Herbal remedies – How safe

Herbal remedies have been with us in various forms for centuries. Unfortunately our forefathers had no written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their knowledge and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS. This issue is to draw our attention to the fact that written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their k Herbal remedies have been with us in various forms for centuries. Unfortunately our forefathers had no written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their knowledge and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS. This issue is to draw our attention to the fact that e and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS.

Strictly speaking, herbal remedies are products of non-woody parts of plants: leaves, flowers, stems, bark and roots, used in the relief and treatment of ailments. In the commonly used sense however, herbal remedies tend to refer to preparations of plant products, minerals, animal parts and sometimes, significant amounts of alcohol.
Herbal medicine has a long respected history cutting across cultures and handed down from generation to generation. Many familiar medications of the twentieth century were developed from ancient treatments of health problems with specific plants. Ancient Mayan women ate certain yam tubers raw every six months to prevent pregnancy. This was a closely guarded secret, kept even from their men. Today a large number of medicines are plant products or derivatives of their active ingredients that have been researched, synthesized and packaged in large pharmaceutical laboratories. In spite of these advances, a huge amount of plants remain unexplored in our threatened forests and beneath our waters. Modern science has only brushed the surface of this magical world.
Common presentations of herbal medicines include pastes, powders, pessaries, suspensions, water and alcohol based solutions commonly called Agbo, and recently neatly packaged tablets, capsules and other forms, sold under various trade names.


To be continued.
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