Home Remedies

Most Americans think that medicinal herbs are a thing of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth.

An estimated 80 percent of the world's population still relies on herbs for treating and preventing disease. In Europe, where physicians have access to the same high-tech treatments that are available in the United States, patients routinely receive "prescriptions" for herbs instead of, or in addition to, pharmaceuticals. And in the United States, an estimated 25 percent of pharmaceuticals continue to be derived from plant sources.

Scientists around the world depend on herbs in developing new, more potent medications. Not long ago, experiments with the Pacific yew tree yielded an extract called taxol, which showed remarkable effectiveness against advanced breast and ovarian cancers-diseases that didn't respond to standard chemotherapy drugs. Today, yew-derived drugs (sold under the brand names Paditaxel and Taxotere) have become standard treatments for breast and ovarian cancers.

Old Medicine in the New World

Herbs are the common thread that weave through and unite various alternative disciplines. Chinese medicine, Ayurveda (India's traditional healing system), homeopathy, and naturopathy all share a profound commitment to herbal medicine, even though they differ from one another in principle and practice.

The first American settlers brought from the Old World their knowledge of medicine, which at that time still relied on therapeutic herbs. They also learned a good deal about therapeutic herbs from Native Americans.

Herbs remained a fixture in American medicine until after the Civil War. That's when the medical community experienced a philosophical split between the "regulars" -the forerunners of today's M.D.'s­and the "eclectics," who combined herbal medicine with nutrition (a high-fiber vegetarian diet) and the water-cure movement pioneered in European health spas. Eclectic medicine eventually gave birth to the health food and supplement industries as well as to chiropractic and naturopathy.

Today, the clinic at Bastyr University, the naturopathic medical school in Kenmore, Washington, sees about 25,000 patients a year. But its large pharmacy contains only a handful of pharmaceuticals. Most of its shelves are stocked with Western and Chinese herbal medicines, homeopathic medicines (many of which contain microdoses of medicinal herbs), and nutritional supplements.

Natural Disease - Fighters

Herbs, like all plants, spend their lives anchored to one spot. They can't run away from the insects, fungi, viruses, and bacteria that want to make a meal out of them. So they contain special chemical compounds to keep away the bad guys. Those same compounds give herbs their potent therapeutic powers-and help us humans fight disease.

The scientific literature is filled with studies demonstrating the value of medicinal herbs. But even though many herbs have been proven effective, skeptics may question the reliability of herb dosages. With pharmaceuticals, the argument goes, you know exactly how much of an active ingredient you're getting. With herbs, it's a hit-or­miss proposition, as the amount of active ingredient can vary from one manufacturer to another. Well, yes and no.

Increasingly, medicinal herbs come as standardized extracts. This means that the plant has been painstakingly bred to contain a specific amount of its therapeutic constituents-no more, no less. When the herb is dried or processed into a tincture or tablet, it contains a medicinal dose that can be calculated almost as precisely as those in pharmaceuticals.

Even when herbs are not available as standardized extracts, dose is not as much of an issue as with pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals tend to have a narrow therapeutic range, meaning that if you'd take only a little more than the recommended dose, you'd wind up with enough of an overdose to develop symptoms of toxicity. Commonly used medicinal herbs, on the other hand, have a broad therapeutic range. You usually have to take a good deal more than what's recommended before you'd experience problems.