Michael Uzick, N.M.D.

Naturopathic Physician

 
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Naturopathic physicians must keep their own medicinal dispensaries since there is no natural equivalent to the corner drug store.  The state of Arizona's Naturopathic Medical Board has issued Doctor Uzick a certificate to Dispense. 

 

Doctor Uzick only prescribes and dispenses natural medicines from professional Nutraceutical companies.  Professional companies do not sell directly to the public and only supply physicians.  The quality of product is far superior than what is available over the counter.

 

What you should know about over the counter (OTC) Supplements

OTC vitamin and herbal supplements sold in the United States are largely unregulated.  For example lets say a company decides to sell 500 mg tablets of vitamin C.  The company is not required to have this product assayed (tested) in order to prove that the substance in the capsule is indeed vitamin C, that the capsules contains 500 mg, that the product is free from contamination with solvents, bacteria, pesticides or heavy metals.  If a company even bothers to list an expiration date, it's not required to prove that this date accurately reflects the stability and potency of the product.  Almost all supplement expiration dates are arbitrarily assigned and have not been determined via testing for degradation and potency.

 

Vital Nutrients is one of the professional supplement companies I use.  This particular company has a level of proven quality no other Nutraceutical company in the US can claim.  All of their vitamins and herbs are assayed by independent laboratories.  I had the opportunity to tour their facility in October of 2002.  While in the office of the companies president - Rick Liva, N.D. - I observed as the quality control manager presented Dr. Liva with two new assays that had just been faxed.

 

On this day the results were from assays of two popular herbs - Dong Quai and American Ginseng.  Samples from 2 different raw material suppliers were analyzed.  The Dong Quai sample was found to be free of pesticides and heavy metals.  However, only 50% of the sample was Dong Quai, the other half could not be identified.  The American Ginseng sample was 100% authentic, however the assay detected extraordinarily high levels of Lindane (a pesticide known for it's potent neurotoxic and carcinogenic properties).  In addition, there was a second pesticide whose long chemical name I can't recall.  This particular pesticide was classified as illegal for use in the US.  The levels were over 10,000 parts per million which is extremely high.

 

I can guarantee you that the suppliers selling those contaminated herbs are supplying dozens of OTC supplement companies.  Undoubtedly, unsuspecting consumers are purchasing those products in the mistaken belief they are doing something good for their health!

 

To get a sense of the extent of this problem, go to Consumerlab.com.  This organization does independent testing of OTC nutritional supplements.  The results of their findings are quite alarming.  For example they recently tested 15 OTC calcium supplements.  One of them happened to be Bob Barefoot's Corale Calcium - the one with the info-mercial claiming to be the cure of a variety of diseases including cancer.  Two calcium products failed to meet the basic requirements set forth.  The Corale calcium failed the assay because it contained levels of Lead that exceeded California's safe levels for occupational safety!  Tens of thousands of people have paid top dollar for the cheapest form of calcium and contaminated with lead to boot!

 

The bottom line is that I rarely prescribe OTC supplements unless the company provides me with independent assays of their products.  I work very hard to stock my dispensary with the highest quality products available.

 

Lastly the dispensary is not a store open to the public.  The medicinal items it contains are only available through prescription.  Thus only patients have access to the dispensary.

 

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            Send an E-mail to: Doctor Uzick

           

            Michael Uzick, NMD, FABNO           

            3920 North Campbell Avenue

            Tucson, Arizona 85719

            520-495-4400