It's old news to naturopaths: whole foods heal better than isolated chemicals

Wednesday, November 05, 2003 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: lycopene, whole foods, pharmaceuticals

This article describes a study in which researchers found that lycopene, the long-heralded "active ingredient" in tomatoes that prevents prostate cancer, apparently doesn't work alone.

This is news? Herbalists, naturopaths and holistic nutritionists have known this for literally hundreds of years. That's why holistic health practitioners generally recommend whole foods -- because they know that phytochemicals in plants work synergistically, never in isolation.

It's only Western medicine that is surprised to find lycopene doesn't work as well in isolation. Because the Western approach to medicine, promoted heavily by pharmaceutical companies, is based on the misconception that whatever healing properties certain plants or herbs might contain can be isolated, extracted and possibly synthesized under patent protection.

Through this process, nearly 25% of all pharmaceuticals actually come from plants. The history of medicine, in fact, has its roots in botany. But you wouldn't know it by the rhetoric coming from the FDA today: "herbs are dangerous!" they cry. Meanwhile, they promote and uphold the sale of highly toxic pharmaceuticals that blatantly kill more than 100,000 Americans each year, even when used correctly. Pharmaceuticals are now the third leading cause of death in the United States.

Back to the study: I commend the researchers involved with this, because they're asking important questions. In fact, the results of this study support the notion that whole foods, not isolated chemicals, have far stronger healing properties when it comes to human health.

Broccoli reverses cancer. Pumpkin seeds reverse prostate problems. Flax oil reverses heart disease. And superfoods like chlorella treat and even reverse a long list of diseases and complaints. It's about time more researchers studied these well-demonstrated cause / effect connections, for it is ultimately nature, not the pharmaceutical industry, that holds the answers to human health.