Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Medicinal Herbs Continue As An Alternative To Main Line Pharmaceuticals.

By The Alternate Medic


As you are no doubt aware many of today's modern medicines are derived from extracts from plants and herbs. Why then is it that modern medicine and more importantly the pharmaceutical industry continue to refute the claimed benefits of consuming medicinal herbs. May it be recognized that contradicting many of these research studies is the fact that many herbs are used in the manufacture of today's medicine, thereby their claims that medicinal herbs are not useful in protecting and curing some illnesses does not make sense.

In times past when modern medicine tested a medicinal herb it was based on the patients use while its effects were recorded. In a simple way if the result was positive and repeatable, the herb would continue to be prescribed for the particular illness for which id had been used. On the other hand, if the results were singular and not repeatable, its use was discontinued and put on a list of unusable products.

In hindsight, many herbalists believe that requirements of the test may have been slanted. As with some conventional medicine, medicinal herbs do not have the same effect on every patient and they believe the test groupings may have been too small to accurately depict the benefit of the medicinal herb.

In most cases the taking of a medicinal herb usually shows no sign of ill effects, however, there are some natural herbs that can cause problems in humans. Therefore, as with modern medicine, any medicinal herb should be taken with caution and only in prescribed dosages given by a trained herbalist.

Herbal Medicine Has Been Around For Centuries.

It is commonly believed that the Chinese were the first to use any medicinal herb for treating illnesses. In fact there are medical journals that date back around 5000 years listing various known herbal medications, it has also been discovered that ancient Greece and Egypt counted the medicinal herb as an important part of health care, thousands of yeards ago. Many of the herbs they used are still being used by naturalists around the world and many are also marketed for the specific ailments for which they have been used back then.

Owing to the nature of medicinal herbs a cause of concern for many medical professionals is the lack of control over their use, they are sold over the counter in many drug and health stores. As there is a perceived lack of control in the manufacturing process of these herbal medicines, they claim that mixing certain herbs and other natural products may cause side effects of which the consumer is unaware..

For example, let's take Red Clover, which grows wild in many parts of the country. It is claimed to have healing qualities for skin ailments such as eczema and psoriasis as well as chronic degenerative diseases and dry cough. The Problem is that there is little or no information concerning the dosage and application of the clover to achieve the benefits. Even though there has been numerous documented successful treatments of eczema, psoriasis etc modern medicine prefers to promote the products of large pharmaceutical companies instead.

About the Author:

0 comments: