Americans are swamped with information about prescription drugs on a daily basis and medication has become synonymous with healthcare. The only reason people go to the doctor anymore are to get a prescription for medication. Nutrients on the other hand are rarely considered as a solution to health problems. Since medication has become the foundation of healthcare in this country, let’s look at the similarities and differences medication and nutrients.

Drugs vs Nutrients:

A nutrient is a substance like a vitamin or mineral that is essential for the body to work properly and maintain health. Nutrients are required for NORMAL body function. Common nutrients required by the body include iron, selenium, magnesium, calcium and B vitamins.  A medication is a substance that does NOT naturally occur in the body or diet and creates ABNORMAL function in the body. Medication is NOT necessary for the body to work properly. Nutrients are necessary for life and health; medications are not.

Drug Side Effects:

What is a side effect? To answer this question we first need to understand how drugs work. Drugs only “appear” to restore normal function the body; we have high blood pressure so we take medication and blood pressure goes down. Yes, blood pressure has been lowered but not because NORMAL and healthy function has been restored to the body. The benefit of lowered blood pressure carries with it a long list of side-effect and these side effects are nothing more than NEW DISEASES that have been created by the medication. Common side-effects (new disease) caused by blood pressure medication include shortness of breath, chest pain, headaches, reduced kidney function, increased blood sugar, infection and depression. This is only a short list of possible side effects, but the point we are trying to make here is that all drugs have side effects. They can only accomplish their goal by creating a new state of dysfunction.

Again, a side effect is a drug-caused disease process in the body; you are exchanging one disease for another and you still have not addressed the actual cause of disease that required medication in the first place. Even if you are not aware of the side effects from medication; it is still causing abnormal function in your body.  Even “safe” drugs like acetaminophen / Tylenol cause over 50,000 emergency room visits and 500 deaths each year!

Over 70% of Americans take at least 1 prescription medication (not including over the counter medication) and 1 in 5 Americans takes 5 or more prescription

drugs. Many people are prescribed additional drugs in an effort to control side-effects from other drugs they are taking. Over 4.5million Americans visit their doctor’s office or the emergency room every year due to side effects from prescription medication. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified medication-caused deaths as the #1 cause of injury death in the U.S and 9 or of 10 poisoning deaths are caused by medications.

Nutrient Side Effects:

Nutrients can actually cause side-effect too! If nutrients are not used in proper doses they too will create abnormal function in the body. Nutrient efficacy and safety depend on taking the proper amount of the nutrient. Nutrients are however MUCH safer than medications; statistically speaking, drugs are over 60,000 times more likely to kill you than taking a nutrient.

Functional medicine is a form of healthcare that does not depend solely on medication to help patients; in fact, medication would be the last resort. This is the opposite approach of “standard” healthcare today which chooses medication first and when that fails diet, nutrition and lifestyle are finally considered. The current standard of healthcare in our country is the exact opposite of what it should be.

Naperville Integrated Medicine provides functional medicine services and seeks to improve the health and quality of life of patients through the use of proper nutrient balance, diet and lifestyle medication. For more information go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com.