Herbal medicine

An selection of antique herbal medicines

Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine.[1] With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies,[2] such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from Artemisia annua, a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever.[3][4] There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of many plants used in 21st-century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage.[1][5] The scope of herbal medicine sometimes includes fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.[6]

Paraherbalism describes alternative and pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or health-promoting agents.[1][5][7][8] Paraherbalism relies on the belief that preserving various substances from a given source with less processing is safer or more effective than manufactured products, a concept for which there is no evidence.[7]

  1. ^ a b c "Hard to swallow". Nature. 448 (7150): 105–6. July 2007. Bibcode:2007Natur.448S.105.. doi:10.1038/448106a. PMID 17625521.
  2. ^ Kai Lamottke, Christophe Ripoll, Robert Walczak (2011), "The roots of innovation", European Biopharmaceutical Review, vol. 15, pp. 52-56 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260943788_The_Roots_of_Innovation{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "This Ancient Chinese Remedy Helped Win the Nobel Prize". Time. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  4. ^ Su, Xin-zhuan; Miller, Louis H. (November 2015). "The discovery of artemisinin and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine". Science China Life Sciences. 58 (11): 1175–1179. doi:10.1007/s11427-015-4948-7. ISSN 1674-7305. PMC 4966551. PMID 26481135.
  5. ^ a b Lack CW, Rousseau J (2016). Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience: Why We Can't Trust Our Brains. Springer Publishing Company. pp. 212–214. ISBN 9780826194268.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference cruk-herbs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Tyler VE (31 August 1999). "False Tenets of Paraherbalism". Quackwatch. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference quackwatch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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