Supplementation: Its Evolving Role in Prevention

Abstract

Modern Western thinking expresses reliance on nutritional intervention as well as behavioral modalities such as meditation or acupuncture as “alternative medicine,” with our twentieth-century construct of pharmaceutical and surgical interventions cast as “mainstream medicine.” This nomenclature lacks historical perspective, as traditional, largely plant-based medicine can be found in cultures around the globe, such as the Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese Medicine, or the European phytochemistry traditions such as are represented today by the German Commission E monographs. Indeed, the modern pharmaceutical industry has heavily relied on natural products for medicinal chemistry leads and sometimes for pharmaceutical actives themselves. All nutrition-based approaches can be considered alternative medicine in the US, as the curriculum of most medical schools is tragically deficient in nutrition education (Am J Clin Nutr 83:941S–4S, 2006).