Is the use of herbal medicines something new? Most definitely not! Mankind has been using herbal medicines since Neanderthal times, and that is certainly not last month, though some of the people I see in Walking Street certainly have close Neanderthal relatives!
Herbs used in medicine is nothing new. The Chinese had plant based pharmacopoeias almost 5000 years ago. The Sumerians, 4000 years ago, recorded 1000 medicinal plants on stone tablet prescriptions and even Hippocrates, one of the founders of modern medicine, listed 400 plant-based remedies in his Materia Medica.
Many of our current pharmaceutical agents were originally discovered in plant form, even though they may now be formulated in a laboratory. These include Digoxin, Morphine, Codeine, Quinine, Theophylline and Pseudo-ephedrine. All of these are well documented drugs that do “work”, so there is no denying that some herbal medicines are very effective. Currently there are at least 122 distinct chemical substances, derived from plants, in use as pharmaceuticals today.
Herbal medicines are often used by people suffering from ailments for which conventional medicine offers no positive cure. HIV/AIDS is an obvious example.
However, from the Western medical viewpoint, one of the problems with herbal medicines is the lack of well controlled statistical trials of some of these medications. Another problem for the western based prescriber is the lack of knowledge of the interactions between the “pharmaceutical” drugs and “herbal” medicines. In fact there is a huge gap in our knowledge of the toxicity levels and potential teratogenic effects with some herbal medicines as well.
This is changing, and modern scientific scrutiny is being carried out on many common herbal remedies, but this is an early stage at present. Amongst these being studied is Guarana – extracted from the Paullinia cupana tree in South America. This is promoted as being a substance to give you a lift, some extra get up and go. Unfortunately it is difficult to identify the ingredient from the packaging of this compound. In actual fact, the main ingredient is caffeine. Guarana has 3-5 times more caffeine, weight for weight, than coffee beans, so no wonder it can give you a lift. It can also give you palpitations and anxiety! This herbal medicine is potent.
Another popular medication is Ginkgo, from the Ginkgo biloba tree. This is used for cerebral insufficiency as seen in the aged, leading to Dementia. Its effect is supposed to counteract this aging in the brain and the studies completed so far would appear to indicate that Ginkgo does have an effect on this condition. Now before you rush off to buy your bottle full of hope for the future please note that they have also found a nasty little side effect – brain hemorrhages!
The warning in all this is to use a little caution when deciding on a course of herbal medicines and to inform your doctor if you are considering taking some if you are already under treatment with conventional pharmaceuticals. Drug interactions are common and can be potentially fatal.
Herbal medications may be very effective, it is just important to understand there may be limitations or gaps in our knowledge. You have been warned! Now it’s time for a cup of Guarana.
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