Science

Did you know that 50% of the top 100 prescribed drugs in the world were originally discovered from plants. The belief that Nature is not strong enough and we need man made synthetic medicines if we really want to make a difference to our health is a myth. Nature does have the answers and Natural remedies do have a place alongside conventional approaches. However, this only applies when there is good scientific evidence to support them.

There's another fundamental difference in our approach to Natural remedies. Yes, the sourcing and growing conditions (organic wherever possible) are fundamental to a great formulation. However, a safe and effective remedy also requires manufacture under pharmaceutical standards and at the effective strengthen proven in the clinical trials.

So what does 'scientifically proven' actually mean? It is basing formulations on published human clinical trials wherever possible. For instance, if the clinical trials for saffron states a 3.5% strength of three bio-actives - saffranal, crocin and picrocrocin, why would you formulate with a lower strength or minus any of the bio-actives? This would be like chipping off a fragment of an aspirin tablet and yet still expecting it to reduce a headache.

And there's more to science than this. When it comes to evidence, The Naked Pharmacy only trust clinical trials that involve at least 60 patients and are randomised-placebo controlled - this means half split between active treatment and half placebo (dummy treatment). Also, the test group have to be 'double blinded' so that neither the doctors assessing or the patients receiving know which is treatment arm is which. Reliable science involves all these elements and we apply these tests to all of our remedies.

Did you know that 50% of the top 100 prescribed drugs in the world were originally discovered from plants. The belief that Nature is not strong enough and we need man made synthetic medicines if we really want to make a difference to our health is a myth. Nature does have the answers and Natural remedies do have a place alongside conventional approaches. However, this only applies when there is good scientific evidence to support them.

There's another fundamental difference in our approach to Natural remedies. Yes, the sourcing and growing conditions (organic wherever possible) are fundamental to a great formulation. However, a safe and effective remedy also requires manufacture under pharmaceutical standards and at the effective strengthen proven in the clinical trials.

So what does 'scientifically proven' actually mean? It is basing formulations on published human clinical trials wherever possible. For instance, if the clinical trials for saffron states a 3.5% strength of three bio-actives - saffranal, crocin and picrocrocin, why would you formulate with a lower strength or minus any of the bio-actives? This would be like chipping off a fragment of an aspirin tablet and yet still expecting it to reduce a headache.

And there's more to science than this. When it comes to evidence, The Naked Pharmacy only trust clinical trials that involve at least 60 patients and are randomised-placebo controlled - this means half split between active treatment and half placebo (dummy treatment). Also, the test group have to be 'double blinded' so that neither the doctors assessing or the patients receiving know which is treatment arm is which. Reliable science involves all these elements and we apply these tests to all of our remedies.

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