Hi,

I've cut and pasted this summary of 'Liver energy' function from here, saves me typing it out:) - http://www.acupuncture-services.com/basi...se-medicine.php :
"It is said in Chinese medicine that when energy is flowing smoothly throughout the body, we have no pain or disease. The Liver is the organ that is responsible for ensuring that energy, or Qi (pronounced “chee”), flows smoothly throughout the body – in all organs and in all directions. The function of the Liver of regulating Qi, is extremely important to both our physical and emotional health.

The Liver is the most important organ in the body for storing Blood. By virtue of this function, the Liver plays a huge role in the regulation of the menstrual cycle. When the Liver is working optimally, women will experience regular menstrual cycles with very little discomfort.

The Liver is also responsible for regulating the volume of blood throughout the entire body according to physical activity. When the body is active, blood flows to the tendons and muscles. At night, blood flows back to the Liver. When this function of the Liver is working harmoniously, we have good energy during the day and feel rested and revitalized when we wake in the morning.

The Liver controls the sinews and tendons. A healthy Liver will moisten and nourish these parts of the body that affect our ability to move our joints fluidly. In Chinese medicine, the nails are also considered a by-product of the sinews. Strong, healthy nails are a sign that the Liver blood is plentiful.

The Liver is said to open to the eye. When the Liver is healthy, our eyes are moist and vision is good. The Liver, a yin organ, is paired with the Gallbladder, a yang organ. The Liver has a powerful affect on the digestion because not only does the Liver control the proper functioning of the Stomach and Spleen Qi, but also on the secretion of bile.

Because the Liver oversees the smooth flow of Qi of all the organs in the body, it has been compared to an army general, responsible for planning all of the body's functions. For this reason, Chinese medicine believes that the Liver plays a part in our ability to plan our life and make decisions. Each organ in Chinese medicine is related to a specific emotion. The Liver is related to anger, especially repressed anger or frustration. When the Liver energy is stagnated or rebels upwards, a person is prone to depression or irritability. Ironically, this works both ways. Stress in our lives, leading to anger and frustration will be the biggest factor in causing a Liver imbalance."

So in a nutshell Liver energy is related to the free flow of all energy, stores blood, nourishes the eyes, the tendons and tissue, and is intrinsically related to emotional equilibrium, being seem most as proneness to irritability,frustration and/or anger on imbalance. I've gone with the T.C.M explanation as that's my area of expertise- hope it helps

The authors of this study don't indicate milk or dairy products as potential cause for differences between muslims and christians but cautiously state
"It is possible that this is a spurious finding, particularly as no such difference was found among women, but it may also be due to some, as yet undetermined, difference in social factors."

It is yet unknown where this difference comes from, provided that it is not just an artefact anyway.

Wolfgang

Quote:

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I thought of this after reading about Bosnia where the Muslim population is genetically very similar to the other populations there but suffered much less from Dupuytren's:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/article...bmedid=15050031

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Apparently the Muslims there didn't get much in the way of meat, milk, dairy products and eggs.

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Edited 08/25/09 19:07

Hi,

I've included a list of foods from a website that help and are problematic from Chinese medicine therapeutic diet perspective.


http://www.eastmountain.ca/8liveryin.pdf

http://www.eastmountain.ca/11liverblood.pdf



I'm still researching ways to add to my multi-holistic method to treat my mum.I've recently discovered google books. It's wonderful. For example I keyed in d.c and acupuncture and got 14 pages of excerpts from published books related specifically to this. As you go further down the pages of course it's less relevant e.g surgery for dupreytons.. but I plan to use it for many keywords, e.g massage therapy and D.C, etc.. so maybe it's something you can use to look up your own personal area of interest...

I did also come across something really interesting in a western med book.. - Liver disease: diagnosis and management - d.c is also more closely liked with alcoholism whta with liver disease.. (it was a very short excerpt so I didn't get anything more than that but interesting the correlation has been noted)..


My mum's started herbs, had her first session of acupuncture and today started her homeopathy remedy (gelsenium for d.p with trembling). She's also cut out mid week tipples and is going to add veg to her diet in soups. The only supplement she's on right now is Royal jelly, (She's on baby aspirin or otherwise I'd be adding Vit e and more EFA's..)

Just an update. I'll also take some photo's so I can record her progress.

Best wishes,

Anne

I was diagnosed with Dupuytrens in early 2008 in my right hand. I read up on the internet and consulted the forum and decided to change my diet to see if that would assist. I had no contracture but was concerned as I was only in my 40s. I cut down on dairy, moved to a lower fat diet, reduced alcohol and cut out red meat and smoked foods such as ham and bacon. I did this as I sometimes noticed a tingling in the right hand when eating some of these foods. Since making these dietary changes I have had no progression whatsover of the DC and no pain. I am very pleased that this has happened but do realise that the DC may be in remission and may flare up again. However, I would suggest that as long as health wise it is suitable that changes in diet are considered. An improvement of health may result anyway, as most of the foods I cut out were not healthy. Just a suggestion and I realise there is no medical evidence to substantiate this, as there is no evidence for most non medical treatments.

The other thing I have done is to avoid vibration to the hands, eg wearing padded gloves when operating mowing or other vibrating equipment and using a padded steering wheel cover in my car. It's worth giving these things a try.

It's purely genetic IMO. You will be born with the disease and you will die with the disease. But of course it's always good to eat healthy stuff.