By Brigitte K., AWC London and Christine R., AWC Hamburg, AWC London
Plants are amazing for so many reasons. They provide shelter for our bodies and beauty for our eyes, keep us breathing as our lungs, and add flavor to our food. But what you might not know is the role they have always played in our health. Herbal medicine is a topic that is both ancient and alternative. However, it doesn’t need to be. By opening your mind and eyes to what nature has to offer, you could be on your way to better health and a better understanding of what the world of plants can do to support your body.
Take a journey with us, looking at the world around you and its plants through a health lens. Over the next months, Brigitte, a registered naturopath and herbalist, and I will introduce you to an almost forgotten world of knowledge which, adapted to the needs of modern life, can help us to look at our health from a different angle.
At a time when the medical system is stretched to its limits, chronic diseases have increased at an alarming rate, but illnesses have also become more severe. All of us feel so powerless as we do not know how to either help or change the situation. The answer iesis simple: Empower yourself! We all need to learn about and experience possible methods of self-empowerment – we are all responsible for our body and health and need to find our own ways of taking control of them. Perhaps plant medicine can be one way.
Modern drugs that we rely on today can often trace their origins back to plants. This may surprise many of you, but before we had modern medicine plants were the only medicine. There are many examples, and here are just a few of the better known and widely used synthetics that came into existence because of the biosystem of plants.
Aspirin is the most well-known example.
It is a synthetic drug that contains salicylates, chemicals found in willow bark, meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and other salicylate-rich plants.
In former times, meadowsweet was used to relieve pain, colds and fevers as well as gut problems. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann used salicin produced from meadowsweet to develop the brand “Aspirin.”
Artemisinin is another example. It is, up to now, the most potent group of drugs for the treatment of malaria. It was developed in the 1970s, when the Chinese government launched a search for the cure of this debilitating disease and found the chemical compound in sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua). You will be surprised to learn that Artemisia annua has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2000 years!
Paclitaxel (Taxol) is a common drug used for cancer chemotherapy. It was isolated from the bark of the northwest Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in 1967.
This list can go on and on, but I think you understand the point. Plants have been and are key to our health. Plants have been and still are medicine. We can and are still discovering what health benefits there are to be found in plants and our natural world.
When and how did medicine evolve?
Medical care is as old as human history, and in prehistoric times plants were the way to heal. The oldest medical texts (on stone tablets) date back to the old Babylonian period around 1000 BCE, and it was in ancient Mesopotamia where the practice of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination and therapy was introduced. Whether in Chinese or ayurvedic medicine or the medical practices of the Egyptians, healing was always strongly related to supernatural and mystical understandings, and doctors worked together with healers who performed healing rituals.
Hippocrates, the Greek physician, was the first person to describe many diseases and medical conditions. He also established medicine as a profession by founding the first medical school at around 400 BCE. The knowledge gained of the anatomy of the human body allowed doctors not only to perform surgery but also to take medicine into a more scientific direction; but still, plant material for treatment remained the only source for centuries.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates
Paracelsus (1493–1541) was the first physician who rejected sacred magic, and he introduced the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. Only in the nineteenth century did rapid advances in science changed medicine radically, and the first synthetic compounds were developed in 1832 by the chemist Justus von Liebig.
Before the nineteenth century, scientists mainly isolated molecules from plants in order to create medicine, whereas later scientific knowledge about the effects of phytochemicals in plants allowed them to develop synthetic drugs based on these plants.
Although plants were the main medical treatment in the past, nowadays they are thought of as an alternative to “real” medicine.
Where is naturopathic medicine today?
Today, we humans in general are more likely to believe in what we can see and measure. This is why mainstream medical treatment today is based on the presenting symptoms, blood tests and x-rays – all tangible elements of our health issues. While naturopathic medicine has a more holistic approach, a naturopath tries to understand underlying conditions and the root cause of the presenting symptoms through dialogue and lengthy consultation with the patient. Thus, without the hard medical tests, the naturopathic methods are often difficult to prove scientifically, which leads to scepticism.
To prove scientifically that a plant-based treatment works is also problematic. The reason why certain herbs work for certain conditions is not based on one or two phytochemicals that you find in the herb, but on the composition and interactions of many phytochemicals in a specific plant. Developing synthetic drugs that mimic only the active components will not give the same result as when you use the whole plant. Therefore, you can not fully understand the benefits of plants if you apply modern pharmaceutical knowledge.
