Herbal Medicine Information

Posted on September 21st, 2007 by adrian

In today’s western trained dominated medical practices, the term herbal medicine may seem alien and devoid of research and scientific evidences. However, considering that some 70-80% of the world’s population depend on plants and herbs to treat many common sicknesses, and that some 30% of prescribed drugs are derived from plants and herbs, the importance of herbal medicine cannot be ignored, after all.

In some European countries, particularly Germany and France, herbal medicine is highly regarded as an effective form of treatment for various types of ailments. Some of the common ones are Ginkgo biloba and berry oil which are effective in treating senility and benign prostatic hyperplasia respectively.

Herbs have been used widely in many countries with a history of some five millennia years. Unfortunately, most Western medical system does not permit or encourage the use of herbal therapy and hence, little is known and understood by the general public. The primary reason why this is so has much to do with economics.

As plants and shrubs from which most herbs are derived cannot be patented, there is liitle research being done to validate the efficacy of their potency. This is in sharp contrast to conventional drugs which have been extensively researched and tested in laboratories and the money spent are recouped from the sale of the patented drugs.

Due to such constraints, herbs have often been perceived as ineffective, impotent medicinal agents, subservient to the more effective synthetic drugs produced after extensive research in high-tech laboratories with highly qualified researched personnels busting multi-million budgets.

But all these are going to change. Studies have shown a slow but steady renaissance in the appreciation of the potential of herbs as alternative medicines for sicknesses and diseases for which conventional medicines may not work as effectively.

Japan, Germany and France are leading the way with billions of dollars spent annually on herbal medicine. Such a rekindling of interest is probably due to the scientific community who have become aware of the benefits of herbal medicine. Generally, herbal preparations offer less toxicity than synthetic drugs and are less prone to side effects which conventional medicine is notoriously inclined to.

Besides, herbal medicine is also more skewed towards correcting the root cause of the ailment rather than just treating the symptoms which are short-term in nature. The whole plant or crude extract is much more effective than just an isolated extract which is often used in the manufacture of conventional drugs.