What Alternative Health Solutions for Life Improvement are Available?

Alternative health solutions are sometimes referred to as Complementary therapies. They consist mostly of Dietary Supplements (e.g. Vitamin, Herbal, Mineral) or Physical Activity (e.g. Manipulation, Hypnotism). Something like Faith Healing might also be called an alternative health solution.

Alternative health solutions have achieved growing popularity in the last few decades, mostly spurred on by ‘baby-boomers’ (born just post-WWII) who have more leisure time and money than most previous generations. The ambition of many is to be the oldest and healthiest person on the planet and they often intend achieving it by using alternative health solutions.

Even Prince Charles has spoken out in favour of alternative health solutions, commissioning a report in 2005 which concluded that complementary therapies should be given a greater role in the National Health Service. The report covered the 'Big Five' complementary and alternative health solutions –

·        osteopathy,

·        chiropractic,

·        acupuncture (see old Chinese diagram, right),

·        homeopathy and

·        herbal medicine.

My particular interest in alternative health solutions is dietary. This includes vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and herbs. So, I’ll look at these in a little more detail. But first, why use alternative health solutions? Why not just visit your doctor when you get ill?

Statistics in America show that the main cause of death is heart disease. The second is cancer. And the third is medical treatment. The American Medical Association reported in July 2000 that a quarter of a million Americans die every year because of medical treatment. Different causes include infection caught in hospitals (80,000), unnecessary surgery (12,000), and miscellaneous (20,000). 7,000 Americans die from being given the wrong drugs, and 106,000 die from the side effects of being given the right drugs. These are reasons why interest in alternative health solutions is growing as people look for ways to avoid being sick in the first place.

Dietary alternative health solutions include:

·        Vitamins are organic compounds necessary for good health. A lack of  any one of them leads to a specific disease. For example, a lack of vitamin C causes scurvy. The medical profession have now come up with a Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamins which is just enough to stave off these illnesses. Some followers of alternative health solutions argue that the RDAs are too low and you should take high doses of vitamins.

·        Minerals are non-organic compounds found in the ground. Plants break them down into compounds which our bodies can absorb. They act as a kind of catalyst for vitamins to do their work, and as building material for our bodies. Dr. Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel prizes, said "you can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency". Followers of alternative health solutions make sure they get their daily minerals. And it’s not much use taking mineral tablets. The fact is, the body cannot  absorb solid minerals. Colloidal minerals from plants are in a suspended liquid form, said to be easier to digest. That may be true, but many so-called colloidal minerals may actually be ionic minerals, being composed of charged particles which do aid absorption.

·        Many alternative health solutions focus on antioxidants. These neutralise free radicals. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body chemistry carries out its normal functions. They are also produced by smoking and by many industrial procedures. Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Some vitamins (e.g. vitamin C) are antioxidants.

·        Herbal Medicine, made from plant extracts, also has a great following as an alternative dietary health solution.

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