read more.

February 19, 2014
The Search for Well Being: Treating the whole person in the new healthcare era
Humankind Radio Program aired on NPR’s KQED

Segment 2: Here’s the story of a frightening situation that could happen to any of us. When a California attorney, Deb Graceffa , started experiencing strange symptoms an initial diagnosis pointed to a potentially crippling illness. But high-tech testing and conventional medicine failed to arrest her symptoms, which continued to worsen. After trying numerous doctors, she was referred to a respected physician, University of California medical professor Rick McKinney, who is deeply experienced in integrative care. His approach differed from the others’ and led to a fairly rapid diagnosis requiring minor, mostly natural treatments that gave rapid relief. We hear from the physician and grateful patient about the nature of their communication. Listen

February 13, 2014
Who Needs Stimulants for ADHD?
Scientific American Blog

In 1970, 150,000 U.S. children were taking stimulant medications. By 2007, that number had risen to 2.7 million, according to pediatrician Sanford Newmark of the University of California, San Francisco. In the video embedded in this post, titled “Do 2.5 Million Kids Really Need Ritalin?” Newmark analyzes the reasons behind the rise in prescriptions, which follows the sharp climb in diagnoses for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He also makes a case for fewer scripts, detailing the downsides of these medications and suggesting alternative remedies for ADHD, including changes in diet, supplements, as well as parenting, school and lifestyle interventions. Here are some highlights of Newmark’s talk, along with time stamps indicating when to watch. Read more.

January 23, 2014
Let’s Eat Cake and Talk About Death
UCSF Synapse

Cake and death are the foundation of “Death Cafés,” according to UCSF anthropologist Dr. Shelley Adler, PhD. At these gatherings, diverse strangers come together in small groups, eat cake and talk about death and dying.

Although it may sound like a macabre coffeehouse inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, the recent rise of the Death Café is actually part of a revolt against the taboo of death.

“Death is such an equalizing aspect of life,” Adler says. “It’s a fundamental experience for everyone, regardless of gender, race or class. Yet most people seem afraid to mention it, as if by naming it, we will hasten its arrival. As a result, end-of-life decisions can become traumatic, and quality of life is reduced.” Read more.

January 17, 2014
Nutrition and Supplements During Cancer Treatment and Beyond
The Cure Panel Talk Show

We are excited to host Dr. Donald Abrams on our talk series on Cancer and Nutrition. Dr. Donald I. Abrams is a cancer and integrative medicine specialist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Mount Zion. Abrams provides integrative medicine consultations for cancer patients and has completed research in complementary and alternative therapies including mind-body treatments, botanical therapies, medical use of marijuana and traditional Chinese medicine herbal therapies. In addition to his role at the Osher center, he is chief of Hematology and Oncology at San Francisco General Hospital.

Dr. Abrams will be discussing Nutrition and Supplements During Cancer Treatment and Beyond with myeloma survivor/advocate Pat Killingsworth, breast cancer survivor/advocate Beverly McKee and nutritionist Dr. Smriti Parikh. Listen to the podcast.

January 6, 2014
Study: Meditation’s Effects Similar to Pills for Depression
Healthline

Meditation has been used for centuries, but its benefits have been primarily anecdotal, whether it’s a Tibetan monk blocking out pain to walk across hot coals or a college student meditating to cope with the loss of a loved one.

Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have applied scientific analysis to the practice and found that mindfulness meditation programs, which promote heightened awareness, can help with common mental health problems.

Dr. Kevin Barrows, director of mindfulness programs at the University of California, San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, said the study’s findings were “not surprising, but affirming.” He said that meditation often receives unfair criticism because studies on its effectiveness do not always meet the rigorous scientific standard of research. Read more.