Myths about herbal medicine
About the pitfalls of herbal medicine
Tatiana Frolova
Article for the contest "bio/mol/text"If suddenly, for no apparent reason,
I'll get bored, I'll ruin one.
If I have flesh and bones
They will whine and wither without twists,
Don't give me bitter medicines to drink:
I can't stand these devils.A. A. Fet
Scientific phytotherapy is an important direction in official medicine. However, there is also traditional herbal medicine, which has many supporters. Now there is a lot of talk about the harm of "any chemistry" and the need to return to herbal treatment, and the labeling of the product "Created on the basis of vegetable raw materials" causes buyers much more confidence. Unfortunately, this does not guarantee the safety of the drug at all, and certainly does not speak about its health benefits. This article will cover several myths about herbal medicine.
Modern official medicine with its strict scientific evidence-based approaches to treatment arose about two hundred years ago. Before that, folk medicine, based on herbs, superstitions and even magic, prevailed. Therefore, it is not surprising that it has many supporters in the XXI century: people tend to trust more the knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries than those that have emerged quite recently, even if they are based on facts and logic.
The first myth. Unlike medicines containing, as a rule, one active substance, plants contain a wide range of biologically active compounds that allow them to have a general healing effect on the entire body.Indeed, there are a number of studies that have confirmed the beneficial properties of the total extracts of some plants [1, 2]. However, there is evidence that when individually useful substances, occurring in the body, offset the positive effect of each other, such situations often arise [3].
Moreover, if the molecular mechanism of the disease is known, then treatment is more effective when exposed to a single substance that acts, for example, on a specific receptor [4]. The study of the interaction of components in a plant extract with each other is a very difficult task, since we are usually talking about a whole bouquet of compounds (dozens, and sometimes hundreds). Therefore, it is not too justified to hope for a therapeutic effect from the extract just because it is of plant origin.
The second myth. Preparations based on plant raw materials have been used for centuries, and therefore they are tested for health safety.It's not that simple.
Even plants that are quite harmless to health, grown in polluted areas, can accumulate heavy metals and pollutants (chemicals that, when accumulated in the atmosphere in high concentrations, can cause deterioration of human health) [5, 6]. Therefore, the actions of grandmothers collecting rosehip fruits along highways are not entirely clear. What can we say about plants that can naturally contain poisons? One of the main disadvantages of plants, on the basis of which the usefulness of decoctions, tinctures and teas has been scientifically proven, is the inability to accurately determine the dose of active substances. A small overdose can not only negate all the beneficial properties, but also harm the body.
This is the case, for example, with Digitalis purpurea, which is used in the treatment of coronary heart disease. The active substances of digitalis are highly toxic cardiac glycosides digoxin (A) and digitoxin (B) [7].
Both glycosides have a similar mechanism of action – they reduce the frequency of contractions during atrial fibrillation, mainly due to obstruction of atrioventricular conduction and blocking of Na+/K+-ATPase, which contributes to the influx of Ca 2+ ions into cardiomyocytes and increased myocardial contraction. The pharmacokinetics of both drugs differ, but digoxin has lower bioavailability and binding to plasma proteins, a shorter half-life, and therefore a shorter duration of action than digitoxin.
Digitoxin is significantly metabolized in the liver and excreted from the body in the urine, while digoxin is excreted almost unchanged [8]. Both glycosides have a narrow therapeutic window, which is almost impossible to get into when making an infusion at home – it is better to leave it to specialists. Concentrations of digitoxin or digoxin in plasma above the therapeutic range are very toxic, this can lead to fatal arrhythmia, heart block, various disorders of the central nervous system (hallucinations, confusion, visual impairment), as well as nausea and vomiting [9, 10].
The third myth. Since plants have a mild therapeutic effect on the body, they can be taken for a very long time, including in the treatment of chronic diseases.The digitalis already mentioned above is dangerous not only because it contains quite toxic glycosides, but also because these glycosides are slowly excreted from the body and are able to accumulate in the liver [7].
This also includes alkaloids of plants such as mother-and-stepmother, heliotrope, sparrow. Therefore, it is necessary to take breaks in treatment, even if the treatment is carried out with herbal preparations.
