What is Naturopathic Medicine?

"A primary purpose of this site is to provide the visitor with insight into the practice of naturopathic medicine. It is our intention to inform you of the strengths of truly traditional medicine so that you may make the best possible choices.”

Naturopathic Medicine is not ‘alternative’ medicine, nor is it an ‘unconventional’ approach to medical care. It is traditional medicine, reflective of the understandings and therapies that have been practiced since the beginning of recorded history. Modern naturopathic medicine examines the traditional practices it advocates through scientific analysis to determine the mechanism of operation and rational for efficacy. This is done to better understand why it works, not to decide whether it works.

We are the true holistic physicians. Why? We study the same core medical curriculum, with much of the same course material as our colleagues, but we study our specialty disciplines in naturopathic medical school with thousands of hours of clinical residency, not in weekend seminars, or by correspondence. Our professional training includes residential courses in nutritional biochemistry and botanical medicine. These therapies have profound effects on the human body, directly impact the outcomes of prescription medicine, and are not a part of ‘conventional’ medical training taught with sufficient rigor. They require not only a formal background in medicine to understand, but also years of specific classroom and clinical experience to master. The need for input from the naturopathic medical community to provide the theoretical and practical benefits of traditional medicine within our mainstream delivery systems is immediate. We must help prevent potential harm to the American people presented by insufficient oversight of this discipline by current medical standards.

The new model promotes equality among physicians. We can no longer tolerate the notion that one discipline of medicine can be made broad enough to encompass wellness and illness management. The National Institutes of Health, the Nation’s foremost authority on medical practice and healthcare delivery, has chosen naturopathic physicians as both permanent advisory council members and expert consultants to the federal government within our areas of formal expertise. There are less than 3000 licensed naturopathic physicians in the US. There is obvious perceived value, which licensed ND’s provide at the highest levels in The United States. We must protect ourselves and our citizens by advocating “practice as taught” restrictions in medical licensure for all disciplines across all 50 states. This is for the good of the people.

Naturopathic Physicians, Naturopathic Doctors, Traditional Naturopaths, and Naturopaths. The profession has gone through many changes since its inception as has conventional medicine. Would any jurisdiction recognize a distinct goup of MDs who chose not to change with the times and use "traditional" methods practiced say 100 years ago like treating Syphilis with mercury salts? It was this custom that generated the term"quacksalber" or dispenser of "quicksilver", later shortened to "quack". Unfortunately, the naturopathic community has a small group of unlicensable throwbacks who are our "quacks". Usually with no formal training, bogus correspondence diplomas, and phoeny accrediting credentials, they attempt to portray themselves as either "tradtional naturopaths" or just "naturopaths". How to tell them from the legitimate physicians? No AANP membership, no degree from CNME-accredited college or university, no State license.

Increasing wellness has little to do with suppressing disease and removing tissue. The model of allopathic intervention is critically valuable, but only in acute care or when suppression is necessary. The value is in maintaining life in the short term, and in interceding when natural processes (normal physiology) have failed. However, we believe that it is equally important to help the patient become healthier.

The well-patient is a better conventional consumer. Patients treated by naturopathic physicians, before, during, and after treatments by conventional physicians, need less frequent care, fewer drugs, simpler surgeries, have fewer drug “indications” (side effects), have shorter hospital stays, recover from anesthesia more quickly, and have improved drug and surgical outcomes. We believe that denying concomitant naturopathic care to patients treated by allopathic physicians is no longer ethical.

Suggest, recommend, or prescribe? Well-intentioned friends, with little or no formal training in the traditional medical arts may suggest a treatment or diagnostic assessment of an individual. Pharmacists, most RNs except for APRNs in certain states, and others with sound training in basic medical sciences, but insufficient clinical training in the application, interaction, and dynamic understanding of diagnostic/natural treatment interactions, may recommend. Physicians must prescribe. Why is the greatest burden of legal and ethical responsibility essential for physicians to embrace? Because the public expects a level of understanding and competence to not only protect them from harm, but to insure that there is expectation of a degree of clinical efficacy in following their advice. So insist that your physician never suggests or recommends.

Laws and insurance, including Medicare must reflect the change. Our vision of the emergent model of medical care delivery for the new millennium will provide equal access to naturopathic physicians for all people regardless of age or financial circumstances. States with antiquated laws restricting the scope of practice of naturopathic physicians will remove those restrictions recognizing those laws as clear restraints of trade and unconstitutional subrogation of the citizen’s rights. Those states not currently licensing and regulating the practice of naturopathic medicine will do so. Federal and state mandates, including Medicare, will ensure that citizens have the same degree of accountability from ND’s as MD’s, equal access to both disciplines, and the same degree of protection from those inadequately trained in medicine, either allopathic (MD) or naturopathic (ND).

The age of medical monopolies and managed care is ending. With renewed dedication to work for “The good of the people,” regulatory agencies within the United States government are developing a more functional model, based on educating individuals to improve health through informed lifestyle and dietary choices. Dr. Devra Davis of the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC notes, “…we know that no matter how efficient we may become in delivering health care, we also have to do a better job of reducing the demand for medical care by keeping people from developing disease in the first place.” The need to have businesses function as intercedents in medical care delivery is thankfully evaporating as people become better educated in making proactive decisions regarding their healthcare.

Microbes and vulnerable hosts co-create disease. The majority of diseases are not directly caused by infectious organisms irrespective of host resistance. At the end of his career, the famed pioneer microbiologist, Louis Pasteur, embraced this notion of the coexistence of microbial pathology and so-called “biological terrain” to explain the importance of both of these influences in vulnerability to and the progression of most pathogen-associated pathologies. By learning to improve their health, people are avoiding hosting disease thereby decreasing much of the publicly borne cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance. Although commonly known, but not widely admitted to, the greatest historical advancements in public health came from improvements in sanitation and hygiene and not the so-called ‘wonder drugs’ and immunization campaigns.

The press will be made responsible. In the not too distant future, periodicals and magazines targeting an audience of traditional medicine consumers will no longer carry advertisements for schools promising correspondence school “holistic” medical education. Although these solicitations clearly violate the letter and spirit of Federal Trade Commission rulings, adequate actions to fine the mail-order schools and the responsible media have not yet been effective. Forces within the FTC and the US Postal Service have been alerted and are beginning actions designed to protect the population. Medicine is not taught by correspondence, but only through residential training. Medicine can not be taught through the mails. We must ensure public safety by encouraging greater media responsibility.

How can an MD become an ND? Acquiring the additional training to practice as a minimally-competent ND requires about 2 additional years in residential training with about 75 semester hours in class and 2500 hours in supervised clinical rounds. Just as specialties within medicine require years of additional supervised training and concentrated residential study, so does naturopathic medicine.

Physicians who are AANP members – your best source. A link is provided to bring you to the site of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, the only US based organization representing licensed medical school trained naturopathic physicians. The problems created by unlicensable individuals claiming credentials as ‘certified’ or ‘registered’ naturopaths is well addressed. My advice is to accept the credentials of an AANP member physician listed within their website. You will be dealing with an individual who graduated from a medical school recognized by the Council of Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME). They are the only body responsible to the United States government’s Department of Education to regulate the standards of naturopathic medical education.

We welcome your opinion and input. As more information of interest to those visiting this site becomes available, and useful links to other similar sites emerge, we will provide you with access. Please e-mail us and share your thoughts.


Andrew L. Rubman, ND naturdoc@snet.net
Susan Gordon, PhD susan.gordon@snet.net