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Just What Is Natural About Natural Products?

By: John Grimmes

Over the last twenty years, we have gained a greater appreciation of our surroundings and health. For many of us, this means buying natural products as much as possible. The lack of natural product guidelines has result in a debate of what exactly is natural?

Ultimately, we and the things we buy are simply a collection of atoms. If we focus on the atomic scale, most everything is essentially a natural product. This is true even for the might Twinkie and its never rotting filling.

If we think through the atomic issue, we quickly see the problematic nature of the natural product debate on this scale. The same elements that make up the hood of your car are found in an apple. They are just arranged differently.

This issue clearly cannot be handled on the atomic level. The issue is obviously not the atoms in a product, but something else. This something else is most like our elusive dividing point in the great natural product debate.

There is an ongoing argument on this very issue, but most now look to the biological. Many try to define a natural product as anything produced by an animal or plant without over interference by mankind.

This seems fairly straightforward when we think it through. Corn kernels are clearly a substance produced by an organism found in nature. One just needs to drive through the Midwest to see the proof in all the fields of corn.

The line between natural and artificial products is rarely so clear. Aspirin is a great example. This miracle drug comes from Willow bark. That is as natural as it can be. Of course, we pop one of a million uniform, processed aspirin pills, not bark.

The dividing line between natural and artificial products is clearly blurry here. When you buy a bottle of aspirin, are you buying a natural product or not? It clearly starts as a natural product, but what about the process of producing it as a pill?

For many people, the proper definition of a natural product is one that is produced by a biological organism that is not processed in a manner that fundamentally changes its chemical composition.

For instance, an ear of corn is clearly a natural product. Submerging it in water to remove dirt, bugs, leaves and the like clearly is not an issue when it comes to defining it. Altering the genetics of the plant to produce more corn, however, is.

The one thing that is clear in the natural product debate is that nothing is clear. Ultimately, how you answer the question is a personal matter. When shopping, however, take natural product claims with a grain of salt and read the labels closely.

Article Source: http://www.articlematters.com

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