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tic nutrition, working as a true “nutritionist” average of nine medications each, two to three Approximately
alongside naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, times a day. I recently witnessed twenty-three
acupuncturists and holistic physicians for seven medications, dosed two to three times a day, half of the
years. How I was originally trained and expected administered to an eighty-five-year-old lady medications
to practice nutrition is very different depending who weighed ninety-five pounds. One hundred given to nursing
on which hat I am wearing on a particular day. percent of my residents are taking a cholesterol-
Because I continue to train and network in both lowering drug (statin), although mainstream home residents
conventional and alternative arenas, I have come research demonstrates that the risks outweigh the are administered

to my present convictions without bias or from a putative benefits in this population. The statin is to relieve the
hardened mindset from either position. never discontinued, even when a cholesterol level
The outcomes exhibited by those patients is very low, and it is prescribed at any age. Many side effects
who choose the path of pharmaceutically based residents over ninety are taking these drugs. of yet other
allopathic medicine and lowfat diets recom- Statin-induced myopathy (muscle pain) medications.
mended by the American Dietetic Association is common and acetaminophen is frequently
compared to those who choose a more integra- prescribed to resolve the pain. Statins are one
tive, holistic, whole-food approach to their health drug that claims to be “preventative,” but after
are undeniably dramatic. I must assume that only watching its effects in the elderly I find it to be
someone unable to recognize and understand the quite the opposite.
good health obtained from the holistic approach I once worked at a facility that employed
would choose pharmaceutical-allopathic inter- a new physician who had studied medicine
vention and lowfat diets. I can only assume that outside of the pharmaceutical model. He did
our government leaders who continue to support not believe in the use of statin drugs, and they
our pharmaceutically based allopathic system are were discontinued on eighty-two residents. We
either blind to the benefits of integrative/holistic observed residents “waking up,” recognizing
therapies, blind to the ill effects caused by total family members, no longer requiring assistance
reliance upon pharmaceuticals, or intention- with meals, and walking for the first time in many
ally supportive of disease and illness because years. The transformation in these residents was
our world economy would fail without it. (The stunning. The facility staff was startled. I regret
medical industrial complex is the second larg- that we did not perform an evidence-based study
est money-making industry next to the military to document this revolutionary event.
machine.) Approximately half the medications given
To illustrate these factors that allow the sta- to nursing home residents are administered to
tus quo to persist, I will share some observations relieve the side effects of yet other medications.
from my professional experience. Adverse effects expand exponentially with the
number of medications taken, partially because
OVERMEDICATION they indicate the presence of numerous diseases
Pharmaceutical therapy serves a purpose, or other medical problems, but mostly because
but it is not one of prevention or healing. Its they provide opportunity for drug-borne disease
purpose it to cover up, suppress or reduce the and multiple drug-drug interactions.
symptoms of disease. Unfortunately, the industry I always foster a relationship with the con-
has expanded and twisted its purpose as billions sulting pharmacist when working in a nursing
of dollars are spent on advertising and evidence- home, frequently asking for reviews of medica-
based “studies” pushed onto physicians’ desks. tion causing nutritional imbalances. A consulting
The industry has done a terrific job of marketing pharmacist is expected to review medications
its wares to the populace at large, and introducing and make recommendations to the medical
a culture of easy acceptance of medication for director. Consultants I interview feel that one
every possible ailment. hundred percent of the nursing home popula-
In a nursing home, as in allopathic care in tion is overmedicated and that medication levels
general, the focus is on pharmaceutical inter- could be cut in half or better.
vention. Residents in my nursing homes take an
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