Herbal Medicines

Herbal medicine is the use of plants their leaves, stems, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds to prevent or cure disease.

Origins

The practice probably originated in prehistoric times when humans discovered, through trial and error, that certain plants had healing powers. During the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt, Persia, and Greece, herbal remedies were codified and, eventually, compiled into books. With the development of chemistry and the refinement of laboratory methods, herbal medicine gave way to the modern pharmaceutical industry where many drugs are created in test tubes. Still, plant based ingredients are found in almost half of all prescription and over the counter medications used in conventional medicine, including aspirin, digitalis, and atropine, as well as several anticancer medications. Herbal medicine in China has for centuries been a well organized system of knowledge based on observations, experiments, and clinical trials, and the effectiveness of a significant number of these remedies has been verified by modern science. Elsewhere, the latest effort in plant codification has been undertaken by a consortium of medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and herbalists who are investigating the flora of the rain forests in the hope of discovering new plant sources that might yield cures for heart disease, cancer, AIDS, and other deadly diseases.

Practitioners

Herbal medicine is the specialty of people who call them selves herbalists. It is also part of homeopathy, naturopathy, and aromatherapy, as well as the mainstay of self styled holistic healers, some with acceptable credentials, many without. Chinese herbal medicine is being popularized in the West by acupuncturists and other practitioners of Eastern medicine. Many salespeople in health food stores also consider them selves qualified to recommend the use of herbal extracts. Finally, many home remedies rely upon herbal preparations.

When It Is Used

For practitioners of herbal medicine, especially Chinese herbalists, there is a plant remedy for almost every disorder. In general, herbs are effective for treating minor ailments such as digestive problems, flu, cough, headache, and rash.

How It Works

Herbal medicines that bring about a desired result are found in laboratory analyses to contain substances that trigger specific biochemical responses. For example, the inner bark of a certain type of willow tree chewed by Native Americans to alleviate headaches and other pains contains salicylic acid, the active ingredient of aspirin. Some herbalists still recommend white willow to treat headaches, arthritis, and other painful conditions, contending that it is less likely to produce stomach upset and other adverse effects of aspirin. Unlike conventional drugs, herbal remedies per se do not have the supervision of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, the consumer has no way of knowing whether an herbal product has been subjected to scientific testing to measure its safety and effectiveness. FDA rules require that herbal products be marketed as foods or food additives and that their labels not make specific medical claims or provide dosage information. Hence, people who use herbal remedies usually turn to books or rely upon the advice of an herbalist or other alternative practitioner.

What To Expect

After asking questions about the nature of a problem, an herbalist will prescribe a specific plant and give instructions on how to use it. For medicinal purposes, dried herbs are usually recommended because their increased concentration makes them more potent than the fresh plants. Leaves and flowers are dried in an airy, shady place; sun bakes out their oils and may also damage other medicinal ingredients. Roots and heavy stems are cleaned, chopped, dried, and then stored in glass jars or other nonmetallic containers in a cool, dry place until they are used. Medicinal herbs are most often steeped in boiling water and consumed as a tea. These teas, which can be unpleasantly bitter or strong tasting, should not be confused with the pleasant, commercially available herbal teas, which contain only a small fraction of the herbs used in a medicinal brew.