Is your doctor doing you more harm than good?

Scott Burrichter believes so.

Traditional medicine types say he’s gone off the deep end.

Burrichter is the local sales representative for Mannatech, Inc., which he claims to be the “leading company in the nutraceutical industry.”

He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is helping established medicine and not allowing new methods of prevention to reach the public.

“Today, people are getting cheated, health-wise,” he said. “The government is spiking our food products with vitamins that are supposed to be good for you.”

When you go to the doctor, he said, the medicine you get helps for a little while. The prescriptions are “trying to trick your body” into feeling better, without actually addressing the problem, Burrichter said.

He said a growing demand for alternative medicines spawned the creation of nutraceutical products, “the newest trend in medicine.” Burrichter said the products have “the same effect as pharmaceuticals, but they’re non-toxic.”

Dr. Robert Patterson, Student Health Center director, disagrees entirely. “This is just a front for making money at the expense of people’s health,” he said.

He said this alleged public demand is for “simple solutions to complex problems,” and that is why these types of products are showing up all over the place.

He considers these products “malicious quackery.”

Mannatech’s newsletter claims that the nutraceuticals, which originated in Europe, are being eyed by private firms as a health and financial blockbuster.

An increased level of a steroid hormone produced in the adrenal gland (DHEA) is a common thread of the products. Burrichter calls it the “mother hormone.” He said it is the head of cell-to-cell communication, and it controls what pathogens your body is going to attack.

Products that contain DHEA, he said, can be used to combat a variety of diseases that were once thought to be untreatable.

“These products are all-natural, and they detoxify the body,” he said.

He claims the American Cancer Association has shown that these nutraceutical products have been known to prevent cancer by nearly 70 percent.

Plus, he added, these products would be good for people with high cholesterol, obesity, Alzheimer’s Disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, PMS and people who are prone to heart attacks.

Claims like these, Patterson said, are meant to “erroneously misdirect people.”

One example of the alleged power of these products hit very close to home for Burrichter.

His grandmother died of cancer, and his mother had cysts in her breast. After two weeks of being on the nutraceutical products, he said, his mother’s cysts were gone.

“The doctors couldn’t believe it,” he said.

Nutraceutical products were first discovered by Texas-based Carrington Laboratories.

The lab tried unsuccessfully to market the products itself for several years before turning to Mannatech for professional marketing.

Burrichter said research on these products has been done by a “huge independent research firm.”

He did not name the firm.

He said people will not see a lot of publicity or advertising for these products because the company wants to spread them through word-of-mouth.

When Patterson was presented with several brochures for the products, he said when he noticed the words “cutting-edge” and “nutraceutical,” he was suspicious. “The whole subject upsets me … It’s a real problem.”

He said that today people cannot pick up a magazine without hearing of some type of new quick-fix.

Patterson advised students to think twice before buying into any alleged “wonder-drug.”

“Before students open up their checkbooks to any type of entrepreneur, they should talk to a professional,” Patterson said.

“Get professional advice as to what they’re spending money on tricking their health with.”