Western medicine misses the point and attacks symptoms, not root causes

Wednesday, November 05, 2003 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: bad medicine, Western medicine, allopathic medicine

Here's a study that shows synthetic HDL (the "good" cholesterol) can remove plaque from arteries when injected into patients. It's another glorious example of "heroic medicine" or what might be called "interventionist medicine." Rather than working with patients to help their bodies generate good cholesterol on their own, the plan is to inject it right into their bloodstream.

It's a very Western approach, and despite the fact that it decreases plaque built-up in arteries, it does absolutely nothing to address the source of the problem: the patient's lifestyle.

Let's face it: plaque build-up is caused by two things: 1) an atrocious diet consisting of everyday American (processed) foods, and 2) lack of exercise.

On the dietary side, by the way, atherosclerosis is caused by eating metabolic disruptors like hydrogenated oils, saturated fats (animal fat), and by various nutritional deficiencies (such as B vitamins, zinc, magnesium and calcium). The standard American diet offers all of these: unhealthy fats, empty calories, and foods stripped of their natural nutrition.

You can remove all the plaque you want, using whatever intervention might work at the moment, but if you don't teach the patient to alter their dietary choices, they're going to end up right back in the doctor's office, needing another roto-rooter job.

It's like trying to fight obesity with liposuction: you can vacuum away all the fat you want, but if the patient keeps on eating the same way, they're going to store that fat somewhere. Liposuction is not a solution to obesity.

Too often, Western medicine focuses on the symptoms. And our doctors engage in the most ridiculous medical-sounding procedures to try to eliminate those symptoms. Very rarely does Western medicine (allopathic medicine) actually seek or treat the root cause of disease.

Then again, it's not hard to understand why: there's money to be made in injecting people with synthetic HDL. But there's no money to be made in teaching people how to take responsibility for their own health.