Naturopathic Medicine – Canadian News

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Canadian Naturopathic Care – No More GST

Patients get a break, naturopathic doctors get recognition. That’s what happened in Ottawa this month as the federal government conferred tax-exempt status for NDs.

When the GST was originally enacted, fewer than half of Canadian provinces had legislation governing naturopathic medicine.  While NDs have been regulated in BC since 1923, many provinces had no legislation.  Therefore, government decided that while dentists, chiropractors and other licensed health practitioners would be exempt from GST, NDs would have to charge their patients.

Since the 1990s, over half of Canada has become a regulated jurisdiction for NDs: BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia all have provincial acts governing the profession.  With the advent of the 2014 budget, now when a patient sees an ND there is no tax applied to any health service provided in-clinic.  Read the government press release here.  Read the national ND association press release here.

Read the news release from the Federal Government: CAND GST PR Feb 2014 Dept of Finance Budget PR Feb 2014.

Read the news release from the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors: CAND GST PR Feb 2014.

Ontario Naturopathic Medical College Will Be Able To Confer Bachelor Degrees

A second, no less significant advancement, was that the Ontario naturopathic medical college is under consideration to confer bachelor degrees.  While CCNM has existed for decades, and is recognized across Canada and the US as an accredited naturopathic college, the Ontario government has now created the opportunity to allow CCNM to formally provide degrees.  CCNM is one of only two accredited naturopathic colleges in Canada.  Find out more at www.ccnm.edu.

 

Greying Nation: An Aging Population Doesn’t Have to Burden the Health Care System

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by Lorne Swetlikoff, ND

By delaying and preventing the onset of degenerative conditions, naturopathic medicine can enable people to age healthier, delay retirement, and positively impact the sustainability of our health care system.

1 out of 3 Canadians is a Baby Boomer

According to Statistics Canada’s 2006 census, one out of three Canadians is a baby boomer (born between 1946-1965) and make up the largest group in our population. There is significant concern that this demographic shift will place a significant burden on our health-care system challenging its sustainability.

Age-related conditions like dementia, arthritis, and heart disease are common amongst the elderly. These conditions are degenerative and require patients to be continuously engaged with their doctors and health system. If Canadians are aging and older Canadians get age-related conditions, then health-care delivery costs are set to rise significantly. Who is going to pay for this? Certainly not younger Canadians as that population group continues to shrink.

Preventing age-related infirmities is an essential strategy in dealing with this issue. By keeping Canadians healthy, it is more likely that they will live longer, have more productive lives, perhaps retire later, and reduce health-care needs.

How do we keep Canadians healthy?

Recognize that decrepitude and degeneration are not normal aspects of aging but are states of disorder that are diagnosable, treatable, and more importantly preventable.

Our current medical system is focused on diagnosing and treating disease. This is important. but it’ a reactive approach to something that has already happened. To strengthen our system, we need to be proactive and prevent disease. Preventing degenerative diseases requires continuous assessment of health parameters and undesirable trends over the course of one’s life. Intervention then becomes a system of keeping people healthy.

The basic philosophical premise of naturopathic medicine is that there is an inherent healing power in nature and in every human being. The ND’s responsibility is to strive to understand the minimum level of intervention that will stimulate the body’ self-healing processes

Restoring unique biochemical deficiencies to a normal physiological balance and intervening with natural therapies to support a patient’s condition may help make them feel more vital, and energetic, and move them out of their decline.

Some useful steps that you can take to make sure that you increase your longevity and vitality and don’t slide into old age prematurely:

  • Undergo periodic screening for biological health markers like hormone deficiency, vitamin mineral deficiency, amino acid deficiency, chemical toxicity levels, inflammation markers, digestive analysis, blood sugar levels and heart evaluation to determine your current state of health. Such intervention is aimed at restoring the normal physiological balance of the body.
  • Strive to identify the cause of your problem by visiting a naturopathic doctor.  Don’t just treat symptoms, which often allows the real disease to progress past the point of recovery.
  • As appropriate, use natural therapies as a first resort to stimulate the body to heal.  Customize your treatment plan to meet your biochemical needs and re-evaluate that plan to changing circumstances, stresses, and experiences.
  • Keep in mind that prevention is not just taking a test. For example, taking a PSA test to rule out prostate cancer, or a having a mammogram to check for breast cancer are important procedures, but it’s important to determine your individual risk factors for cancer and then make the necessary changes early in your life to enable healing, wellness and longevity.
  • Educate yourself and gain the appropriate awareness to make smart health choices now to increase longevity in the future.

