The Townsend Letter Blog
The Townsend Letter Blog provides you with the latest information on Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
Recent Blog Posts
How Effective Are Alternative Smoking Cessation Solutions?
It's common knowledge that cigarette smoking is bad for one’s health. Besides increasing the risk of fatal health conditions like cancer and heart disease, it can cause blindness and even...
Helicobactor Pylori… Friend AND Foe?
For almost four decades, we’ve been told that Helicobacter pylori is a nasty bacterium that causes gastritis, peptic ulcers, and gastric cancer. But a June 2013 article in Townsend Letter,...
Brain Chatter
If you are fascinated by the brain, read My Stroke of Insight, one of the many wonderful books that I’ve reviewed for Townsend Letter over the years.1 The author, Jill...
Pharma Windfall
Pharma’s Windfall While the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated lives and livelihoods, the pharmaceutical industry has experienced a windfall—from the billions of dollars for experimental vaccines1 and their expensive new drugs...
Medical Shortage and COVID
Another Plea for Early COVID Treatment As I write this in late January, the local hospital here in South Carolina has been overrun with sick, COVID-positive patients for weeks. The...
The Power of the Small
I recently watched Symbiotic Earth – How Lynn Margulis Rocked the Boat and Started a Scientific Revolution, a documentary by John Feldman. Margulis, an evolutionary biologist, championed the idea that...
The High Cost of Pharma Bias
When COVID-19 first hit the US, I was surprised and happy to see the corporate news stories about the use of high-dose intravenous vitamin C as a treatment. But it...
Looking Past the Headlines
Several years ago, I wrote an article for Townsend Letter called “Bias, Research and Complementary & Alternative Medicine.”1 As part of the research for that article, I looked at how...
What is Health?
At the February 26, 2020, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) discussion on an Ebola vaccine and its use in healthy people, this question arose: what is meant by...
Placebo Effect on Plants?
Have you ever tried an experiment that produced results beyond your wildest expectations? Late in March, I noticed that my little Meyer lemon tree, which had lived happily in its...
A Repeat of History?
When corporate media began inundating us with the message that millions will die from COVID-19, government leaders mandated “shelter-in-place” and quarantine measures, and Dr. Fauci said we must maintain this...
Bread, the Staff of Life?
I've met many people, including myself, who have found digestion improves and unwanted pounds disappear when bread is eliminated from the diet. Alan Gaby, MD, reports in his Literature Review...
Hydrotherapy
After an afternoon of yardwork, I’ll often enjoy a soak in a hot tub with Epsom salts to help relax sore muscles. But it’s only recently that I became aware...
The Hazy View of Environmental Protection
Three civil trials conducted against Monsanto (owned by Bayer) in recent years have awarded millions to plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, all of whom regularly used Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup for several years,...
Start with the Simple
A friend was experiencing daily diarrhea, no other symptoms. It was to the point that she worried about being too far from a bathroom. The diarrhea disappeared when she stopped...
Double-Blind Studies
Is the Gold Standard Fool’s Gold? Recently, my vet prescribed a new medication for my dog’s severe musculoskeletal pain. It didn’t seem to have any effect over the next week....
Sugar and Vitamin C
In the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, doctors in China and in New York have begun to use intravenous ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to treat hospitalized patients. But intravenous treatment...
Protesting 5G
Protesting 5G Climate change isn’t the only target for activism. A group of dedicated activists in my town are working to educate the city council about 5G wireless technology safety...
Affordable Care Act
by Jule Klotter It’s no surprise that health care affordability is still a hot topic for the Democrats seeking the 2020 nomination for president. Health care costs for pharmaceuticals and...
Getting It
by Jule Klotter In his book The Way of the Physician (1985), philosopher Jacob Needleman wrote: "…throughout history, we can see that [the relationship between doctor and patient] has been...
Shades of Planet of the Apes!
Katherine A. Carroll, Executive Director of National Health Federation, has written a piece about animal-human hybrids (chimeras) that are being engineered to fill the need for organs for transplant patients.1 Researchers...
Philosophy, Medicine, and Choices
Albert Einstein said: I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then...
Displacing Foods
This past summer, I was fortunate to attend the 2019 Cullowhee Native Plant Conference at Western Carolina University (NC) in the Smokey Mountains. I was raised a city girl and...
New Science Supports Homeopathy
Of all the various modalities used in complementary and alternative health care, homeopathy stands out as arguably the most controversial. Even at its beginning when German physician Samuel Hahnemann in...
Play in a Stressed-Out World
Do you have enough playtime in your everyday life? The older we get, the more responsibilities and must-do tasks demand our attention. Working adults tend to reject play as a...
Testing the Effect of Food on Multiple Sclerosis
Never underestimate the power of real food as medicine. Terry L. Wahls, MD, is the senior author on two 2017 clinical studies that looked at the use of lifestyle measures...
Herbicides and Antibiotic Resistance
The connection between cancer and glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer/Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, has been headline news over the past months. Juries have awarded multi-million-dollar awards to plaintiffs who claim...
