Herbal Medicine
Many well established medicines originally come from plants. For example, the painkiller morphine comes from poppies, aspirin comes from the bark of willow trees and digoxin (a drug used to treat heartfailure) comes from foxgloves.
Traditional herbal medicine has been used in the UK for centuries and it remains popular today, despite scientific advances leading to more medicines and other conventional medical treatments becoming available. Although it’s classed as a complementary medicine in the UK, it’s actually the most widely practised form of medicine across the world – 80 percent of the world’s population are dependent on herbs for their health.
Some herbal treatments are well established, and have undergone clinical testing. This approach is best called phytotherapy and uses one remedy for one condition based on proper scientific testing.
Traditional herbal medicine makes a diagnosis based on factors that are no longer used by conventional medicine. You will be prescribed a herbal mixture that is individual to you and based on your characteristics. Therefore, 10 different people with depression, for example, would each receive a different mixture (typically made up of six to 10 different herbs).
There are a number of other therapies that use plants as remedies. As well as Western herbal medicine, you may also have heard of:
- aromatherapy
- homeopathy
- Ayurvedic medicine, which treats the mind and body together with herbal medicines, yoga, massage, diet and meditation
- traditional Chinese medicine, which works on the same principles as Ayurveda and uses herbs to boost or disperse qi (energy)
How do herbal medicines work?
Many conventional medicines originate from a single active ingredient of a plant. Scientists can isolate this and produce it on a large scale in a laboratory. This is the opposite of herbal medicines which may contain dozens of different ingredients. Herbalists believe that all the elements are in balance within a plant and so it’s important to keep them together. The different components are made more or less powerful depending on the others that are present.
What problems do herbal medicines help?
A few of the conditions that phytotherapy can be used to treat are listed below.
- St John’s wort has been found to be effective for the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Tests have shown that it is as effective as standard anti-depressants but without the side effects
- Echinacea may be used to treat colds and other respiratory (breathing) infections.
- Garlic may reduce blood cholesterol levels and could potentially lower your risk of heart disease.
- Saw palmetto is useful if you have an enlarged but benign prostate gland.
- An extract of hawthorn berries may be able to treat mild heart failure.
- Ginger may relieve nausea and vomiting.
- Ginkgo biloba is thought to improve mental performance if you have Alzheimer’s disease.
- Horse chestnut seed extract has been studied as a treatment for chronic venous insufficiency.
- Cinnamon is a great source of anti-oxidants
- Turmeric is used to treat infections, wounds and is believed to limit weight gain. Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant.
- Agnus Castus, a mood-balancing herb, can help combat PMT and stabilise an irregular cycle
- Black cohosh is knows for helping menopausal symptoms, particularly hot flushes
- Sage, red clover and dioscorea (wild yam) are useful during the menopause
- Cumin – the black seeds have the most health benefits, the oil helping to combat viruses. Cumin contains thymoquinone shown to reduce inflammation so could benefit those with inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or colitis
