Herbal Medicine - Then and Now
Many spices and herbs that we normally use as seasoning on food have useful medicinal properties and this characteristic was exploited ages ago by our ancestors. They used them as herbal remedies for protection against food borne pathogens.
Many plants produce substances, particularly alkaloids, to protect themselves from attack from insects, microorganisms and herbivores. These include aromatic flowers, roots and bark, which produce phenols or their oxygenated derivatives such as tannins. Many of them are secondary substances that are involved in metabolism either directly or indirectly. All these properties are useful for maintaining the health of humans as well as animals.
Indigenous plants have been in use over continents as natural remedies for treatment of ailments. Evidence, dating as back as 60,000 years ago, exists to show that Neanderthals used medicinal plants to treat specific ailments. Along with skeletons, pollen of some specific herbs that was not naturally present in the soil in adjacent areas of Shanidar Caves in Iraq was found. On further analysis it was discovered to be of Yarrow, Cornflower, Bachelor’s Button, St. Barnaby’s Thistle, Ragwort or Groundsel, Grape Hyacinth, Joint Pine or Woody Horsetail and Hollyhock, all of which have been in use as diuretics, stimulants, astringents and for their anti-inflammatory effect.
However, the first generally accepted evidence (radiocarbon dated for 13000 – 25000 BC) was found in cave paintings in Lascaux caves in France. A man frozen in the Swiss Alps for more than 5300 years ago was found to possess herbal medicine that he apparently used to treat parasites in his intestines.
Despite such discoveries, very little has been done on the subject of herbal medicine, However, it faces assault from conventionalists who refuse to accept the efficacy of natural remedies. This is despite the proven efficacy of homeopathy. It is indeed surprising that many drugs available to doctors, such as opium, aspirin, digitalis and quinine are derived from herbs and have a long proven history as curative herbs.
There seems to be an uncanny campaign against herbal medicine to discredit it. Probably this is because herbs and natural products cannot be patented and used by big corporations to their monetary advantage. The fact that the FDA acknowledges very few herbs as useful does not help either and leaves only folklore and anecdotal evidence as its only support.
The scene as it is today is however encouraging. Recently there has been a surge in popularity of safer treatment modalities, which nature has provided for the benefit of mankind. Herbal medicine has been and still is the mainstay of under-developed societies. Due to the negative effects of conventional drugs, presented in the shape of side effects and the inability of allopathic drugs to remove the root cause of the disease, herbal medicine and supplements are fast catching the fancy of the discerning public in industrialized nations also.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbalism
