The immune system depends on this essential trace element.
Many (but not all) diseases respond positively when zinc is used to support immunity or correct a zinc deficiency. Continue reading Should everyone get zinc?
Category Archives: Malaria
Benefits of vitamin A and zinc on malaria
 Researchers report positive effects when vitamin A and zinc were given to young children from the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa. Continue reading Benefits of vitamin A and zinc on malaria
The pros and cons of folic acid fortification of foods
Fortifying food, such as wheat and corn flour, with folic acid reduces the risk of spina bifida in babies.
This public health practice was introduced 10 years ago in North America. Now, that practice is being debated in the UK and worldwide. “Are the benefits to the few outweighed by possible harm to some of the many exposed? Continue reading The pros and cons of folic acid fortification of foods
History of cannabis in medicine
Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria has an exhaustive review.
I summarize it here.
FDA warns against using quinine to treat leg cramps. Options, please?
The FDA is cracking down on companies that sell quinine-containing products such as Qualaquin for non-approved uses. Their concern is over the risks of quinine to treat leg cramps.
What’s the risk?
Continue reading FDA warns against using quinine to treat leg cramps. Options, please?
Comparing artesunate to quinine as treatment for malaria
In the treatment of severe malaria, injecting artesunate directly into a vein results in more rapid action than quinine given the same way. It’s safer and simpler to administer. And a clinical study also shows it reduces the risk of death from this disease.
Details here.
Continue reading Comparing artesunate to quinine as treatment for malaria
Artesunate: a potent antimalarial treatment
Artesunate comes from qinghaosu, the sweet wormwood bush (Artemisia annua). It’s a fast-acting antimalarial drug discovered by Chinese scientists in the early 1970s.
Artesunate is often referred to as the most efficient malaria parasite killer ever discovered.
Continue reading Artesunate: a potent antimalarial treatment