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The relationship between the TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) concept of dampness and the biomedical cholesterol has been discovered with research conducted by Dr. Iain McInnes, from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the UK.
Dr. McInnes found that arthritic patients taking cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor (known chemically as atorvastatin, a class of drug known as "statins") reported a significant improvement in disease activity during the 6-month study period. Improvement included less swollen joints as well as markers (signs of potential problems before they manifest) for heart disease and stroke.
TCM ascribes many forms of heart disease, stroke, and arthritic conditions to "dampness", and it appears that the effect of cholesterol lowering drugs are improving all of these conditions, presumably as a dampness transforming action of the cholesterol lowering "statins".
While not ALL arthritis, heart disease, and strokes are the result of dampness, a quick look at the tongue might provide researchers with a means by which they can better predict when statins can help patients with these conditions.
TCM describes "Bi" pain as anything that gets into the meridians and causes the flow of Qi to be impeded or interrupted. This causes pain and swelling. One common cause for Bi is the invasion of cold, damp, or wind energy into the acupuncture meridians. When these "Qi" get into the body, it causes pains that are unique to their energy.
For instance, cold Bi as a type of arthritis would be somewhat fixed in location and severe in intensity. It would also be aggravated by cold weather.
Damp Bi by contrast would be aggravated by damp weather and give rise to a pain that is less severe, but "heavy" in sensation.
Wind Bi is commonly described as arthritic pains that migrate (or shall I say "blow" about the body like wind.) This particular type of Bi pain isn't as sensitive to the weather as the previous two, but it can be a damp wind or a cold wind too, and so be sensitive to cold or damp weather.
So, what does cholesterol have to do with dampness? In TCM, we recognize that the diet can cause problems in the body, these problems can end up looking like anything from weight gain and edema to dampness' little brother called phlegm. Phlegm can look like stuff you cough up, but also fatty tumors, atherosclerosis, and cerebral vascular accidents (strokes).
So, you can begin to see the relationships between TCM dampness and cholesterol which is a precursor atherosclerosis, heart disease, and stokes.
Dr. McInnes says "These data show that statins can mediate modest but clinically apparent anti-inflammatory effects with modification of vascular risk factors in the context of high-grade auto immune inflammation"
Dr. McInnes is looking at the drug's anti-inflammatory actions as the mechanism for improvement in his study, but not as a means by which one can dry damp. Still, from the TCM perspective, this is exactly what is happening.
"There were two things we were trying to achieve in the study," Dr. McInnes said. "One was to test whether statins, which in most people have an anti-inflammatory effect, could influence a condition in which inflammation is a prime mover. The second was based on the recognition that patients with rheumatoid arthritis have an increased risk of vascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke. We wanted to see if we could modify markers of that risk. On both counts, we saw an effect."
Gancao.net wonders what would happen if Dr. McInnes screened his research subjects for those who have the damp kind of arthritis to see how that would change his research numbers. Perhaps this type of therapy would best apply to those with arthritis that is strictly aggravated by damp weather?
[link] [forbes health]