11 Things Better Than Drugs or Supplements for Healing

Natural medicine doesn’t just involve “nutraceuticals,” but extends to modalities like yoga and acupuncture that, according to a growing body of peer-reviewed research, may be superior to drugs.

Natural medicine is an incredible field, filled with inspiring stories and an ever-accumulating body of scientific research to support its increasingly popular views on health. In fact, at GreenMedInfo.health we specialize in unearthing from the National Library of Medicine’s seemingly oceanic database of 27 million citations, highly promising clinical pearls that indicate not only the value of natural substances in prevention and treatment of diseases, but sometimes its clear superiority over drugs. Consider that correctly prescribed medications are one of the 3 leading causes of deathSo what’s not to like about a safe and effective food-based alternative like that?

But our project, and natural medicine in general, is not without its challenges, one of which is that it’s quite easy to get caught up in the allopathic model of treatment of superficial symptoms, albeit naturally. This ‘natural allopathy’, so to speak, entices people to look for ‘natural cure’ (‘nutraceuticals’) shortcuts and Band-Aids instead of addressing the deeper issues associated with avoiding, limiting and addressing environmental exposures, reducing stress and improve diet and exercise, for example. In a culture that pops hundreds of millions of doses of drugs and supplements into a daily, it is increasingly difficult to break free from the powerful psychological attraction of ingesting something — either a natural or synthetic “magic pill”; its effects, real or imagined, instead of addressing the underlying problems.

This is also why part of our project is to identify peer-reviewed published research from biomedical journals indicating that there are therapeutic actions, from walking to yoga, dietary changes, and exercise, that are at least as effective as often higher to conventional drug-based treatments.

So there is a good deal of data here to support the notion that sometimes we don’t need to “take anything” to stimulate our body’s innate self-healing abilities, as non-invasive therapies, including doing nothing (i.e. watchful waiting) — can achieve favorable results:

1. Colored light versus benzyl peroxide for acne: A combination of blue and red light irradiation therapy was found to be superior to 5% benzoyl peroxide in the treatment of acne vulgaris without side effects. Another study found that blue light irradiation therapy alone is as effective as 5% benzyl peroxide in treating acne, but with fewer side effects.
2. Changes in diet versus pharmacological treatment for hypertension: A high-fiber, low-sodium, low-fat diet is superior to the beta-blocker drug metoprolol in hypertensive subjects with type 2 diabetes.
3. Acupuncture and moxibustion versus pharmaceutical treatment for sudden deafness: Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy were found to be superior in treating sudden deafness compared to routine drug-based therapy.
4. Acupuncture versus pharmacological treatment for the treatment of migraines: Acupuncture treatment showed greater effectiveness than pharmacological therapy with flunarizine in the first months of migraine therapy and with superior tolerability.
5. Dietary changes versus high-dose steroids for Crohn’s disease: An elemental diet is as effective as high-dose steroid therapy in improving Crohn’s disease activity in children, while it is superior in supporting growth in children. Two additional studies found similar results in adults with mild to moderate active Crohn’s disease.
6. Aromatherapy massage versus Tylenol for period pain: Aromatherapy massage of the abdomen was found to be superior to Tylenol in relieving menstrual pain in high school girls.
7. Hypnosis versus Valium for anxiety: Hypnosis during embryo transfer is as effective as diazepam in terms of pregnancy rate and anxiolytic effects, but with fewer side effects.
8. Yoga technique versus antidepressant drug for depression: Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (a rhythmic breathing technique) was found to be superior to the drug imipramine in treating depression.
9. Yogic intervention versus pharmacological treatment for irritable bowel syndrome: Yogic intervention consisting of postures and breathing exercises was found to be superior to conventional treatment in diarrhea-predominant IBS.
10. Foot reflexology versus pharmacological treatment for insomnia: Foot reflexology (wooden needle technique) was found to be superior to the drug Alprazolam in the treatment of insomnia.
11. Watchful waiting versus pharmacological treatment for childhood ear infection: Watchful waiting compares favorably with immediate antibiotic treatment for some children with non-severe acute otitis media.

This sampling reflects only a minor subset of data within our Therapeutic Actions Index, one of six databases on the open access site GreenMedInfo.com. We currently have 216 different stocks indexed, which can be viewed on our Therapeutic actions visualization page. You may be surprised at how simple mindful acts, like chewing your food thoroughly, laughing, or walking through the woods, can produce healing responses within the human body.

Originally posted on GreenMedInfo.com

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References

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