Just a day or two ago, I heard yet another “March of Dimes” announcement admonishing young women to take at least 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to prevent neural tube defects, including spina bifida. But I still don’t think 400 micrograms a day is enough.

Q: I know I can’t believe everything I read or see on the news, but I do get concerned when the reports against herbal supplements seem to have so much clinical research behind them. Doesn’t that research prove the negative claims?

Q: I’m a new subscriber to Nutrition & Healing, and I notice that you recommend eliminating sugar from the diet to help with all sorts of health problems. But isn’t sugar natural? So why shouldn’t I eat all of it I want?

Q: I have recently been diagnosed with beginning cataracts and would appreciate any suggestions you might have on treating it, other than a lens replacement operation.

If there’s one thing that can scare even the firmest natural medicine believer into the mainstream, it’s cancer. When you’re faced with a life-or-death situation and the “expert” sitting across from you says that the vitamins, minerals, and herbs you’ve come to trust your health to aren’t “proven,” chances are you’ll want to do whatever he says will give you the best chance of beating the disease. So when he mentions a trial on a new chemotherapy drug that looks “promising,” it certainly sounds like a good choice.

If you live in California, the next time you go to the dentist for a filling, you’ll get a fact sheet letting you know that the mercury in fillings “can harm the developing brain of a child or fetus,” and that such fillings “cause exposure to mercury, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm.”

Ever since that Orioles’ pitcher died in spring training, the cries have gotten louder and more steady. But the whole Ephedra fiasco reminds me of grade school, when the teacher kept the whole class in at recess because one kid misbehaved. If you dig a little deeper into all the hyped-up headlines, you find that most of the problems with Ephedra happened when someone took way too much of it–far beyond the label recommendation.

It’s not everyday you see nuns in full religious garb anymore, so when two walked into the Tahoma Clinic recently, they attracted a bit of attention from both the staff and patients. But that wasn’t what I remember most about their visit. Before they left the Clinic that day, the nuns taught me an approach to respiratory health I’d never even heard of before.

Giant agri-business corporations are afraid that their sales will plummet if you knew what they’re really adding to your food. I can’t say that I blame them for being nervous. They should be, considering some of their bright ideas include adding chicken genes to apples and flounder genes to tomatoes.

I don’t suggest prescription drugs very often–especially expensive ones. But very occasionally one comes along with considerable health benefits–benefits that far outweigh any risks. Thirty years ago, one of them did come along, and I recommended it to numerous patients who raved about its effects–until the government yanked it from the market. But now it’s back again with a new name, Xyrem, and I’m back to recommending it to my patients battling insomnia. And, just like the people I worked with 30 years ago, they tell me it’s the best treatment they’ve ever used.