News & Updates

December 2009: CAM and cancer. Read the Vancouver Sun story [PDF] on the patient who saw an ND while undergoing standard cancer treatment.

December 2009: Steve Nash quits the white stuff! Victoria NBA star Steve Nash consulted with a naturopathic doctor who provided advice on diet and nutrition. By simply reducing sugar in his diet, Nash was able to increase his energy, on-court stamina, and improve his sleep and well-being. See the Men's Journal article here.

September 26, 2009: BCNA member, Dr. Brian Gluvic was profiled in a feature article in the Vancouver Sun.  "Natural health solutions go mainstream" focussed on patients seeking alternatives to conventional treatments.  As Gluvic noted in the article, "There's been this explosion in research and therefore media attention on the correlation between certain lifestyle choices—eating more fruits and vegetables, increasing exercise, certain nutritional supplements and essential fats—and a reduction in risk of the big killers out there: stroke, heart disease, cancer."  The article mainly focussed on patients who have already been diagnosed and seen at least one specialist, but without results.  Gluvic also noted that there is another dimension to seeing naturopathic doctors: "What we do is strive for individual health in the context of greater community, environmental and global health.  For example, if someone has a chronic illness, part of their therapy is going to be dietary change, perhaps organic, local, seasonal, less processed, fewer additives.  All that ends up in the environment. Reducing dependence on drugs and antibiotics, which end up getting cleared out from the kidney and liver, can have an impact on the individual level, in terms of susceptibility to new infections, but also one on the environment.  The ultimate goal is to address these issues within our body so they balance with the whole local ecology the same way we would address issues in forestry or oceans and fisheries." [Source: Vancouver Sun, Saturday, September 26, 2009, page A7]

September 4, 2009:

Naturopathic Doctors and Prolotherapy

Read the July 17, 2008 article on prolotherapy highlighting the practice of Dr. Heidi Rootes in downtown Vancouver. See also an excerpt from the New York Times, below, on prolotherapy.

The New York Times reported on the growing interest in prolotherapy on August 7, 2007.  To read the entire story, link here (you will need a UN and PW, free from the site).

An excerpt from the article follows: Prolotherapy involves a series of injections designed to produce inflammation in injured tissue. To appreciate the value of such a seemingly counterproductive measure, you need to know something about connective tissue and how the body normally repairs it.

When tissues are injured, inflammation is a common natural response. It stimulates substances carried in blood that produce growth factors in the injured area to promote healing. Ligaments, tendons and cartilage have very poor blood supplies, which can result in incomplete healing.

The healing process can also be impeded when injuries are treated with anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen or Naprosyn, or prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to relieve pain and swelling.

Unlike injections of corticosteroids, which also suppress inflammation and provide only temporary relief for a chronic condition, prolotherapy injections given over the course of several months are meant to provide a permanent benefit. In effect, prolotherapy tricks the body into initiating a healing response.

Comic Bill Maher, known for his skepticism of the medical establishment, appeared on Letterman in January, blasting the "drug cartel," encouraging alternatives, and claiming that drugs may be killing us all. Link to You Tube to see the video.