Harnessing The Power Of Nutritional Compounding

Written by Warren Maginn.

Most natural medicine healthcare practitioners have heard the term ‘compounding’, however a surprisingly large number of practitioners still remain relatively unfamiliar with its true nature, how it can be (and/or should be) performed, and ultimately its power to transform their practice.

Some reasons for this may include uncertainties around what is allowed under current Australian regulations, how best to navigate some of the technical complexities involved, and the currently relatively limited level of training available (including within various natural medicine college courses).

It therefore continues to be of benefit, to both experienced practitioners as well as new students alike, to revisit and explore the topic of compounding. The following overview is intended to serve as a summary of the key concepts involved, as well as some of the main requirements, techniques and tools available, to assist more practitioners to build their confidence with this powerful and important aspect of personalised medicine.

What is Compounding?

Quite simply the act of ‘compounding’ simply refers to the making of ‘custom’ medicines (as opposed to those that are mass manufactured for commercial sale in stores). Even though the term ‘compounding’ does imply the combining of ingredients, it is important to note that this is not compulsory (i.e. the dispensing of a single ingredient as a medicine on its own still constitutes a form of compounding).

Therefore, a compounded medicine may be comprised of multiple ingredients, or a single ingredient, and may come in any number of ‘dosage forms’ e.g. liquids, creams, and of course… powders.

Some of the benefits of choosing powders as the primary dosage form to use (especially in the case of Nutritional

Compounding) include:

• They are stable (when free from moisture)

• They avoid the need for many additives (stabilisers, preservatives, antioxidants, etc.)

• They are easy to blend (create an even mixture)

• They are easy to dose (deliver predictable quantities)

• Most nutrient/nutraceutical ingredients are produced in powder form

• They can free us from the mortar and pestle!

Despite the above benefits of using pre-powdered ingredients, the somewhat cliché imagery of a mortar and pestle often continues to be used when illustrating the practice of compounding. This is primarily a nod to past medical traditions that involved manually breaking down raw ingredients into powder form prior to use for ease of mixing, rather than a literal representation of what is actually involved in the practice of modern compounding. Historically, it could be said that compounding has been performed since the dawn of medicine. It can also be said that modern pharmaceutical medicine derives much of its origins from related ancient herbal medicine practices. Due to this strong historical heritage, modern Western Herbal Medicine has continued the tradition of custom compounded medicines, most typically in Australia in the form of liquid tinctures.

The reasons perhaps why custom Nutritional Compounding has been somewhat less familiar to some practitioners relates to the relatively more historically recent discovery and synthesis of isolated pure nutrients and nutraceuticals, their clinical benefits, and how to use them.

In this sense, natural medicine practitioners who are able to update their understanding of Nutritional Medicine to include the production of custom nutritional medicines (through Nutritional Compounding) as a fundamental practice, follow in much the same heritage as the Herbal Medicine practitioners of yesteryear who contributed to the currently ubiquitous understanding and practice of personalised herbal medicines.