Everything that has been discussed in this thread is tied together - it is a fact that in classical drug development most lead drug candidates originated from molecules isolated from natural sources such as herbs. For this reason, alternative medicine is not always a hoax BUT if you have a choice to consume a pure and completely characterized pharmaceutical drug or a mixture of many compounds (most of which are unknown) present in a herb, which would you choose?
Cancer Continues to Worsen America's aging population will increase the number of cancer patients 55 percent by 2020, and doctors may not be able to cope with the additional burden. Today, 11.7 million people, or one in 26, have been diagnosed with the illness. Analyses predict that the number of Americans who are diagnosed with cancer will grow to 18.2 million by 2020, about one in 19 Americans. There may not be enough doctors to care for so many sick people; if current trends continue, the country could face a shortage of up to 4,000 cancer specialists. Increases in cancer have paralleled the increase in the number of Americans over 65. The country can also expect to see increases in heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease as the population ages. Journal of Oncology Practice, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2007: 79-86 USA Today March 14, 2007 Dr. Mercola's Comment: This concerning new report raises serious concerns about the effects of the aging of America, particularly the baby boomer generation. As cancer increases, a resulting shortage of cancer specialists means a shrinking amount of help -- albeit from an already failed and drug-addicted conventional medical paradigm. The silver lining: Many baby boomers are realizing natural medicine offers better, safer and less expensive solutions for their health issues than conventional medicine could ever do. With that in mind, I urge you to review my major recommendations for virtually eliminating your cancer risks. They involve making basic lifestyle changes and never include an unnecessary and potentially toxic drug or procedure. Please remember in nearly all cases cancer is the result of long-term exposure to conditions that your body was not designed for. If you follow a simple healthy lifestyle you can develop a virtually impenetrable shield that will protect you from nearly all cancers. If you did not see the video I did on how you can reduce your risk of cancer by 50 percent please be sure and watch it as it could be the best five-minute investment of time you ever made. The following are my other major recommendations: 1. Control your insulin levels: Make certain that you limit your intake of processed foods and sugars as much as possible. 2. Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats and make sure you use cod liver oil if you don't have regular access to sun exposure. 3. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks. 4. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure (addressed in my video). This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. If you have regular access to sun exposure then you should use fish oil, not cod liver oil, as your primary source of omega-3 fats. Ideally, it would be best to monitor your vitamin D levels. 5. Eat according to your metabolic type. The potent anti-cancer effects of this principle are very much underappreciated. When we treat cancer patients in our clinic this is one of the most powerful anti-cancer strategies we have. 6. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique. 7. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. However, please understand that, frequently, fresh conventionally grown vegetables are healthier than organic ones that are older and wilted in the grocery store. They are certainly better than no vegetables at all, so don't use that as an excuse. If you are a carb metabolic type you may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than a protein metabolic type. 8. Make sure you are not in the two-thirds of the population who are overweight and maintain an ideal body weight. 9. Get enough high-quality sleep. 10. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution. 11. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Cancer-Continues-to-Worsen-8023.aspx
In my opinion most would and should pick natural sources to stay healthy and also for specific medical problems when the studies show natural sources to be as good as medicine or the medical treatment is not adequate. Examples are drinking tea, eating veggies and fruits over vitamins. For blood thinner - fish oil, vitamin E, magnesium I think would be much better than coumiden. Fish oil and exercise for depression, at least to try before taking medication. I try to look with an open mind at both sides of the natural & medical views and hopefully pick the best one for me. Mercola is a good site but he's wrong on some things and changes his mind on little evidence. I can't find any proof for his metabolic diet theory.
Read years ago about a study done in Germany - Janker Clinic? - a terminal cancer clinic, where they gave a group intravenous Vit C at the rate of 20 g per day, and a large % were cured - maybe 30-40%. The control group all died, as expected, in 90 or so days, and the treated group that did die lasted much longer, maybe 150 days or so, and with a much increased quality of life during this period. Anybody ever hear of this before ?
Mercola's site is good but definatly take what he says with a grain of salt. Whenever I read about something new I'll do a pubmed search to start off and see it there's any merit to it. I remember Mercola being big about eating raw eggs, that it was the only way to eat them, then he changed his mind you gotta cook them but not scramble them, I think he may be touting raw eggs again now.
Your probably right. There are a lot of population studies showing it lowers heart disease and cancer, no pills to swallow and the buzz is an added plus.