Exercise, Sleep Quality, and Clock Genes
Yujiro Yamanaka and colleagues found that the time of day we exercise influences the autonomic nervous system. Their study involved 22 healthy young males; seven acted as the control group,...
The “Quack” Cancer Treatment That Showed Promise
Ideas or worldviews that challenge the dominant view have always been ignored—or if the spokesman talks too loudly—censored and punished. The history of cancer treatments is full of such stories....
Healthy Living
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How Effective Are Alternative Smoking Cessation Solutions?
May 23, 2023Looking at replacing the unhealthy habit of smoking with exercise-based habits, or other interventions, to improve health and [...] -
Helicobactor Pylori… Friend AND Foe?
May 1, 2021Given how long H. pylori has been associated with humans as a gastric commensal microbe, it is likely that colonization confers [...] -
The Power of the Small
June 30, 2020Research and knowledge about the microbiome is showing that Bacteria are not all bad - will we continue trying to control it, or [...]
Therapies and Treatments
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Pharma Windfall
February 6, 2021Pharma’s Windfall While the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated lives and livelihoods, the pharmaceutical industry has experienced [...] -
Medical Shortage and COVID
February 2, 2021Another Plea for Early COVID Treatment As I write this in late January, the local hospital here in South Carolina has been [...] -
The High Cost of Pharma Bias
June 27, 2020When COVID-19 first hit the US, I was surprised and happy to see the corporate news stories about the use of high-dose [...]
Food and Diet
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Helicobactor Pylori… Friend AND Foe?
May 1, 2021Given how long H. pylori has been associated with humans as a gastric commensal microbe, it is likely that colonization confers [...] -
Bread, the Staff of Life?
May 15, 2020The hybridized wheat produced in the US has different protiens than 'traditional' strains of wheat, and is treated with chemicals [...] -
Start with the Simple
April 27, 2020Medicine does not always have to be complicated, and simple and straightforward solutions to problems are often available to [...]
Our Environment
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The Power of the Small
June 30, 2020Research and knowledge about the microbiome is showing that Bacteria are not all bad - will we continue trying to control it, or [...] -
Looking Past the Headlines
June 15, 2020Corporate news media tends to oversell some aspects of a topic, and undersell, or ignore others completely, leading to a need to [...] -
A Repeat of History?
May 26, 2020The Covid-19 Pandemic has resulted in many deaths, but closely parallels the 2009 Swine Flu epidemic and highlights the hunt for [...]
Current and Recently Posted Articles
Letter from the Publisher
In his column for the first Townsend Letter e-newsletter, publisher Jonathan Collin, MD, welcomes readers to the new format and describes his plans for the future. He also comments on two recent articles about the mRNA covid-19 injections and introduces first-time readers to a long-time Townsend contributor....
Sleeping Cold
Sleep hygiene often focuses on light exposure and regular schedule, but ambient temperature is also important. Retired naturopathic doctor Jacob Schor explains the importance of sleeping temperature and how being too hot or too cold (“It’s a Goldilocks thing.”) can disrupt sleep....
The Vitamin B12 Shot
When patients complain of unexplained fatigue or neurological conditions, vitamin B12 therapy is often on the list of possible therapies recommended by integrative and naturopathic doctors. In this article, Dr. Lobay details the vitamin’s role in health and looks at the use of oral supplements and intramuscular injections....
Ozone Therapy for Covid: A Brief Research Review
Although not recognized by conventional medicine, ozone therapy has been used to treat infectious diseases. As Dr. Steriti explains, several small studies have shown that ozone therapy can reduce mortality risk and speed up clinical improvement in people with covid-19 pneumonia....
Defending Against Post-Infection Cardiovascular Disease
by Michael PasswaterOrthomolecular Medicine News Service One of the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that viral infections increase the risk of life-threatening cardiovascular disease. A prospective study in the United Kingdom involving 17,871 patients with Covid-19 and 35,742 controls showed an increased risk of cardiovascular disease following illness […]...
Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Hypothyroidism Need to Improve
Too many patients suffer with symptoms of hypothyroidism because mainstream medicine continues to adhere to levothyroxine (T4) treatment, despite published evidence that many do better with a combination T3 and T4 treatment....
Clinical Uses of CBD for Minor Medical Conditions
A doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine has incorporated the use of a CBD salve to effectively treat patients with migraine headaches, low back pain, menstrual cramps, and anxiety....
The Problem with PFAS – Polyfluoroalkyl’s Health Effects
PFAS “forever” chemicals have been linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, infertility, thyroid disorders, weakened immunity, and more. TL’s environmental health expert explains how to reduce exposure to these chemicals....
Quantum Functional Energy Medicine: Basic Concepts
Incorporating the concepts of vibration and resonance by using modalities such as photobiomodulation, sound, and acupuncture, can provide energy that the body can use to increase health....
Townsend Letter: Moving On
Townsend Letter’s editor pays tribute to the 40-year history of “the examiner of alternative medicine.”...
