The unique contribution of natural medicine to the widespread use of nutritional supplements

Today, the use of nutritional supplements is growing at an unprecedented rate worldwide, including in China. In developed countries, nutritional supplement stores are everywhere, and supermarkets have special counters where people buy and use nutritional supplement products just like they buy vegetables, fruits and other daily necessities. This shows that the awareness, trust and practical application (KAP) of nutritional supplements have reached a real level of popularity in these countries. As we know, unlike other daily necessities, this level of application of products related to health and disease prevention and control is undoubtedly related to medical professional education and the popularization of nutritional health science among the population, and the creation of the natural medical system has played a unique role in promoting the widespread use of nutritional supplements.

In our country, people do not know much about the natural medicine created by the West in modern times, which is an important medical system for human beings. Here, we would like to briefly introduce what natural medicine is and its unique role in the wide application of nutritional supplements.

The Human Medical System

Among the independent medical systems that have been written down and passed down to the present, there are ancient medical systems that are more than a thousand years old and modern medical systems that have been created and developed rapidly in recent times.

The ancient medical system includes Chinese medicine in China, Ayurvedic medicine in India, Greek medicine in the West and Unani medicine in Persia and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent; the modern medical system includes modern Western medicine (called "Western medicine" in China) originated from Europe and America and natural medicine from the United States.

It is worth noting that, from the title, medicine refers to the medicine originated in Western countries, so ancient Greek medicine, modern Western medicine and natural medicine all belong to Western medicine. In terms of development history, the ancient medicine of Chinese medicine and Ayurveda medicine still exist and develop today, while the ancient Greek medicine was eliminated during the development of modern Western medicine in Western countries, but the theory and basic knowledge of its medical system were inherited by the Muslim doctors in the Persian and Indo-Pakistani regions of West Asia, and combined with the local indigenous medicine to formally create Unani medicine around 980 AD. Unani medicine (Unani means Greek in Arabic) became a system of medicine that continues to be a combination of East and West to this day.

The creation of two modern medical systems

As we know, philosophy is a system of theories about the world view, a general understanding of the fundamental problems prevailing in the world, and so is medicine. Historically, there have been two main philosophies in the understanding of medicine, i.e., anthroposophy and mechanism. The two philosophical views have always been opposed to each other.

Mechanistic medicine holds that the phenomenon of life is entirely the result of a complex series of chemical and physical reactions. There is no special difference in the nature of living and non-living matter, but only in the degree of complexity. According to mechanistic theory, the occurrence of disease and the accompanying symptoms and signs are the process of disruption of normal chemical reactions and physical activities by disease-causing substances, therefore, the treatment should directly target the symptoms by means of counteracting, eliminating or directly attacking the disease-causing substances, such as emergency surgery for trauma, coronary artery bypass surgery, radiotherapy for cancer, antibiotics to kill disease-causing bacteria, antihistamines to relieve sinusitis, etc., with the aim of interfering with the body's perception of disease and/or alleviating the disease. The purpose is to interfere with the body's perception of the disease and/or to relieve the symptoms of the disease. The disappearance of signs and symptoms means that the causative agent has been destroyed and the disease is controlled or cured. In short, the aim of mechanistic medicine is to eliminate or alleviate the symptoms of the disease by quickly removing the causative agent in an antagonistic manner. Obviously, mechanistic medicine is very effective in the treatment of traumatic injuries, infections and acute diseases, but it is hardly effective in the treatment of chronic degenerative diseases of complex origin. Biomechanical medicine believes that life is so perfectly organized that it cannot be explained simply by a complex combination of chemical and physical reactions. The complexity of the organism's growth, development, response to stimuli, reproduction, and ability to repair itself suggests that life is more complex than the components that make it up, and requires the organization and coordination of structures with different skills.

