Pearls From a Summer Conference

The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) held their 2010 convention last week in my neck-of-the-woods. In attending each day, I realized there are pros and cons to having a conference in the area where you live. One of the advantages of having it close to home is that you don’t have the hassles that go along with traveling, such as flying, booking hotels, eating out, etc. Another plus is that your normal routine is not interrupted to a great degree since you’re able to go home after attending the lectures. However, I found that this aspect can also be a disadvantage. Returning home at the end of the day means that you still have to do chores, water the garden, cook evening meals and do dishes afterward, instead of relaxing in your room or at the pool. However, with reflection, the pluses outweighed the minuses and there were some pretty interesting “pearls” of information I gleaned from the lectures I attended.

One of the first pearls came in a lecture about small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Most discussions about normalizing gut bacteria are about the large intestine, so focusing on the small intestine was somewhat new to me. An important pearl the lecture provided was four key indicators to consider SIBO. The indicators to be alerted to: are when patients report an improvement in GI symptoms with antibiotic use, report worsening of GI symptoms from probiotics, report worsening of constipation with use of fiber and when Celiac patients report little improvement from gluten-free diets.

Another lecture shared the history of Gelotology, the study of laughter. Several studies presented showed that humor/laughter, from watching comic videos, had a discernable positive effect on allergy induced skin problems. The pearl here was the presenters reminding us of how, in general, laughter can be good medicine and then they proceeded to tell jokes for a good part of the hour. I’d relate a couple of the jokes, some of them were really funny, but I can’t remember them.

Cosmetics and personal care products were the subject of great interest to many conference attendees. I also found the information interesting although it made me a little fearful of what’s in my bathroom cabinet. I wanted to trash all my current face, hair and body cleansing products and go shopping for new products, armed with the best information I now had. There has been a lot of media coverage about the health effects of Bisphenol A, found in plastic bottles, IV tubes, etc. But other chemicals, such as hydroquinone and phthalates (pronounced thalates), has not had as much press.
Phthalates are found in a variety of products mainly acting as a “plasticizer” making plastics more flexible, but also used as a solvent. Many medications and any product that has a synthetic fragrance contain phthalates. One primary problem with phthalates is that they disrupt the endocrine system, altering reproductive hormone levels in both men and women. This chemical is also linked to liver cancer. Hydroquinone is found in skin lightening creams, moisturizers, sunscreen, hair coloring products and cigarettes. This chemical has been found to cause skin irritation and contact dermatitis, but is also associated with skin tumors and cancer. The following link will provide more information about these and other chemicals EWG

Two of the most inspiring lectures were the opening and closing sessions, which featured “elders” of the naturopathic profession, Dr. Jared Zeff and Dr. Joseph Pizzorno. The first day, Dr. Zeff led us through the evolution, history and current status of naturopathic medicine, some of which I had never known. Then the last day, Dr. Pizzorno discussed how naturopathic medicine has integrated with conventional medicine and talked about the future of the profession. There was such a variety of lectures and so many more information pearls I could share. All in all, I feel pretty blessed that the AANP conference was held in Portland and that I had the chance to attend.

Sherry LaBeck, N.D.