Herbs Well Researched, Despite Media Bias
Herbs Well Researched, Despite Media Bias
By Sandy Almendarez, Natural Products Insider, October 31, 2011
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Some critics of botanicals say research is limited and the studies that are available are of poor quality. However, a 2010 study found 6,300 studies were conducted on botanicals in 2007 alone, and many of these were high-quality clinical trials, noted Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council (ABC).
In a presentation at the Natural Health Research Institute’s 7th Scientific Symposium on Oct. 28, 2011, Blumenthal said these studies were published in medical journals, which may have been no small feat. He said a study of 11 medical journals reported an inverse relationship between the amount of pharmaceutical ads and major articles about dietary supplements; the journals with the most pharmaceutical ads had the fewest dietary supplement coverage, he said.
Still, despite recent headlines that scream botanicals aren’t effective, a review of the entire scope of published clinical trials on specific herbs shows significant and reasonable level of clinical evidence which supports their safety and their benefits in a variety of clinical endpoints from an evidence-based medicine perspective, according to Blumenthal.
Blumenthal reviewed various systematic reviews and meta-analyses on herbs and phytomedicinal dietary supplement preparations, the number of published clinical trials on each, the total number of patients included in the reviews, their conclusions, as well as their potential roles as safe, beneficial, low-cost supplements which can be used by consumers for various self-care purposes, and which should be considered by conventional and integrative health care practitioners for inclusion in clinical practice.
He covered studies that showed efficacy for Echinacea (Echinacea spp.) for immune health, St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) for mood support, garlic (Allium sativum) and hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) tea for mildly elevated blood pressure, hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) leaf with flower extract as an adjunct in early states of congestive heart disease, Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) root for erectile dysfunction, South African pelargonium (Pelargonium sidoides) root extract for bronchitis, a proprietary combination of andrographis (Andrographis paniculata) and eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus) root for symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, and numerous others.
Further, he noted herbs and medicinal plant preparations–and the various chemical compounds they contain—are the sources of numerous modern nutritional and pharmaceutical products, but these compounds can be obtained more cost efficiently via herbal teas, herbal dietary supplements and phytomedicines.
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