Herbal medicines

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This research has resulted in the accumulation of a remarkable body of knowledge that has shown repeatedly, in both clinical and laboratory experimentation, the marvelous healing ability of herbal medicines. Yet little of this information has found its way into lay and professional publications, and few physicians are current in their knowledge of this important area. (Even naturopathic doctors—the only physicians formally trained in the use of botanical medicines—are not as aware of the science of herbal medicine as they should be.) I have often wondered why.

Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy: Modern Herbal Medicine Simon Mills and Kerry Bone See book keywords and concepts

This is an area of study which has largely been neglected for herbal medicines. However, some general statements about aqueous preparations such as infusions and decoctions can be proposed. Infusions and decoctions extract water-soluble compounds from plants. Many of these will have poor bioavailability. One important exception is plants containing essential oils and taken by infusion. Here the hot water acts almost as a distillation medium and the oil will collect on the surface of the water.

The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Over 1,200 New Doctor-Tested Tips and Techniques Anyone Can Use to Heal Hundreds of Everyday Health Problems the Editors of PREVENTION See book keywords and concepts

You'll also find dozens of practical, easy-to-follow recipes for making your own herbal medicines. Each chapter includes a "Fast Facts" feature to tell you at a glance the cause of the condition, some statistics on its incidence, and when it's time to call the doctor. You'll also get a taste of herbal adventure and folklore as you read the stories about the experiences of real-life herbalists that are sprinkled throughout. Before you get started, though, a few caveats are in order. H Never try to diagnose a medical condition yourself.

Smart Medicine for Healthier Living : Practical A-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Adults Janet Zand, LAc, OMD, Allan N. Spreed, MD, CNC, James B. LaValle, RPh, ND See book keywords and concepts

There are physicians who prescribe herbal medicines and homeopathic remedies; many more recommend dietary changes for their patients. By now, a clear link has been established between diet and health. The American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the United States government have all published dietary guidelines to promote health. Conventional and complementary health-care practitioners alike emphasize the role of nutrition as fundamental to the healing process.

The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Over 1,200 New Doctor-Tested Tips and Techniques Anyone Can Use to Heal Hundreds of Everyday Health Problems the Editors of PREVENTION See book keywords and concepts

One lets the suppliers do the preparing and packaging of the tinctures, capsules, oils, salves, and other herbal medicines. Your role is to check for quality, buy the product, take it home, take it, and feel better. The other way is to purchase the actual loose plant in bulk. You can buy it fresh or dried. You can buy the whole herb or certain parts, such as the leaves, root, bark, flowers, or fruit. You can buy it intact or cut up. However you buy it, you'll take it home and make it into medicine yourself. You're surely going to be doing both kinds of shopping.

How to Buy Herbs Unless you're ready to dedicate half your life to growing herbs in your garden and the other half to studying botany so that you can safely harvest them in the wild, you'll get most of your herbal medicines the new-fashioned way—by buying them. Thanks to the herbal renaissance and the market it created, you can find just about any herb from alfalfa to yellow dock with no problem. If you live near a city of any size, using herbal remedies is as simple as a trip to any of the well-stocked health food stores and sometimes to one of the larger drugstores or grocery stores.

The Complete Encyclopedia of Natural Healing: A Comprehensive A-Z Listing of Common and Chronic Illnesses and Their Proven Natural Treatments Gary Null, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

That said, many natural approaches such as herbal medicines may indeed offer a less toxic way to treat certain conditions. And with the current prices of many prescription drugs, they may save you a lot of money, too. •Be skeptical of claims on the bottle, in product brochures or those you read on the Internet. Remember the huge marketing behind dietary supplements and other alternative approaches. For many manufacturers this is not about a new age or greater patient autonomy, it's about money. The supplement industry in this country was a $12 billion enterprise in 1997.

Staying Healthy in a Risky Environment: The New York University Medical Center Family Guide Arthur C. Upton, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

Questions to Ask About Your Surroundings and Activities Toxic Possibilities If You Answered Yes* What to Do Are you taking dietary supplements, homeopathic medicines, products sold in health food stores, herbal medicines, or folk remedies? Do you smoke cigarettes? Are you exposed to side-stream smoke? Do you smoke marijuana? Do you use cocaine, crack, heroin, or other illicit drugs? Do you intentionally sniff glue or adhesives either to get high or because you use it in a hobby? Do you work in a darkroom? Do you paint, print, dye, or batik?

Nonprescription medications, such as herbal medicines and substances used in folk medicines, are sometimes contaminated with other substances, such as lead, caffeine, and salicylates, which can affect hearing. Illicitly prepared drugs, such as cocaine, crack, and heroin, are themselves toxic to the ear or they may be contaminated with toxins that affect hearing, such as lead and arsenic.

