However, several Chinese herbal compounds do seem capable of producing therapeutic effects. For example, one study published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience found that an herbal medicine known as Ji-Sui-Kang improved the prognosis of spinal cord injuries in rats.
Notably, there are also several derivatives of Chinese herbs that may be useful in treating the aggressive brain tumors known as gliomas. Yong Lu, of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, found that gallic acid, ursolic acid, polyphyllin D, Spica prunellae, and Paris polyphylla, all had cytotoxic effects on tumor cell lines. However, these compounds were also found to be capable of destroying healthy brain cells (of course, the loss of healthy cells is a side effect in many standard cancer treatments already in use). Other Chinese herbs may be useful in the treatment of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Despite the potential benefits offered by these herbs, there are concerns regarding their safety. A review of alternative medicines in The Scientist details the dangers of the Chinese herbal byproduct, aristolochic acid. It’s used to heal wounds, soothe arthritis, expel the placenta after childbirth, and repel snakes, but it has documented carcinogenic and renotoxic effects.
Dr. Stephen Bent voices his concerns: “There are thousands and thousands of products being sold through all different kinds of channels and there isn’t the safety framework to capture and monitor how often people are having side effects or problems.”
Conversely, the ancient practice of acupuncture is generally regarded as safe, if not necessarily effective. Data is once again conflicting. This therapy involves inserting micro-needles into the skin at prescribed points along the meridians; a more modern variation known as electroacupuncture applies electrical currents to the acupoints.
The problem in determining the potential value of acupuncture is the “efficacy paradox,” according to The Scientist: “Either acupuncture exerts a powerful but reproducible placebo effect in patients, or inserting needles randomly has the same effect as inserting needles into some 400 acupuncture points that traditional Chinese practitioners believe help unblock one’s qi, or life force.” The other fundamental problem with acupuncture research is due to the fact that “researchers still don’t have a good idea what acupuncture’s mechanism of action might be, which makes it extremely difficult to create an appropriate control.”
If acupuncture does, in fact, offer relief for various ailments, what could explain its success? The Scientist proposes two possible theories. It could be related to the “localized release of adenosine,” or it could have something to do with the relaxing of connective tissues. Cancer Research UK asserts that acupuncture causes the nerves to release endorphins as well as serotonin.
Clearly, there is not enough data to make any definitive statements about acupuncture, or TCM as a whole. Bruce H. Robinson, a biophysical chemist at the University of Washington, puts it best: “There are thus at least 1000 trillion synapses (1,000,000,000,000,000 synapses) in one human nervous system: 1 quadrillion. This is 100 million synapses per cubic millimeter of brain (smaller than a pinhead of brain tissue). Most of these connections simply enable the brain’s neurons to talk to each other, as 99 percent of the neurons in the cortex connect only to one another. The other 1 percent control the rest of the body. All this working together creates waves of energy we don’t really understand.”
The same can be said for Ayurvedic medicine. Though some research suggests these alternative medicines may offer a degree of healing value, their potential is seemingly shrouded in ambiguity — an obscurity that results from the scarce, fragmented, and sometimes fallacious body of evidence in which the subject is currently mired. Then again, these ancient systems are rooted in mystical and metaphysical doctrines, and it seems unlikely that science and spirituality will ever truly see eye to eye.
This does not mean we should abandon the pursuit of reconciling the two — or in this case, the pursuit of finding empirical evidence that proves or disproves the efficacy of traditional Eastern medicines. It simply means we should bear in mind the understanding that there are some things we can never discern through reason; there may exist some ancient knowledge that transcends our logical realities.
This article was first published in Brain World Magazine’s print edition.
More From Brain World
- An Appetite for Wonder: How Eating Better Boosts Your Brain
- The Cost of Cosmetic Neurology: How the Increase of Neuroenhancing Drugs Create An Emotional Downfall
- Eyes of the Body: Understanding Proprioception
- (Gut) Check Yourself: The Brain Health-Microbiome Connection
- Learning New Tricks: Healthy Aging and the Creative Brain
- 3 Ways to Paint Your Way Past “Brain Freeze”