Recent times have seen a boom in the natural health and alternative medicine markets. As more and more people are being more and more concerned with what they put into their body and where it comes from, coupled with a growing distrust of ‘Big Pharma’, natural health no longer seems to be the preserve of hippies the perennially immature. Rather, it is fast becoming much more accepted to investigate alternative options for minor ailments (even natural health professionals shy away from recommending herbal remedies and supplements as cures for serious conditions).

With growing knowledge on the subject, it’s easy to see how appealing natural health products can be. With all of them made from natural ingredients they are all at least perceived as being safe and natural, and many of them, such as apple cider vinegar, oregano oil and colloidal silver have a variety of uses, the likes of which conventional medicines can’t match with their usually very specific applications.

Organic apple cider vinegar in particular has been prescribed for various ailments ever since the time of Hippocrates, who used to recommend apple cider vinegar with honey as an energizing tonic. These days, studies have demonstrated tentative evidence of usefulness in managing diabetes, obesity and general levels of health.

Oregano oil is primarily used for digestive health, promoting as it does, healthy gut flora, thus contributing to overall levels of health: as the Chinese know, a healthy gut goes a long way towards a healthy body. Colloidal silver was the precursor to modern antibiotics such as penicillin and provides a natural alternative to using antibiotics for those that wish to retain a healthy level of intolerance.

As mainstream as these sorts of products are slowly becoming, they do however still appeal to a particular market segment. The people who buy colloidal silver will likely be the same as the people who buy apple cider vinegar. People are either into natural health or they are not. With noises coming from the NHS about prescribing herbal remedies

and even homeopathy, this looks set to change in the next few years as alternative’ medicines are offered alongside conventional western medicine, without the arbitrary distinction between natural health and pharmaceuticals.