Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to stop and smell the roses - then she grew up and fell in love with lots of other plants aswell . . .
. . . and when she found they could help people get healthy . . . her life path was clear . . .
and then she went and wrote a guest blog - just for us, to make sure that when it comes to Herbal Medicines, you know the ins and outs . . .
so your health and wallets aren't compromised.
Oh and don't forget a few posts back we have our competition for 10 weeks of health coaching - closes real soon - so get in quick!
As always check us out on www.facebook.com/healthynationnz and at www.healthcoaching.co.nz
But for now, I'll leave you in the very capable, smelling like roses hands of Sara Hamer
Herbal
medicines – quality and safety
By Sara Hamer, Dip Phyt (UK), MNZAMH,
Medical Herbalist
Herbal medicines are not like
pharmaceutical drugs in a number of ways.
Drugs tend to be single chemicals created in a lab. They are regulated by strict legislation. So
if you buy paracetamol, for example, from the chemist, you know it is the same
as paracetamol you might buy from a supermarket, or get from a hospital. If the box says “500mg paracetamol”, you know
that is what you are getting.
However, herbal medicines are made from
plants, which consist of hundreds, if not thousands of chemicals that work
together to create its unique medicinal properties. Plants are living things, and their chemistry
is affected by things such as weather patterns, the environment they are grown
in, the time of year they are harvested, how they are harvested, prepared and
stored. Legislation around herbal medicines is far less stringent than that for
drugs.
In order for a herbal medicine to be
effective, it needs to be made from the right plant, from the correct part of
the plant, and harvested and prepared with care. Unfortunately, either deliberately or not,
many herbal medicines sold in shops are not.
In some cases, the medicine is adulterated to make it seem like the real
thing, when it is actually a cheap alternative.
The best way to identify a plant is by its
botanical features, especially the flowers, but also the shape of its leaves,
roots, stems and so on. But if you buy a
herbal tea, tablet or liquid preparation, you won’t be able to see its
botanical features. Many herbs also have
characteristic tastes and smells that help identify it, although these may be
obscured by how the plant is prepared – if it is in a capsule, for example, you
won’t be able to taste it.
Producing good quality plants for herbal
medicines can be difficult and expensive.
A good harvest is not guaranteed – Australian growers, for example, have
had major problems over the last several years due to droughts and floods. Producing the right plant part can also be
difficult – for Echinacea, the root is the best part to use medicinally, but it
takes 2 years to mature, and each plant can only be harvested once, because
taking the root kills the plant. So many producers use the tops, which can
re-grow 3 times a year. But the tops are
far less effective than the root, and can cause allergic reactions in some
people.
When herbal medicine producers buy dried
plant material from growers (or their agents), there are a number of ways they
can check the identity and quality of the plants. The first way is by tasting and smelling, and
by looking at microscopic features in the dried plant that help to confirm it
is the correct plant. The second way is
with chemical tests to check for the presence of chemicals that should be
present in the plant. Some of these
tests are quite general, and show whether particular chemical groups are
present, such as bioflavanoids or alkaloids.
Others are more sophisticated tests that look at specific chemical
profiles that are unique to the plant.
If a manufacturer only uses the more basic
tests, a supplier can provide very cheap plant material, with cheap additives,
and pass it off as a good quality, expensive herb. Examples include poor quality Ginkgo or
Hawthorn with rutin added (rutin is a biolavonoid found in many plants – it has
nutritional value, but does not give the medicinal properties that Ginkgo or
Hawthorn have). If the manufacturer had
used those plants to make Ginkgo and Hawthorn preparations, the preparations
would have been useless.
Adulterations can also be dangerous. In the 1990s, there was a well-publicised
case where a clinic had remedies made up that should have contained a plant
called Stephania tetandra, a Chinese
herb known to be safe. However, the
plant they got was a toxic plant called Aristolochia. It caused kidney damage in some of the people
who took the remedy. Substitution of Stephania by Aristolochia is so common, both plants are now banned in Europe.
Sometimes the plant may be substituted for
a different species of the same genus, because it is cheaper and easier to
grow, or because the seeds have been mis-identified. A survey a few years ago on Black Cohosh
products in the US revealed that around 30% of the products labeled as Black
Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) were not
that plant. Some of them were a
different species of Cimicifuga that
can cause liver problems in some people.
Some preparations claiming to be goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) have been found to be completely different
plants, with yellow dye added, to make it look like goldenseal. Genuine goldenseal is very endangered in the
wild, and it is difficult to cultivate.
Many herbal products are very good, as the
manufacturers source their raw materials carefully, and check every batch with
sophisticated chemical tests to ensure they are the correct plant. But how can
you be sure that the herbal medicine you are using is good quality?
·
Avoid very cheap herbal
remedies – they are likely to be either the wrong plant, poorly prepared, or in
too low amounts to be effective.
·
Check that the label gives you
the full botanical name of the plant and not just the common name.
·
Check that the manufacturer’s
contact details are on the packaging, so you can contact them if you have
questions or concerns.
·
Avoid herbal remedies that are
stored in clear packaging, or that have been kept in sunlight or heat. Even very good herbal preparations
deteriorate quickly if exposed to light or heat. Dried herbs should still
retain colours, smells and tastes characteristic of that plant – if they lose
those qualities, they are useless.
·
Check that the manufacturer is
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified.
This ensures the medicines are subject to the same kinds of quality
controls that pharmaceutical drugs are.
It guarantees the herb is correctly identified and the correct part is
used. It ensures each batch is as
consistent as possible, and ensures traceability for every step in manufacture,
from sourcing raw materials to distribution. GMP certification is currently
voluntary for New Zealand natural health product manufacturers.
·
A medical herbalist, such as
myself, supplies only GMP certified products, so can guarantee the herbal
medicine is the correct plant and good quality.
My suppliers also ensure that the plants they use are organically grown
or spray-free, and are ethically and sustainably produced and harvested. A
consultation with a medical herbalist means you can get a herbal treatment plan
tailored exactly to your needs.
