Reviews for Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine

The average rating for Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-17 00:00:00 Floyd Allen I liked this book and am glad I own it, but there are serious problems with it. I'm wondering how many people who buy a book like this might not notice the CYA warning at the front which reads "IMPORTANT! The information contained in this book is intended for educational purposes only. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any disease, illness, or injured condition of the body, and the author, publisher, printer(s), and distributor(s) accept no responsibility for such use. Those individuals suffering from any disease, illness or injury should consult with their physician." Ignore that at your own peril. I have used herbal medicines with varying degrees of success over many years. I would stress this was always for matters in which there was no serious risk of peril. In many instances, I was pleased with the success and the money and time saved. I have also experimented with adaptogens (as most of the planet has in 2019) to see whether they enhanced my wellness. Sometimes they seemed to help. Other times I felt as though I were taking an expensive placebo. Maybe I was. The most felicitous substitution of an herbal for a prescription medicine I have made has been one I use to control my blood pressure. This scares me a little as hypertension is not known as the "silent killer" for no reason. But so far, so good. It's been amazing and instead of negative side effects I believe I am getting good ones. So maybe I should slightly revise the statement about "no serious risk of peril" above since I am using an herbal for a potentially serious health issue. I am not one of those people who experiences success with an herbal and then rushes out to tell everyone else, "Try this!" If anything, I am reticent, as I realize everyone's situation is different and giving bad advice to someone that could negatively impact their health is not something I want on my karmic ledger. This book is one of those wonders of independent publishing. It came out in 1986. This is not peer-reviewed scientific publishing or (as far as I know) based on papers by the author in peer-reviewed journals. It does, however, draw on the information contained in some of that scientific literature. And Mowrey, a Ph.D., has allegedly "produced research studies and essays that have been published in prestigious medical journals such as the British Lancet." If you're like me, you might wonder whether that publishing lined up exactly with the subject matter of the book at hand. Does one really need to put the manipulative word "prestigious" before the name of the journal in back cover ad copy like that? Sentences like that remind me of the structures built to queue up our ovine planet-mates for their sheep dip. It's the same old dinner bell: "This guy is smarter than you. Trust him." With all those caveats out of the way, I'll say I like having all this information in one place. Still, this is a pre-internet book and science has added so much more to our knowledge about how herbal medicines affect the human body, and their side effects. There have been tens if not hundreds of thousands of studies on herbal medicines and their active components since this book came out. People who discount herbal medicine probably do not realize how many of their formulary prescriptions include compounds derived from herbal medicine and that this modern usage is based on old folkloric knowledge of these plants and spices. Just do a quick search for anti-oncogenic herbs and spices and be surprised. Herbal medicine is both the past and the future. I was troubled by reading entries on herbs that I knew were missing important information. For example, in the entry on echinacea, the contraindications given are "none." This is so wrong. Do a quick google search for contraindications and you'll find no less than five medical conditions for which this herb is contraindicated. Again, this was published in 1986. When we consider the Hermes-swift pace of medical research in the past few decades, 1986 seems ages ago. But the author does talk about how echinacea interacts with the enzyme hyaluronidase which breaks down hyaluronic acid which "cements" cells together, allowing pathogenesis. Echinacea shuts this process down by combining with HA to form a protective complex that is resistant to enzyme invasion and that "facilitates fibrous connective tissue regeneration." So this is an example of what's good about the book. It does attempt to synthesize scientific knowledge about herbs available to that date and does cite its sources. But that exactitude on how echinacea works in the body is rarely matched in the majority of the explanations of how the various herbs are believed to effect their magic. Many of the entries just give anecdotal reports of some people having some success. That is hardly rigorous science and in this regard the book fails to live up to its title. I feel this book would probably make a physician blanch or worse. There is some good, interesting scientific information. And then there is missing information. And then there is misinformation. This book has all three and that's not a triple crown an author of nonfiction should want to win. I'm not sure whether this book was Stage One of a campaign by the author to enshrine himself as a "herbal guru," as the book seems to (subliminally) promise that herbs can address the needs of all medical problems, like hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, diabetes, reproductive problems, etc. The book is organized into chapters addressing just those sorts of concerns. And in some of the chapters, for example, the one on weight loss, you realize none of the herbs actually cause or even directly facilitate weight loss. Instead, we are given herbs that might offer secondary help during the process of weight loss. To me, this reads as deceptive, a 'selling point" inserted in a book with no real payoff for the consumer who might have bought the book based on seeing a chapter dedicated to herbs and weight loss. I would love to own a book like this published in 2019. I mean one which really does a great job of synthesizing the reams of scientific information from all around the globe on the success stories of herbal medicine, in the lab and in the human body. I am eyeing David Hoffman's Medical Herbalism which was published in 2003 and seems to be the last major landmark publication in this field. That's 675 pages. Going by the reviews, people seem to love the book. But that was sixteen years ago. And, if I'm not mistaken, that was a reissue (and hopefully an update!) of a version which Hoffman published in 1991. It's a bit pricey, so I will probably just go with the PDF. So there's some interesting science in this book from 1986. But I assume one would want better and more up-to-date tomes on the science behind herbal medicine. The simple truth is the internet is the real resource for information like this. It's just important that one doesn't read "scientific information" given on sites which are actually marketing websites with product tie-ins. This book spearheaded an attitude that should be embraced by publishing, the idea that the science of herbalism is no flaky or laughing matter. It's some of the lifeblood of the modern pharmacopeia.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-06-07 00:00:00 Dang Dang The author, Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D, does a wonderful job explaining why herbal medicine is so effective. He talks about 40 different health concerns in the body. Some of the health problems he addresses are: Insomnia, nerves and glands, nervous tension, digestion, cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis, prostate problems, etc, etc., and suggests different herbs for each health challenge. It is a marvelous reference.