09.27.07
mother nature vs. big pharm
posted by Sandy M. Bushberg | 10 comments
In the ongoing battle between the natural and synthetic influences on our lives, careful observers may notice that Mother Nature has been slowly but surely gaining some foot holds in the ever present and ever expanding land of Big Pharm. I would like to bring your attention to yet another recent study that has planted a good size foot down on BP’s diabetes territory. Here is an article about a study that compared the impact of EGCG (Epigallocatechin 3-gallate) with that of GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia drug for managing moderate diabetes.
The study was done with mice and showed that the EGCG extract provided as much benefit to the moderately diabetic mice as did the Avandia. Although not a human study, it does continue to add to the growing body of evidence showing that regular consumption of tea helps to control insulin and glucose levels. This is just another notch on the research belt of how tea can help prevent and improve the health of people with mild to moderate diabetes. Imagine the benefit to those that are pre-diabetic!
September 27th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Sandy, I had a big scare in 2003 when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I took the seed implant method, as the least invasive. Well that opened my eyes totally. I will never take a chemically induced cure again. I am still suffering from skin problems related to the seeds (no matter what they say)
Happy to say that I have completely stopped taking any other medication that was prescribed, almost 3 years ago, cured myself from an asthmatic condition with Garlic (big dose everyday).
Folks, there are all natural ways Mother Nature has provided for us. Most especially the best TEA, and other herbal infusions including barks, grasses etc.
We still have the best medical system in the world. But many doctors are too linked to Big Pharma to pay their way.
Thank God we still have a choice. So it’s still “Caveat Emptor” buyer beware. You know yourself better than anyone. Conduct your examination first. Cure the cause not the symptom.
Over all I am healthy, hail, and hearty, and never felt better in my life.
Sandy, thanks for that report. The rest of you please pay heed…..PJF
September 27th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Paul - Your comment resonates for many! Traditional western practitioners of medicine reach for their prescription pads before they ever make a lifestyle recommendation. Heck, no doctor ever got a Carribean vacation (bonus!) by recommending that a patient drink tea!
We Americans love the notion that we can take a pill to fix everything, and we raise nary an eyebrow when suddenly we have to take another pill to undo the side effects of that first pill. The chemistry is so invasive that suddenly we are in a fix . . . it is not only dangerous to take the drug, but lethal to STOP taking it. Remember the Vioxx and phen-fen (sic) fiascos? Not enough study.
Tea has 5000 years. Think I’ll go have a cuppa right now. Stay well, Paul
September 27th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Thank You Regena, It is my understanding within the 5 categories of Tea there are healing properties that can cure most any ailment.
The ancients understood this for centuries, and applied this method at all times. Without the need to invent chemically produced drugs (so much for us the advanced civilizations) This was (and still is) much the case throughout the Orient and Asia.
We have so much to learn from this wonderful gift from Mother Nature. We need to keep spreading the word…..PJF
September 27th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
While I certainly have no argument with what’s been said here regarding Big Pharma, I think it should be pointed out that many people would die without some of what is synthesized in the pharmaceutical world (penicillin and other antibiotics come to mind). It’s also important to note where funding comes from for all research, including research on tea components. In the article mentioned, the sponsor of the research was Unilever, “which includes Lipton Tea among its 400 brands”.
One could take a global view: perhaps it’s not so much what is being made in the pharmaceutical world, but who is making it, why, and how it is used by our medical practitioners and healers. I seriously doubt a person in acute pain would smoke opium as an alternative to a morphine shot if they really needed it; yet management of pain is so poorly understood by the medical community that they are often grabbing at straws to know how to treat patients.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Anne - I’m the first one to agree that modern medicine is great with certain acute problems. Others however have been unconscionable. I’ll use myself as a example. I have osteoporosis. Any doctor you go to will tell you that without drugs, you cannot build new bone, if you’re a post menapausal woman. This is just untrue. I heard about strontium - through an herbalist - it’s a mineral, very similar to calcium, which fell out of favor with American docs when the pharmaceutical industry came into their own. Strontium had been used successfully for decades. I actually found an old 1959 entry from the Mayo clinic which was extolling the wonders of strontium. Enter the pharmaceutical companies. They synthesize this natural mineral, which contributes to side effects and then they charge large amounts for this product which is only available with a prescription. I’ve been taking natural strontium for a year with tremendous results. My endocronologist could hardly believe that I was able to build back substancial bone WITHOUT drugs. Why is it that no one knows about this? Medicine-pharmaceuticals is BIG business. Disease is BIG business. Natural products don’t provide huge profits for manufacterers. It’s all about the bottom line……..money. I was led to believe that medicine was about helping people to get well. That was a very naive understanding of the business of medicine. Are you aware of the fact that more people die each year of side effects from drugs than the number of Americans who were killed in the Vietnam war? But yes, I would agree with your conclusions that some medicines are truly a gift.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Well put Anne, Thank You….PJF
September 27th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I think Michelle expressed far more eloquently how I was going to respond to you Anne. The basis being Pain serves a very important purpose in life. It can keep you alive and alert when you have been injured and need to get away from the source of all that hurt. (combat related experience from an Old Vet.) Pain can be controlled naturally by the mind, and natural means when these drugs are not available. We want to be a pain free society, and the pharmaceutical companies are more than happy to oblige, many times to our untimely demise.
Not to deny that some relief giving drugs are a boon when it becomes totally unbearable.
This is just my opinion, not a judgment on anyones beliefs.
WHAT HAPPENED TO TEA!! Sorry I got lost in the discourse. Everyone have a wonderful tea filled weekend….PJF
September 28th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I guess the point I was trying to make was that it is the HUMANS involved who make the materials (natural or synthesized) useful, or not. Like I said, I don’t disagree with you about Big Pharma, and the great god of profit driving their motives, sometimes at the expense of human health and lives.
I am acutely and personally aware of the down-side of side effects of certain drugs, natural and otherwise. I almost lost one of my sons to a drug’s side efffects a few years ago; likewise, I almost lost my husband last year due to physicians’ mismanagement of pain meds. I also know someone who nearly died while taking “natural” herbal supplements. All of them are alive because a) they listened to their body more than their caregiver, and took it seriously; and b) a hospital was nearby. Humans and drugs interacting, once again.
Meanwhile, research for all of these things in our human pharmacopia is expensive and time-consuming. Who should pay? Unilever’s research on the benefits of EGCG will clearly be used to market their Lipton tea products, which will drive their profits; this isn’t bad in and of itself. People may pay more for their tea, but maybe more will drink it as a result. I don’t know anything about Unilever’s overall corporate policies though (another story for another day).
One thing is clear: a cup of tea never hurt anyone (I think?! : ) )!
September 28th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Boy are you right Anne- thanks
September 28th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Bless You Anne, This is how we all learn from each other. We all have our own life’s “horror stories” the older we get….PJF