Where the Evidence is Sprouting Up!
The power of Nature is immense!
GreenMedInfo.com provides the world with an internet resource that is entirely evidence-based, and is not associated with the sale of any product or service. We love the idea, and hope you do too! (More on our mission)
Our advertisement free project is only possible thanks to user donations. Please feel free to make a donation so that we can cover our basic hosting costs, and to share this resource with others so that it can be of service to as many people as possible.
*Why do we need an Alternative Toxicology database? Modern toxicological research often minimizes the risks and harms associated with the drugs and chemicals we are exposed to. Greemedinfo.com gathers information that is under-reported, minimized and/or suppressed which may indicate the true extent of unintended consequences and/or adverse effects associated with their use. This information can then be used to counterbalance conventional views and perspectives so that the consumer or patient can make a truly informed decision.
Introducing A Powerful New Feature:
"Evidence Density"
This month has been a whirlwind of activity as Cameron (our website developer) and myself (Sayer) have been working into the wee hours of the night improving on the database in order to make the increasingly voluminous information more intelligible and user friendly.
As you may know the primary mission of Greenmedinfo.com is to collect, index, disseminate and popularize the scientific data in existence today on the therapeutic value of natural substances and modalities, which is why our motto is: "Where the Evidence is Sprouting Up!"
The challenge with such a project is that we now have over 13,000 studies indexed, with our "Cancers: All" page alone containing over 1,400 studies. This much information is hard to get a grasp on, and may leave the user feeling overwhelmed.
Our solution to this problem has been to devise an evidence scoring system which will enable us to present the data to the user in a more intelligible and compelling manner. There are two immediate ways in which you will see this system operating on the site. They are explained below.
We have attributed a numerical value to each study type on our database giving greater weight to Meta-Analysis, Human Studies, Animal Studies, In Vitro (Cell) studies – in that order. This is our scoring system, at present:
Meta-Analysis: 20 points
Human Study: 10 points
Human Study: Case Report: 3 points
Animal Studies: 2 points
In Vitro: 1 point
Review: 1 point
Commenary: 1 point
(Note: This scoring system is somewhat arbitrary. However, it provides a starting place and does correspond with the general sentiment within the scientific, medical and academic communities that human studies receive priority over animal and test tube (in vitro) ones.)
Now that we have created a numerical value for each study type, we have applied this algorithim to the entire site and have generated a score which we are calling "Evidence Density" for each Substance or Ailment.
Below is an example of our Ailments Display page which can now be sorted like an excel table to list the diseases in order of those with the greatest overall evidence-density. If you click the word "Evidence Density" it will take the page you see below and sort it so that it appears like the page beneath it….
After sorting…..
The same filtering can be done for "Article Count" so you can see which diseases, for instance, have the most research performed on them on our database. This same feature is also applicable to our Substances Index. This sorting feature of our new Evidence scoring system may be helpful to some, but we think the second feature described below will be of the greatest help to website users and will take the project to a new (mainstream accessible) level.
We’ve create "Quick Summaries" to make the thousands of studies easier to understand.
After all, if someone is sick and needing to know which substance has the most research (both in article number and "evidence density"), they no longer have to spend the time looking at the hundreds of studies to come up with an answer to their questions.
Let’s take our Autoimmune Diseases Page as an example.
It contains 534 studies, which is a formidable amount of data to draw any conclusion about. Now, if you look at the top of the page (first image below) you will see a box which lists the Top 10 Substances relevant to the condition. If you look below the box you will see 3 lines:
>Quick Summary: Top Problem Substances———————
>Quick Summary: Top Therapeutic Actions———————
>Quick Summary: Top Problematic Actions———————
These are expandable boxes as well. So, if you click one you will see the box expand beneath (second image below):
AFTER CLICKING….
We hope this will make the data much easier to work with and understand and will give the layperson and mainstream user the tools they need to make more informed choices!
