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Herbal
Medicine Has Been Used for Thousands of
Years to Successfully Treat Disease and Health Disorders
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by:
Danny Siegenthaler
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Herbs
or medicinal plants have a long history in treating disease and health
disorders. In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, the written
history of herbal medicine goes back over 2000 years and herbalists in
the West have used “weeds” equally long to treat that which ails us. We
are all familiar with the virtues of Garlic, Chamomile, Peppermint,
Lavender, and other common herbs.
Interest in medicinal herbs is on the rise again and the interest is
primarily from the pharmaceutical industry, which is always looking for
‘new drugs’ and more effective substances to treat diseases, for which
there may be no or very few drugs available.
Considering the very long traditional use of herbal medicines and the
large body of evidence of their effectiveness, why is it that we are
not generally encouraged to use traditional herbal medicine, instead of
synthetic, incomplete copies of herbs, called drugs, considering the
millions of dollars being spent looking for these seemingly elusive
substances?
Herbs are considered treasures when it comes to ancient cultures and
herbalists, and many so-called weeds are worth their weight in gold.
Dandelion, Comfrey, Digitalis (Foxglove), the Poppy, Milk Thistle,
Stinging nettle, and many others, have well-researched and established
medicinal qualities that have few if any rivals in the pharmaceutical
industry. Many of them in fact, form the bases of pharmaceutical drugs.
Research into the medicinal properties of such herbs as the humble
Dandelion is currently being undertaken by scientists at the Royal
Botanical Gardens, in Kew, west London, believe it could be the source
of a life-saving drug for cancer patients.
Early tests suggest that it could hold the key to warding off cancer,
which kills tens of thousands of people every year.
Their work on the cancer-beating properties of the dandelion, which
also has a history of being used to treat warts, is part of a much
larger project to examine the natural medicinal properties of scores of
British plants and flowers.
Professor Monique Simmonds, head of the Sustainable Uses of Plants
Group at Kew, said: "We aren't randomly screening plants for their
potential medicinal properties, we are looking at plants which we know
have a long history of being used to treat certain medical problems.”
“We will be examining them to find out what active compounds they
contain which can treat the illness.”
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, this group of scientists
appears to be looking for active ingredients, which can later be
synthesized and then made into pharmaceutical drugs. This is not the
way herbs are used traditionally and their functions inevitably change
when the active ingredients are used in isolation. That’s like saying
that the only important part of a car is the engine – nothing else
needs to be included…
So, why is there this need for isolating the ‘active ingredients’?
As a scientist, I can understand the need for the scientific process of
establishing the fact that a particular herb works on a particular
disease, pathogen or what ever, and the need to know why and how it
does so. But, and this is a BIG but, as a doctor of Chinese medicine I
also understand the process of choosing and prescribing COMBINATIONS of
herbs, which have a synergistic effect to treat not just the disease,
but any underlying condition as well as the person with the disease –
That is a big difference and not one that is easily tested using
standard scientific methodologies.
Using anecdotal evidence, which after all has a history of thousands of
years, seems to escape my esteemed colleagues all together. Rather than
trying to isolate the active ingredient(s), why not test these herbs,
utilizing the knowledge of professional herbalists, on patients in
vivo, using the myriad of technology available to researchers and
medical diagnosticians to see how and why these herbs work in living,
breathing patients, rather than in a test tube or on laboratory rats
and mice (which, by the way, are not humans and have a different,
although some what similar, physiology to us…).
I suspect, that among the reasons for not following the above procedure
is that the pharmaceutical companies are not really interested in the
effects of the medicinal plants as a whole, but rather in whether they
can isolate a therapeutic substance which can then be manufactured
cheaply and marketed as a new drug - and of course that’s where the
money is…
The problem with this approach is however, that medicinal plants like
Comfrey, Dandelion and other herbs usually contain hundreds if not
thousands of chemical compounds that interact, yet many of which are
not yet understood and cannot be manufactured. This is why the
manufactured drugs, based on so-called active ingredients, often do not
work or produce side effects.
Aspirin is a classic case in point. Salicylic acid is the active
ingredient in Aspirin tablets, and was first isolated from the bark of
the White Willow tree. It is a relatively simple compound to make
synthetically, however, Aspirin is known for its ability to cause
stomach irritation and in some cases ulceration of the stomach wall.
The herbal extract from the bark of the White Willow tree generally
does not cause stomach irritation due to other, so called ‘non-active
ingredients’ contained in the bark, which function to protect the
lining of the stomach thereby preventing ulceration of the stomach
wall.
Ask yourself, which would I choose – Side effects, or no site effects?
– It’s a very simple answer. Isn’t it?
So why then are herbal medicines not used more commonly and why do we
have pharmaceutical impostors stuffed down our throats? The answer is,
that there’s little or no money in herbs for the pharmaceutical
companies. They, the herbs, have already been invented, they grow
easily, they multiply readily and for the most part, they’re freely
available.
Further more, correctly prescribed and formulated herbal compounds
generally resolve the health problem of the patient over a period of
time, leaving no requirement to keep taking the preparation – that
means no repeat sales… no ongoing prescriptions… no ongoing problem.
Pharmaceuticals on the other hand primarily aim to relieve symptoms –
that means: ongoing consultations, ongoing sales, ongoing health
problems – which do you think is a more profitable proposition…?
Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that all drugs are impostors or
that none of the pharmaceutical drugs cure diseases or maladies – they
do and some are life-preserving preparations and are without doubt
invaluable. However, herbal extracts can be similarly effective, but
are not promoted and are highly under-utilized.
The daily news is full of ‘discoveries’ of herbs found to be a possible
cure of this or that, as in the example of Dandelion and its possible
anti-cancer properties. The point is, that these herbs need to be
investigated in the correct way. They are not just ‘an active
ingredient’. They mostly have hundreds of ingredients and taking one or
two in isolation is not what makes medicinal plants work. In addition,
rarely are herbal extracts prescribed by herbalists as singles (a
preparation which utilizes only one herb). Usually herbalists mix a
variety of medicinal plants to make a mixture, which addresses more
than just the major symptoms.
In Chinese medicine for example there is a strict order of hierarchy in
any herbal prescription, which requires considerable depth of knowledge
and experience on the physicians part. The fact that the primary or
principle herb has active ingredients, which has a specific
physiological effect, does not mean the other herbs are not necessary
in the preparation. This is a fact seemingly ignored by the
pharmaceutical industry in its need to manufacture new drugs that can
control disease.
Knowing that medicinal plants are so effective, that these plants
potentially hold the key to many diseases, are inexpensive and have
proven their worth time and time again over millennia, why is it that
herbal medicine is still not in the forefront of medical treatments,
and is considered by many orthodox medical professionals and
pharmaceutical companies as hocus-pocus…. hmmm.
About the Author
Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional
Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist
and aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care
Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40
years of combined expertise with you.
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