Different countries take a very different approach to plant-based medicine
USA:
In the USA, you find that herbalists and naturopaths and those who practise in these fields undertake various courses to work with patients. As a complementary practitioner you do not have to study medicine in order to work with alternative methods, as you do not prescribe synthetic drugs which are tightly regulated. At the same time, you are not allowed to diagnose, prescribe and treat patients with synthetic drugs (unless you have a medical license in another field that confers those rights), but you can suggest and recommend herbs which are categorized as dietary supplements and not drugs.
The use of herbalists and naturopaths is growing exponentially in the USA as people seek to have more control over their health.
Germany:
In Germany the profession of a naturopath is called Heilpraktiker. The training to become a Heilpraktiker is not firmly prescribed, but the final examination (verbal and written) is regulated by the state. You have to undergo full-time training for two to three years. Only after you have graduated as a naturopath can you extend your qualification to work with herbs by doing an additional six months’ training in phytotherapy.
The work of a Heilpraktiker has a long tradition in Germany, as naturopathy mainly developed in German-speaking countries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although synthetic drugs took over with the development of pharmacology in the twentieth century, the profession of a Heilpraktiker is still very much accepted. Herbal preparations that have been developed into “phytopharmaca” and produced by pharmaceutical companies dominate the market of herbal medicine in Germany and Switzerland. Most, if not all pharmacists will offer you a herbal product as an option along with a synthetic option.
UK:
The situation is very different in the UK. The title “naturopathy” is not protected, nor is the title “medicinal herbalist.” It seems that naturopathic medicine in England evolved from local traditional herbal medicine. Historically the UK had very strong herbal foundations, and until the late Victorian times, physicians mainly worked with herbs until pharmaceutical drugs took over in the twentieth century, pushing herbal medicine more and more into a niche as a “non-scientifically based medical approach and treatment.” As drugs were plentiful and promised the cure of all ailments, naturopathic methods were stamped as remnants of the witchcraft era.
Did you know that John Boot (1815–1860), the founder of the modern day Boot’s chemist chain,
was an herbalist, and that the business started as an herbal company?
Until very recently, medicinal herbalism could be studied (Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) Herbal Medicine) at two main universities, but both quiety closed their departments in the past few years. Hence, the training can only be provided by some accredited colleges which offer a degree in herbal medicine. The syllabus of the three to four year-long full-time training course is similar to the one of a Heilpraktiker/phytotherapist in Germany, and you qualify with a final exam as a “medicinal herbalist.” The qualification is accredited by British Herbal Associations.
What's Next?
Now that you are armed with a little understanding of plant-based herbal medicine, we can begin our journey. Let’s talk about the magic of the natural herbal world. Learn something and empower yourself. Next up in the series will be “Your Kitchen Garden.”
RESOURCES:
Alostad et al (2018) ‘International Comparison of Five Herbal Medicine Registration Systems to Inform Regulation Development: United Kingdom, Germany, United States of America, United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Bahrain’, Pharmaceutical Medicine 32, pp. 39-49
Ernst E. (2005) ‘Complementary medicine in Germany’, The pharmaceutical Journal blog, 19 March. https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com
Gemma M. (2020) ‘The truth about herbal certification and master herbalist status’ (Chestnutherbsblog); https://chestnutherbs.com/the-truth-about-herbal-certification-and-master-herbalist-status/
Herbal medicine ‘What are herbal supplements’. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/herbal-medicine
Jones, A.W.(2011) ’Early drug discovery and the rise of pharmaceutical chemistry’, Drug Test Analysis 3 (6), pp. 337-344
Koutsouris, D. (2017) ‘The evolution of medical care: from the beginnings to personalized medicine’, Health Technology 7, pp. 3-4
Teall, E.K. (2014) ‘Medicine and Doctoring in Ancient Mesopotamia’, Grand Valley Journal of History, Vol 3, Article 2, pp. 1-8
Walch, D. (2014) ‘The anti-inflammatory properties of meadowsweet’; The pharmaceutical journal Blog, 17 September.
Wang, J. et al (2019) ‘ Artemisinin, the Magic Drug Discovered from Traditional Chinese Medicine’, Engineering, Vol 5, pp. 32-39
Welz et al (2019) ‘ The importance of herbal medicine use in the German health-care system: prevalence, usage pattern, and influencing factors’, BMC Health Services Research 19, Article no: 952
Zahra- Bathaie et al (2015) ‘Chapter One - How Phytochemicals Prevent Chemical Carcinogens and/or Suppress Tumor Growth?’, The Enzymes, Vol. 37, pp. 1-42
Photo Credits:
Courtesy Christine R.
https://pixabay.com/photos/meadowsweet-viking-flower-white-3507920/
Bundo Kim on Unsplash