As herbalism and "self" healing has becoming enormously popular, the
number of books on the subject has also increased at what seems an
exponential rate.
Many of the books I’ve encountered merely map the "condition" to the
"herb(s)" that should be used.
Does anyone know of a reference that identifies what the active
substances or alkaloids are for commonly used herbs?
For instance, if one is taking an SSRI for depression, s/he would be
well advised to stay away from any teas and/or herbs that contain
natural MAOIs.
Steven Zikopoulos
<sziko…@ccs.carleton.ca>
Links
Most of the material on contemporary herbal medicine is not worthwhile,
for a variety of reasons. Many of the discussions are based on past,
largely empiric uses of the herbs, which may or may not have been validated
by later studies. In many cases, the herbs that were recommended for specific
conditions lacked any therapeutic value, but the traditional uses are still
on the record.
A second problem is that the herbs, in most cases, are no longer
standardized. At one time, the USP and NF existed to offer standards for
medicinal herbs, but without pharmacopoeical specifications, there’s
really no way of knowing how much of any active principle is in any
botanical.
Finally, there are questions on the subject of dosing. Since the
1950′s we have become accustomed to the 250 milligram tablet, but that
is not the way most herbs are best administered. Since they are plants,
the cell wall has to be broken down before they can release their active
component. That’s why most of the older herbs were routinely made into
liquids (tinctures., fluidextracts, etc) and why doses were often in the
teaspoonful, or wineglassfull range. A quarter gram of dried root is rarely
useful for anything, but too many herbal products are offered that way because
the proper methods of administration look and smell awful.
As for books, there are two that seem worthwhile, although I can’t
cite the publishers. Varo Tyler’s THE HONEST HERBAL is generally good,
and there’s another text NATURAL PRODUCT MEDICINE which is exemplary.
Also, if your library has copies of any of the older United States
Dispensatories, check them. The 25th edition (now quite old) was the
last of the volumes that covered the traditional herbal drugs, but it
still provides a 20th century opinion, and the traditional doses of most
of these herbs, along with indexing of most of the common names of the
herbs.
Sam Uretsky,Pharm.D.
uret…@mcclb0.med.nyu.edu