Every Day Is Special: April 17 - Thank a Herbalist Day

April 17 - Thank a Herbalist Day

Posted on April 17, 2019

You probably know that leaves from many plants that we cook with, leaves that we use to flavor our foods and/or garnish and decorate our foods, are called herbs.

I'm thinking cilantro, dill, parsley, bay leaves, oregano, basil, and so many more! Yum!

Well, maybe you also know that many herbs are used in medicines. As a matter of fact, any part of any plants used for medicinal purposes comes within the category of herbalism.

Throughout human history, most medicines came from plants, and traditional medicines still do. The fact that many modern medicines look like tablets or gelcaps or syrups doesn't mean that they didn't come from plants, because even medicines that are created in labs often exist because the active ingredient in a plant-based medicine was discovered, extracted, and then synthesized.

What do I mean by "active ingredient"?

Willow bark tea

For millennia, willow bark has been used to reduce fevers. But rather than continuing to give patients hunks of willow bark to chew, some doctors and researchers tested a variety of chemicals found in willow bark in order to discover which one was THE one that actually helped bring down temperatures.

It turned out it was salicylic acid. And it is that acid that pharmaceutical companies use to make aspirin.

Studying traditional and herbal medicines from a variety of cultures has helped researchers discover new plant-based drugs. So we can all heartily thank herbalists for everything from aloe vera burn treatments to digitalis medicines for hearts...

However!

There's a pretty big "but" we have to state when talking about herbal medicines and herbalists:

Herbs can cause bad effects.

They can kill.

There is a lack of standardization of purity and dosage that can make "herbal medicine" more dangerous than medicine.

Some herbal "remedies" work no better than placebos - and paying a lot of money for them or for the person who prescribes them is foolish.

Because there are so many chemicals in a whole plant or in plant leaves, other than the one active ingredient that actually helps a particular problem, there can be loads of side effects. Herbal remedies can be cause bad reactions when combined with pharmaceutical medicines, including over-the-counter meds.

The good news is...

Many herbalists know about the danger of licorice to a person's potassium levels. They know about the long-term risks associated with ginseng and senna, and they avoid those plants. Government have outlawed or control the amount people can buy of dangerous plants such as kava and Ephedra. There are knowledgeable and caring herbalists out there.

The bad news is...

Some people assume that herbal remedies are totally safe because they are so "natural" (a meaningless buzz word), and they don't seek out a knowledgeable herbalist. They just buy whatever looks good and may end up combining remedies and medications and foods and causing themselves all manner of bad reactions, up to and including death!

The Truth About Cancer website has lots
of attractive photos - like this one - but it is
very unreliable as a source of information.
Some statements on the website are truthful,
but a lot of them are silly, incorrect,
or even dangerous!

Also, there are some "herbalists" or herbal-remedy companies who take advantage of customers by using attractive words like "nature's cure" while selling products that either are useless (you know, the ones that produce very expensive urine) or dangerous.