Why Take Herbs?

Scientific research into traditional medicinal herbs has been a foundation of modern medicine for more than 150 years. Even today, up to three-quarters of all pharmaceutical drugs contain compounds derived from plants, or variations on plant compounds. For example, aspirin is a synthetic (man made) variation on salicylic acid from white willow bark, a pain-relieving herb used by native Americans. And, many herbs are proving to be about as effective as synthetic drugs — examples include St. John’s Wort for depression, soy, black cohosh and red clover for menopause, red rice yeast for high cholesterol, hawthorn for congestive heart disease, saw palmetto for prosatitis, and ginkgo for Alzheimer’s disease.

As adjuncts to standard health care, specific herbal medicines offer unique benefits in three areas:

• Added therapeutic choices
• Unique preventive health benefits
• Stress-resistance

Herbs are widely used and prescribed in Europe, and form the basis of medical care throughout most of the developing world. But herbs occupy a precarious position on the fringes of American health care. If herbs are as useful as advocates claim, why aren’t herbal products, and information about their benefits, more available? Current U.S. law only permits health claims to be made only for FDA-approved drugs. But there is no financial incentive for manufacturers to apply to the FDA for approval of drug claims for herbs — a process that costs drug companies an average of $200 million per product. There is no incentive to spend this money researching herbs, because it is very hard to obtain the patent protection required before investing such enormous sums. This financial disincentive has severely limited research into many promising herbs. Fortunately, academic institutions and herb manufacturers are beginning to support more research.

Which Product Types are Best?
Herbal products come in one of five dose forms, which can be ranked in terms of likely relative potency and longevity:

Thanks for Reading HERBS 101, What about plant Chinese and medical Herbs?