News

Fulbright Honors Bhattacharya For Work in Ayurveda

By Erik Goldman

Holistic Primary Care is happy to report that our friend and ally,  Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya, is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship enabling her to extend her research and clinical work in the field of Ayurveda. Dr. Bhattacharya, who recently relocated from New York City to Varanasi, India, has been one of the true bride-builders […]

Glutamine Improves Gut Barrier Function

By Erik Goldman

Supplementation with glutamine, a non-essential amino acid, can reduce intestinal permeability in people with Crohn’s disease, according to the data from a recent controlled study. A team of gastroenterologists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, randomized 30 middle-aged men with Crohn’s to treatment with a supplement containing 0.5 grams […]

AAFP Gives Thumbs-Up to Direct-Pay

By August West, Contributing Writer

The American Academy of Family Physicians, the nation’s largest organization representing primary care doctors in family medicine, gave a strong nod of approval to direct-pay models of primary care. The Academy’s new policy statement on direct-pay says that this model has the potential to restore the physician/patient relationship, improve outcomes, lower healthcare costs, and gives […]

Texas Teen & Her Fruit Fly Friends Settle the “Organic” Question

By August West

A Texas teenager named Ria Chhabra and a cohort of willing  fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), have provided a fairly convincing answer to a question that has vexed food scientists, public health experts and consumers for decades: Is organic produce really healthier? Ms. Chhabra, now 16 and a student at Clark High School in Plano, TX, […]

CDC Report Proposes Smoking Bans in Public Housing

By Erik Goldman

The New York City health commissioner may have grabbed the bigger headlines this month with a proposal to make 21 the legal age for purchasing tobacco, but researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had an even more far-reaching if less widely reported suggestion: ban smoking in all public housing projects. The CDC […]

Libertarian Physicians Group Sues Board of Specialties

By Erik Goldman

After years of taking the federal government to task for its burdensome regulation of medicine, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons–an organization representing private-practice, direct-pay doctors–has turned it’s attention to the American Board of Medical Specialties. The AAPS has filed a lawsuit claiming that the ABMS, and its 24 specialty boards, “violate antitrust law […]

RD Group Enjoys Big Food’s Feeding Trough

By Erik Goldman

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the nation’s largest trade association for dietitians is being well-fattened by agri-business and the junk food industry, according to a scathing new report by Eat Drink Politics, an independent non-profit watchdog group.