The fourth myth. The vegetable raw materials that are sold in pharmacies are ineffective, because at best it is vegetable dust, and at worst the raw materials have already been used to create the drug. Therefore, it is better to harvest herbs yourself or buy from herbalists in the markets.Any box with vegetable raw materials standing in a pharmacy is necessarily provided with a certificate that guarantees you that you are buying, for example, sage leaves, and not something else, that the raw materials are collected at the right time and in the right place, and that the drying and storage conditions allowed all the necessary components to be preserved.
Specialists working at such enterprises take into account all the subtleties and aspects of assembly, drying and storage of raw materials, and there are much more of them than the average man in the street thinks. The chemical composition of the same plant can differ significantly both depending on the organs and on the growing season [11].
Thus, the author of the article took part in a long-term study of the chemical composition of the medicinal plant willow–leaved tea (Chamaenerion angustifoluim); special attention was paid to triterpene acids - biologically active substances that are used in medicine in native and modified form. As a result of the study, it was shown that the component composition of triterpenic acids not only differs in different organs of the plant, but also strongly depends on the phase of vegetation in which the raw materials were collected [11].
The fifth myth. Herbal treatment is a full-fledged and most pleasant type of treatment.Undoubtedly, drinking tea is much more pleasant than undergoing chemotherapy or regular injections.
But if everything was cured with herbs "with a bang", would there be a need to develop synthetic drugs? How much time is lost when a person refuses a really effective medicine in favor of a dubious weed: "And I read on the Internet / newspaper / magazine that ...". It costs many people their lives, especially when it comes to oncological diseases. Even herbal preparations should be taken by appointment of a doctor and after diagnosis.
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And now a small summary. Phytotherapy is registered and approved for medical use in the territory of the Russian Federation, and a significant proportion of medicines are based on plant raw materials. This means that specific substances have been isolated from specific plants, the beneficial properties of which have been proven in various biomedical tests, and the drug containing these substances has successfully passed all stages of clinical trials. Which, undoubtedly, is proof of the healing properties of medicinal plants.
It is appropriate to mention here a relatively new approach in medical practice, called evidence-based medicine. The approach is based on reliable research results supported by clinical experience, while the sample of patients in such studies is measured in thousands, which ensures greater reliability of the approach. Often, not only herbs do not withstand such a test (where, for the most part, knowledge is passed from mouth to mouth and is based on the fact that once a certain herb helped Vasya Pupkin, so now let's treat everyone with it), but also many medicines that are actively used in clinical practice.
The purpose of this article was by no means to detract from the importance of herbal medicine in official medicine. The use of herbs can help a person cope with quite serious ailments if the treatment is carried out under the supervision of a competent doctor, so do not neglect the advice of specialists and be healthy!
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- Rasoanaivo P., Wright C. W., Willcox M. L., Gilbert B. (2011). Whole plant extracts versus single compounds for the treatment of Malaria: synergy and positive interactions. Malar. J. 10 (suppl. 1), S4;
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- Sapegin L. M., Daineko N. M., Timofeev S. F. (2008). Radioactive contamination of plants in the Chechersk district of the Gomel region. Plant resources 4, 85-91;
- Shmonov A.M. Possibilities of using recultivated lands of Kuzbass to create a procurement base of sea buckthorn raw materials. – Novosibirsk: Nauka. c. 189-191;
- Oiestad E.L., Johansen U., Stokke Opdal M., Bergan S., Christophersen A.S. (2009). Determination of digoxin and digitoxin in whole blood. J. Anal. Toxicol. 7, 372–378;
- Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (2001). McGraw-Hill, New York;
- Kelly R.A., Smith T.W. (1992). Recognition and management of digitalis toxicity. Am. J. Cardiol. 69, 108–119;
- Tamargo J., Delpon E., Caballero R. (2006). The safety of digoxin as a pharmacological treatment of atrial fibrillation. Expert Opin. Drug Safety 5, 453–467;
- Kukina T. P., Frolova T. S., Salnikova O. I. (2013) Lipophilic acids of willow-leaved tea. Chemistry of plant raw materials. In print. Registration number 130424/02.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.07.2013