Herbs and Modern Medicine

Some examples nowadays of drugs based on herbal medicine's ancient wisdom can be found as close as our own medicine cabinet. Salicylic acid, a compound that is similar to the active ingredient in aspirin, was originally derived from white willow bark. The opium poppy gave us morphine and codeine, and laudanum, a tranquilizer used during the Victorian era. And vincristine of the periwinkle is used to treat certain types of cancer.

Before the discovery of antibiotics, echinacea is one of the most widely used herbal medicines to the USA. It was prescribed to fight against a variety of infections, and today it has been shown by researchers to strengthen the immune system by stimulating the production of white blood cells that help fight against the disease.

Old traditions return

Today, there seems to be a growing tendency to revert to the old but proven ways of herbal medicines, many people are looking for an alternative route to traditional medicine and remedies. May They believe that modern medicine does not help or treatment May be too costly or they simply May opt for a more natural holistic approach.

It is estimated that more than 700000 plants on earth and only a tiny fraction of them have already been studied to determine their medical care and medicinal properties of plants. Modern science breaks down the entire plant to find the basis of active ingredient, then isolates for use of potential drug development, while excluding the rest of the plant. Herboristes, on the other hand, will focus on the entire plant and realize that medicines and healing properties derived from the interaction of all elements of work as a whole, and that many of these interactions, while remaining a mystery, Are an important part of herbal medicine.

Source by Terry Thorne