HERBAL MEDICINE

HERBAL MEDICINE, also called botanical medicine or phytomedicine, refers to the use

of a plant's seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark, or flowers for medicinal purposes. Long practiced outside of conventional medicine, herbalism is becoming more mainstream as improvements in analysis and quality control along with advances in clinical research show their value in the treatment and prevention of disease.

Plants had been used for medicinal purposes long before recorded history. For example, ancient Egyptian papyrus writings describe medicinal plant uses. Indigenous cultures (such as Native American and African ) used herbs in their healing , while others developed traditional medical systems (such as Ayurveda and Traditional Medicine) in which herbal therapies were used systematically. Scientists found that people in different parts of the globe tended to use the same or similar plants for the same purposes.

For most herbs, the specific ingredient that causes a therapeutic effect is not known. Whole herbs contain many ingredients, and it is likely that they work together to produce the desired medicinal effect. Many factors determine how effective an herb will be. For example, the type of environment (climate, bugs, soil quality) in which a plant grew will affect its components, as will how and when it was harvested and processed.


Several herbs are often used together to enhance effectiveness and synergistic actions and to reduce toxicity. Health care providers must take many things into account when recommending herbs. For example, the species and variety of the plant, the plant's habitat, how it was stored and processed, and whether or not there are contaminants (including heavy metals and pesticides).