China's Nobel Prize in Medicine

[Randy W]

in the NY Times

 

Nobel Renews Debate on Chinese Medicine

 

. . . the award on Monday to one of the academy’s retired researchers, Tu Youyou, for extracting the malaria-fighting compound Artemisinin from the plant Artemisia annua. It was the first time China had won a Nobel Prize in a scientific discipline.

 

Traditionalists say the award, in the “physiology or medicine” category, shows the value of Chinese medicine, even if it is based on a very narrow part of this tradition.

“I feel happiness and sorrow,” said Liu Changhua, a professor of history at the academy. “I’m happy that the drug has saved lives, but if this is the path that Chinese medicine has to take in the future, I am sad.”

The reason, he said, is that Dr. Tu’s methods were little different from those used by Western drug companies that examine traditional pharmacopoeia around the world looking for new drugs.

In fact, in its award, the Nobel committee specifically said it was not honoring Chinese medicine, even though Artemisia has been in continuous use for centuries to fight malaria and other fevers, and even though Dr. Tu said she figured out the extraction techniques by reading classical works. Instead, it said it was rewarding Dr. Tu for the specific scientific procedures she used to extract the active ingredient and create a chemical drug.

But the most sophisticated part of Chinese medicine, Dr. Liu said, involves formulas of 10 to 20 herbs or minerals that a practitioner adjusts weekly after a consultation with a patient. And yet almost no research has been done on how these formulas actually interact with the body, he said. Instead, the government has poured money into finding another Artemisinin — with no luck.

“Are we truly respecting this cultural heritage?” Dr. Liu said. “When we think Chinese medicine needs to be modernized and the path it shall go down must be like Tu Youyou’s path, I think it is a disrespect.”

But many Chinese think it should not be respected at all. Scientists like He Zuoxiu, a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, say that the ancient pharmacopoeia should be mined, but the underlying theories that identified these herbs should have been discarded long ago.

. . .

Today, China has 1.1 million certified doctors of Western medicine, versus 186,947 traditional practitioners. It has 23,095 hospitals, 2,889 of which specialize in Chinese medicine.

“It’s part of the nation, but the nation of China defines itself as a modern nation, which is tied very much to science,” said Volker Scheid, an anthropologist at the University of Westminster in London. “So this causes a conflict.”

 

 

[Dennis143]

I have become a tepid (slowly warming) believer in Chinese medicine.

 

A recent example is having developed acid reflux in my olde age. In the past I knew just avoid fatty foods. But lately, in the past year, this acid stomach has become chronic. It seems to come on and stay late in the day. I had taken to drinking soda water... baking soda with water to neutralize my acid stomach which included upper adominal discomfort.

 

At the urging of my wife and other Chinese friends, I swallow a dose of Po Chai. The discomfort is gone. http://i59.tinypic.com/148j4v6.jpg It is a miracle herbal medicine that has reinforced my belief in Chinese medicine or at the very least never to poo poo when what my wife gives me.

 

Another favorite for cold remedy is Ying Chiao

http://www.livestrong.com/article/493931-yin-chiao-benefits/

[johnxiaoying]

Thanks for the tip Dennis. My wife has been having problems for the last couple of years, had two EGD's and has stopped taking the doctors medicine. Several meds had bad side effects for her. We'll give the Po Chai a shot.