GOVERNMENT ON NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS
There is continued discussion among a segment of society that believes natural health products are safer and less expensive than synthetic products created by pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately, the one group that could have the most influence over the availability of natural remedies is not providing reputable information. The Food and Drug Administration points out they are only responsible for drugs produced in laboratories and has no control over products with natural ingredients. One of the most commonly used natural health product is available for constipation, prune juice along with many other fruits, but the government remains quiet on its use.
The actual cause of menopause has been accepted as when the woman’s body no longer produces eggs, effectively ending the reproductive period in her life. The periods of perimenopause and premenopause can be extremely difficult for a woman as all of the systems in her body relay on the hormones no longer being produced. It has also been found that the longer a woman has estrogen in their system, the more likely they are to develop breast cancer. Many companies produce estrogen from a variety of sources, including the laboratory, and these drugs are prescribed to women to help them through the premenopause y ears.
There are also several concerns with products developed to help people with insomnia and other sleep disorders. Unfortunately, the government responds to the drug makers and often approves their newest concoctions without fully understanding the long-term effects of the drugs. While it is known than many of the synthetic drugs being sold as a sleep aid can lead to addiction, there is little mention by the government about the option of using natural products instead. Since most of the natural health products on the market with all natural ingredients do not fall under the auspices of the FDA, they do nothing to control them and nothing to promote them.
There are those who realize that many of today’s pharmaceutical products are the result of years of research in finding a fix for an ailment that was cured for years using natural health products. It was the possible difficulty in obtaining some of the natural ingredients that initially spurred drug companies to create a synthetic version, even with the known potential of side effects of introducing these foreign materials into the human body. They probably also realized they could secure a patent on their products and make more profit since the ingredients in natural health products are a result of nature and cannot be patented or carry a trademark.
Developing new cures for ailments requires time and a huge investment and using nature to provide natural health is not in the pharmaceutical companies’ financial interest. However, through the FDA the government has taken responsibility of protecting the health of the people, something with which they could have better success by promoting natural health instead of testing new products that do the same thing and are more costly. Side effects of natural health products are minimal and usually only present when used with synthetic drugs, saving people a lot of other potential health products and money needed to support the drug companies.