| I used herbal teas for sleeplessness and diarrhea, and acupressure, not antihistamines, for allergies. My treatments were by no means always successful, and rarely was relief as swift as from allopathic medicine. But I was learning from my illnesses—about myself as well as alternative therapies—and I knew I wasn't creating any new problems with my treatment.
I spent several months in England with Dr. Singha learning the fundamentals of acupuncture and osteopathy. In the U.S. |
| It takes very little time and brings great pleasure to prepare an herbal bath. Any of the following methods work well:
1. Simmer 1 cup of herb mixture in 2 quarts of water for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain and add liquid to your bath.
2. Place a large handful of herb mixture in a muslin (cotton) bag. Tie to faucet of bathtub and let hot water pour through. Adjust water temperature for bathing. Use the bath bag as your aromatic washcloth. These bags are good for 3 or 4 baths before they should be emptied and replaced with fresh herbs.
3. Herbs may be placed directly in the tub. |
| Pregnancy
Many herbal laxatives are definitely suspect as toxic to fetal activity. Such herbs as mandrake (American), senna, and aloe are to be avoided. Even cascara sagrada, buckthorn, or other rhamnus species are to be avoided, for although they are not directly toxic, they can be irritating.
The safest laxative for pregnancy are manna, butternut bark or root, flax seed, slippery elm, and lemon verbena (very mild). These may be combined with an aromatic, such as fennel or anise seed. Take about one tablespoon of the herb to each cup of water. Drink up to three cups daily. |
Nicola Reavley
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 In the western world, in the last 10 to 20 years, there has been a tremendous growth in interest in herbal medicine and more natural and less toxic therapies have become increasingly popular. Scientific researchers have also produced a large amount of information on the use of plants and plant substances as medicinal agents. Much of this information provides scientific validation for the uses of plants which have been known to healers for thousands of years.
While herbs are, in many cases, free of the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, they must be used appropriately. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler and David Rorvik
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 HERBS
Saint John's wort: Theoretically, concurrent use of 5-HTP and Saint John's wort may both potentiate the possible antidepressant activity of the herbal product and increase the risk of adverse reactions.
OVERDOSAGE
There are no overdosage reports in humans. There are reports of overdosage and subsequent serotonin-like syndrome in dogs. Some of these overdosages resulted in death to the animals.
DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION
Supplemental 5-HTP is not recommended. In Europe, a combination of 5-HTP with carbidopa is available, and this combination appears to have a safer profile. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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 A number of flower-essence practitioners are learning to combine the knowledge and techniques of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and homeopathy with their use of flower essences. Some practitioners use flower essences potentized as high homeopathic dilutions in order to release a higher energy and stronger life-force pattern to the patient. Australian practitioner Dr. Vasudeva Barnao has come up with an approach that he descrbes as floral acupuncture in which particular Australian flower essences are applied, with acupressure, to specific acupuncture points on the body. |
Jean Carper
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 Undeniably, scientists, especially in China, Japan, Thailand, India, even Russia and Middle European countries, are more apt to recognize medicine's debt to herbal and plant medicines, and are not one whit embarrassed to assign therapeutic powers to foods or wax rhapsodic about the curative values of a food like plain old tea.
A CASE OF THE GREEN TEA FACTOR
Many high-caliber scientists take it for granted that folklore mixes well with modern science. |
Kenny Ausubel
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 It is hard to believe that such a seemingly harmless program of a nontoxic herbal tonic, folk salves, a nutritional program, and an attitudinal approach to healing ignited one of the most bitter controversies in medical history, a spectacular cancer war between organized medicine and one man: Harry M. Hoxsey.
Since the Hoxsey treatment has never been rigorously investigated, the question remains: Was Harry Hoxsey a hoax, or was he "the quack who cured cancer"?
We set off to find out for ourselves. |
David Heber, M.D., Ph.D.
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 The echinacea family includes the purple coneflower, which grows on the edges of cornfields in the Midwest, but several species of echinacea are now being cultivated for sale as herbal dietary supplements. Echinacea, primarily the roots, was used by Native Americans in the Midwest to soothe toothaches, coughs, and sore throats. Surprisingly, while there are many compounds found in echinacea, the active agents in this plant are not known. The usual dose is 225 milligrams per day of a 6 to 1 echinacea root extract. |
| The Color Code of fruits and vegetables you are incorporating into your diet, in combination with the few essential vitamins and minerals, will give you what you need to protect your DNA; additional herbal dietary supplements should be regarded only as the fine-tuning. So first practice getting the diet down. Then add your core supplements. Finally, choose those additional supplements and herbs you would like to take.