Do you take herbal medicines or folk remedies? Do you use cocaine, crack, heroin, or other illicit drugs? Do you listen to loud music, wear stereo headphones, or go to loud music concerts? Do you ride or work on snowmobiles, motorcycles, motorboats, or race cars? Do you use power tools? Do you target shoot or supervise target shooters? Toxic Possibilities If You Answered Yes* Children especially may be exposed to lead by eating paint chips, inhaling dust, or drinking contaminated tap water. Renovating may expose you to lead in old paint and pipes.

Some herbal medicines, including traditional folk medicines, and cosmetics have been contaminated with lead. Illicitly prepared drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamines, or heroin, may be contaminated with lead. Hobbyists at high risk for lead exposure include those that target shoot, make stained glass and ceramics, solder, do car or boat repair, or do home remodeling. spots or patches on the nails, or even shedding of the nails.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS IN NAIL ABNORMALITIES Questions to Ask About Your Surroundings and Activities Do you take herbal medicines or folk remedies? Are you taking dietary supplements, homeopathic medicines, vitamins, or products from a health food store? Do you use cocaine, crack, heroin, or other illicit drugs? Do you smoke? Are your hands constantly immersed in water? Do you frequently wash clothes or dishes? Do you wear sculptured artificial nails or nail polish or hardener? Do your hands frequently have contact with oils and other chemicals at work?

Do you take herbal medicines or folk remedies? Do you drink home-distilled moonshine whiskey or wine? Do you eat from glazed pottery dishes or cook with leaden pots? Have you had too much alcohol? Do you smoke? Are you exposed to side-stream smoke? Have you recently quit smoking? Well water may contain high levels of nitrites and nitrates. Long-term use of very high doses of vitamin A (25,000 + IU) and vitamin D may cause weakness. Historically, some products sold in health food stores contained contaminants such as arsenic, cyanide, lead, and thallium.

Smart Medicine for Healthier Living : Practical A-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Adults Janet Zand, LAc, OMD, Allan N. Spreed, MD, CNC, James B. LaValle, RPh, ND See book keywords and concepts

Hawthorn berry is one of the most broadly prescribed herbal medicines in Europe. This herb brings down high blood pressure, lowers blood cholesterol, and helps regulate heart function. Choose a standardized extract containing 1.8 percent vitexin-2 rhamnosides and take 100 to 200 milligrams two or three times a day. ¦ Parsley is a natural diuretic and is also high in potassium, which is known to reduce elevated blood pressure. Take 500 milligrams twice a day for one week out of each month. Continue this program for six months.

Note that with herbal medicines, side effects are more likely to occur in the case of overdose. When taken in recommended doses, toxicity is unlikely. Herb Medicinal Use Plant Part Used How Taken Possible Side Effects Comments Aloe vera Topically: Pain reliever, excellent for burns, sore nipples, itching. Internally: Relieves stomach inflammation and constipation. Pulp from inside leaf. Liquid applied topically to affected area or taken internally. None known. Topically: Use pulp from inside plant leaf. Internally: Use prepared food-grade liquid.

The One Earth Herbal Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know About Chinese, Western, and Ayurvedic Herbal Treatments Alan Keith Tillotson, Ph.D., A.H.G., D.Ay. See book keywords and concepts

I would add that it is also the art and tradition of using herbal medicines to protect and augment health, and to prolong healthy life. How long have people been using herbs? A long, long time. There is educated speculation that prehistoric humans used herbs for illness by following the example of animals. German medical scholar Paul Unschuld tells us that in the Shang Empire, about 16 centuries before the birth of Christ, we find the first written evidence of the Chinese use of herbs for healing. Two of the most important diseases were "curse of an ancestor" and "blow of a demon.

The Healing Power of Herbs: The Enlightened Person's Guide to the Wonders of Medicinal Plants Michael T. Murray, N.D. See book keywords and concepts

Improvements in cultivation techniques, coupled with improvements in quality control and standardization of potency, will continue to increase the effectiveness of herbal medicines. References 1. Farnsworth N, et al: Medicinal plants in therapy. Bull World Health Org 63,965-981,1985. 2. Interview: An interview with Prof. H. Wagner. HerbalGram 17,16-17,1988. 3. Unpublished data from the American Botanical Council. P.O. Box 201660, Austin, Texas 78720. 4. Deveny K: Garlic and ginseng supplements become potent drugstore sellers. The Wall Street Journal 10/1/92, pp. Bl, B5. 5. Market report.

Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition Larry Trivieri, Jr. See book keywords and concepts

Homeopathy or acupuncture are often used to stimulate recovery. herbal medicines may be used as tonics and nutritive agents to support and strengthen weakened systems, while specific nutritional agents such as vitamin and mineral supplements and glandular tissue extracts might also be utilized. Hydrotherapy and various types of physical therapy may be required. Additionally, it is important that major emotional stresses be eased to allow the gastrointestinal system to function in the relaxed environment required for proper digestion.

The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs Robert S. McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien See book keywords and concepts

One of the most hotly debated issues on the subject of herbal medicines concerns proof of safety. For decades, medical authorities, regulators, and the media have warned that herbs are "un-proven" and "unregulated." These sources claim that public safety may be at risk because herbs are not held to the same high standards of proof as are drugs. This is especially ironic considering the serious safety issues with conventional drugs.

