American College for Advancement in Medicine conducts its 62nd educational conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Nov, 2004  by Morton Walker,  Randall S. Walker

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ACAM's 62nd educational conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine (CAIM), takes place November 17 through 21, 2004 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California. It features health professional training in chelation therapy, nutrition, dietary supplements, and mesotherapy all integrated into medical practice. Another workshop, "Translating CAIM in Practice," focuses on how CAIM healers can minimize professional disciplinary action and malpractice suits through improved office management and procedures. These workshops are open to nurses as well as physicians, and provide continuing education credits.

Although new to Americans, mesotherapy is a nonsurgical method of aesthetic improvement developed in the 1950's in France. The procedure includes spot reduction of fat and cellulite in problematic areas. It is also reputed to diminish chronic pain. Partly homeopathic, known as the science of homotoxicology, and partly complementary medicine (using phosphatidylcholine), mesotherapy has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing cellulite in both thin and overweight patients. Along with several other doctors, ACAM's current president, Allan Magaziner, DO, presents his scientific understanding and clinical experiences of mesotherapy as part of the two day workshop.

The scientific conference for ACAM, "Emerging Concepts in Immunology," begins Friday, November 19th. A strong line-up of speakers offer their research and recommendations. On Friday, keynote speaker Farrand Robson, DDS, explains how jaw-related muscle contraction disorders relate to many systemic conditions. Dr. Robson includes a discussion of the therapy he developed for alleviating these painful symptoms.

Another Friday speaker, Aristo Vojdani, PhD, explains how laboratory tests can reveal neuroimmunotoxicity induced by toxic metals. Jesse Stoff, MD, outlines a treatment plan to bolster the immune system of patients recovering from cancer and chronic disease. Also on Friday the first lecture on a complementary medical treatment for cancer is presented by Rashid Buttar, DO, FACAM. Dr. Buttar discusses cancer therapy using immune modulating peptide analogs as part of an overall explanation of cancer treatment and prevention.

On Saturday November 20th, Colleen Hayes, who received her PhD from Harvard Medical School, discusses how vitamin D has been shown to prevent autoimmune diseases. Saturday also includes the first lecture on the effect sex hormones have on the immune system. Mark Estes, PhD, describes beneficial roles for phytoestrogens and how legume intake increases the presence of phytoestrogens over steroidal estrogens. Carolyn McMakin, DC, presents the clinical results of treating fibromyalgia patients with specific frequencies of microamperage, and includes the results of laboratory experiments with mice using the same techniques.

That same Saturday Hugh Fudenberg, MD, PhD, provides data implicating Thimerosal (a mercury-containing preservative used for the measles vaccine) in autism and other developmental disorders. He lectures on antigen-specific transfer factor as a treatment modality. In his keynote address on Saturday, Edwin Cooper, PhD, professor of neurobiology at the UCLA School of Medicine, demonstrates how emerging concepts in immunology must lead to new forms of treatment.

On Sunday morning November 21, Shari Lieberman, PhD, discusses scientific data supporting the use of dietary supplements in the prevention and treatment of disease processes. Her presentation includes mechanisms of action known to be triggered by green tea, curcumin, lycopene, Boswellia serrata and vitamin C. Mohamed Rafi, MD, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University, offers up an herbal combination which includes licorice root used to treat cancer. Richard Neubauer, MD, pioneer in use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, lectures on the effect HBOT has on mitochondrial function, the cellular organelle involved in electron transport and protein synthesis.

In a second lecture on sex hormones, Michael Zeligs, MD, explains how unhealthy estrogen metabolism, involving a spectrum of disorders known as Estrogen Dominance, can be corrected with a cruciferous vegetable indole, Diindolylmethane (DIM). The final speaker, Richard Hansen, DMD, lectures on the impact of oral health on systemic immunity.

Health professionals who miss these important presentations can contact ACAM for information on how to obtain recordings of their meetings. ACAM's next conference will be held May 18-22, 2005 at Disney World's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. To arrange one's attendance at this next meeting or to join ACAM, contact Executive Director Virginia Schoenfeld by telephone at 800-532-3688 ext. 15 or by means of E-mail at virginia.schoenfeld@acam.org. Information about the American College for Advancement in Medicine can also be obtained by accessing the organization's website www.acam.org.