"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”
— Upton Sinclair 1878-1968

The history of medicine

To understand the interesting world of doctors and nutritional supplements (Vitamins, Minerals and Natural Supplements) it is useful to have a look back at the roots of modern medicine.

Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) a Greek Physician has been described as the Father of Medicine. Doctors are guided in their conduct by the Hippocratic Oath.

Hippocrates considered the body as a whole rather than the sum of a collection of parts. Hippocrates believed that good health was a natural state and that disease an abnormality. His focus was to assist nature in helping the body reach its natural healthy state.

His teachings stressed the importance of prevention of disease, not just the treatment of symptoms. He taught the use of food and exercise to prevent sickness and the improvement of general health.

The development of modern medicine

In the 17th and 18th century with the development of the microscope, scientists and physicians were able to view the cells function.

This led to the improved understanding of bacteria and the development of modern medicines: The focus for modern medicine became the dealing with sickness rather than health.

A much needed shift in thinking

The ongoing development of antibiotics has resulted in the decline in deaths from infectious diseases.

But most deaths today are not caused by infectious disease but from chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. The critical point of the problem today and the root cause of degenerative disease are oxidative stress and nutritional deficiencies. There needs to be a paradigm shift in medical thinking from treating disease to disease prevention. The problem is current paradigms are like traditions and they take time to change.

By far, most of the healthcare today is spent on medication and treatment of symptoms once someone is sick. A very small percentage is spent on prevention. A new relationship between doctors and vitamins; nutritional supplements; prevention over cure needs to occur.

Doctors bias against nutritional supplements

I don’t have to look any farther than myself when comes to understanding the basic prejudice doctors have. As I reflect back on my early years of medical practice, I clearly remember my own bias against nutritional supplements. I am sure that my past feelings are not too different from those of the majority of physicians practicing medicine today.

Maybe you heard from your doctors when asked about food supplements that… “We physicians must rely on scientific research studies conducted through double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials.”
Well, that’s true for drugs. Natural ingredients in food supplements cannot be patent so no company will spend millions of pesos/dollars to conduct such clinical trials.

I quote Kevin Trudeau, author of the book Natural Cures …"You will never see a pharmaceutical company promoting a natural cure … natural cures cannot be patent! There are no large profits in selling a natural cure that cannot be patented.”

I am one among the millions of beneficiaries of natural supplements. More than a decade ago, I suffered from a severe cervical whiplash due to a vehicular accident. I experienced excruciating neck and left shoulder pains for almost 6 months not alleviated by pain killer pills and physical rehabilitation. The severity of my condition prompted me to look for alternative measures until I came across a book on vitamins, minerals and natural therapy. And surprisingly it worked. And part of the reason I have changed my mind about nutritional supplements is the quality of our diet.

Most doctors still maintain that we can obtain all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients we need from a normal healthy diet. It would be good if this was the case but because of degradation of the food supply it has become almost impossible to achieve a diet for optimal health and the prevention of degenerative disease.

One of the greatest reasons for confusion amongst medical doctors, and therefore the general population is the reliance on recommended daily allowances, RDA’s (or recommended daily Intake, RDI’s.)

RDA’s were developed as a guide to prevent acute nutritional deficiency. Deficiency diseases are those such as pellagra, rickets and scurvy. The RDA’s have been successful in reducing the frequencies of these diseases to an absolute minimum.

The problem is that somehow RDA’s have become a guide for optimal nutrition which is not what they were designed to do.

Optimal nutrition is the level of nutrition required to prevent chronic degenerative diseases such as Arthritis, Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Osteoporosis, Diabetes and heart disease.

Sadly, majority of doctors don’t spend a great deal of time studying nutrition. Because most physicians are disease-drug oriented, spending time and effort trying to identify a disease process then prescribe a drug or treatment plan for the patient.

Prevention of disease should be the first order of business for any physician.