Note: An important point that must be emphasized here is that some substances will not make it to the Top 10, which are highly therapeutic for a particular condition (considering the particularities of the person’s constitution, of course), and there are some substances which will not make it on our database at all, due to the paucity of research available on that particular substance. This does not mean that what is not discussed is not valuable or therapeutic. Our database is not intended to be a "Codex Alimentarius" like project which denounces what it does not affirm. Rather, it is simply an evidence-based sieve to filter out of the vast Medline database those studies which are relevant to natural medicine. As we add another 12,000 studies to this project in 2011, the data should become much more robust and a better representation of the extant research on the subject.
Greenmedinfo.com’s Consumer Health Advocacy
Empowering people with the truth
The mass market is awash in toxic products and it is a great passion of ours to reveal the true dangers associated with their consumption and/or exposure. We are building one of the largest alternative toxicology databases on "Problem Substances" for this reason.
This past month we did three consumer reports on the following products. Click the images below to view the full reports.
Flinstones Completely Outrageous "Vitamin"
Know of a suspicious product you would like us to feature? Would you like to get updates of new consumer reports AS they happen? Join us on Facebook for daily posts.
Radio Interview: Sayer Ji on EMP Radio’s Truth To Power
FEATURED CLINICAL SPROUTS
The verdict is out: chocolate warms and HEALS the cockles of the heart…
As of 2007 74.1% of American adults are overweight or obese. While there are no magic bullets and the primary causes
are over-consumption of nutrient-depleted high calorie foods and endocrine disruption via synthetic chemicals, we do offer these 200+ studies for your perusal as potential aids in the struggle to maintain a healthy weight.
In traditional Chinese medicine Red sage is used to prevent and treat heart attacks and strokes. We have collected 35 studies on the therapeutic potential of this most interesting and powerful herb…..
If you are curious why the European Union recently announced a ban of Bisphenol A (BPA) in infant feeding bottles to go into effect by mid-2011, the following toxicology information will help explain the soundness of this policy. The FDA still refuses to admit BPA (which is found in most plastics, canned food and shopping receipt paper) is dangerous.
Various exposures to toxic metals have become a fact of life. These studies indicate natural substances which reduce the toxicity of metal exposure and/or accumulation in our tissues……
After sorting through thousands of biomedical studies on the topic I have been led to the conclusion that the two most prominent factors contributing to the supposedly unexplained phenomenon of "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)" are Vaccination AND the use of infant formula. Here are the results of the investigation….
30 reasons why "Watchful Irradiation" may be patently insane….
Did You See Our Bright New Ideas?
A Time-Saving Search Function Designed for Researchers,
Clinicians, and Health Professionals….
The Multi-Disease Specific Substance Finder
Our exciting new search tool feature, the Multi-Disease Specific Substance Finder, allows registered users* to find exactly those natural substances in our database which have value for all of up to five different diseases.
*registration is free. Create a new account in one easy step here.
Automatic Email Updates
Now when the "Evidence Sprouts Up!" you can get it delivered straight to your inbox!
We have introduced a new free subscription feature to all the topics on GreenMedInfo.com. Logged in visitors can subscribe to any substance, ailment, pharmacological, keyword, etc, so that when a new article relevant to that topic is added you will receive an email notification in the manner you choose, e.g. as it happens, daily, weekly, etc.
Quote of the Month
"Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem." ~ Kahlil Gibran
Projects That We Support……
The Wheat & Gluten Education Center
Join us for an exploration of the science and theory behind wheat and gluten intolerance and the rationale for universal avoidance.
Amend the Constitution to Grant Americans Medical Freedom…
Fighting for the fundamental human right of bodily-self possession and self-determination
Click here to view and sign the petition
Worldwide Autism Study – VRM
Vaccine Resistance Movement is a grass roots, non-profit organization striving for safe alternatives to vaccines. It is our goal, through this study, to determine an accurate percentage of those un-vaccinated autistic children & adults vs. those un-vaccinated children & adults who have not become autistic. Essentially what we are trying to identify is the healthy trend in un-vaccinated children & adults.
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