If you have any feedback on how we can make our new website better please do contact us and we would like to hear from you.
On this page you will find general comments about herbal medication, up-to-date research news, health articles, and current events.
August 2010
RESEARCH VOLUNTEERS WANTED
I am currently looking for healthy volunteers to take part in a study to determine the effects of American skullcap herb (Scutellaria lateriflora) on mood. The herb has been traditionally used for hundreds of years in Native American and Western Herbal Medicine to treat anxiety, stress and related disorders. The study will take place at the University of Westminster. If you would like to take part please get in touch and I will send you full details.
New Publication by Christine Brock:
Brock C, Whitehouse J, Tewfik I & Towell T (2010) American skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora): an ancient remedy for today’s anxiety? British Journal of Wellbeing 1 (4), 25-30.
The above publication is a review article written as part of the research mentioned above. The journal is available to buy from W. H. Smith
August 2010 Doctor claims five out of six new drugs don't work A US expert in comparative health policy claims that many drugs do more harm than good and may cause more deaths than even wars or car injuries. Read the full Daily Telegraph article here: http://bit.ly/aMNyQf
It is worth remembering that for every new drug entering the market countless animals have been used to test them. Because of species differences many side-effects are not discovered until these drugs are used by human patients.
August 2010
Once again we need to redouble our efforts and contact our Members of Parliament so that they are aware of the importance of a regulated profession. At the general election in May half of the Members of Parliament elected were new, and therefore will be unaware of our previous campaigns.
You can find contact details for your MP here: http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ MPs are on holiday currently, but do please send letters through to them as soon as possible, and also ask if you can see them in person - 2011 is only a few months away!
Background and History Statutory regulation of herbal practitioners is a matter of considerable public interest. Research by Ipsos MORI for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in November 2008 found that millions of people in the UK use herbal medicines.
·more than a quarter of the population had bought herbal medicines over-the-counter in the previous two years;
·one in twenty had consulted a practitioner of traditional Chinese Medicine;
·around one in twelve had consulted a practitioner of Western herbal medicine.
· 77% of adults agree it is important that herbal medicines are regulated, with this figure rising to 87% among regular users of herbal medicines (defined as those who have used a herbal medicine within the last 2 years).
Statutory regulation has been under consideration for a decade since the call in 2000 from the House of Lords’ Select Committee on Science and Technology for the statutory regulation of practitioners of herbal medicine and acupuncture. The Government itself backed statutory regulation of this sector in 2006 when the DH website recorded that “The Government is committed to the statutory regulation of herbal medicine, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.” and more recently key regulatory bodies, the Health Professions Council (HPC) and the MHRA have both concluded that, like the osteopaths and chiropractors, acupuncture and herbal medicine practitioners should be subject to statutory regulation. Over the past eight years the DH has initiated three working groups to look at implementing this policy all of which strongly backed statutory regulation of this sector. In 2005, the DH ran a public consultation on the statutory regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture. This registered a 98% response in favour of statutory regulation. As a consequence the DH published a timetable for the statutory regulation of this sector with a section 60 order (the legal process to bring this about) to be published later that year. This timetable was not adhered to.
What herbal medicines will be affected in April 2011?
The loss of planned arrangements for supervision by the MHRA, will mean all finished products such as medicinal herbal pills, tablets, capsules, dried herb mixtures and medicinal herbal ointments made up for individual patients by third-party suppliers will be lost. Also under threat are third-party herbal prescription services that supply individualised herbal prescriptions (including those comprising tinctures and dried herbs) to named patients at the practitioner’s request. Over the past 40 years this mode of supply has become an essential part of herbal practice in the UK and many practitioners are totally reliant on such services. All that will remain will be herbal medicines prepared by practitioners from their own premises. This will without doubt damage the UK economy and swell unemployment during the current economic downturn.
How will statutory regulation assure the range and quality of herbal supply?
