Without the Whitecoat
Food supplements: Business or cure?
A food supplement that promises to lower a diabetic patient's sugar level is worth investigating. The broadcast media have been so effective in addressing the "subconscious" areas of our brains by giving suggestions or making products as household names. Sometimes, the promotion can be misleading.
We are in an era where medications have undergone strict research, thus have been tested and proven. We call this evidence-based medicine.
Then, the radio presents a herbal concoction developed by so-called medical practitioners backed by a BFAD number and registration. It promises to address ailments from a simple toothache to cancer. Then they'll put a closing statement, "No approved therapeutic value or claim."
Those desperate for solutions to their health problems, by getting into herbals, create a path to more medical problems.
Cases of "herbal nephropathy" are now seen by doctors, an ailment caused by taking in herbals.
So, who will regulate these food supplements or herbal concoctions, whose effects we may not see much now but in the coming years?
In cases of herbal nephropathy, who will answer the complications that it will cause? What agency of the government will address this? Can the local medical society of the Philippine Medical Association? It does not make sense that a so-called "medical product" from the start will promise to address all the common ailments and illnesses. And at the end, the broadcaster will say that there is "no approved therapeutic value." What a contradiction.
If we concentrate on treating our patients, it should be so that they will recover, regardless on we're paid or not. The patient should not be viewed as a business opportunity. For some who are into the "quick-rich schemes", there will be karma in the end.
Personal fulfillment and satisfaction in the field of medicine is not measured on the car or vehicle that we drive, or how many square meters our homes sit on, but on the changes that we bring upon the lives of our patients.
Give them the "holistic" approach and be personal then we will see a change in their lives.
Food supplements should be taken for their purpose --- food supplements, not cure.
Always consult your physician for any health concerns.