Preventive Healthcare

In today's world, a large proportion of our population is constantly in the state of “pre-illness” due to polluted environments, contaminated food-chains, mental stresses and unhealthy lifestyles. For example, people are breathing in polluted air, consuming foods with residue of growth-hormone and pesticide, using excessive chemicals, and working under stressed conditions. Every year, tremendous amount of money has been spent on research and development of drugs and therapies to treat diseases. However, this has limited effects on improving the health and wellness of our population. Our healthcare systems are facing great challenge we have never seen before. People finally have realized that it is wise to prevent any deterioration in their health rather than seek a cure after illness prevails. Preventive healthcare is the best solution for today’s health problems.

Although many diseases can be prevented, current healthcare systems can hardly support this practice. Most healthcare systems are based on responding to acute problems and urgent needs of patients. Testing, diagnosing, relieving symptoms, and expecting a cure are hallmarks of contemporary healthcare. While these functions are appropriate for acute and episodic health problems, they cannot be applied to the prevention and management of chronic conditions. Preventive healthcare needs an alternative approach.

Natural Health Products

Defined by Health Canada, natural health products are naturally occurring substances that are consumed for the purpose of diagnosing, treating or preventing illness, maintaining or promoting health. Natural health product substances include plant, algal, fungal, or animal materials.

For centuries, many natural health products have been used in traditional medicines and are known to be effective for health maintenance and disease treatment. The cooperative or synergistic effects of intrinsic multi-active compounds on human physiological systems produce the beneficial health effects of natural health remedies. However, very little is known regarding the chemical compositions and biological mechanisms due to the complexity and secrecy of these natural compounds.

In recent years, natural health products and alternative therapies have been increasingly adopted worldwide. Growing scientific evidence suggests that some of natural health products have the potential to contribute significantly to health maintenance and disease treatment and prevention. This trend spurred a shift in research and development efforts worldwide to further study natural health products.