Herbal supplements are non-pharmaceutical non-food substances marketed to improve health. Herbalism (herbal medicine, botanical medicine) is the use of plant-derived substances, and sometimes other environmental substances, to treat or cure medical conditions. Herbalism recognizes that pre- industrial cultures had a great deal of practical medical knowledge, most of it botanical, and seeks to make use of this. Definitions are problematic. There are no unified practices, no enforceable standards for strength or purity, and relatively few guidelines for practitioners. Also, there is no clear definition of what an “herbal remedy” is.
A large number of currently available drugs are originally plant-derived, which means herbalism is basically pharmacology’s petulant, stubborn great grandmother. Many studies have been done of herbal medications. Unfortunately they often lack good documentation, quality, and suffer from not having analyzed the substance studied. Because of the lack of quality control and regulation, it is difficult to assess what the effect of many herbs is, or even what people may be taking, given the label often fails to match the content. Given these limitations, a summary of studies of some popular supplements is listed below:
?Milk Thistle seems to have proven results in reducing liver inflammation in children undergoing chemotherapy. ?Ginkgo is sold as a “memory aid” and a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Studies show mixed results, with a possibility of it being better than placebo ?Saw palmetto: marketed as a treatment for benign prostate disease in men, studies show some effect greater than placebo, at least in the short term. ?St. John’s Wort: used for depression, data show short-term efficacy over placebo for mild to moderate depression. (May cause cataracts, though this has not been proven. ) ?Ginseng: many different types, insufficient data.
?Echinacea: marketed for the common cold, no good, consistent studies have been done. ?Evening primrose oil: for PMS and eczema, studies show no benefit. ?Ginger: shown in most studies to be better than placebo at preventing nausea and/or vomiting, but still outperformed by conventional anti-nausea medications. ?Garlic: insufficient data, claimed to help with colds and heart health. If nothing else, it will repel vampires, and occasionally obnoxious blind dates. Also makes your food taste good.
May also increase the risk of bleeding. Garlic has been shown in recent studies to reduce the growth and proliferation of colon tumors, although the evidence is rather weak. ?Kava-Kava (or just Kava): marketed for anxiety, some improvement over placebo. Minor side effects include liver damage and death. ?Valerian root: for insomnia: does nothing.
Rarely, it may actually cause insomnia. ?Cranberry juice: for prevention of Urinary Tract Infections: well demonstrated and well documented efficacy; no demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of UTIs. ?Rose Hips: Good for getting an extra dose of Vitamin C, but unproven for anything else. Many herbal remedies have significant medical effects. Labeling may not correctly describe the contents of the medication. The preparations available are not well-regulated or well-studied.
As such, they are often wasteful, or even toxic. When there is a measurable effect, it is often more modest than the available conventional medicines. Many companies are doing large scale testing of botanicals to look for biologically active substances. Older remedies, and new ones, as discovered, should be subject to the same scrutiny as any other medication. There is no reason to believe that herbal remedies have any “natural” advantage over conventional ones. Randomized controlled trials can distinguish good medicines from bad, independent of the source.