Notice, I ask you to choose, given the information you have. |
| For that reason, the discussion below follows the order of importance and the strength of the evidence out there for taking particular vitamins, minerals, and herbal dietary supplements.
The Core Group of Vitamins and Minerals
•> A multivitamin/multimineral pill containing 400 micrograms of folic acid, about 5,000 IUs of vitamin A with half as beta-carotene, 45 to 60 milligrams of vitamin C, about 15 to 30 IUs of vitamin E, 20 milligrams of zinc with 3 milligrams of copper, and a series of B vitamins near the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). |
| Today we have a mature herbal medicine system in Germany where a book called The German Commission Monograph E specifies methods of manufacturing a discrete number of commonly used herbs. Many of the best-selling herbs in the United States are drawn from these. American consumers who have never tried herbs may certainly feel the desire to try to reap some of the benefits they have heard about. But they remain skeptical, in large part due to concerns about safety and also about actually getting the type and amount of herb listed on the labels of these products. |
| It is thought to be native to the mountains of the Balkans and has been cultivated in Europe for centuries. The herbal use of feverfew dates back at least two thousand years. Laboratory studies show that it inhibits the release of a substance called "histamine," which can affect blood vessels and increase the intensity of migraine headaches. The action of this herb is enhanced if it is present before the test stimulus is given. This observation translates to its use in the prevention of migraine headaches. |
| I still see patients, teach, and conduct research in nutrition in three fields—obesity, cancer prevention and treatment, and herbal supplements.
I have also written this book because I believe we are at a critical juncture in American medicine, where something will have to change. In the next century I believe medicine must emphasize prevention through health education and changes in the food supply, rather than by simply treating diseases after the damage has been done. Many medical authorities speak about disease as if nutrition was completely irrelevant. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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| Perhaps there are important energetic healing factors which have been left out in the scientific transformation of herbal medicine to drug therapy. Perhaps it is time to integrate the Einsteinian concept of matter as energy into our system of disease intervention. The Einsteinian view of matter as energy may present new reasons for re-examining the healing properties of the natural plants from which today's synthetic drugs were derived. |
Rebecca Wood
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 They are primarily found as an ingredient in herbal preparations.
Buying In the past two decades, cultivation has increased the availability of this heretofore wild, priceless, hard-to-come-by fungus. A boletus type of mushroom, the reishi is found wild in various colors. The red reishi, the most potent medicinally, is the one that is now cultivated. It is available dried, in tinctures, in tablets, and in liquid form in natural food stores and from Chinese herb dealers.
Renkon See Lotus. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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| Homeopathy, an offshoot of herbal medicine, may suggest additional reasons why the primary plant can be more valuable than the chemically synthesized drug.
Homeopathic Medicine: A Radical Step Beyond Herbs
The discovery and development of homeopathic medicine is credited to Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a brilliant German physician.2 Because of his disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the medical approaches of his day, he developed a system of treatment based on the unique principle of "like cures like. |
Michael Castleman
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 American Phytotherapy (plant medicine) Research Laboratory in Salt Lake City and author of The Scientific Validation oj herbal Medicine. Today we have better treatments for intestinal infections, but cinnamon has been incorporated into several toothpastes, in part because it tastes good but also because its antibiotic action helps kill the bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease.
And so it goes. Untold numbers of herbs used in healing during ancient times are still in use today, many of them incorporated into common over-the-counter and prescription medications. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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| While the essences prepared from the flowers of many plants have special therapeutic properties, their effects may often differ from the herbal properties of the roots and stems. In the case of Mugwort, however, many of the herb's therapeutic effects upon nerve tissue are also shared by the flower essence.
Mugwort's most beneficial effect is its ability to reintegrate the synapses and enhance communication between the individual neurons in the brain. |
Mark Stengler, N.D.
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 I and other experts in the field of herbal medicine find no problem with prescribing black cohosh on a long-term basis. It is no doubt safer than long-term hormone replacement therapy.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS?
Though side effects are uncommon, a small percentage of users get digestive upset. This may be corrected by taking black cohosh with food.
