Let us not undervalue natural medicine

SOME drug companies would stop at nothing to maximize their profit to the point of discrediting natural and herbal alternatives.

Remember those days when a TV ad explicitly showed a woman sweeping fallen leaves to promote an anti-cough syrup being endorsed by a TV personality?

Obviously, the manufacturer of that mucolytic wanted us to underrate lagundi leaf, a widely recognized herbal remedy endorsed by the Department of Health for respiratory ailments.

Fortunately, incidentally, a local drug company has been successful in processing lagundi (Vitex negundo) into syrup and capsules, which are now available over the counter.

For many months already, we have been subliminally influenced by radio testimonials endorsing a vitamin D3 brand, as if it were not easily available from nature.

The fact as recognized by health authorities is that the human body can naturally produce vitamin D3 in the skin when exposed to ultraviolet rays from sunlight. It is also found in animal foods like egg yolks and fatty fish.

The other form of vitamin D is D2 from certain plants.

It is unfortunate that many doctors are not knowledgeable in natural medicine. There are times when they prescribe drugs with side effects that harm the patient.  I should know.  After taking a cardiologist-prescribed anti-cholesterol “statin” drug, I suffered from excruciating muscle pains.

It was then that I became interested in reading about natural alternatives. I bought the book “Stop Inflammation Now” by American physician Dr. Richard Fleming. In that book, he recommended specific fruits and cruciferous vegetables as alternatives to anti-cholesterol drugs. I followed the advice. Today, my cholesterol count is normal.

If we only care to look back, we would discover that the book author was merely echoing the Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates (460-357 BC), who first said, “Let your food be your medicine and medicine be your food.”

He knew by then that vegetables and fruits strengthen the body’s built-in immune system, giving it the capacity to fight diseases. That he lived to be an octogenarian proves that he successfully practiced what he preached.

In 1931, English botanist Lucy Wills proved Hippocrates right. She discovered an extract from yeast (a fungus) that could cure anemia. It is now known as folate (Vitamin B9),

Incidentally, the lowly and cheap malunggay has already been proven to be one of the richest boosters of the immune system.

Hippocrates might have heard about herbal practitioners who had preceded him. Despite the primitive means of transportation and communications during his time, herbal medicine as practiced in China for centuries – along with acupuncture and reflexology –had already gained global patronage.

Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan, former secretary of the Department of Health, believes that alternative medicine and conventional medicine are integrative in the sense that they do not oppose but complement each other like parallel tracks on a railroad. In fact, modern medicine has evolved from this time-honored medical principle.

In the book “Living Longer and Healthier,” Dr. Allan Magaziner wrote that 50% of the United States’ population are “hooked” to alternative health care programs with the end view of adding years to life and life to years.

Fortunately, there’s also a growing trend of Filipinos going back to nature. We are familiar with herbal shampoos, herbal soaps, herbal cosmetics and “vitamin-enriched” drinks which are now capturing the fancy of health buffs.

The government, unfortunately, appears lukewarm in properly implementing the Traditional Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1998 that is supposed to encourage drug companies to use cheap native herbs as active components of their products.

But of course, Big Pharma would not stay big that way.