J. Frederic Templeman, M.D.:  I have been using mangosteen with my patients for almost 18 months. At first, I used it as a fallback product only when the regular medicines I prescribed proved ineffectual. I now use mangosteen extract as a first line therapy in a wide range of conditions because it has, in my experience, proven to be more efficacious than the prescription medicine I used to prescribe for many conditions. In addition, I now use mangosteen extract as an adjunctive therapy in conditions ranging from arthritis and fatigue to eczema and sleep disorders.

After 20 years of practice, I am well aware that many conditions are unsatisfactorily treated with prescription drugs. Whether doctors are prepared to admit this to their patients or not, they know it to be true. Because I am not a naturopath and well versed in the use of a broad range of natural remedies, before mangosteen extract was available, I had few alternatives to prescription drugs as far as complementary prescribing was concerned. I cannot express the relief I feel as a physician, knowing there is a safe, efficacious, natural alternative I can use. In addition, it may be helpful for those reading this piece to have a list

of some of the prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs that I rarely use anymore because, in my opinion, the mangosteen extract equals or outperforms them.

My purpose in setting out these lists is to allow patients to evaluate for themselves whether pharmaceuticals or phytoceuticals should be used to treat their conditions. The basic question I ask is this: "Why would anyone use a drug to obtain some effect that can be found in a food?"

Mangosteen is a food. It is found in a functional beverage that has produced therapeutic effects in my patients (without the side effects of drugs) that rival what drugs can do. Do not stop your

medications but add this mangosteen beverage to your meds. We have not seen food-drug interactions with this product. When you have used mangosteen for a reasonable period of time (1-2 months) go to your doctor and tell him what you've experienced and ask him to redo blood tests, etc., to determine what effect the mangosteen has had. Then, with his collaboration, reduce or stop the medications that mangosteen has made unnecessary.

You'll be surprised at the benefits mangosteen can provide in chronic illness at doses of one to two ounces before meals ideally three times daily. For prevention, one ounce a day is adequate.