Pharmaceuticals Versus Natural Remedies

The books are everywhere. They profess to have found natural remedies for everything from the common cold to supposed cures for cancer, diabetes and other major illnesses. They’re put out by major publishers like “Prevention,” “Reader’s Digest” and “Bottom-Line.” Not only these, but medical doctors such as Dr. Julian Whitaker and Dr. David Williams are publishing newsletters with these cures and one man, Thomas Smith, self-published his book (“Insulin: Our Silent Killer”) on how he cured himself of diabetes. When you visit your physician, more than likely he or she will shrug off these supposed natural cures and prescribe a pharmaceutical drug for whatever ails you.

What are we to believe? How can we know the truth? A man named Kevin Trudeau wrote several books about natural cures, the main one being “Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About.” Trudeau claims that the pharmaceutical companies, along with the FDA, the FTC and the AMA, among other organizations, have been deliberately concealing the truth about these natural cures to keep the money rolling in from pharmaceutical sales. The truth may be even more insidiously evil.

According to a report released June 12, 2008 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission, frequently prescribed pharmaceuticals caused more deaths in 2007 than illegal drugs. In fact, the death rate from pharmaceuticals is over three times higher. In addition, most prescription drugs don’t cure diseases. They mask symptoms and many are ineffective at doing that. Some even worsen the condition for which they’re prescribed. Armed with this information, trying natural cures for disease appears to be the safer alternative.