The Name Game
Next, Wright discussed NSP’s “key products.” She asked if anyone had had good results using any of the products for gastric ulcers. One distributor stated she advised people against drinking water with meals because it interferes with the action of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. She said that drinking water with meals had been described to her as “the work of the devil.” Another distributor concurred. “But,” she added, “there are medical-nutritional doctors who say that’s nonsense.”
“It just shows you,” Wright rejoined, “the different type of training that they have.” But the distributor countered that the doctor to whom she had alluded was a “natural doctor” — a “nutritional” doctor. Wright responded that in nutrition schools, “nutritional philosophy is taught right along with the medical philosophy.” Such schools, she claimed, teach that “if you do certain things in a certain way, then you don’t need to be aware of any of these other things.” She invited comments.
A distributor who later identified himself to me as a medical doctor trained in India responded that water taken with meals “basically doesn’t affect the enzymes.” But he added momentarily:
If you’re looking at [it from] your Western point of view, then the ["nutritional"] doctor will be right. If you’re looking at [it from] a holistic point of view, then the quart of water will quench the fire, in … yin-yang [fashion]. … So it depends on who the guru is.
Later, in the dining room, this physician said he utilized Ayurvedic medicine, applied kinesiology (“muscle testing”), and iridology in his practice. He further stated that he prescribed mostly herbs rather than pharmaceuticals, and excused NSP on the presumption that such organizations contribute to a much-needed overhaul of the medical establishment.
“A lot of these products you’ll just take the rest of your life,” Wright said, “because [of] the imbalance of your body, or you may have an inherently weakened state that you have to work with always.” She indicated that the names of the herbal combination products refer to the conditions or organs they are designed to treat. For example, U stands for “ulcer”; UC3-J, for “ulcers, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease”; AG-C and AG-X, for “anti-gas”; and BLG-X for “bile, liver and gallbladder.” The letter “C,” if it follows the hyphen, designates that the product is based on a traditional Chinese formula. Other letters following the hyphen refer to the designers of the formulas. For example, “A” refers to Paavo Airola and “X” refers to herbalist John R. Christopher (both of whom were naturopaths).
Wright claimed that, ideally, one should have three bowel movements daily, and declared that “everyone has a certain degree of parasites.” She asked us how “optimal and proper elimination” could be supported. One distributor suggested LBS 2, a “lower bowel stimulant” composed of nine herbs including cascara sagrada. Another described what happened as a result of her neglecting to tell one of her clients to ingest ample fluids with the herbal supplements he had been taking to “cleanse” himself:
Totally unbeknownst to me, he was not drinking any water. He prided himself on being able to get by with only two glasses of fluid a day. … And so he had horrendous stomach pains, and it wasn’t until we went through everything [that we realized what the problem was] — and then he just went: “Oh, you mean you have to drink water?”
The audience laughed. “Horrible stomach pains,” she emphasized. “I mean horrible. … I was just amazed that he didn’t put that together at all … and I didn’t even ask.”
Another distributor acknowledged that she hadn’t felt well during an herbal “cleanse.” Wright attributed this feeling to the excretion of “toxins.” “A lot of times when toxins are coming out of the body,” she explained, “you experience the symptoms.
The Bottom Line
Nature’s Sunshine is marketing hundreds of dubious products intended for the treatment of health problems. Its distributors are using unscientific methods as a basis for recommending products. The company also provides an extensive framework of false, misleading and unproven statements with which to promote its products. I believe that, despite its elaborate system of disclaimers, NSP is breaking the law and encouraging its distributors to do so as well.
Tags: fashion, hydrochloric, philosophy