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AP - Doctors should stop routine prostate cancer screening of men over 75 because there is more evidence of harm than benefit, a federal task force advised Monday in a new blow to a much scrutinized medical test.

It is natural to compare the results and safety of herbal weight loss supplements to their pharmaceutical counter parts. One could reasonably assume that the herbal supplements are at least safer and have fewer side effects. Of course, if bulk stevia powder were to assume that, we would be wrong.

Yes, in general, herbs are safer than medicine. If we take a moment to examine the evolution of medicine, we may get a clearer picture.

The oldest, original medicine in history is the use of herbs and plants to treat all manner of ailments. It is important to remember, however, that when people used herbs, they used the whole herb, root or plant. It was either ground down, cooked or used as a tea. In China, the second oldest civilization, and the oldest surviving medical system, using herbal tea as a cure was developed into a very sophisticated system. It is not uncommon for the Chinese doctors to use a variety of eight different herbs in one tea.

What I am trying to get at is that the Chinese physicians used herbs as a very subtle method to have the body reestablish balance or harmony. Herbs, the way they were used in ancient times, did not product any great shock to the system. Therefore, there were no serious or harmful side effects.

On the other hand, modern pharmacueticals use the active ingredients in plants and from other sources. Modern medicine is much more concentrated and in many instances produce both harmful and serious side effects. Just watch any television commercial about a drug product. The commercial always ends with, "...may include the following side effects". Often, the list that follows is frightening.

This brings us to herbal weight loss supplements. These products are in the middle of herbs and modern drugs. These products use a concentrated form of the herbs, not the whole plant. Being more buy bulk l-phenylalanine nutritional powder they are not as mild as drinking an herbal tea. However, in most instances, they are still more mild than modern drugs. But not always.

Ephedrine is a natural supplement that can have severe side effects. The point of all this is that you have to do alpha lipoic acid ala reviews side effects dosages research before using any diet supplement, whether it is herbal or medical in nature.

It is important to remember that most herbal supplements are safe and effective. Just do your homework first. Also, it is true that some of them are effective weight loss agents all by themselves. It is even more effective to combine their use with a change of diet and exercise.

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Kathryn Soloff is the mother of 8 children and a natural foods cook for over 30 years. She is co-publisher of http://www.natural-remedy-dot-com.com/ where she provides additional advice, tips and hard to find information on Natural Food Fat Burners.