Approaching Herbalism from a Scientifically Literate Perspective

Is there really a founding for believing in herbal medicine? This seems to be a question many Americans are asking in a time when the concept of “human is better” is waning in favor of a return to an attitude that acknowledges we have a lot to learn from nature. Much of herbal medicine may seem like hocus-pocus, but scientists are not as against herbalism as some would think.

A first thought when someone mentions herbal medicine might be something along the lines of dried seahorse and mummified gecko. This is especially true for Americans where there is a high Chinese cultural medicine presence and where such practices are often caricaturized by the media. However, not all herbal medicine is so strange. Some common examples of herbal medicine practice could be honey-ginger tea for a sore throat and aloe (Aloe vera) for sunburns, both of which can be commonly bought in major store chains. As it turns out, much of the world uses some form of herbalism [1]. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It is against human nature to accept illness as it comes, so wherever there are people there is likely to be medicine as well. But living in the time we do, both traditional herbal medicines and contemporary scientifically produced medicines are readily available. So which should we choose?

Fig. 1: Herbal medicine utilization by country (ClubNatu, same as source 1)

Herbal medicine is steeped in traditional medicine practices that developed before the scientific method and its instruments were available. Yet even so, many herbal remedies have come about through a rather logical process. Take even a fictitious, highly religious pre-scientific society where medicines are attributed to gods. If a medicine doesn’t heal its patient, then the instinct is to throw it out primarily because it’s useless and perhaps also because it makes the gods look bad. Our ancestors were smart enough to develop a working knowledge of herbs through thousands of years of trial and error, a highly valued logical test still used today in medicine development.

The argument some give in favor of a return to herbal medicine is that it’s more “natural” than modern synthetic drugs. This is not a well-based argument from a scientific perspective. Instead, we should consider factors such as effectiveness, side-effects, general safety of the herbs and the ecological impacts of its widespread prescription, each of which must be individually assessed per herb. The effectiveness of herbal remedies is a subject of increasing research attention as many have proven to possess clinical efficacy. Aspirin, for example, emerged from a more mild treatment of salicylic acid, a chemical found to exist in the bark of the white willow (Salix alba) tree used in traditional medicine. It has recently become a growing practice to scientifically test a wide number of natural products and traditional remedies as a high-throughput system for scouting out potential new treatments. Some herbal remedies have also been found to offer their effects with less side effects than modern medicine [2]. This could be due to a plethora of possible reasons including active dosage or the presence of other compounds to neutralize negative effects.

Fig. 2: Most popular natural products (including herbs) in the United States (NCCIH)

So where do herbal medicines fall short? All medicines have their associated risks, but a lack of herbal toxicity knowledge and of prescription guideline enforcement brings into question the safety of some herbal medicines [3]. The ecological effects of manufacturing herbal medicines must be considered as well. Paclitaxel, a drug with anti-tumor properties listed on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, is a natural product from the bark of the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia) tree [4]. However, wild-crafting this compound would devastate the tree population. Thus there is an inherent economic limitation on herbal paclitaxel, and so the synthetic generation of this natural compound is now the main route of production.

Herbal medicine is a topic that has been making a comeback under the realization that we have much more to discover about our medical pasts through a scientific approach. Personally, I am inclined to believe this is a step in the right direction since it is never bad to know more about plants that could potentially save our health. After all, it takes just one paclitaxel to make the search worth it. Social opinions on herbalism as a form of alternative medicine are shifting towards the positive, and as scientifically educated individuals we should keep ourselves updated on this movement.