b'HEALTH BITS & PIECESBy Dan Kenner, Ph.D., LAcNeither Health Freedom News nor I are suggesting that any such medical care or treatmentbe conducted without competentmedical advice and supervision.Ear Acupuncturenon-invasive auricular vagus nerve stimu-and the Brain lation (aVNS). Auricular VNS uses sur-face skin electrodes to stimulate nerve endings of a branch of the vagus nerve located on the surface of the outer ear. The treatment was well tolerated and associated with a significant reductionVitamin-D Deficiency in postpartum depressive and anxietyIncreases Mortality Risksymptoms. The results showed that 74%Vitamin-Ddeficiency increases mortality of the participants achieved a positive re- risk, but research shows that raising serum sponse while 61% achieved remission, aslevels even slightly could decrease the risk. shown in reduced scores on the Hamil- Researchers analyzed data from 307,601 in-ton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). dividuals from the UK Biobank, a large-scale Anotherstudyshowedbeneficialbiomedical database and research resource, results for parkinsonism patients. Thecontaining in-depth genetic and health infor-studyincluded30participants(100%mation from half a million UK participants. white) aged 40-79 years with mild toLow levels of Vitamin D (as 25-hydroxyvita-moderate Parkinsons disease. All weremin D (25(OH)D)) were noted as less than randomly assigned to ten active or sham25 nmol/L with the average concentration stimulations (one hour each) over thefound to be 45.2 nmol/L. Over a 14 year fol-course of two weeks. In the active stimu- low-up period, the researchers found that the lation group, electrodes were attached toriskfordeathsignificantlydecreasedwith the outer ear. There was an improvementincreasedVitamin-Dconcentrations,with Earacupuncturewasdiscoveredbyof three points or more on the Unifiedthe strongest effects seen among those with Dr. Paul Nogier, a French physician inParkinsons Disease Rating System Scalesevere deficiencies. Lyon, France. He encountered patientsIII (UPDRS) in eight active group mem- The risk for mortality was a significant who claimed that they had experiencedbers compared with four sham group36%higherforparticipantswith25(OH)long-term relief of sciatic pain after havingmembers. The most improved symptomD,themajorcirculatingformofVitamin a point on the ear cauterized by a Gypsyin the responders was bradykinesia, fol- D, at 25 nmol/L compared with 50 nmol/L woman in Marseilles. Nogier used a needlelowed by tremor. Ethan Brown, M.D.,levels. And when compared with a measured instead of burning the relevant point and,assistant professor of neurology at the25(OH)D concentration of 50 nmol/L, the throughexperimentation,mappedoutWeill Institute of Neurosciences, Univer- investigators estimated that the genetically points that, allegedly, influence structuressity of California San Francisco Schoolpredicted odds of all-cause mortality would all over the body. Points on the ear are alsoof Medicine, said this study is small butincrease sixfold for the subjects at 25 nmo-treated with electrical and laser stimula- intriguing. It demonstrates the potentiall/L. Compared with a measured 25(OH)D tion. Today, there are hundreds of doctorsefficacy of a completely novel approachconcentration of 50 nmol/L, those with 10 in Europeas well as doctors and acu- to improving symptoms in people withnmol/L had genetically predicted odds ratios puncturists in the U.S., Japan, and ChinaPD, said Brown, who was not involvedof 5.98 for cardiovascular mortality, 3.37 forwho use ear acupuncture on a daily basis.with the research.cancer mortality, and 12.44 for respiratory Two recent reports from clinicians usingKristina M. Deligiannidis, M.D., director, Womens Be- mortality.Thedatadontsupporttheap-mild electrical stimulation to the ears couldhavioral Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwellproach of using large intermittent doses; the Health, Glen Oaks, New York, at the American Society of potentially validate the use of ear stimula- Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP) 2022 Annual Meet- researchersrecommendedsustaineddaily tion for medical conditions. ing, Abstract 3003547, presented May 31, 2022; Vanessa K.modest Vitamin-D dose supplementation.Hinson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology and director Inasmall,proof-of-conceptpilotof the Movement Disorders Program, Medical UniversitySutherland J, Zhou A, Hyppnen E, Vitamin D study, twenty-five women with postpar- of South Carolina, Charleston, at the International Con- Deficiency Increases Mortality Risk in the UK Bio-bank: A Nonlinear Mendelian Randomization Study, tum depression received six weeks of dailygress of Parkinsons Disease and Movement DisordersAnnals of Internal Medicine, 2022, 175(11):1552-1559, (MDS) 2022, Abstract 39, presented September 15, 2022. at https://doi: 10.7326/M21-3324.22 H ealtHF reedomN ews /w iNter2022'