You will be seeing a new topic posted on our site, which we have entitled “Trends – Products to Watch”, which will be focused on new and promising products that we have discovered. Before we bring attention to any of these products we will endeavor to do our research, to verify any therapeutic claims or confirm any suggested benefits. As part of this review we will also determine whether or not the product is safe to use and to advise of any precautions with respect to potential interactions with prescribed medications. We remind you however, that no matter how promising a particular product might sound, even if we determine that some or all of the benefits are reasonable, each person should apply their own measure of skepticism as well as consider their personal health status, including medications you may be taking for long term disease management, as well as the short term treatment of disease. Many of the products that are found to show promise will be offered here at our pharmacy. That means you will always have the benefit of being able to ask the pharmacist any questions that might be appropriate about a new product and how it might impact your drug regimen BEFORE you take any off the shelf products.
Never assume that any product is 100% safe, even if it contains ingredients that someone claims are “natural”, or that are “herbal”. If any ingredient whether it be from plant, animal, or mineral has a measurable therapeutic effect then it will potentially have side effects and may produce adverse reactions, no different than any manufactured pharmaceutical. This is what motivates us to look closely at new products especially those that are heavily promoted to be “natural” and “effective” and even sometimes “miraculous”. Not everything can have a double blind, large population patient study but there are other ways to evaluate new products by applying what science we know and sometimes just basic logic is the best way to critically assess the effectiveness and safety of any therapeutic agent. So that’s exactly what we are doing when presented with “what do you think about this product”.
It’s our hope that we can bring to your attention those products that make “the cut” and although our experience proves that not every product is effective for every person’s health related problem, there are product trends that continue to show promise on both sides of the therapeutic fence, so to speak. That is, those products that represent traditional pharmaceutical agents, developed through the rigors of scientific research and development, as well as those non-traditional products representing maybe less understood mechanisms of action that still deserve some critical attention.
On that note, if there are products that you are curious about or better yet, have found to be beneficial, drop us a note and we will consider it for one of our review articles. Please send all such messages to the e-mail address we have reserved for this purpose: pharmacist@staffordpharmacy.com
