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The
ability of an herbal medicine to affect body systems
depends on the chemical constituents that it contains.
Scientists first started extracting and isolating
chemicals from plants in the 18th century and
since then, we have grown accustomed to look at
herbs and their effects in terms of the active
constituents they contain.
This Web site is no exception, providing details
of all the main active constituents of the medicinal
herbs featured and explaining their actions.
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Ginkgo
improves the circulation of blood to the haed |
Research
into isolated plant constituents has great importance;
it has given rise to many of the world’s most
useful drugs. Tubocurarine, the most powerful
muscle relaxant in existence, derived from curare
(Chondrodendron tomentosum), and the strongest
painkiller of all, morphine, comes from opium
poppy (Papaver somniferum). Many anaesthetics
also derive from plants, like cocaine, which comes
from coca plant (Erythroxylum coca). |
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In
the 1990s, biomedicine still relies on plants
rather than the laboratory for at least 25% of
its medicines, and many of these are among the
most effective of all conventional drugs. It is
hard to think of a world deprived of the antimalarial
properties of quinine (derived from Cinchona),
heart remedy digoxin (from Digitalis), or the
cough-relieving properties of ephedrine (from
Ephedra sinica), which is present in many prescription
and over-the-counter cold remedies. These and
many other conventional medicines are all derived
from isolated plant constituents.
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Although
it is important to understand the actions of individual
active constituents, herbal medicine, unlike bio-medicine,
is ultimately about the use and actions of whole
plants — medicines that are literally god - or
goddess - given - rather than developed in a laboratory.
In the same way that taking a watch to bits and
identifying its key parts will not show you how
it works as a whole, dividing up a medicinal herb
into its constituent parts cannot explain exactly
how it works in its natural form. The whole herb
is worth more than the sum of its parts, and scientific
research is increasingly showing that the active
constituents of many herbs, for example those
in ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), interact in complex
ways to produce the therapeutic effect of the
remedy as a whole. |
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Plants
contain hundreds, if not thousands, of different
constituent chemicals that interact in complex
ways. |
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Frequently,
we simply do not know in detail how a particular
herb works - even though its medicinal benefit
is well established. The pharmacological approach
to understand how whole herbs work is like working
on a jigsaw where only some of the pieces have
been removed. Furthermore, although is very useful
to know that a plant contains certain active constituents,
such information can be misleading on its own.
For example, tea (Camellia sinensis) and coffee
(Coffea arabica) contain approximately the same
levels of caffeine. Tea, however, contains a much
greater quantity of tannins (which give tea its
sour, astringent taste).These constituents reduce
the amount of nutrients and drugs that are absorbed
from the intestines into the blood-stream, and
consequently less caffeine is absorbed. As a result,
and true to most people's experience, tea is less
stimulating than coffee. This example reveals
a couple of fundamental truths about herbal medicine.
First, the experience of the herbal practitioner
and of the patient often provide the most reliable
guide to the medicinal effect of individual herbs
Second, the value of a medicinal herb cannot be
reduced simply to a list of its active constituents.
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