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Article: Food for Thought, Naturally
As I was eating my carrots for lunch I reflected back on some of the comments I heard this morning while discussing health eating “I only feed organic foods”, “It said it was natural” and “I don’t let her eat processed sugar, only natural juice”. According to Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition, Neither Organic, Natural or Herbal are synonymous to HEALTHY. I’m not sure who the marketing genius was that intertwined these words in our lexicon, but he has sure made my life difficult. Let me state clearly, from the outset, that as much as I don’t want you to automatically assume organic or natural cures are healthy, I am not assuming they are bad either. I just think the same consideration should go into anything we put into our bodies, no matter the source.
Let’s start this discussion with the thought that a natural remedy is better or healthier than a man-made drug. If any substance is to have an effect on the human body, there are both good and bad things that happen when you ingest that substance. Let’s look at a natural thing in the body like the immune system: if it is under-active, we get more progressive and worse infections. But if it is over-active, we get allergies. So you have to think twice if you see a product that claims to have an effect on the body while also claiming no side effects. (Let’s call side effects anything that happens to the body that is outside the original intent of the substance.) With this in mind, know that the converse applies as well: if there are no side effects and a particular remedy can be given to anyone, in any state of health, at any age, there are probably no primary effects either.
Once upon a time, there were sick people. They would go to their local healer who would offer some diagnosis. Then he would get some leaf off of a plant and give it to the patient. Sometimes the illness would be cured. Sometimes it would get worse or other problems would emerge. And sometimes, the patient would die. You can imagine how inexact it was. Have you ever noticed how some peaches are sweet and juicy while others are bland and mealy? Natural organic products do not contain the same amounts in each dosage. So just like one peach may have more sugar than another, one leaf may have 3-400X as much of the key ingredient listed on the package. As science improved, we were able to measure the exact amount so we could cut down on the unwanted side effects. We also were able to isolate the exact molecule that had the effect we desired. It fits into a receptor like a key in a lock. So now we could get rid of all the extra stuff that had no effect on our target receptor, thereby limiting side effects. This is how the modern Pharmaceutical production began. By taking a plant or natural herb, isolating the effective part, and then reproducing it, modern drugs were able to treat specific symptoms while producing limited side effects.
The most important clue to determining a remedy’s effectiveness is systematic, scientific testing. I think this applies to ALL medicine. I would not prescribe anything that was not studied to prove it does what it is supposed to do, and that it is not harmful. Even despite the rigorous tests modern pharmaceuticals undergo, look how many things are taken off the market because of problems. There was a time where snake oil salesmen would ride into town, sell a product that they claimed could heal everything, only to skip town with everyone’s money in exchange for a worthless syrup. How do we know what works and what doesn’t without studies? This is even more important for kids. Just because an herbal remedy or drug works for adults, how do we know how these substances will react in kids? Likewise, since most modern medicines were first found in plants, who knows which herbal remedies might lead to the next wave of medical advances? If we don’t do more studies, no one will ever know. We need to do more scientific studies on alternative medicine before we simply buy into the hype.
In addition, there are serious issues regarding the regulation and oversight of herbal products. Currently herbs are listed as food supplements. This means they have to be proven dangerous to be removed from the market. They never need to prove that they do anything, as opposed to pharmaceuticals, which after undergoing safety studies, need to show some efficacy to support the claims they make. This all has to happen before even one patient is given a particular drug.
Also, there is no quality control when it comes to herbal products. In one study, researchers pulled 60 bottles of ginkgo biloba off the shelves. The bottles were labeled as having 3 mg of ginkgo biloba in each, but instead, they ranged from 3 to 0.3 mg. Each of the following was also found in amounts between 12-28%: steroids, epinephrine (adrenaline), and caffeine.
There was also the case in St. Louis where four men took an herb and all died. It turned out that the herb in question was grown next to digitalis plants and was cross contaminated. There is also no regulation when it comes to growing, harvesting and production of herbal remedies.
If we do our due diligence and consider risk vs. reward for medicines, I cannot see any advantages in herbal medicines.
As far as the Organic thing goes, it also leaves me feeling uneasy. There are both advantages and disadvantages to organic products. My pet peeve is to assume that Organic= healthy. Some are. Some are not. In general, unprocessed natural foods are much healthier than highly processed foods. So If I need to choose between an organic apple vs. a Twinkie, the apple is better for you.
But do we pick the organic or conventional apple? While it is true that an organic apple has less pesticides and hormones (although again without regulation, we really don’t know how the apple is grown), it will probably contain more bacteria. For young kids, who are building immunity, they can be more susceptible to these harmful bacteria. Unfortunately, kids have died due to drinking organic apple juice which was unpasteurized. Is that a risk you’re willing to take?