Herbs: Past, Present and Future

When I say the word “Herb” the first thing that comes to your mind may be Marijuana, hippies, witchcraft, or maybe snake oil salesmen. On the other hand you might think tea, many ancient drugs or healing herbs and natural medicine. Herbs are plants, and usually referring to those that are not typically eaten for daily nourishment, they have served many purposes throughout history, can have relevant and frequent use in the home and medical clinic and have a very promising future in the modern art and science of medicine.

History of Herbs

The oldest records we have of herbal uses, are from the Sumerians and the Chinese. The Chinese have been practicing herbal medicine from the beginning of their civilization. More than 2,500 years ago.1 Many other civilizations used and cultivated plants for healing and other purposes. Civilizations such as Indians, Egyptians, Greek, Romans, Israelites, Native Americans and many others. They used them for the purpose of healing, anointing, sanitation, deodorization, flavoring, and physical stimulation and relaxation. In the beginning of the 19th century scientists began to discover the active chemicals in many herbs and they began to isolate them for the use of medical practices. Plants such as the bark of the Willow tree which was

Willow Tree
               Source

used for centuries to remove pain and headaches by the Native Americans was refined to form a compound called salicylic acid which was good at dulling pain and began the modern production of painkillers.2 It was later modified to acetylsalicylic acid which is known today as aspirin. Another plant called Papaver Somniferum is a plant that has been collected for it's seeds since 3400 BC, and used by the Phoenicians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Hindi, Babylonians, Persians and Assyrians. It was ground to a pulp and used in surgery to remove pain, it was used with poison hemlock to quickly and painlessly put people to death. It was also used by addicts on a regular basis for a momentary high. Now today it is use in hospital patients suffering from severe wounds to remove pain. It goes by many names including Poppy and Opium, but now is isolated for the active chemical called Morphine. Which has been chemically altered into many other drugs called Opiates such as Codene, Hydrocodon, Oxycodon, and Heroine.3 Today hundreds of other plants are cultivated to produce drugs.4

Modern day Herbal Research

Health care in this country has made major improvements and has come a very long way. We have conquered the terrible practices of the past such as bloodletting and made many innovations such as hand washing. Science has brought us a very long way. Although there are a lot of improvements that modern health care can make. One of those improvements I believe is incorporation of many more whole herbs into a whole healing system. Several examples of herbs that can be incorporated into medical practice are Gymnema Sylvestre, Rosemary, Garlic, and Turmeric. Gymnema Sylvestre has had a few studies done on rats that suggest that it has the ability to help increase insulin production from the pancreas and thereby reduce diabetes.5 Rosemary has had studies published in peer reviewed journals that found that it has an

active ingredient in it called Carnosol that causes cancer to stop growing, and that it reduces mortality of radiation poisoning victims.6 7 Turmeric is another herb that has gained some popularity recently because of it’s amazing anti-inflammatory ability, ability to improve Alzheimer’s disease and it’s ability to fight cancer.8 9 10 Garlic was anciently used to ward off evil and many of the scientific studies that have been done on it show that indeed it does. In a study 11 conducted on 33 different vegetables against 8 types of cancer in vitro. Garlic came out as the number one cancer killer on 7

of the 8 cancers and number two to leaks on the other. Garlic decreasing cancer cell growth by 100%! Garlic completely arrested cancer cell growth without harming normal cells at all! Garlic has some other pretty amazing benefits to it as well including lowering Blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure.12 13 14  

Misconceptions about Herbal Medicine

Many have claimed that herbs are dangerous and unsafe to use because they are not regulated by the FDA.15 While this is partially true it is entirely misleading. Herbs are regulated by the FDA but they are regulated differently. Drugs have to prove their safety and efficacy before they are put on to the market.

Herbs are allowed on the market until they are proven dangerous, as is with the case of ephedra, which was taken off of the market due to it’s adverse side effects. This also is misleading because it assumes that drugs approved by the FDA are “safe” when it is clear to the 2 Million people that have adverse drug reactions and the 100,000 people that die every year that nothing could be further from the truth.16 Versus the whopping average of 8 “minor” hospitalizations 18 and 0 deaths 17 that occurred in 2006 as a result of a select few herbal supplements . That is not to say that they don’t have their potential dangers. They do, especially when combined with drugs. Even though there have and are side effects to some natural compounds such as caffeine, ephedrine, Ginkgo Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Kava Kava and Ginseng, relatively fewer people have reported adverse effects to natural herbs and food extracts as compared to adverse reactions to drugs. Many of these side effects are blown out of proportion and made to seem equal to that of drug use, which is completely false. Unless the herb is a isolated stimulant such as caffeine and ephedrine, (which are considered herbs but are actually drugs) then side effects are minor. Side effects are less severe and less common and in many cases the herbs are just as effective as their drug counterparts. According to the

University of Maryland Medical Center’s Website “In one study, St. John's wort was found to be no more effective than placebo for treating depression. But these studies should be weighed against the majority that have found St. John’s wort helps depression. For example, in the same study, Zoloft also failed to show any benefit in treating depression. Many other studies have compared St. John's wort to Prozac, Celexa, paroxetine (Paxil), and Zoloft, and found that the herb works as well as the drug. Other studies are ongoing.” 9 In all cases you should consult with a competent medical professional if you have a health condition before using any herbs.

Is it any small coincidence that these chemicals found their way into these plants? Do you think it was just by happenstance that these chemicals are beneficial to our bodies and can help us to overcome disease? I wholly believe that it isn’t any coincidence. I believe that our Creator put these chemicals in the plants for the intent of helping us and curing us from ailment because He loves us. If these plants contain such beneficial compounds there is a good chance that the science and understanding of what we can do with botanical medicine is underlooked if not ignored or hidden from society for some nefarious reason, possibly because

herbs don’t make big bucks like drugs do. There is an estimated 400,000 different plant species in the world.20 There are  probably so many more medicinal plants in our vast world just waiting to be discovered for their potentially life saving and improving capabilities. Who knows what the future brings in the area of botanical medicine but I believe it can change the world.

In conclusion herbs have had a very long, interesting and overlooked history but we are beginning to explore the science of healing using herbal remedies that are often times just as effective if not more effective than the drugs we have now and yet without most of the side effects associated with modern drugs. They have a very promising future in science and evidence based medicine, and I believe ARE the future of medical treatment.

Sources:

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