

How Acupuncture May Work - jedwhite
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703630304575270792112727252-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMTEwNDEyWj.html

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bjcubsfan
These methods for how acupuncture may work seem to be reaching, especially for
something that has been shown to be no more effective than a placebo. Some
better reading on acupuncture may be this great book that I read:
[http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Oil-Science-Complementary-
Altern...](http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Oil-Science-Complementary-
Alternative/dp/0195383427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275404320&sr=1-1)
Also you can check out the links at this great website:
<http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/acupuncture/>

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lhorie
Interesting that you mention placebo, given the criticism it has been
receiving lately (e.g. placebo studies often rely on patients stating how they
feel, rather than measuring chemical levels). The study published in Nature
essentially opens the possibility to study acupuncture without relying on
patient-reported data.

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jimfl
Flaccid lede. A very flat and not particularly informative article.

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lhorie
The paper on Nature is much more in-depth, if you're interested.

[http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.25...](http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.2562.html)

This is actually a somewhat big milestone for acupuncture. It's been
historically accused of being snake oil because there was no known mechanism
of action. Now there is.

This part of the study is particularly promising:

"Acupuncture combined with pharmacological suppression of AMP deaminase
activity should theoretically increase the availability of adenosine and
thereby enhance the clinical benefits of acupuncture. As a proof of principle,
we found that mice treated with a Food and Drug Administration approved
deaminase inhibitor, deoxycoformycin, exhibited more potent increases in
adenosine and benefitted from a longer-lasting suppression of chronic pain
following acupuncture."

