By Wendy J. Meyeroff
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
Kathy Justice, R.Ph., has been a pharmacist for over two decades. More and more in recent years she’s heard the following statement from people who frequent the pharmacy she manages at the Charlestown community built and managed by Erickson:
“But this has to be safe. It’s made from herbs and flowers.”
There are indeed many wondrous medicines that come from nature. “Digoxin, a heart medicine, is made from a plant,” Justice points out. And more and more “natural” therapies are being accepted by mainstream medicine.
“Some Erickson HealthSM physicians recommend saw palmetto for prostate problems and others recommend valerian root to help people sleep, so we keep both here for residents,” she adds.
But Justice emphasizes that such recommendations only come after careful examination, in reliable tests, by the medical community. She always reminds customers that “natural” and “safe” are not synonyms.
“Many deadly poisons, including rattlesnake venom and belladonna, are also ‘all natural,’” she says.
Poor Regulation Can Mean Fraud
Natural supplements are still unregulated in the United States. “There’s a wide range of potencies and purities among these supplements because they aren’t under the stringent guidelines of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA),” says Matt Narrett, M.D., medical director at Charlestown. “It’s very difficult, for example, to compare one brand of ginseng to another.”
So even though a bottle is marked “150 mg” of St. John’s Wort, or ginseng, or something else, you might not be getting that amount. Justice adds, “In one study, the experts bought ten different bottles of gingko off the shelf and despite all being marked the same dosage they all had different dosages of gingko in them.” Thus, even when a natural product might be good for you, you can’t be sure you’re getting what you’re paying for.