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By 1930, "Dr." John R. Brinkley of Arkansas, Kansas had transplanted over 16,000 goat testicles into men who wanted to relive their youth. At $750 per procedure, he became a wealthy man. Needless to say, we would call his practice quackery at best.

The thing most people don't realize is that because of loopholes in the law, people can be legally duped in much the same way. You can take anything you want other than recognized poisons and illegal drugs, package it up and sell it as a food additive. The only restriction is that you cannot make claims of any medical benifit on the container itself. They can make as many claims as they want away from the container. As long as those claims are not made on the container itself, there is no regulation on the product in the United States.

One poor fellow that I saw in the emergency room had a terrible case of Rhus Dermatitis. That is the medical term for what is commonly called poison oak or poison ivy. He had started out getting a small area of rash on his arm. So, he went down to the local health food store and bought a poison ivy treatment.

After taking the 'cure' he proceeded to get profoundly worse. By the time I saw him he had a rash all over his body and was extremely miserable. I found the reason by carefully reading the bottle. The 'cure' was a naturopathic remedy that had poison ivy in it! How ridiculous is that?

The advertising that you see for some products makes it immediately obvious that the product is useless. Anyone trained in anatomy and physiology would know right away that the claims were false.

One good example is when the claims are contradictory. Rheumatoid arthritis and allergies are good examples of problems caused by overactive immune systems. Yet I have seen products claim that they not only help with allergies but they boost the immune system. You can't have it both ways folks.

The other thing that makes you go hmm... is when the advertising claims that the product causes specific physiologic changes in the body. Then they go on and claim that the product does not contain a drug. But, check the definition of a drug: 'A substance used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a disease'. Clearly, if you are claiming that your product can be used to treat or prevent disease, you are talking about a drug. If you say that your substance does not contain a drug, then you can't say it is preventing or treating a disease. Here again, you can't have it both ways.

But, you may say, what I am taking is just plant parts. When my father was in pharmacy school in the 1950's, virtually all drugs were made by collecting plants and mixing them in certain ways to prepare drugs. Now, people do the same thing, but they are able to sell them as food aditives because they make no claims about their properties 'on the container'.

Having said that, I have nothing against people using herbal remedies. In fact I'm all for it. But it is important to understand what that entails.

Let's look at an example. Digoxin. This drug once was commonly prescribed for heart problems. You don't see it as much any more because safer and more effective drugs have been found for most heart conditions.

Digitalis comes from the foxglove plant. Foxgloves are a beautiful flower found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. My wife can remember people being paid to go out and harvest them so that drug companies could get digoxin from them.

Digoxin is rather peculiar because there is a very narrow range of the drug that can be safely taken. Take too little and it does nothing. Take too much and it can actually kill you.

Furthermore, different plants have different amounts of the drug. It depends on what type of soil the plant grew in. How much sun it got. Even if there were any insects or animals that had nibbled on it. The part of the plant that you tested would also reveal that there were vastly different amounts of the drug in the leaves as compared to the roots.

A good example of that is rhubarb. The leaves are poisonous. The stems are good in pies.

Unfortunately, the guinea pigs I had as a kid found out the hard way. But, I did have a nice funeral for them.

It might surprise you that in a recent study, a large percentage of the herbal remedies sold did not even contain the parts of the plant that had been shown to be useful!

My advice? First of all get yourself a good reference. There is one book that should be in the library of everyone planning to use an herbal remedy and every doctor too for that matter. That is the PDR for Herbal Medicine.

This book lists every herbal medicine that is know to have a real medicinal effect. It also tells you potential side effects, what part of the plant has the active ingredient and what the medicinal effect it.

Once you know what you want to use, the next step is obtaining it. The best method is to grow your own so you know exactly what you are getting. That way you can make sure the plant is healthy and you are using the part of the plant that will help you and not harm you.

If you cannot grow your own, the next best thing is to do a bit of research and find a company that is known for its integrity and quality control. Then stick with them.

Finally, make sure your doctor knows what you are taking. There is some possibility that your herbal medicine may interact or interfere with any medication that you are being prescribed.

With the proper knowledge and a good source, you should be getting some good benifit from your herbal medication. But, beware of the claims of those other products.