Internationally, the World Health Organization recommends that herbal medicines be considered safe if they have been in widespread use for lengthy periods of time without causing toxicity, and that they be assumed to possess the benefits for which they have been applied unless proven otherwise. Many herbs have been subjected to more laboratory and clinical research than most people know. None can be considered "new" drugs, and hence should not be expected to be held to new-drug approval standards.

The problem with herbal medicines is that herbs are not patentable, so no one can gain the exclusive right to sell an herb. Patent law is designed to protect inventors, but it also prevents people from claiming they invented common things that were already known. Common substances such as ice— or ginseng—have been known for too long to be patentable. So if a company chose to spend $350 million to prove that ginseng is safe and effective, anyone could sell it as a safe and effective drug. Patent law prevents them from "owning" ginseng, and rightly so. No one owns folk medicines.

Technologically advanced nations attempt to control and regulate herbal medicines like other drugs, sometimes improving the reliability of these time-honored treatments, but sometimes creating unforeseen problems. The most widely practiced form of herbal medicine in the world is probably traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), in use not only in China but also throughout Asia and, as a form of alternative medicine, in the United States and Europe. TCM, which frequently combines 10 or more herbs in each formula, is probably used to some extent by more than one-third of the world's population.

Germany is probably the most advanced in the use of these hightech plant medicines. herbal medicines are government approved and sold with medicinal claims throughout Europe and most of Asia, as well as in Australia, Mexico, and Canada. In other countries, limited health claims are allowed, based on traditional uses. In fact, in an informal review by the U.S. Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels, 11 of the 14 countries reviewed had an abbreviated method for allowing informative medicinal label claims on herbal products.

The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook James Green See book keywords and concepts

What to Harvest and When A seasoned herbalist does not gather the various parts of plants used to make herbal medicines randomly, or at just any time of the year. There is a specific time in Earth's solar and lunar cycles when an herb will yield its best "medicine." Herbalists for thousands of years have recorded information concerning the proper time to pick various herbs. And of course, being experts, they don't always agree with each other.

Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition Larry Trivieri, Jr. See book keywords and concepts

Certain components of herbal medicines will also enter the tumor cell to disrupt its function, making it more vulnerable to destruction by the immune system." JjpflfllJ Consult your physician immediately if you suspect you may have cancer. Saw palmetto and Pygeum afrkanus—because of their ability to inhibit testosterone conversion, decrease swelling, and provide increased blood flow to the prostate—are essential parts of any herbal medicine program for prostate cancer.

Herbs Against Cancer: History and Controversy Ralph W. Moss PhD See book keywords and concepts

There may have been, and probably were, many physicians and herbalists who studied plants and anatomy in a scientific manner," he wrote, and "the actual effect of the herbal medicines which they prescribed for their patients" (59). Twelve centuries later, around 1800 bc, certain medical papyri were finally written down. These include what are now called the Ebers, Berlin, British Museum, Hearst, and Edwin Smith Papyri. These are among the oldest and most important historical documents in the world.

Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition Larry Trivieri, Jr. See book keywords and concepts

The Complete German Commission E Monographs—Therapeutic Guide to herbal medicines. Mark Blumenthal, ed. Austin, TX: American Botanical Council & Integrated Medicine Communications, 1998. The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs. Robert McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 2000. Herbal Medicine.V. Fintelmann and R.F.Weiss. New York: Thieme Publishers, 2000. Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs. M. Blumenthal, A. Goldberg, and J. Brinckmann. Newton, MA: Integrative Medicine Communications, 2000. Herbal Prescriptions for Health and Healing.

WHO has published guidelines for the assessment of herbal medicines in an attempt to help the ministries of health of all governments develop regulations that ensure medicines are labeled properly and that consumers and practitioners are given proper directions for their use.7 However, since the early 1970s and through the 1990s, expert panels at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stringently reviewed over-the-counter (OTC) drug ingredients for safety and efficacy and eliminated many herbal ingredients from approved use in nonprescription medicines.

The collection and preparation of herbal medicines cannot be as easily controlled as the manufacture of synthetic drugs, making profits less dependable. In addition, many of these medicinal plants grow only in the Amazonian rain forest or other politically and economically unstable places, which also affects the supply of the herb. Before the 1970s, the demand for herbal medicine decreased in the United States because Americans had been conditioned to rely on synthetic, commercial drugs to provide quick relief, regardless of the potential adverse side effects.

Many of these nonprescription herbal medicines are prescribed by German doctors, who study herbal medicine in medical school and, since 1993, must pass a section on these medicines in their board exams before becoming licensed.10 As part of the ongoing unifying efforts among members of the European community, European physicians, health professionals, and researchers have formed ESCOP, the European Scientific Cooperative for Phytotherapy. This organization has published 60 monographs on individual herbs used in clinical medicine as well as for self-medication.

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