Herbalism

Herbalism refers to folk and traditional medicinal practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as phytotherapy.

Dangers

A common misconception about herbalism and the use of 'natural' products in general, is that 'natural' equals safe. Nature however is not benign and many plants have chemical defence mechanisms against predators that can have adverse effects on humans. Examples are hemlock and nightshade, which can be deadly to humans. Herbs can also have undesirable side-effects just as pharmaceutical products can, exacerbatedby lack of control over because dosage and purity.

Related Topics:
Hemlock - Nightshade

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Name confusion

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The common names of herbs may be shared with others with different effects. In Belgium, in a TCM-remedy for losing weight, one herb was swapped for another that caused kidney damage. Starmint is an herb used for tea. One varieties causes elevated blood pressure and increased heart rate, differentiated by the suffix of its Latin name.

Related Topics:
TCM - Kidney - Starmint - Latin

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International standards

The legal status of a herbal ingrediant may vary from one country to another. For example, Ayurvedic herbal products often contain levels of heavy metals that would be considered unsafe in the US. However, heavy metals are considered to have therapeutical benefits in Ayurvedic medicine.

Related Topics:
Ayurvedic - US

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Medical interaction

It is often advised that those wishing to use herbal remedies first consult with a physician, as some have the potential to cause adverse drug interactions when used in combination with various prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. For example, dangerously low blood pressure may result from the combination of an herbal remedy that lowers blood pressure together with prescription medicine that does the same thing. However, please be aware that most physicians have no knowledge of herbal medicine, so may not be the best sources of information. Also, there is little known about interactions of herbal remedies with pharmaceuticals, since contrary to pharmaceutical medicine, there is no system in place to report and publish any (adverse) interactions, so even herbalists may not be aware of adverse interactions.

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To put the safety issue in perspective, an editorial in the British Medical Journal pointed out, "Even though herbal medicines are not devoid of risk, they could still be safer than synthetic drugs. Between 1968 and 1997, the World Health Organization's monitoring centre collected 8985 reports of adverse events associated with herbal medicines from 55 countries. Although this number may seem impressively high, it amounts to only a tiny fraction of adverse events associated with conventional drugs held in the same database." (BMJ, October 18, 2003; 327:881-882).

Related Topics:
British Medical Journal - World Health Organization

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A meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported the following: "The overall incidence of serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) was 6.7% (95% confidence interval , 5.2%-8.2%) and of fatal ADRs was 0.32% (95% CI, 0.23%-0.41%) of hospitalized patients. We estimated that in 1994 overall 2,216,000 (1,721,000-2,711,000) hospitalized patients had serious ADRs and 106,000 (76,000-137,000) had fatal ADRs, making these reactions between the fourth and sixth leading cause of death." (JAMA. 1998;279:1200-1205)

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Finally, research posted by Ron Law shows a United States death rate of 0.0001% from dietary supplements versus 2.4% from "preventable medical misadventures" and 5.18% from properly prescribed and used drugs (http://www.laleva.cc/petizione/english/ronlaw_eng.html).

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