By Tedler D. Depaynos, MD
Despite my long experience in medical and surgical practice I have very limited experience in the so called “food supplements” or those called “herbal” or “native medicines”. I don’t prescribe them in the first place because if you read carefully the accompanying literature it states that “It has no approved therapeutic effect”. Because they are considered “food supplements”, they are not under the control or supervision of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The very few that are considered therapeutic are the ones supervised by the FDA. Other doctors and medical practitioners, however, have different experiences with these medicines depending on their type of practice. In general doctors subscribing to the Hippocratic Oath prescribe medicines which to their knowledge and experience are very effective and suited to their individual patients. Some medicinal drugs may be effective to some patients but not to others.
Most of the time the words, “No approved therapeutic effect” and “Food supplements” are written in very small letters in the literature of these “medicines”. Even in the TV ads when they come out after all their attributes being advertized, they are flashed in just a few seconds and easily missed by the viewer which I suspect is the intention. The main intention of the ads obviously is to sell the products.
As part of their ads, an individual who has been suffering from a certain ailment is made to testify that he/she got well only after taking a certain medicine. The ads may also cite a certain patient from Kapangan or from Pangasinan who is suffering from a certain disease like colon cancer who took a medicine being promoted and got well even without consulting a doctor or undergoing surgery. The “cure all” attributes of the drug being promoted are also emphasized.
I cannot deny that I have not only patients but acquaintances that insist with pride that they got well because of the “supplementary”, “herbal” or “native” medicines that they have been taking. An ex-high official in our city proclaims that his “arthritis” disappeared even demonstrating by kicking as high as he can that he got well by taking some tablets advertised in the local TV. He is very proud that he no longer limps from time to time which was not very presentable when he gets into a platform to speak because it is noticed by his audience implying his unhealthiness. And to think that he is not yet middle aged! Another friend claims that the drinking of “tea” made from leaves of the “guyabano” tree made him stronger and surprisingly look more healthy after he had underwent a second operation which was “open-close” due to an advance intestinal cancer. In fact he has to carry with him a sack full of that tree leaves when he went back to Canada where he is now residing. A coffee mate of mine who is a retired bank executive suddenly started drinking a glassful of red wine nightly because he read that it would prolong his existence and would make him strong. I have read this sometime in a monthly magazine and this was experimented on certain rats and true enough those given the red wine lived longer. I jokingly suggested to him however that the dosage given to the rats should be proportional to the dosage he should be taking considering his size. A glassful is obviously under dosage. A bottle or two perhaps would be more proper. At any rate, I never argue with them and just advised them to continue what they were taking if they think it is good for them.
I cannot likewise deny that I am familiar of numerous patients who were regretting that they took “supplementary”, “herbal” or “native” medicines instead of consulting a doctor or undergoing surgery as advised. Again, I do not argue with them and avoid any unfavorable comments but just give them comforting words.
Citing just one individual, however, who got well from a specific disease because of the intake of a certain “drug” is unscientific. It is obviously misleading but because they may be considered as “food supplements” it is probably not regulated. Real therapeutic medicines are first tested on a group of individuals with a common ailment and the percentage of how many got well is cited. Obviously if out of 100 is tested and just a few got well, the medicine is not therapeutic and not marketed. Most of the time, another similar group is tested and are made to think that they are given the same drug but are just given distilled water or a placebo without them knowing. If they got well, it is due to their belief that they are being given medicines and not due to the medicines per se. This is to eliminate the psychological aspect of the procedure which is a major factor in treating patients. Patients may never get well if they do not trust their doctors and do not believe on the medicines that were prescribed. It is similar to the trust you give to the lawyer handling your case or an engineer building your house. In some cases, the medicines are tested in different groups of people coming from different races. It is tested to the blacks and the results compared to the whites who were given the same medicines. Or tested to the Japanese and the results compared to the Filipinos tested with the same medicine. In short, extensive scientific testing is done on these medicines before their approval by the FDA.
We have to admit that extensive researches are also being done by well known drug companies on native medicines. Aspirin originated from a certain tree bark in Brazil. Natives were observed to take this tree bark when they have fever. So the tree bark was analyzed and the component that reduces fever was identified and isolated. Eventually its chemical identification was known and this was eventually reproduced in the laboratory and marketed as Aspirin. The venom of a certain snake was also observed to cause hypotension and shock to individuals bitten by the snake. Again this venom was analyzed, the component responsible for hypotension was identified, later reproduced in the laboratory and eventually marketed as anti-hypertensive medicine. Hence, one can see the origin of some medicines. The study being made is basically to remove the other components of some native medicines that may cause side effects. Only the component that causes the therapeutic effect is reproduced.
Hence, it is nice to those taking medicines to start the New Year by reading carefully their accompanying literature and should be aware of deceiving advertisements.**
