The Japan Functional Food Research Association (JAFRA, headed by Mr. Y. Ninomiya, director) held "The Second International Workshop of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine and Treatment" (led by Dr. R. Obitsu, chairman of the Japan Holistic Medical Society) in Cambridge and Bristol in the UK on September 4th and 5th, 2000. The workshop was sponsored by Daiwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. A total of about 100 participants attended, including about 60 participants from Japan. Those participating in the workshop sessions included frontline doctors, pharmacists, acupuncture and moxibustion practitioners, and university professors working not only in Asian countries but also Europe and America. The workshop ended as a great success.

In the first workshop held last year in the USA, "complementary and alternative medicine and treatment in America that is young and vigorous, and challenging a new domain" was discussed as the main issue. In this year's workshop, another issue "mental care in medical treatment" was added, deepening the contents of the meeting over that of the previous year.

In these days, flexible medicine and treatment has connected conventional medicine and treatment with complementary and alternative methods. Prince Charles has placed special emphasis on this new type of approach to medicine. This allows the UK to be referred to as an advanced nation in medical treatment.

Integrated medicine is now practiced more widely than ever throughout the world. In this medicine, healing, hypnotherapy, homeopathy and herbs are used, and there are many aspects common to those practised traditionally in Japan. In the workshop, the Japanese participants had an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in complementary and alternative medicine and treatment, which they found very fruitful.

During the workshop sessions, doctors and researchers working at the front line reported the latest clinical data and results of their studies. Discussions after the reports were very active.
The workshop programme included - "Holistic approaches in cancer treatment"
- "Roles and the importance of holistic medical treatment"
- "Plants useful for nourishing, healing and health - a study from the historical standpoint"
- "Labelling, synthesis and health claims of food"
- "Psychological intervention and immunity"
- "Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM): Status quo of its training and prospect of CAM study in the UK"
- "Discussion on cases of homeopathy"

In addition, there were two presentations with the titles of - "Alternative medicine and treatment in Japan - Status quo and future prospect" (by Dr. R. Obitsu), and - "Anti-ulcer actions of rice bran Arabinoxylan and Bio Bran" (by Dr. M. Ghoneum). These reports also drew much attention.

JAFRA intends to carry on holding this type of workshop regularly from next year.

・

Copyright(C)2004 Daiwa Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd. All rights reserved. | HOME >