According to the theory of biomechanics, the onset of disease and the accompanying signs and symptoms are not directly caused by disease-causing substances but are the result of the organism's inherent reaction to these substances and are the manifestation of a positive and beneficial phenomenon of the organism's self-healing. This phenomenon is the best choice of the organism at any given time and state, and it is the ability of the organism to try to protect and heal itself, and the "self-healing power" is the core force of the organism to overcome disease. Therefore, the treatment should be holistic, adopting non-invasive methods that promote self-balance and self-healing, such as dietary therapy, nutrient therapy, natural medicine, physical therapy, etc., in order to eliminate the cause of the disease and promote self-healing. In short, biomechanical medicine focuses on a holistic approach and adopts a non-confrontational approach to eliminate diseases by promoting the body's "self-healing power". Obviously, biomechanical medicine is more effective for chronic degenerative diseases with complex multiple causes, but it is not as direct, fast and significant as mechanistic allopathic medicine for traumatic injuries and acute infectious diseases.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the debate about biomechanics and mechanics continued among European and American biologists and, in the field of medicine, between "regular" physicians and those known as alternative medicine. In the process of studying the physiological and pathological phenomena of the human body from the mechanistic point of view, the Western doctors who rejected and discarded the ancient Greek medical system in modern times created a new medical system with anatomy and physiology, tissue embryology, biochemistry and molecular biology as the basic disciplines, and closely combined them with the rapidly developing modern science and technology in the 20th century, thus developing into modern Western medicine (Western medicine).

At the beginning of the 20th century, Benedict Lust, a German physician who adhered to the philosophy of vitalism, brought the alternative medicine system characterized by homeopathy, hydrotherapy, naturopathy and eclectic therapy formed in Europe to the United States, and after perfecting the specific methods from philosophy, basic theory to disease treatment, finally established the "natural medicine" system in the United States. The complete modern medical system named "natural medicine" was finally established in the United States. Luther was called the father of modern natural medicine.

Both systems developed rapidly in the United States at that time and were strongly supported by government medical education institutions, each with its own academic institutions, just like the Chinese Medical Association and the Western Medical Association in China today. Medical schools may offer courses in both systems of medical education. The law of the country stipulates that doctors trained in both medical systems can be licensed to practice medicine and can open hospitals and clinics, MD (Medical Doctor) for modern (Western) medicine and ND (Naturopathic Doctor) for natural medicine. The creation of these two medical systems became a major event in the field of modern medicine.

The development and transformation of two modern medical systems

It is noteworthy that throughout the history before the 19th century, although philosophical foundations and conflicting goals existed in both medical systems, the dividing line between academic ideas was often not very clear and, therefore, academic debates rarely occurred.

With the deepening of the European Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution in England, as well as the promotion of science and technology, the productivity of Western capitalist countries developed by leaps and bounds. In order to obtain more raw materials and larger markets for their goods, the Western powers began to plunder their colonies with industrial capital, and the colonial wars started in Europe and expanded globally, resulting in two world wars in the first half of the 20th century.

Because of the huge number of battlefield casualties, surgery became necessary in wartime in order to protect or preserve the lives of soldiers in danger. At the same time, along with technological advances, doctors and pharmacists invented a variety of chemical drugs, such as antibacterial drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, drugs to increase or lower blood pressure and blood sugar, etc., aimed at eliminating - all possible pathogenic bacteria and factors that disrupt the body's equilibrium, thereby reducing the burden on the body of the sick and wounded, and allowing soldiers who were injured by gunfire to be removed from life-threatening situations. This kind of immediate treatment showed the strong vitality of the Western medical system and its philosophy, which was welcomed and favored by people, and was strongly supported by the governments of the world politically and militarily. At the same time, the philosophical controversy around the two kinds of medicine also became prominent, and undoubtedly, the mechanistic medical system prevailed, so that the modern Western medicine entered a new stage of vigorous development, and became the main medical demand, and - leaped to become the main body of medicine, "medical unification" in the world.

Since various ancient medicine and natural medicine could not meet the medical needs of trauma and acute infectious diseases at that time, they suffered a major impact. Especially in the United States, the natural medicine system, which emerged almost simultaneously with modern Western medicine, was attacked by the philosophical theory of modern Western medicine, and natural medicine began to decline in the United States. By the end of the war, especially in 1945, with the death of Rust, the development of natural medicine reached its lowest point.

