Introduction on application of herbal medicine

Introduction on application of herbal medicine

thousands of herbal products are available over the counter and commonly used by patients in the United States. Therefore, an understanding of the composition, regulation, safety, and efficacy of herbs may assist clinicians in advising patients about the use of these products. An herb can be any form of a plant or plant product, including leaves, stems, flowers, roots, and seeds. These plants can either be sold raw or as extracts, where the plant is macerated with water, alcohol, or other solvents to extract some of the chemicals. The resulting products contain dozens of chemicals, including fatty acids, sterols, alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins , and others (Rotblatt and Ziment, 2000). An Australian survey reported that 12% of 3000 subjects used herbal medicines. Several surveys reported that 32–37% of Americans used herbal medicines in a given year (Brevoort, 1998). In Germany, herbal medicine is very much part of medical and social culture, and tens of millions of prescriptions are written for herbal medicines each year (Barrett et al., 1999). An herbal medicine is defined as a plant-derived product used for medicinal and health purposes (Bauer., 2000; Bateman et al., 1998). Humans have been using plant products for medicinal purposes since the Neanderthal period, i.e. 60 000 years ago. Herbal medicines include a wide spectrum of substances ranging from home-made teas prepared from collected herbs to medicinal products that are approved by national regulatory bodies (De-smet, 1995).