One of my sources for keeping up with what is happening in the larger culture with respect to medicine, and occasionally for being directed to what is in the medical literature itself, is through the NYT online. I go to the "Health" tab and browse through articles that have appeared there lately. Since this blog is new, its eventual form isn't quite clear, but it occurs to me to periodically add comments and links to this section, since there is such a wide variety of information available there.
Today:
1. Positive Psychology course at Harvard is discussed. Of course it's interesting to me given my work with Innerweave, and it is also reassuring in some way to see happiness getting entrenched in one of the power centers of our culture. Even questioning my/our cynicism about this trend is interesting.
2. There's a post about probiotics, which I followed to find an older article about the same topic, which I think better represents a variety of opinions and sources, while admittedly not exhausting the topic by any means. I'd also recommend a page on culturelle.com which has a list of links which appears interesting. Culturelle is a product recommended by many integrative physicians.
3. I liked an article I saw about losing weight - "Bringing home the bacon ...". I saw a little bit of myself in each story.
4. And this article about the DASH diet, or "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension". I have rediscovered this diet after it was presented in the integrative fellowship. You won't find it on the best-seller list, but it is tried and true.
4. Jerome Groopman, MD, writes a review of "The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine". It is a well-written review and traces some important moments in the science of Mind-Body Medicine to the current time. I loved Groopman's book "How Doctors Think".
5. Last but not least, there's been a plethora of articles lately in the wake of the Vytorin and Zetia news. The most recent one I've read is the Op-Ed today by Gary Taubes. I liked the article in Businessweek - "Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?" - which presents some very important concepts in deconstructing medical stories such as number needed to treat and relative risk. There will no doubt be a swing away from some of the group think about high cholesterol, just as there seems to be with SSRIs, and many other drug classes. It would be wonderful to see the dots get connected between direct-to-consumer advertising and overblown pharmaceutical claims. However, as one who regrets the hype about our pharma-culture, I wouldn't suggest that the same illogic exaggerate the dangers of using pharmaceuticals. The promises and cautions of most pharmaceutical and medical interventions can both be excessive. The burden, however, in keeping with the principle of "first, do no harm" must ultimately rest with the proponents of pill-popping.
About Me
- Dr. Jeff Ryan
- Albany, NY, United States
- I’m a family physician and a fellow in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine. My family practice is at Clifton Park Family Medicine in Clifton Park, New York. I have a smaller separate practice with a focus on medical acupuncture and osteopathic manipulation, in Albany. I’m working with Josefina Marin, MD, on the development of Innerweave, an affiliate of Harvard’s Benson-Henry Mind Body Medical Institute.