Clinical studies involving more than 1,700 patients over a 3- to 6-month period showed excellent tolerance of black cohosh. Using higher dosages than I recommend may result in headaches and dizziness. |
| I also recommended an herbal formula that stimulated stomach acid and improved digestive function, as I knew Dolly was probably not getting adequate vitamin absorption from her foods.
Two months later, Dolly returned to my office with her daughter.
"I noticed a great improvement in my mother's memory!" Theresa exclaimed excitedly.
I had Dolly continue the B12 folic acid supplement for another 6 months, and then was able to reduce the dosage in half as a maintenance dosage.
RATING: B MINUS
Many people in our society are deficient in one or more of the B vitamins. |
| Their health was compared with a control group that received a placebo.
The herbal formula significantly reduced the severity of pain and the degree of disability. There were no significant changes in the control of inflammation, however. For this reason, ashwagandha is mainly used in formulas where inflammation-controlling substances are also part of the mix.
°* Fatigue
Ashwagandha has been historically used for the treatment of chronic fatigue, especially a patient who shows signs of nervous exhaustion. |
| HERB
The homeopathic remedy called aconite is different from the herb with the same name. herbal aconite is sometimes used in Chinese medicine in very small amounts. But a homeopathic remedy contains aconite in an almost infinitesimally dilute form—in such tiny amounts, in fact, that many scientists have been baffled by the healing effects of homeopathy.
In the remedy Kristina received, the amount of aconite was analagous to one drop in a swimming pool filled with water. |
Michael Castleman
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| Taste-, earthy and unpleasant,- add sugar, honey or lemon or mix it with an herbal beverage tea.
Watch when you eat. Bedtime snacks are fine, as long as they're small and light. Don't eat a large, heavy meal within an hour or two of bedtime. Digestive processes can disturb sleep.
Take your vitamins and minerals. "Deficiencies in the B vitamins, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium and zinc can all contribute to sleep problems," Dr. Hauri says. Consider taking a multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains some of every essential vitamin and mineral.
Try tryptophan. |
| Although these therapies are still outside the medical mainstream, growing numbers of physicians now include acupuncture, homeopathy and herbal medicine in their practices.
In addition, over the last decade, several natural therapies that were once considered alternative have become largely integrated into conventional medicine. Among them are exercise, low-fat diet, massage,
Conventional versus Natural
What's the difference between conventional and natural medicine? A whole world of philosopy and outlook. |
| The large majority of the world's population has relied on herbal medicine for the vast majority of recorded history, while antidepressants have been used by only a tiny fraction of humanity for a very brief period of time. If healing arts were judged by worldwide numerical support or duration of use, many "alternative" therapies would be "mainstream," and vice versa.
Experts who chart medical trends no longer call Nature's cures alternative but complementary. These cures don't replace what's taught in medical schools but rather complete it. |
Nicola Reavley
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| There are several herbal remedies that can help to ease the problem. These include sage (Salvia officinalis), peppermint (Mentha piperita), chamomile (Matricaria recutita), hops (Humulus lupulus), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis).
The liver
The liver is the most important metabolic organ in the body and has fundamental effects on health and vitality. Reducing stress on the liver and helping it to heal promotes health and can help to alleviate the symptoms of many disorders. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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| In France, four medical schools train a thousand registered doctors per year in established three-year courses that teach homeopathy, acupuncture, and herbal medicine. In the Netherlands, most large private insurance companies include homeopathy and acupuncture in their standard or supplementary health-care packages. The United States has lagged behind Europe in many health-care trends. New drugs that become commonly used in Europe take five to seven more years before they appear on the U.S. medical scene. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Natural diuretics—Other natural herbal diuretics include astragalus, buchu, burdock, horehound, juniper berries, uva ursi (also known as bearberry,) wild Oregon grape, and dong quai.
Foods that aid in helping the body get rid of excess water include celery, alfalfa, artichoke, asparagus, cucumber, dandelion, and sarsaparilla.
Personal Advice
Eat well, exercise, relax, stop smoking, and drink alcohol moderately, if at all, and you will greatly reduce the risk of high blood pressure. |
Nicola Reavley
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| For ingredients that have no RDI, such as herbs, the package will list the ingredients. herbal products must identify the part of the plant used to make the substance.
Supplements could only claim to be 'high potency' if a nutrient is present at 100 per cent or more of the RDI. For multivitamin supplements to carry the 'high potency' labeling, at least two-thirds of the nutrients must be present at levels that are more than 100 per cent of the RDI. |
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