NASAdude

I took an art class my sophomore year where my professor claimed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was able to heal herself by eating right, exercising, and natural supplements (didn't mention which ones). She claimed that there are some natural supplements that really do work and said that there should be more studies conducted to find out which actually work. She said that the reason there wasn't research done is that there is more money in the drug industry than the natural supplement industry. For example, doctors give perscriptions for drugs and not natural supplements. Why? She said natural supplements unproven due to lack of research and that drug companies 'pay' doctors in different ways for using their brand of drugs (free samples, stuff, etc.). I don't know how right or wrong her claims are, this is just what she said. Personally, I don't really know much about this topic, but I am sure that there are some gems out there (Aspirin comes to mind). Well-conducted, unbiased research is needed to find them.

There are a few points I'd like to address.

• Doctors are "bribed" by drug reps to push a product. I'm not for legislating every little thing, but I do see this issue becoming more of a problem, as it feeds on the doctor's individual greed, rather than an altruistic desire to help people.
• I think the reason most doctors don't "prescribe" (no prescription necessary) supplements is that they want to see quality clinical research that shows the remedy works without serious side effects. I think this is a good thing. Doctors should be open to recommending supplements if there is good research to warrant the recommendation


• I find it questionable to say that natural supplements are unproven due to lack of reserach. The supplement industry is huge, and can easily fund the research. That's why I made the comment in the article about lack of published research to be a big red flag. If you see something advertised on TV (weight loss, ED, etc.) and can't find properly-conducted clinical studies on it, definitely don't buy it.
• Of course, as a consumer, should it be our responsibility to vet every medication we take? That's part of the reason we have the FDA. The supplement industry purposefully doen't make any specific medical claims to avoid the scrutiny of the FDA. Are they simply trying to save money, or should we question the potency of their product. Some argue that meeting FDA criteria is too difficult/expensive, but is it in the public interest to relax the FDA's standards to make it easier to get a supplement approved for medicinal purposes? Time will tell.