The Green Pharmacy

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While admittedly neither the pharmacy nor "farmacy" has come close to a cure for arthritis and its crippling effects, I'd wager that a complex herbal shotgun like turmeric - with its thousands of life-sustaining chemicals - is going to leave fewer fish in the water than would its synthetic single-shot counterpart.

Putting Herbs to the Test

After lecturing to more than ten groups of physicians, as well as dozens of times to nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and pharmaceutical firms, I have been joined by several physician colleagues in compiling a tabulation of herbal alternatives for specific ailments that deserve scientific comparison with the generally recommended pharmaceutical (see tables starting on page 30). Moreover, I have located sponsors willing to offer a modicum of support, as well as standardized herbal preparations comparable to those now approved in Europe. This support will be offered to physicians who share my belief that until such trials have been performed we cannot be sure the physician's pharmaceutical is the best medicine. (I invite interested physicians to contact me at jimduke&cpcug.org.)

I want the best medicine for myself, my family and for America if we can afford it. But today, we don't know which is best. Let's change that. Talk with your physician if you are herbally inclined. Tell him or her you would like to be a guinea pig in the trial of the new millennium, the herbal David versus the pharmaceutical Goliath. She or he might he willing to include you in the herbal half of double-blind placebo-controlled trials comparing the herb with the pharmaceutical.

I can even foresee David and Goliath putting down their weapons and reaching a compromise: pharmaceutical firms could team up with herbal firms, sharing in the "green" (in more ways than one) should the herb prove marginally useful or even better than the synthetic drug. If the pharmaceutical firms don't wish to participate, then the National Institutes of Health should step in to perform the comparative trials. This way we might offer affordable herbal help and hope to the impoverished 20% of our population.

Dr.Duke's (Baker's)Dozen

While I agree in spirit with the age-old adage, in truth it takes more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Throw in some regular exercise, about nine more servings of fruits and vegetables and some basic herbs or herbal supplements, and now you've got a recipe for long-lasting good health. At age 70 and still (knock wood) fit as a fiddle, I rely in large part on the following 13 herbs to keep not only the doctor, but also all manner of aches and ailments at bay.

Bilberry: A potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, this berry can help to slow or prevent deterioration of the eyes. It can be eaten fresh or dried, or taken as an extract in liquid or pill form. I usually get mine in standardized capsules, but when blueberries are in season, they work too.

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