I believe that many natural substances can be of great benefit in the prevention and treatment of diseases.  First of all, the natural medicines must be of the highest quality material and the recommended potencies must comply with the scientific studies.  Today, many manufacturers use inferior quality to lower the price of the product to be effective as they are not able to make a claim for the product, their selling point to the consumer is a low discounted price.  This is a huge loss for the consumer and the manufacturer.  The consumer loses due to the fact that they may have read an article or a scientific study on a substance but have no idea if the substance they are purchasing meets the requirements of the study.  The manufacturer and the health food industry loses because the cheap product doesn’t produce results or satisfaction so the consumer stops buying the product.  Had the product worked and the consumer was entirely satisfied, the consumer wins due to a better control and treatment of the condition in which the product was purchased for, and the manufacturer and health food industry wins because the consumer tells as many people as possible of the beneficial results.  95% of the world’s population relies on plant medicines for treatment of their illnesses and are not challenged by significant side effects.  The drug companies have a monopoly on the health care and treatment of diseases.  If prune juice improves constipation and provides better elimination, it then becomes a drug if that information is disseminated by a manufacturer of prune juice.  There is no honest and reasonable way to share scientific information in relationship to the product in which the studies were conducted.  If a particular natural substance, let’s say in this case that curcumin cured every form of cancer imaginable, there would be a risk in sharing that information with the public if a specific curcumin that was used in the study was acknowledged in the information.  This is a disservice to all consumers who may benefit from certain scientific studies on natural medicines.  I saw an article in a popular magazine that shared the study results on curcumin in controlling depression more effectively than Prozac with no mention of the exact, specific curcumin.  Many people may run out to their health food store and buy curcumin, which could be a very poor quality and would not provide results.  Therefore, in this case the consumer loses again as well as the manufacturer of this very specific curcumin.  Had the consumer been able to find the exact product that was used in the study and found to be more effective than Prozac, we could help many people control their depression without the serious and significant side effects of Prozac.  It is absolutely impossible to help anyone with a natural substance who may have a disease or health challenge without that natural medicine going through the same rigorous drug studies as a synthetic molecule that has never been on the face of the earth prior to its introduction as a drug.  There is no drug more effective than natural medicines for the treatment of osteoporosis, arthritis; both osteo and rheumatoid, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, GERD, and type 2 diabetes, and may other so called diseases.  The right natural medicine manufactured to the highest quality recommended at the potencies of the scientific studies can and will outperform any medication. Drug companies have a monopoly on treating diseases as well as maintaining our health care system.  It’s impossible to ever refer Americans to natural medicines due to the inability to provide enough scientific documentation to satisfy scientific requirements by the FDA.