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The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom. ANH was founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive. ANH lobbies against regulation of dietary supplements, in favour of pseudo-scientific alternative medicine, and advocates dietary and other lifestyle approaches to health. It also criticizes established science showing that
Megavitamin therapy Megavitamin therapy is the use of large doses of vitamins, often many times greater than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) in the attempt to prevent or treat diseases. Megavitamin therapy is typically used in alternative medicine by practit ...
lack any health benefit.


History

The ANH is an advocacy group founded in 2002 by Robert Verkerk and based in the United Kingdom. ANH was initially founded to raise funds to finance a legal challenge of the EU Food Supplement Directive. The ANH lobbies against the regulation of dietary supplements, in favour of pseudo-scientific alternative medicine, and advocates dietary and other lifestyle approaches to health. It also criticizes scientific research showing that megadoses of vitamins lack any health benefits.


Positions

ANH runs campaigns in favor of dietary supplements, "sustainable healthcare", and traditional medicinal cultures such as
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
and
traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
.Alliance for Natural Health International. It also campaigns against GMOs,
fluoridation Water fluoridation is the controlled adjustment of fluoride to a public water supply solely to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water contains fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by addin ...
of drinking water, corporate influence in agriculture,
electromagnetic radiation In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy. It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) li ...
, and the global harmonisation of the food trade by the United Nations Codex Alimentarius Commissio
Alliance for Natural Health International
The ANH believes that negative media publicity about nutrients such as
vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...
are merely a result of misinterpretations over the science. It also criticises the latest researchDouglas RM, Hemilä H, Chalker E, Treacy B
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold
. ''Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews'' 2007, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD000980. proposing
vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...
supplementation does not protect against the common cold as having a number of fundamental flaws. Verkerk has been quoted in newspapers criticizing scientific findings from ''
JAMA ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biom ...
'' and the
Cochrane Collaboration Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration) is a British international charitable organisation formed to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health profess ...
, among others,Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C
Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases.
''Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews'' 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD007176. . which found that some antioxidant vitamin supplements may shorten lifespan. Speaking at the inaugural "Scientific Research in Homoeopathy" conference held by the Complementary Medical Association (CMA) at the
University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...
in June 2008, Verkerk said that it was "utterly inappropriate" to use
randomised controlled trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical t ...
s (RCTs) to assess
homoeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a di ...
and other complementary medicines, arguing that "as soon as you put someone into a trial situation, you destroy many of the effects that exist between patient and practitioner." Speaking to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in the UK, Verkerk has said that EU standards on health claims favour bigger food companies, adding that big firms who had sufficient resources could play the system and claim health benefits simply by inserting a small amount of an approved ingredient such as Vitamin C into a product.


Legal challenges


Legal challenge to European Union Food Supplements Directive

In 2004, along with two British trade associations, ANH legally challenged the European Union's Food Supplements Directive referred to the European Court of Justice by the High Court in London. The European Court of Justice's Advocate General said that the EU's plan to tighten rules on the sale of
vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrien ...
and
nutritional supplements A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...
should be scrapped but was overruled by the European Court, which decided that the measures in question were necessary and appropriate for the purpose of protecting
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
. ANH interpreted the ban as applying only to synthetically produced supplements - and not to vitamins and minerals normally found in or consumed as part of the diet. The European judges did acknowledge the Advocate General's concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow substances to be added to the permitted list based on scientific evidence. They also said that any refusal to add a product to the list must be open to challenge in the courts.


Legal challenge to European Union Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive

In March 2011, ANH announced its intention to launch a legal challenge to the European Union's Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive. The Directive will be challenged first of all in the High Court in London, arguing that it is "disproportionate, non-transparent and discriminatory." ANH then hopes to have the case referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. It argues the new rules adversely impact alternative medicine practices such as
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
and that the registration costs are affordable for single herbal products with big markets, such as
echinacea ''Echinacea'' is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and open ...
, but not for small producers of compound herbal remedies.


Legal challenge to U.S. FDA's adoption of new manufacturing regulations

In April 2011, a U.S. federal judge ruled against a legal challenge by ANH to the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
's adoption of new manufacturing regulations. U.S. District Judge
Beryl Howell Beryl Alaine Howell (born December 3, 1956) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was district's chief judge from 2016 to 2023. As chief judge, ...
found that the regulations "did not exceed the FDA's statutory authority, are not impermissibly vague under the due process clause, and are not arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act." The complaint was filed in 2009 by ANH, along with Durk Pearson, Sandy Shaw and the Coalition to End FDA and FTC Censorship.'Supplement Makers Lose Fight Against FDA' Courthouse News Service
Published 8 April 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.


See also

* Alliance for Natural Health USA * Health freedom movement


References


External links


Alliance for Natural Health International
{{authority control 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Alternative medicine organizations Internet-based activism Organizations established in 2002 Orthomolecular medicine advocates