In the early stages of research, Alzheimer’s and Diabetes will be the focus targets. Both diseases are having devastating effects around the world and both show very promising results under Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments.
Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common forms of dementia. In the US alone, more than 5 million Americans are affected by this disease, approximately 500,000 people dying each year because of Alzheimer’s, which is the 6th leading cause of death in the US. There is currently no cure for the disease. Based on the initial observation of patients with Alzheimer’s in the GWCM clinic, acupuncture combined with TuiNa therapy has greatly reduced many characteristic symptoms of patients ranging from elevation of the mood to memory recall. According to two research articles published in 2008 and 2012, it was shown that acupuncture stimulation has a direct effect on the activities of the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s.
Diabetes
According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, about 8.5% of the people in US have diabetes, which yields about 25.8 million. The current trajectory estimate is, in 2025, there will be more than 50 million with the disease. One research in 2002 indicates acupuncture is effective toward synthase of neuronal nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase modulation, which are important for the regulation of Diabetes. This gives very important insight of how acupuncture could be a potential mainstream treatment for Diabetes.
