Rebecca L. Johnson - 36 Healing Herbs: The Worlds Best Medicinal Plants

Published by the National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

Copyright 2012 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

eISBN: 978-1-4262-0980-2

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Interior design: Cameron Zotter

v3.1

This book is meant to increase your knowledge about medicinal herbs and the latest developments in the use of plants and herbal dietary supplements for medicinal purposes, and to the best of our knowledge the information provided is accurate at the time of its publication. It is not intended as a medical manual, and neither the authors nor the publisher is engaged in rendering medical or other professional advice to the individual reader. You should not use the information contained in this book as a substitute for the advice of a licensed health-care professional. Because everyone is different, we urge you to see a licensed health-care professional to diagnose problems and supervise the use of herbs and dietary supplements to treat individual conditions. The authors and publisher disclaim any liability whatsoever with respect to any loss, injury, or damage arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.

H erbal remedies have been the mainstay of folk medicine in many cultures throughout history and are still in common use by most people in less developed countries, where pharmaceutical drugs are unavailable or unaffordable. In recent years both the popularity and the use of medicinal herbs have increased greatly in developed nations. Why? The trend is part of a larger sociocultural change that is also responsible for growing interest in complementary and alternative medicine and integrative medicine.

In Europe and North America, more and more consumers question the safety and efficacy of synthetic drugs, prefer more natural therapies, and want to feel more empowered in managing their health. Because so little information about botanical medicine is included in the education and training of physicians and pharmacists, those professionals are rarely able to advise patients about the risks, benefits, and proper uses of medicinal herbs or to tell them how to find products of high quality. Another consequence of that educational deficiency is that physicians and medical scientists in the West tend to be biased against natural remedies, which are ranked less predictable and efficacious than purified compounds and more likely to cause harm than to promote healing.

I am trained as a botanist and physician and for many years have practiced and taught integrative medicine to physicians, nurse practitioners, and medical students. I have studied medicinal plants worldwide, and I recommend them to patients more frequently than I prescribe pharmaceutical drugs. In my experience, whole plant preparations are less toxic than their purified, concentrated derivatives and are often both effective and cost-effective for treating common health conditions. Some medicinal herbs have uses not obtainable from chemical drugs. For example, milk thistle (Silybum marianum) increases metabolism of liver cells and protects them from toxic injury (from excessive alcohol intake, fumes of volatile solvents, and drugs like acetaminophen and some chemotherapy agents). No available pharmaceutical products have those actions.

As consumer demand for herbal products has grown, the marketing of those products has become very big business. It is the manufacturers and distributors of medicinal herbs who provide most of the information that consumers readin books, magazine articles, and advertisements, as well as on the Internet. Im afraid that much of that information is inaccurate, particularly with regard to therapeutic claims that purport to be backed by scientific studies and the latest research but all too often are based on nothing more than testimonials.

Because I have long worked to make accurate information on botanical remedies available to consumers as well as to doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals, I am delighted to see the appearance of the National Geographic Societys 36 Healing Herbs. This excellent guide is the work of a team of highly qualified botanical and medical experts, including two of my colleagues from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. The book offers reliable, up-to-date, practical information on some of the most important healing plants and medicinal herbs on the market today.

One way to help lower our staggering health-care costs is to reduce dependence on costly, technology-based interventions, including prescription drugs. There is growing recognition that medicinal herbs can play a useful role in the maintenance of health and the management of common health problems. I want to see their potential realized and welcome this book as a significant contribution toward making that happen.

I n our little sphere of modernity, the use of medicinal herbs may seem edgy and new, but the truth is that human beings have turned to the world of green for health and nurture from the beginning. The oldest known treatments for the ailments that still plague us todayfrom headaches to sore feet, from muscle cramps to melancholycome from the world of plants. In becoming more knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, their powers, and their limitations, we join people who have harvested plant parts and prepared them according to their cultural traditions throughout history. Our advantage, in these days of modern medical science, is that in many cases we have the ability to learn how and why these plants can do what they do for our minds and bodies. That is the purpose of this book: to draw together the ancient and the modern, to recognize the remarkable healing properties of plants both familiar and rare, and to bring modern science to bear on understanding how the plant world interacts with the human.

These days, healing herbs are never hard to find. Health food stores, organic food co-ops, and even mainstream groceries and drugstores offer prominent displays of capsules and tablets, tinctures and oils, labeled with the names of plants both familiar and exotic. Herbal teas sit side by side with familiar black teas and coffee. In the case of a few herbsginkgo, for example, as a memory aidthe claims have grown to the level of sensational, with promises far exceeding either traditional uses or scientific evidence. Herbal healing has become a commercial business, and in the process we risk forgetting what it is all about.