Herbal supplements have become increasingly popular among health-conscious consumers, and to many their use makes more and more sense today. Their use represents not only a range of treatments, but an entire approach to medicine that holds great appeal for many customers. It can be important to the consumer to try to distinguish between the health benefits one hopes to derive and the rhetoric, pro and con, that surrounds this type of treatment.
Among the features of herbal medicine is that it puts an emphasis upon a preventative approach. Conventional medicine was generally developed with an eye toward treating and curing diseases once they have already taken hold of the patient, rendering him or her obviously sick. Typically they use powerful chemicals packaged to destroy pathogenic tissue such as bacteria and viruses.
The root of "herbal" is, of course, "herb". This is a class of supplements that is processed from various plants or fungi, many of them quite common, and typically in very concentrated form. They reflect the result of folk wisdom, sometimes tested scientifically, sometimes not, but used more to prevent disease from taking hold of the body than to cure it once it has.
Ginkgo biloba is perhaps the most familiar and tested natural supplement. It is used to improve circulation, which it effects by dilating the capillaries. This in turn improves brain function, from alertness to memory. Another treatment, red yeast rice, comes to us from Chinese medicine, and is used to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol.
A few of these herbs and plants are extremely common, so much so that they are often used in pure form, without benefit of being processed into pills. A pinch or palm full of cayenne pepper, tossed into the mouth, has the reputation of being able to save one in case of heart attack. It is also reputed to turn aside both roaches and ants when it's sprinkled on baseboards and on the floor.
It is always necessary to be careful making claims about natural solutions, which are often lightly tested, or not tested at all. They are often better thought of as extensions of the field of nutrition than the field of medicine as such. Garlic, for instance, has the reputation of being both a blood-thinning agent and an antipathogen with virus-killing properties.
This example suggests one reason why their is sometimes resistance to natural solutions. No pharmaceutical company makes a profit from a capsule of concentrated garlic extract, much less a spoonful of cayenne. That much said, it would be a mistake to take a lack of medical evidence as though it were, itself, a form of evidence. Herbal supplements remain controversial as more and more people turn to them.
Among the features of herbal medicine is that it puts an emphasis upon a preventative approach. Conventional medicine was generally developed with an eye toward treating and curing diseases once they have already taken hold of the patient, rendering him or her obviously sick. Typically they use powerful chemicals packaged to destroy pathogenic tissue such as bacteria and viruses.
The root of "herbal" is, of course, "herb". This is a class of supplements that is processed from various plants or fungi, many of them quite common, and typically in very concentrated form. They reflect the result of folk wisdom, sometimes tested scientifically, sometimes not, but used more to prevent disease from taking hold of the body than to cure it once it has.
Ginkgo biloba is perhaps the most familiar and tested natural supplement. It is used to improve circulation, which it effects by dilating the capillaries. This in turn improves brain function, from alertness to memory. Another treatment, red yeast rice, comes to us from Chinese medicine, and is used to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol.
A few of these herbs and plants are extremely common, so much so that they are often used in pure form, without benefit of being processed into pills. A pinch or palm full of cayenne pepper, tossed into the mouth, has the reputation of being able to save one in case of heart attack. It is also reputed to turn aside both roaches and ants when it's sprinkled on baseboards and on the floor.
It is always necessary to be careful making claims about natural solutions, which are often lightly tested, or not tested at all. They are often better thought of as extensions of the field of nutrition than the field of medicine as such. Garlic, for instance, has the reputation of being both a blood-thinning agent and an antipathogen with virus-killing properties.
This example suggests one reason why their is sometimes resistance to natural solutions. No pharmaceutical company makes a profit from a capsule of concentrated garlic extract, much less a spoonful of cayenne. That much said, it would be a mistake to take a lack of medical evidence as though it were, itself, a form of evidence. Herbal supplements remain controversial as more and more people turn to them.
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