The popularity of herbal medicine has undergone many ups and downs over the years. Depending on the current social and medical trends, plant-based drugs are either at the top or the bottom of the drug-hierarchy.
Rise
Using herbal medicine to cure man’s different aches and pains ---herbalism-- has been a universal practice for literally thousands of years now. It cannot be determined who or where herbalism started, but the earliest written record depicting the use of herbs as medicine was made by the Sumerians. Created around 5,000 years ago, the information (inscribed on clay tablets) describes the different medicinal properties and uses of plants like thyme and caraway.
Following the Sumerians, the ancient Egyptians also made extensive use of herbs. This is apparent in the medical documents made during the 1900 to 1550 B.C. Some of these documents, namely, the Ebers Papyrus, the Edwin Smith Papyrus and the Kahun Medical Papyrus, described different medical conditions and how they can be cured by magical spells and medicine derived from plants and other sources. The different herbs prescribed in the document and most commonly used in Egypt include senna, honey, thyme, juniper, cumin, aloe, flax, garlic and cedar.
The ancient Greeks, through the help of individuals like Hippocrates, Pliny, Krateus and Dioscorides, made further advances in herbalism. Using the knowledge passed on by the Egyptians, the Greeks “fine-tuned” what their predecessors provided them and created better medicines and herbology books.
The advancements made during this period by Hippocrates and his contemporaries are particularly considered to be important because they laid down the foundation of modern Western medicine. Dioscorides’ book, De Materia Medica, is not only considered to be the precursor of all modern pharmacy books, but also one of the most important guide on medicinal herbs in history (it was in fact, widely used until the 17th century, 1600 years after it was originally penned).
During the Middle Ages, the all-powerful Church discouraged the use of medicine and promoted faith healing. Despite the fact that many of the medical documents created by the Greeks and the Romans were preserved and folk medicine was continuously practiced, it wasn’t until the 15-17th century that the field and practice of herbalism once again experienced progress. During this time many books on herbal medicine were translated and published in English, thus making them accessible to more people.
Fall
In the late 20th century, the popularity of herbal drugs suffered a decline (specially in Western countries) after modern technology allowed for the development of drugs made from man-made materials. Studies such as the Flexner Report, which basically dismissed all other forms of medicine except biomedicine, also helped contribute to the decline of herbalism.
Though herbal drugs were still being used, it became apparent that people now favor the use of modern synthetic medicine more.
Resurgence
After suffering from a decline in popularity, herbalism has regained its popularity in the recent years. A study conducted by the United States’ Maternal and Child Health Bureau, for example, revealed that almost one-sixth of women in the US took plant-based nutritional health supplements in 2000. In 2005, figures show that the U.S.’ herbal medicine industry is worth $3.4 billion.
Herbal drugs’ resurgence is attributed to many factors, including the “all-natural/organic” trend and the fact that the excessive use of synthetic drugs have exhibited harmful effects on the body.
Will herbal medicines once again occupy the lofty positions they once held or will their current popularity be short-lived? At this point, when debates on their effectiveness are still raging on, we can do nothing more but wait and hope that Hippocrates, Dioscorides and the thousand other herbal medicine-proponents who came before and after them are right.
Sources:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14768981
complete-herbal.com/history.htm
enotalone.com/article/5756.html
Kaplan & Sadock. Synopsis of Psychiatry, p. 847
healthy.net/asp/templates/article.asp?pagetype=article&id=901
For additional information, click this site on nutritional health supplements.
Sheryll Cross is a registered web copywriter in a web design company associated with a company offering herbal diet supplements.