Herbal supplement takers not up on medical science, according to researchers

by Brian White (Subscribe to Brian White's posts)
May 15th 2007 8:52AM

Do you take herbal supplements for those health conditions like high blood pressure or allergies? if so, you're one of the millions that do, but University of Iowa researchers now say that roughly two-thirds who do this don't take the time to check specific medical guidelines on their use.

While herbal supplements have been successfully used for centuries (or longer) to treat certain ailments from a wholly natural perspective, many medical professionals continue to believe only in recent, pharmaceutical drugs. Not only is this a little disturbing, it smacks of very educated health professionals who either don't want to believe or have been trained to believe that natural products can't alleviate health issues.

While medical pros are usually to be trusted, this coming sentence sounds a little suspect to me as a natural health and healing enthusiast: "Physicians, pharmacists, and other health professionals should proactively educate consumers and advocate for public health policies that would disseminate evidence-based information regarding the appropriate use of herbs." This from the Iowa research, which is not sitting right in this mind. How about yours?

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Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Michael 3-29-2009 @ 9:56PM

While there are a lot of uses and positive data for vitamins and herbs, people don't realize how dangerous some can be if not used properly. I use them regularly without issue but people have to learn more before they start self-treating themselves.

More information:
http://whatstheharm.net/herbalremedies.html
http://www.naturaldatabase.com (subscription required)
http://www.personalhealthzone.com/herbsafety.html

Kadia 5-15-2007 @ 11:32AM

If the herbs have been used for hundreds of years to successfully treat these conditions then scientifically controlled double-blind studies will presumably find them to be effective and they can be advocated as a treatment. That's what evidence-based medicine means.

However, if they have no measurable effect then why would you want to take them?

I'm more than happy to use aromatherapy for a headache rather than taking a painkiller because I've researched both alternatives and I'm happy that it's effective for what I want to do.

I would not be happy to use herbs to treat high blood pressure unless someone could show me that they were as effective for what I wanted as the alternative. Obviously efficacy has to be balanced with side-effects. But if there's no evidence for something, why would I waste my time and money and endanger my health by taking it?

I am 100% for evidence-based medicine.