Naturopathy, or ‘nature cure’, is in some countries, the practice of using simple methods like water treatment, dietetics, fasting, religious attitudes, etc. In some other countries, a naturopath utilises latest diagnostic instruments and treatments which may include acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, homoeopathy, herbalism, vitamin therapy, faith healing, etc., (Bloomfield, 1983), which virtually means all forms of non-allopathic medicine. It should be remembered that all systems of medicine have some component of Naturopathy, in the form of do’s and don'ts, particularly with reference to diet and exercise.

        Lindlahr (1975) has contributed greatly to the concepts of Naturopathy, which many people consider to be prevalent only in the orient but it is widely practiced throughout the world, with Germany and India having exploited it to the full (Bloomfield, 1983). Naturopaths consider that disease symptoms are warnings warranting an essential forcible house (body) cleanings beneficial to the body while the allopath considers that the same symptoms as harmful and hostile and that they should be cured by some means (Lindlahr, 1975). Baum and Gehman (1974) consider that the disease is nature’s effort to get you well, and so naturopathic efforts are not intended to suppress the symptoms, but to be guided by the symptoms only to promote natural healing. The British Naturopathic and Osteopathic Association claims that Naturopathy exploits the self-regulating, self-adjusting and self-healing ability of the human organism (Bloomfield, 1983).

        Naturopaths believe that a sound body is not congenial for the development of disease. Naturopathy does not use any medicine. Some critics of Naturopathy say that what is natural is often difficult to determine and that nature cure believers miss the chance of getting cured of some eminently curable diseases (Wingate, 1972).

        Dietetics is one of the important arms of Naturopathy and vegetarianism is its main stay. There are people, called ‘vegans’, who do not take even milk and its products (let alone eggs) as they are an animal produce. As indicated in Appendices 1 to 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 to 18, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 37, and 38, plant foods have varied therapeutic effects and this is the context of our interest in Naturopathy.

        Apart from being the oldest medical system, Naturopathy is also the simplest and it represents the aim of all branches of medicine, which is the prevention of all unnecessary disease (Inglis, 1972). Much of Naturopathy is preventive and the greatest benefit is that it does not cause iatrogenic (drug induced) illnesses.

        Naturopathy has vast literature although the bulk of it is of the popular type. An extensive bibliography on Naturopathy and clinical nutrition was provided by West and Trevelyan (1985). Different aspects of Naturopathy have been discussed by Dunn (1976), Foster and Anderson (1978), Goldwater (1983) and Hughes (1968), in addition to those cited in this text.

REFERENCES

Baum, H. and Gehman, J.M. 1974. Living today for tomorrow. Natural Health Foundation, Duncannon, U.S.A.

Bloomfield, R.J. 1983. Naturopathy. In Traditional medicine and health care coverage. (eds.) Bannerman, R.H., Burton, J. and Wen-Chieh, C. WHO, Geneva. pp. 117-123.

Dunn, F.L. 1976. Traditional Asian medicine and cosmopolitan medicine as adaptive systems. In Asian