Herbal Medicine, also referred to as Herbalism or Botanical Medicine, is the art of combining herbs for their therapeutic or medicinal value. A medicinal herb is a shrub or other woody plant or plant part. Herbal medicine is the oldest form of health care, and has been used by all cultures throughout history. Plants that are used as medicines have been referred to as ‘herbs’ for over 4000 years, the word ‘herb’ being derived from the Latin word, ‘herba’. Man has always observed and appreciated the great diversity of plants, collected information on herbs and developed well-defined herbal pharmacopoeias. In fact, well into the 20th century, much of the pharmacopoeia of scientific medicine was derived from the herbal lore of native people. WHO notes that of the 119 plant-derived pharmaceutical medicines, about 74 percent are used in modern medicine in ways that correlated directly with their traditional uses as plant medicines by native cultures. Substances derived from the plants remain the basis for a large proportion of the medications used today.
Herbal medicine can be broadly classified into various basic systems, namely, traditional Chinese Herbalism, Ayurvedic Herbalism and Western Herbalism, which originally came from Greece and Rome to Europe and then spread to North and South America. Despite differences in terminology and in the herbs used, there is a common thread that joins these systems: all of these systems treat the body as a ‘whole’, and they each utilize the energy of herbs to ‘work as needed’ in synergy with the natural energy in the body.
Each herbal formula is a cocktail of many herbs. Some herbs require the use of other herbs as a catalyst to make the formula more effective. Unlike western medications, the balance and interaction of all the ingredients are considered equally as important as the effect of individual ingredients. Herbology incorporates ingredients from all parts of the plant, the leaf, stem, flower and root. All plants produce chemical compounds as part of their normal metabolic activities. These can be split into primary metabolites, such as sugars and fats, found in all plants, and secondary metabolites found in a smaller range of plants. It is these secondary metabolites which have therapeutic actions in humans, and which can be refined to produce herbal formulae. Herbs are considered the ‘best’ by some practitioners when they are naturally grown in the wild, and are untouched by industrial pollutants. Other herbs are cultivated indoors, away from all contaminants, in a controlled environment. In addition to growth and gathering techniques, harvesting practices vary as well. These include taking the whole plant at once, buds, roots, seeds, leaves and blooms, or taking each part of the plant in a particular order, as well as using only younger, or older plants. We use only the most naturally grown herbs, sourced worldwide and free from all contamination by dangerous chemical products, artificial fertilizers, pesticides and pollution of any kind. Their efficacy is also ensured by how well they have been preserved. Herbs are foods, and like any other food, herbs should be taken according to our directions for use.
