There is an old Chinese saying … “Children can be fooled into thinking yellow leaves are made of gold, but grownups should be able to distinguish the real thing.” Let that be a lesson to us all when it comes to buying alternative medicine, health products and advice. An American philosopher was more specific. Mark Twain once quipped “Beware of buying health books. You might die of a misprint.”
This year, it is estimated that less than one percent of the 3.8 trillion dollars we will spend on health care will be spent on primary prevention. We have what Dr. Walter Bortz, former head of the American Geriatric Society, called “a health care system designed for when lightning strikes.” We do great when someone is hit by a car, but we do not do as well with chronic illnesses like arthritis, back pain, and hypertension.

Rise  of Alternative Medicine

In response to this, people are turning to complementary health care alternatives. When interviewed, almost 50% of Americans said that they used some form of alternative medical therapy. Couple this fact with a change in the law in 1994 and you can understand why miracle cure marketing abounds these days.
The FDA used to require that in order to promote a product that promised a cure or an improvement in performance, companies had to prove their claims to the FDA. More importantly they had to prove the product was safe. When Congress changed hands in 1994, that all changed. To limit the powers of the FDA, Congress did away with those restrictions on businesses.

 

FDA no longer watching too close

Now, anything goes, whether it works or not, until the FDA can prove the product is unsafe. The problem is not just that many of these therapies are ineffective, some are downright dangerous. For example, prior to 1994, many of the sports enhancing supplements now popular amongst competitive and recreational athletes would have been classified as illegal drugs. Now, after changing the law, professional athletes make millions off endorsing them. Safety and effectiveness are no longer an issue.
From supplement companies that claim their creatine will make you Payton Manning or Tyrell Davis, to scores of cures for arthritis and a host of other ailments, we have companies making billions on unproven claims and hype.

 

Office of Alternative Medicine

 

The Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs, said “I’m turned off by the idea of cures. Immediately, when I hear that word, my defenses go up. Our challenge is to get people in the alternative medicine community away from the panacea notion and to be more realistic about what they are trying to say.” His office is currently working on helping therapists and researchers gain the scientific acumen to be able to conduct studies that legitimately and fairly test the effectiveness of their therapies. Until this happens, it is up to the buyer to look after their own safety. But, perhaps with better information, it will become easier to distinguish yellow leaves from true gold.
Even in the exercise field marketing hype often outstrips reality. As regular readers know, my own efforts in improving the health education among older adults has focused in recent years upon the mind/body exercise of T’ai chi Chuan. Quite frankly, in all the years I have worked in improving performance in aging, it is by far the most effective thing I have found … and there is plenty of research to back it up. Yet, because of T’ai chi’s increasing popularity, many people think that anyone slowly flapping their arms around in the park is doing T’ai chi. As with anything else in a free market, the buyer must make sure the steak they are buying matches the sizzle they have been promised. To really get the benefits of T’ai chi or any other form of exercise hire, a good coach – an experienced teacher. There is a reason the Broncos pay millions each year for an experienced, proven coaching staff … It works!

Use your head when you are making decisions about your body and use your body’s awareness to help make those decisions, if something feels wrong it probably is. “caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware, has long been the principle that guides business decisions. Let that also guide decisions about healthy lifestyle products and services.
Ultimately the responsibilty for health lies with the person whose name goes on the tombstone. No doctor, supplement sales rep or untrained fitness instructor is going to put their name on your tombstone.

Stay tuned to the Barefoot Doctor’s Journal for more infomation on how you can avoid being fooled by “yellow leaves.”