The change in the spectrum of major human diseases led to the revival and rapid development of natural medicine.

After the end of World War II, mankind entered a period of peace. With the deepening of the industrial revolution, various new technologies and inventions emerged, and mankind entered the information age from mechanization and electrification, the economy developed rapidly, the standard of living improved continuously, and the lifestyle changed significantly.

People's physical activities are becoming less and less, and more and more time for leisure and recreation, and their dietary patterns and nutritional status have also undergone significant changes. Especially in the earliest developed societies in the United States, Europe and the West, after people have enough food and clothing, in the pursuit of food, the traditional high complex carbohydrate diet based on natural grains and vegetables, began to change to simple sugar, animal food and fat food intake increased, resulting in a sharp increase in heat: amount. In the United States, for example, by the end of the century, total dietary fat intake increased from 32% of total calories in 1909 to 43% of total calories compared to the beginning of the 20th century, and the biggest change in individual food choice was a significant increase in the intake of meat, fat, sugar, and desserts, and a decrease in fruits, vegetables, and coarse grains. This series of changes has led to many chronic diseases as the main spectrum of human diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, obesity and so on. In the 21st century, along with the increase of human life expectancy, chronic diseases are becoming the main part of the human disease spectrum. The modern western medicine, which is characterized by external science, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and synthetic chemical drugs, seems to be incompetent in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, while the natural medicine, which is centered on promoting the "self-reliance" of the body, has begun to revive and prosper.

The role of natural medicine in promoting the widespread use of nutritional supplements

Natural medicine has contributed to the rapid development and application of nutritional supplements in several aspects.

(1) As a legal prescription drug for natural medicine doctors, the application of nutritional supplements in the clinical line has been rapidly developed.

The basic principles of natural medicine therapy are: to start from the whole patient, from the prevention-oriented, to the occurrence of disease to the cause, the use of natural healing power, the methods and drugs used in the first place to be harmless, in these principles, dietary therapy and nutritional supplements extracted from food and natural plants, etc., become the legal clinical prescription drugs of natural medicine doctors in Europe and America. Obviously, this has given a major impetus to the widespread application of nutritional supplements as the front line of health promotion and disease control.

(2) Extensive absorption and integration of herbal prescriptions accumulated in ancient medical systems to promote the development and application of nutritional supplements.

Based on the philosophical system of medicine, all kinds of ancient medicine basically belong to the scope of biomedicine. In the course of thousands of years of medical treatment, all the famous medical families have used dietary therapy and natural herbs as medicine, and have concluded a large number of herbal prescriptions. The emergence of natural medicine has taken into account all kinds of knowledge, methods and accumulated herbal remedies from Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, ancient Greek medicine and Unani medicine, which are in line with the theoretical knowledge of improving "self-healing power", and have been analyzed and extracted by modern science and technology, and incorporated into natural medical treatment. Today, with the globalization of economy, trade and information, the sources of natural herbs have been greatly enriched and the development, application and popularization of nutritional supplements have been promoted worldwide.

(3) Natural medicine uses nutritional supplements to help modern Western medicine to heal and reduce side effects.

Natural medicine and modern Western medicine are both modern medical systems created and developed in recent times. Although they have different philosophical foundations, they have their own strengths and weaknesses in disease prevention, so they can complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. In promoting "self-healing", natural medicine often faces two kinds of symptoms, namely, "benign" and "morbid" symptoms. The former are symptoms such as fever and inflammation in infections, immune system reactions, and many chronic diseases, and the latter are symptoms when the damage to the body is directly derived from pathogenic substances, such as birth and genetic defects, severe trauma, acute illnesses, very serious infections, and many malignancies. In many cases of life-saving pathologies, mechanical intervention by Western medicine is necessary, despite serious side effects. At this time, the intervention of natural medicine, especially the application of various nutritional supplements, can reduce the side effects and also enhance the efficacy of mechanical intervention.

This article is reprinted from China Nutritional Health Food Association, if you have any questions, please contact us