These would be made to assured medicinal quality. The statutorily registered herbal practitioner would ensure high standards in the supply of many useful traditional medicines for the benefit of patients. The public will have a professional group able to deliver expert herbal treatment tailored to the individual. National Institute of Medical Herbalists 5th August 2010
Archive report by Christine Brock Attack on herbal medicine unjustified
According to a review of clinical trials of herbal medicine (Guo, Canter and Ernst 2007) there is no scientific evidence for the efficacy of herbal medicines tailored to suit the individual.
Flaws in the methodology, however, prevent this study from being valid as sufficient evidence to discount the use of tailored remedies in western herbal medicine.
·Only three studies were critically evaluated and only one of these was a study of individualised western herbal medicine.The other two were of Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, both of which have a different approach to each other and to western herbal medicine.
·This one study of western herbal medicine was for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.There were only 20 individuals enrolled in the study and results were drawn from only 14 who finished the trial, a participant number far too small for any conclusions to be drawn from it.Furthermore, as all participants continued with their orthodox painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the duration of the trial it would have been difficult to ascertain whether the herbal remedies were having an effect on the patients’ discomfort.
·Considering that around 0.9% or 540,000 of the UK population people visit western medical herbalists annually (Thomas et al. 2001) for a vast array of conditions, many of which are suffered from concurrently (hence the individualised remedies) citing only one condition does not reflect the reality of a visit to a medical herbalist.
Additionally, the authors of the study are scaremongering when they suggest that individualised remedies are dangerous and may have interactions with conventional drugs.This is potentially true but a major purpose of a four year scientific degree course is to ensure that graduates in herbal medicine are aware of potential herb-drug interactions.Conversely, it is potentially unsafe to self medicate with over-the-counter preparations as not only are these are from a wide variety of sources and produced by various extraction methods but also there is no guarantee that a person who is self medicating will be aware of possible interactions with any drugs they may be taking.
Western medical herbalists are well studied on the science of herbal medicine as natural pharmaceuticals (pharmacognosy).It is this knowledge of the pharmacological actions of the phytochemicalsin each individual herb that forms the basis of the multitude of combinations that can be made up for an individual remedy, depending on the combination of conditions being treated.
Considering the hundreds of herbs, each with its own unique assortment of chemicals, used by hundreds of practitioners on thousands of patients, it is hardly surprising that there are few relevant studies of individualised remedies.Imagine the number of possible combinations of herbs in a remedy.Trying to plan large, controlled clinical trials with gold standard methodology would be like trying to plan the winning combination of numbers for a lottery ticket.Also, although the actions of many plant constituents are known there are still a number that are not.For those plants that have not yet been studied in depth in modern science there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence to support the efficacy of herbal medicineover thousands of years of use.
References:
Guo R, Canter P H & Ernst E (2007) A systematic review of randomised clinical trials of
individualised herbal medicine in any indication. Postgraduate Medicine Journal 83, 633–637.
Thomas KJ, Nicholl JP & Coleman P (2001) Use and expenditure on complementary medicine in England: a population based survey. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 9, 2-11.
To see the original paper by Guo, Canter and Ernst, click here
WARNING
The information given on this website is general.
For any specific condition do not attempt to self medicate.Some herbs should not to be used during pregnancy and some may interact with other medications you are taking.
Safety
The importance of safety in herbal medicine is paramount.Herbal remedies bought over the counter are from a wide variety of sources and quality assurance cannot be guaranteed.Strengths may vary due to differences in extraction methods and standardisation processes.There is also a risk that herbs may interact with other medications you may be taking, increasing or decreasing their effects. Always seek the advice of a medical professional. Just as it is important to tell your GP or pharmacist what herbs and supplements you are taking it is equally important to tell your herbal practitioner what drugs you are taking, both over the counter and prescribed, as well as about any supplements.Your herbal practitioner has undergone appropriatetrainingin prescribing herbal remedies safely.
