Natural products have become a big hit these days. Most of us think it is a good idea to avoid putting toxic chemicals in our body, so natural products fit a great bill. The problem, of course, is how we define natural.

A line is only as good as the place it is drawn. When defining natural products, this is a difficult place to locate. On an atomic scale, everything is natural. We are just combining naturally occurring elements in different ways.

It seems rather obvious that defining natural products on an atomic scale is not going to work. After all, the same elements that comprise the monitor you are reading this on make up the coffee you may be drinking.

Any discussion of natural products at the atomic scale clearly is not going to work of us. We mentally can divide an orange from a car door, but where do we make the distinction when defining a natural product?

One definition steps up from the atomic level and looks at the biological. It says that a natural product is any substance that is produced by a living organism found in nature. In this case, organism includes both animals and plants.

This seems fairly straightforward when we think it through. Corn kernels are clearly a substance produced by an organism found in nature. One just needs to drive through the Midwest to see the proof in all the fields of corn.

The line between natural and artificial products is rarely so clear. Aspirin is a great example. This miracle drug comes from Willow bark. That is as natural as it can be. Of course, we pop one of a million uniform, processed aspirin pills, not bark.

So, is aspirin a natural product or not? Even in pill form, it is still the essential extract from the bark that is the active ingredient. On the other hand, the processing clearly alters that extract significantly.

This conundrum can be found with many products. As a result, the natural products definition has been refined. Many now argue a natural product is a substance produced by an organism that is not fundamentally altered by humans.

Using our new definition, we can see a banana is clearly a natural product. In contrast, a mass produced white flour bread with a smidge of banana and a bunch of chemicals is not.

The one thing that is clear in the natural product debate is that nothing is clear. Ultimately, how you answer the question is a personal matter. When shopping, however, take natural product claims with a grain of salt and read the labels closely.