My wife is an M.D. trained in pharmaceutical medicine. She prescribes drugs every day, but also recommends medicinal herbs. In our medicine cabinet, we stock drugs and herbs, but we use more of the latter. When we catch colds, we prefer echinacea and andrographis (immune-boosting herbs proven to speed recovery), ginseng (ditto), licorice root (for sore throat), tea or coffee (caffeine helps relieve stuffed nose and chest congestion), eucalyptus lozenges (for cough), and pelargonium (if post-cold bronchitis develops).
Thirty years ago, when I started writing about herbal remedies, the vast majority of M.D.s (my wife included) never recommended herbs over drugs. Today, doctors are increasingly open to recommending nondrug alternatives given reasonable evidence of safety and effectiveness.
Unfortunately, many medical authorities still disparage medicinal herbs. Critics make four accusations: Herbs are ineffective, unsafe, unregulated and, when they work, they’re not as strong as drugs.
Ineffective? Hardly. As I document in my book, The New Healing Herbs, thousands of studies confirm the effectiveness of medicinal herbs for hundreds of conditions.
Unsafe? Like drugs, medicinal herbs can cause harm. Anything that’s pharmacologically active can. To ensure safety, purchase a guide that emphasizes safety, such as my book or the American Botanical Council’s ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs, or check out the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.
Anyone who calls herbs hazardous is totally misinformed. Every year the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) compiles statistics on accidental deaths from drugs, herbs, vitamins, and other supplements. The AAPCC’s most recent report (2008) records 1,756 accidental poisoning deaths. How many were attributable to medicinal herbs? Zero. In every accidental death caused by a pharmacological agent, the culprit was a pharmaceutical. And it’s been that way for many years. Herbs are safer than drugs.
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I was disappointed with this article. From the title I was expecting to find 75 remedies but instead it was more a push to buy this authors book.
So....what are the 75 safe & effective herbal remedies? I clicked in the link that brought me here expecting to find a list of herbal remedies, not an article saying a bunch of stuff I already know and trying to sell some guy's books. I was also hoping to find a list of 75 herbs that would include things I HAVEN'T heard about....most people with ears and an IQ above 40 have known about willow bark tea since, oh I dunno, about the time we came down out of the trees and started walking upright maybe???
There is a bill in the EU being put through in April 2011 which would ban buying and selling of all herbal remedies and related products. You can fight this bill here http://www.anh-europe.org/ Please support us in the EU. Thanks
Dan I would like to comment on your statement of potentcy. The standard for pharmaceuticals is measured in miligrams which varies in potentcy by numbers obviously the higher the number, the higher the dosage, the stronger the potentcy. The higher the miligram for one person could kill another. For example I'm on 10 miligrams of methadone this same dosage given to you could possibly put you in the hospital with an overdose causing some kind of complication. What I'm trying to get at is how does one measure the potency of herbal medicine?
While I'm overall a fan of herbal remedies, the risks to trying it yourself cannot easily be overstated. Some medicinal herbs look a lot like a lethally toxic plant. And there can be extreme reactions between prescription medications and herbs: the combination of St. John's Wort and some prescription anti-depressants has been known to cause liver-failure! If you're going to look at herbal remedies, find an expert and talk to your doctor. That herbal may be just what you need, but it also might cause a lot of damage, just like any other medication. When your doctor asks are you taking any over-the-counter medications, include whatever herbs you're taking: it really does matter, and you could wind up in a terrible situation if you don't tell them. Now... that said, some herbal remedies are actually more effective than the equivalent medications. Taking the example of St. John's Wort again, I've met a few people who had better results with that than with pharmaceuticals. There have been real, double-blind, controlled studies on some herbs, and they generally turn out to work well, so it's not all junk science. It's just important to do your own research before you try to make sure you don't run into a known problem.
Interesting article, but there were some serious issues. Psuedoscience like this is what gives herbal remedies such a bad reputation. The biggest issue is bias. Castleman's major purpose in writing this article is clearly to sell his books. Effectiveness He mentionions thousands of studies confirming the effectiveness of herbal remedies. Very few of these unnamed studies would stand up to any sort of academic muster. Double-blind clinical trials???-nope, usually just surveys of customers with obvious bias. Safety He gives two statistics about overdose and deadly side-effects. But, there is a lurking variable that must be considered. Patients in hospitals are already suffering from serious conditions, you can't compare someone battling pancreatitis to someone at home with the sniffles. Drug side-effects the number 4 cause of death in the US??? Really??? It's not even in the top 10. Number 4 is chronic lower respiratory infections. Unregulated Yes, herbs are unregulated. We've seen that even with regulation, there are dangers. What's your point? More side-effects in drugs??? No, it's just that drugs have been studied and the side-effects are known. Also, one of the big issues with herbal remedies is potency. Potency varies from batch to batch. Potency with drugs is very precise. That makes a big difference.