BACKGROUND Many persons use botanicals and dietary supplements for chronic conditions that do not respond to traditional Western medications. Tricyclic antidepressants, a common treatment option for diabetic neuropathy, can have many side effects and are a poor choice in certain populations (eg, the elderly). As such, patients might turn to botanicals and dietary supplements, not realizing that...

I completely concur with Dr Des Spence: Big Pharma is manipulating doctors and exploiting patients, and Big Medicine is neglecting its role to protect patients.1 I can remember, shortly after becoming a GP Principal in 1987, a drug representative trying to persuade us to prescribe evening primrose oil capsules for itching in eczema. The glossy presentation and neurolinguistic programming attemp...

The oil obtained from the evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) plant is usually taken orally in a gel cap form. This herbal supplement is most commonly used for the treatment of mastalgia and atopic dermatitis. While recommending this supplement to patients for many years for the treatment of mastalgia, this author was interested in researching the plant and the evidence supporting its use for ...

Many of the features of the premenstrual syndrome are similar to the effects produced by the injection of prolactin. Some women with the premenstrual syndrome have elevated prolactin levels, but in most the prolactin concentrations are normal. It is possible that women with the syndrome are abnormally sensitive to normal amounts of prolactin. There is evidence that prostaglandin E1, derived fro...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different penetration enhancers, containing essential fatty acids (EFAs), on the transdermal delivery of flurbiprofen. Evening primrose oil (EPO), vitamin F, and Pheroid technology all contain fatty acids and were compared using a cream-based formulation. This selection was to ascertain whether EFAs solely, or EFAs in a Pheroid delivery sys...

This study explored genetic variation and co-variation in multiple functional plant traits. Our goal was to characterize selection, heritabilities and genetic correlations among different types of traits to gain insight into the evolutionary ecology of plant populations and their interactions with insect herbivores. In a field experiment, we detected significant heritable variation for each of ...

The risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with increased dietary intake of saturated fatty acids. For many years it has been suspected that this disease might be associated with an imbalance between unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. We determined erythrocyte membrane fatty acids levels in Hot nature dietary intervention with co-supplemented hemp seed and evening primrose...