HEALTHWATCH
Nutritional medicine? Don't scoff
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Is it possible that some `weird vitamins and stuff like that' can restore one's health? Dr. HIRAMALINI SESHADRI on her experience.
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R. RAGU
WHEN we went to medical college, in the 1970s, most professors of medicine used to scoff at vitamins and food supplements as merely a way of creating "expensive urine". That view has changed radically, thanks to our better understanding of the molecular basis of disease; of the role of free radicals and so on that cause the ultimate damage in ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and importantly, in auto immune diseases such as scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. In these diseases, food supplements in anti-oxidant doses act as nutritional medicine.
Basically, when faced with diseases, doctors have two options; to go the "anti" way with antibiotics, anti-allergics, anti-inflammatories, anti-depressants, immune suppressants and so on; or to build positive organ and body health with nutritional supplements, exercises, proper sleep and the right mental attitude. Though the ideal way is to emphasise the latter and use the former only if absolutely indicated, modern medicine believed largely in the "anti" approach in the 20th Century. However, in this new millennium, the latter is gaining more importance thanks to the personal clinical experience of physicians, cardiologists and rheumatologists round the globe.
A pioneer in the field is Dr. Ray Strand, a South Dakota-based family practitioner and author of the bestseller, What Your Doctor Does Not Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You. His own conversion came about when his wife turned to nutritional medicine in desperation. A string of specialists and the best of anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-allergics, anti-depressants, antibiotics and even steroids did not help her fibromyalgia, asthma, allergy and propensity to recurrent infections. Nutritional supplements suggested by a friend brought about profound improvement over three months! "If I had not been an eyewitness to the transformation I would never have believed it. Was it possible that some `weird vitamins and stuff like that' had restored my wife's health when all the medical expertise and medication could not help?" writes Dr. Strand, who today has over a decade's experience with nutritional medicine. In a similar manner, continents away, as a physician and rheumatologist, I have had the same experience. A sixth sense and desperation had prompted me to try nutritional supplements for a host of chronic disorders; for the side effects and cost — both financial and otherwise, with high powered drugs, were depressing, to put it mildly. I have tried anti-oxidant doses of vitamin E, folic acid, plant extracted vitamin C with phytofactors, grape seed extract, flavonoids, on patients with chronic rheumatological disorders and the results have been most gratifying.
Historically, nutritional medicine as a part of modern medicine actually began in Asia when Dr. Carl Rehnborg, a nutritional scientist, began work on plant based food supplements in China. He felt that phytofactors and other cofactors extracted from plants, which were organically farmed, would synergistically work with vitamins, and proteins and potentiate their effect. To test out the hypothesis, half a century ago, he used an ingenious method. He offered the health foods to consumers directly, stating, if-you-find-it-useful-you-can-recommend it-to-your-friends. As a scientist, he wanted to know the honest truth and so he avoided the conventional marketing chain; for he did not want the product to be pushed. So good and effective were Dr. Rehnborg's supplements that eventually he became the founder of the world's first and largest food supplements company. Rehnborg's successors have further ensured best digestibility and absorption indices for these supplements, which makes them a natural choice to use in the elderly and the ailing, for invariably their digestion and absorption power are impaired.
Among my patients, those who are making a steady recovery from degenerative and auto-immune diseases are popularising the idea of nutritional medicine. The only sad thing is that practitioners of modern medicine are still largely unaware of these developments; for in our country, continuing medical education is still largely done by drug companies seeking to promote particular drugs. They have no interest in nutritional medicine; at least not yet.
A natural question that emerges is — why not get these supplements from diet itself? These readymade supplement concentrates are indicated in the acutely ill who need proper nourishment and anti-oxidant therapy on a war footing. Once they are better, gradually they can be put on dietary sources. But here again, it is necessary to emphasise that they take only organically grown vegetables and fruits for many such patients have compromised liver and renal function; and the pesticides and weedicides in marketed vegetables could tip the balance unfavourably.
Some who could benefit richly from regular food supplementation are grandparents belonging to the upper and middle class who have been caught in change.
These are people who nursed their own parents, catering to all their whims and fancies. Thanks to our footloose times, all their children have gone abroad; and now, though elderly themselves, they have to continue the role of caring; this time, it is babysitting the grandchildren! Today we have many such "jet-setting" grandparents who spend six months in India and six months abroad; not out of choice, but out of necessity. Fitness is vital for them; and nutritional supplements are a natural answer. Nutritional medicine is here to stay; indeed, good nutrition IS the best medicine!
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