Is natural medicine safe for children?

Most people using natural health products (NHP) believe these products are safe because they are natural, but Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is safe only when professionally prescribed. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one form of CAM and has been practiced for over 2,000 years. It is the oldest, continuously practiced, professional medicine in the world and this form of Oriental medicine is used by one-quarter of the world’s population in 90 different countries.

“To achieve the maximum benefit of CAM and limit the possibility of side-effects, people should seek the professional help of a person who is trained in the use of that particular medicine instead of ‘self-prescribing’,” says Robert Helmer, a TCM specialist who specializes in children’s health in Hove, England.

Natural Health Products (NHPs) are now readily available at pharmacies, grocery stores and natural health food stores. However, these products are safe only if prescribed to the appropriate individual at the appropriate dosage. People who ‘self-prescribe’ NHPs have as great a chance of experiencing adverse side-effects as do those who take modern pharmaceuticals inappropriately. But if someone is prescribed NHPs by a trained professional, the chances for side-effects are virtually eliminated.

At the Clinical Centre of Chinese Medicine, safety is a high priority and every patient treated at the clinic has regular liver function tests performed on-site in order to monitor all treatments the individual is receiving.

“People often seek treatment from practitioners of CAM because these treatments assess each person as an individual and are not based entirely on a disease or symptoms,” Helmer says. “This is why TCM and other forms of CAM are often the best treatment for chronic health problems.”

Helmer says true professionals in the field of CAM spend years receiving proper training (professional study and clinical practice) in the use of natural products and then dedicate their entire life to understanding the use of these various forms of medicine. He says these forms of medicine have great healing properties and should not be taken lightly because they are natural. In addition to being free of side-effects, when NHPs are properly prescribed, the person will achieve maximum benefits from the treatment.

“Unfortunately, many forms of alternative and complimentary medicine are not regulated by the government so people seeking these services should ask the practitioner details about their training prior to treatment. Training for practitioners of alternative medicine may range from a weekend course to extensive training comparable to that received by a modern medical doctor.”

Children Are Not Just Little Adults

“Children are not just little adults”. This statement is commonly repeated by children’s health professionals. With regards, to NHPs and modern pharmaceuticals, this means that the same adult dosage cannot be used for children and certain medications that are safe for adults may not be safe for children. Unfortunately, the safe dosages of most modern pharmaceuticals are established as a result of experimental research with the adult population. This means that 90% of the pharmaceuticals administered to children by a medical doctor have not been tested on this age group. Therefore, the short or long-term side-effects are unknown and the benefit versus risk ratio for using such medication is unknown. As well, many forms of alternative medicine and complimentary medicine [CAM] establish proper dosages the same way. However, Traditional Chinese Medicine is much different. TCM combines empirical knowledge of the world’s oldest medicine with modern research. The research consists of 100,000 articles per year published in TCM journals in China on the effectiveness of certain treatments for certain diseases. These articles always include proper dosages.

With regards to children’s health, Chinese medicine provides insight into many health problems not addressed completely or satisfactorily by modern medicine. Paediatrics is one of the oldest specialties within Chinese medicine and dates from the early first millennium. Since that time, there have been continuous developments in the diagnosis and treatment of children’s diseases including determining which herbs are safe for children and confirming the proper paediatric dosage of every medicinal in a herbal formula. According to TCM, there are four factors to keep in mind when determining the correct dose for a given patient: age, weight, disease severity and disease diagnosis. First, babies and young children are administered smaller doses than older children or adults. Second, the practitioner takes into account the patient’s weight or body mass. The larger the patient’s body, the more medicine they will typically require to catalyze changes in a diseased mass of cells. Third, in Chinese medicine commonly recommended dosages are adjusted according to disease severity. The tailoring of herbal dosages is imperative to practitioners and patients and is a feature unique to Traditional Chinese Medicine. In acute diseases of a short duration, TCM practitioners typically prescribe higher herbal doses to knock the disease out as quickly as possible. On the other hand, for chronic, lingering and slowly progressive diseases, doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine usually prescribe lower herbal doses in a more user-friendly form of administration so patient adherence is assured over a longer time period.