Brain Blogger Home
  • Home
  • About
    • Editor's Note
    • Contributors
  • Advertise
  • Archives
    • By Author
    • By Topic
    • By Year
    • By Month
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Topics
    • Popular
    • Series
    • Video
    • Carnivals
  • Sitemap
  • Subscribe
  • Neuroscience & Neurology
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Health & Healthcare
  • More >>
    • BioPsychoSocial Health
    • Complementary & Alternative Medicine
    • Drugs & Clinical Trials
    • History of Medicine
    • Law & Politics
    • Living with a Brain Disorder
    • Opinion
    • Site News
    • Stigmatization
Brain Blogger RSS Feed

Brain Blogger Feed - 3500+ Readers

Follow BB:

Brain Blogger on FaceBook Brain Blogger on twitter Brain Blogger on Flickr Brain Blogger on YouTube
Drugs & Clinical Trials
August 26, 2007

The Kampo boom, traditional Japanese phytotherapy comes of age

By Sudip Ghosh, MD | 1 Comment | Share | Print | Email | Tweet | Like | 1+

Drugs_Clinical_Trials.jpgOf the many ancient holistic medical systems that have withstood the test of time, Kampo is one of the more successful ones, particularly in Japan. In a nationwide study of Japanese mainstream medical practitioners performed in October 2000, 72 percent regularly used Kampo medicines. Today, nearly 150 Kampo drugs are available for reimbursement under Japan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) program. Kampo is slowly making inroads into the West as well.

The roots of Kampo are embedded in Chinese medicine, having entered Japan between 700-900 AD, but since then it has evolved on its own. Although predominantly herb-based, there are instances of the use of acupuncture too. The most major ingredient in nearly two-thirds of leading commercial Kampo formulations is the Chinese liquorice root (Glycyrrhizae Radix), followed by ginger.

Today Kampo medicine is the focus of worldwide clinical research in an ever widening list of clinical conditions – Sho-saiko-to (H09) for the treatment of hepatitis C being researched at New York Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (phase II clinical trial), and in the treatment of hepatitis-C induced liver cirrhosis at the UCSD Liver Center. Kampo has been evaluated through placebo-controlled trials in the treatment of headaches, hypertension, fertility problems, insomnia, chronic fatigue, stress-related health problems, and numerous more trials are under way.

The boom in traditional herb therapy noticed in recent years across the world may be part of a greater holistic undercurrent that is prevalent in medicine, but more importantly, it is the realization that it is time modern medicine took a closer look at its folk roots. Folk medicine, as it is increasingly being realized, is much less harmful and more effective that the “traditional” pharmaceutical industry would lead us to believe, than many industrial chemicals to be found in modern pharmacopoeias.

Sudip Ghosh, MD

Dr. Ghosh is a surgeon at the University of Manchester, UK and a medical writer.

Related Articles

  • Mozart’s Medical Cabinet – Alternative Mental Health
  • A Westerner’s Pilgrimage – The Professional Sector
  • A Westerner’s Pilgrimage – Chrysanthemum Tea
  • A Westerner’s Pilgrimage – The Popular Sector
  • A Primer on Acupuncture
  • Give a Clinical Trial a Try: It’ll Probably Cost Nothing
  • The Future of Psychiatry with Alternative Treatments

1 Response

  1. Thomas says:
    August 2, 2008 at 9:01 am

    Greetings from Japan.
    Yes, Kampo is a “Japanese invention” that has A LOT OF good things to offer. Yet, being a German acupuncturist with 25 years clnical experience in Japan, I believe there is a (serious) problem. The article states correctly “in October 2000, 72 percent regularly used Kampo medicines”. But MANY of these physicians precisely use Kampo, because it is a boom AND big business, without having had much proper training in the relevant concepts of Chinese medicine. In 1996 (I think) the use of “Sho Saiko To” in patients with chronic hepatitis resulted in about 11 deaths. Since then, the notebook published by the company Tsumura – strongly encouraged by the Health Minstry – includes a note written in red about the dangers of Kampo.
    Yet, these deaths were not due to “dangerous” Kampo medicine. They were the result of physicians trained in western medicine, who prescribed the Kampo drug based on the western medical diagnosis “hepatitis” – completely disregarding the fact, that Kampo is NOT prescribed for specific diseases, but rather symptom patterns.

    Reply

    Leave a Reply

    Click here to cancel reply.

    Subscribe without commenting


    Popular Posts

    • Mind Games - Science's Attempts at Thought Control
    • The Science of Stuttering
    • Risks of Personalized Medicine
    • Intelligence - Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
    • Is Grief a Mental Illness?
    • The Brain's Buying Power
    • The Cost of a Good Night's Sleep
    • Inside Your Brain on Holiday
    • Risk Factors for Recurrence of Depression
    • Salvia Divinorum - DEA Control over Magic in the Mint

    Future Posts

      Latest Posts

      • A Gateway to Weight Loss?
      • Intelligence – Do You Need it to be Successful?
      • A Trip for Terminal Patients
      • Memory Ain’t What It Used to Be – And That’s Good for Psychotherapy
      • The Science of Stuttering
      • Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
      • Beer – The Smarter Drink
      • Macroeconomics and Suicide
      • From Nymphomania to Hypersexuality
      • Commitment – It’s the new Love

      Comments

      • Mumbai Escorts:
      • brucemclaren: Our company employees are well
      • brucemclaren: Waar gewerkt wordt, kunnen arb
      • Ryan: Great post! I agree with the p
      • : I have used heroin for 20 year
      • Lino Baine: I am not aware that people wit
      • Lulu Jones: Hmm....this is interesting. I
      • Robert A. Yourell, MA: Hi Stephanie...OR they tried a
      • Stephnie: Based on the facts in the arti
      • Sammy: I was a test subject for one o
      • Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA: Thank you for your insightful
      • Richard Kensinger, MSW: I agree w/ Howard Gardner's pe
      Sponsored Links

      SEO Company, IT Support, Free Cams, addicted, SEO, Designer Wholesale Sources, GNLD, chinese wholesale, memory improvement, Autism News Blog, Neurotherapist, HGH,  Retractable Banner Stands ,   Buy Prevacid Online ,   Treatment Centers in FL ,   penis enlargement pills ,   bankers life and casualty company

      Copyright © 2005-2012 Brain Blogger sponsored by Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation (GNIF). All Rights Reserved.
      Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Feed | Log in | ISSN 1931-6224 | 0.417s
      9rules Network Member