A statistic from the late 90s showed that by delaying nursing home admission by just one month, it would save the U.S. health-care system $3 billion a year. Naturopathic doctors help people get well, and have effective strategies in preventing, delaying, and treating age-related diseases. This can have a positive impact on our aging population and in reducing the associated health-care.

This article originally appeared, in a longer version, on CBC.  Dr. Swetlikoff is a licensed ND in Castlegar and Vancouver.

Gut Feelings: Understanding the role of gut bacteria in regulating your mood.

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by Dr. Kristin Schnurr, ND

Many of you may have heard the show, ““Bacteria in your gut affects your mental health.” which aired on the CBC on October 11, 2013. If you missed it, here is the link: CBC.

Listening to this show reinforced for me the importance of ensuring gastrointestinal health for myself, my family and for everyone I work with. We already know that healthy gut flora promotes health by strengthening immunity, improving our digestion and absorption of nutrients, and by promoting healthy metabolism and preventing obesity.

Too much of the wrong bacteria can make us ill and too little of the healthy bacteria can leave us vulnerable to illness. Symptoms of dysbiosis or an imbalance of good bacteria intestinally include: digestive upset, bowel irregularity, fatigue, allergies, skin conditions, headaches, autoimmune conditions, anxiety and depression.

Recently, there has been significant research emerging on the connection between gut flora and mental health. A recent study in the journal Gastroenterology shows that healthy gut bacteria play a major role in mental health and pain sensitivity. Scientists at UCLA showed a direct link between probiotics consumed and elevated amounts of the important mood regulating neurotransmitters: Serotonin and GABA.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. It regulates intestinal movement, mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction and cognitive function such as memory. GABA is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. It plays a role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system. People with low serotonin production typically suffer from depression. And, people with low GABA production typically experience anxiety.

This research is important as it points to the importance of addressing gastrointestinal health in the management and treatment of anxiety and depression. As Gregor Reid, PhD, a professor of microbiology, immunology and surgery at the University of Western Ontario stated, “There isn’t a drug on the market that can match probiotic bacteria for its far-reaching implications on health.

How to Cultivate Healthy Gut Flora

  1. Our first microbes are introduced in the vaginal canal after the natural birth process, and are delivered through breast milk. We inherit our gut flora from our mother at birth, where it settles in the baby’s sterile system and becomes the microbiome of the gut. Breastfeeding is another way the mother passes her beneficial flora to her baby. Bottle fed babies acquire completely different gut flora than those that are breastfed.
  2. Healthy digestive microbes come from ingesting uncooked and live culture fruits, vegetables, and dairy products that contain live probiotics. Routinely eating some fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso or kombucha can also assist in replenishing healthy bacteria. It is important to ensure the products are guaranteed to contain live cultures since many brands destroy the essential bacteria with high temperature processing during the manufacturing process. If it’s in the fridge at the store it is more likely to contain live culture, if it’s on the shelf it has been pasteurized. Making your own yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha or kefir assures an active bacteria content.
  3. For some people, the level of depletion of beneficial organisms in the digestive tract requires the consumption of a daily probiotic supplement in order to replenish beneficial bacteria. It is important to consider that infants, children and adults require different combinations of specific bacteria. And, it is important to be cautious with dosing in the treatment of skin and autoimmune conditions. A ND will help you determine the right bacterial strains and optimal dosing for your individual health.

Dr. Kristin Schnurr, ND is at the Sage Clinic in Victoria BC. www.sageclinic.com www.drkristinschnurr.com