Poll about cancer "cure"

[Tenet Nosce]

So it sounds to me like the use of the term has much more to do with profits, than anything else.

Dietary supplements are no small business, but it's true they are eclipsed by pharmaceutical sales!

Industry impact is nearly triple U.S. consumer sales

A new study funded by the Natural Products Foundation has found the total economic contribution of the dietary supplement industry to the U.S. economy is more than three times annual consumer sales, or $61 billion dollars per year. The study also showed that the dietary supplement industry has enough activity throughout production and sales to support more than 450,000 jobs, while industry concerns paid more than $10 billion dollars in taxes in 2006.

A problem with the money argument is that it applies to both sides. That doesn't make it a wrong argument, just one that has a tendency to fall flat.

For example, I make money off of the supplements I recommend. However, I use a distributor that carries thousands of products so it's not like I am restricting my recommendations to one or two brands for profit motives. I actually review comparable products to see what represents the best value for the quality. Plus- if people want to buy stuff on their own that is no skin off of my nose.

At the end of the day, making medical purchases is "buyer beware" just like anything else. Look at how many people purchase a cell phone or a car based on branding and style, rather than functionality.

Much of the business of medicine is a direct result of having created a system whereby responsibility for choices made is abdicated by the consumer. That and making things appear as if they are "free" when they really aren't.

For example, did you know that the cash price for lab tests is often half of what would be billed to insurance for the exact same thing?

I don't think anything is going to really change until the masses move past the stage of authoritarian value memes. So long as patients are looking for somebody to "tell me what to do" there will be practitioners telling them that X is "the one true way."

These memes transcend any dualistic characterizations at play. There are both patients and practitioners that subscribe to authoritarianism. And there are both conventional and alternative practitioners that do so.