COMMON THREAD: acai berry, arginmax, burundanga

Digg 1: Talk2Me: paul newman cancer update
Digg 2: State of California Warning: DO NOT Flush Pharmaceuticals

I see an interesting common thread in the number of natural nutritional supplements people are looking up today. At least people are looking for natural remedies, but the reasons we're seeking these remedies are disturbing. It's amazing to me how people today look for quick external fixes in every aspect of their lives.

First, there is the acai berry diet. The acai berry is known as an elixir that provides an antioxident and gives energy. A friend of my grandfathers swears by the virtues of monavie, which is a drink made from the acai berry. People who drink acai juice and eat the acai fruit extoll it's benefit to the joints. But now some folks are claiming, in what's very likely a scam, that acai in pill form can make you lose weight too. Can't we just be happy with what the acai berry does do, instead of trying to overclaim it's benefits?

And then there's arginmax, whose manufacturers claim that it helps improve sexual performance in both men and women. I wonder if people take this because their intimate lives are really ailing, or because they are - like so much of society - addicted to the idea of attaining "more." Either reason makes me sad.

By far the most disturbing natural "remedy" that's on people's fingertips today is burundanga, a drug made from the plant called either cacao sabanero or borrachero. In some parts of the world it is used to drug foreigners in order to rob them. In other parts of the world, recent reports of date-rapes, thefts, kidnapping and other crimes have been attributed to it. Frightening!