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Do They Really Work, and Are They As Effective as Their
Medical Counterparts?
Purity standards and "grade" qualities are extremely important in the world of herbal supplementation,
natural, cures, and alternative medicine. If a product is too "watered down" or too altered from it's natural
state of potency, it's efficacy (effectiveness in the human body) is greatly diminished.
A perfect example of this is the cactus called hoodia gordonii, which has recently garnered oodles of
media attention for it's natural appetite suppressing powers and touted weight loss benefits. Pure
hoodia was demonstrated to have a potent molecule which sent signals to the human brain that the
individual is full and not to eat any more, staving off appetite, and resulting in a related weight loss for
those who consumed it.
The Hoodia herbal supplement only works to reduce appetite in it's purest form, ground up and dried ,
with no additives whatsoever and minimal processing. Anything other than the pure form did not have the
same appetite-defeating qualities as the true, pure form of the plant.
Hoodia is just one example of a "fad" cure. There are many others. Herbal medicines designed for other
purposes, such as depression, natural pain relief, increased brain function and focus, anti aging and
skin supplements and more, are ALL subject to this same standard of purity. If a natural health product is
not pure and minimally processed, you might as well be throwing your money away - it most likely will not
achieve it's advertised goal. There are a lot of natural cures and herbal supplements that really are a
waste of money, hope and time because they are not processed correctly, use the incorrect or impure
part of the plant that is intended to cure an ailment, or are watered down and bogus imitations of the real
thing.
Of course, as with everything else in life, higher quality usually comes with a higher price tag. You should
always read the labels and look for filler ingredients that you may not recognize.
The names of fillers, or inactive ingredients are sometimes labeled accordingly, but not always, so take
notice, and try to be as informed a consumer as possible when shopping for natural health products. If a
natural remedy is not labeled or described as 100% natural, you are probably getting more un-natural
ingredients than you bargained for, as well as a reduced purity and processing standard of the active
natural ingredient itself.
