04-08-2013, 17:48
Medical professionals tend to be opposed to natural supplements. If there isn't research in a medical journal endorsing an herbal remedy, most doctors don't want to hear about it. But because natural ingredients cannot be patented, the research rarely exists to show the merits of natural alternatives to drugs – and under the present system, probably never will.
Natural Ingredients Cannot Be Patented. Pharmaceutical companies rake in the big dollars for drugs that contain precisely controlled chemical formulas - recipes concocted in a laboratory to carry precise dosages and yield predictable effects. Most of the compounds in these drugs occur somewhere in nature, but never in isolated, precise doses like those in medical drugs.
It's only by isolating them and patenting the process to create these drugs that biotech companies earn the exclusive right to sell a drug – a patent.
Without a patent, any other drug company that wants to cash in on a pill's success can copy it and take a slice of the market. So unpatentable treatments like herbal remedies, homeopathy, essential oils, and other traditional medicines don't interest the big pharmaceutical companies, except for the chemical compounds they can isolate from a plant and duplicate.
Who Funds Expensive Medical Research?
The reality is that most medical research, even that done by colleges and universities, is funded by big pharma. And without the potential payoff of an ingredient that can be patented, few are willing to invest millions in research to establish the health benefits of whole plants and natural remedies. Under the present system, to do so would mean throwing away money with no possibility of return.
Unfortunately, few other funding sources exist for costly medical research – so the research on natural treatments, for the most part, just doesn't get done.
Natural Treatments Are More Difficult to Prescribe
To top it off, natural treatments like essential oils, homeopathy, and energy work don't have a "standard dose." They work slightly differently for each person – something the drugs companies would be appalled to hear said about their own products – and use of natural treatments must be tailored to the individual's needs, metabolism, their state of health and other factors.
Because the use of herbs, essential oils, and other natural treatments requires a bit more fine-tuning than prescribing a drug, physicians are wary of suggesting them. They take more work and arguably require significant training to prescribe appropriately – training most doctors, at present, don't have. Why would they, when the money isn't there for the pharmaceutical companies to teach them about natural medicines the way they educate them about drugs?
Quality Varies Widely Among Natural Supplements
What's more, there is some cause for concern about the quality of natural supplements. Because they cannot be patented or standardized, one company's oregano oil may be substantially different from the next brand's oregano oil – and this can have a serious impact on the consumer.
Some natural supplements heal and others can do harm – even if they appear to have identical ingredients – depending on the farming or collection of the ingredients, the processing, what else may have been added, and how long the bottle sat on a shelf.
Your Doctor is Unlikely to Prescribe Natural Remedies Any Time Soon Because…
companies cannot patent natural ingredients
research takes money – and it's not worth it to the drug companies to invest unless there is a potential payout in the form of a drug patent
more variable doses mean natural treatments are difficult to research and difficult to prescribe
quality of ingredients is likewise not standardized.
Natural Ingredients Cannot Be Patented. Pharmaceutical companies rake in the big dollars for drugs that contain precisely controlled chemical formulas - recipes concocted in a laboratory to carry precise dosages and yield predictable effects. Most of the compounds in these drugs occur somewhere in nature, but never in isolated, precise doses like those in medical drugs.
It's only by isolating them and patenting the process to create these drugs that biotech companies earn the exclusive right to sell a drug – a patent.
Without a patent, any other drug company that wants to cash in on a pill's success can copy it and take a slice of the market. So unpatentable treatments like herbal remedies, homeopathy, essential oils, and other traditional medicines don't interest the big pharmaceutical companies, except for the chemical compounds they can isolate from a plant and duplicate.
Who Funds Expensive Medical Research?
The reality is that most medical research, even that done by colleges and universities, is funded by big pharma. And without the potential payoff of an ingredient that can be patented, few are willing to invest millions in research to establish the health benefits of whole plants and natural remedies. Under the present system, to do so would mean throwing away money with no possibility of return.
Unfortunately, few other funding sources exist for costly medical research – so the research on natural treatments, for the most part, just doesn't get done.
Natural Treatments Are More Difficult to Prescribe
To top it off, natural treatments like essential oils, homeopathy, and energy work don't have a "standard dose." They work slightly differently for each person – something the drugs companies would be appalled to hear said about their own products – and use of natural treatments must be tailored to the individual's needs, metabolism, their state of health and other factors.
Because the use of herbs, essential oils, and other natural treatments requires a bit more fine-tuning than prescribing a drug, physicians are wary of suggesting them. They take more work and arguably require significant training to prescribe appropriately – training most doctors, at present, don't have. Why would they, when the money isn't there for the pharmaceutical companies to teach them about natural medicines the way they educate them about drugs?
Quality Varies Widely Among Natural Supplements
What's more, there is some cause for concern about the quality of natural supplements. Because they cannot be patented or standardized, one company's oregano oil may be substantially different from the next brand's oregano oil – and this can have a serious impact on the consumer.
Some natural supplements heal and others can do harm – even if they appear to have identical ingredients – depending on the farming or collection of the ingredients, the processing, what else may have been added, and how long the bottle sat on a shelf.
Your Doctor is Unlikely to Prescribe Natural Remedies Any Time Soon Because…
companies cannot patent natural ingredients
research takes money – and it's not worth it to the drug companies to invest unless there is a potential payout in the form of a drug patent
more variable doses mean natural treatments are difficult to research and difficult to prescribe
quality of ingredients is likewise not standardized.