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Herbal medicine: how to treat yourself with plants
Herbal medicine is called herbal therapy (from the Greek phyto = plant and therapeia = care).
It is a therapy which uses plants or galenic forms derived from plants excluding the principles of pure extraction isolated from plants. Thus many galenic forms can be used: herbal teas (infused, decocted, etc.), powders, dry extracts (nebulisates, lyophilisates, etc.), liquid extracts, etc.
Across the world, all ethnic groups have a traditional pharmacopoeia made up of a dozen medicinal plants selected for their effectiveness over the centuries and passed down from generation to generation. This knowledge of medicinal plants has formed into pharmacopoeias, which are collections of knowledge and practices linked to the therapeutic indications of these plants.
The learned medicines of written tradition, Greek, Arab-Persian, Ayurvedic and Chinese based their transmission of medical knowledge on these pharmacopoeias. In Europe, the knowledge of medicinal plants was formalized with Greek medicine developed by Hippocrates from the 4th century BC. In the Middle Ages, Arab-Persian medicine took up the bases of Greek humoral theory and l ‘developed by incorporating plants from Ayurvedic medicine. These Arab-Persian treatises were then translated into Latin from Andalusian Spain in the 13th century and formed the basis of European medicine. In other regions of the world, such as Africa or the Americas, the transmission of knowledge has been mainly oral.
How to know if a plant is medicinal ?
In France, plants are considered medicinal when they are included in the list of medicinal plants of the French Pharmacopoeia. Brought back from the Americas like cinchona, from Africa like cola nut or from China like ginseng, these exotic plants have been gradually integrated into the French Pharmacopoeia. During the second half of the 20th century, few new plants obtained the status of medicinal plants in France. However, over the past fifteen years, new plants have entered this list. These are plants from the overseas departments, which have provided around fifty new plants from the traditions of these overseas communities. At the same time, around sixty Chinese plants were also included in this list and were the subject of control monographs at the European Pharmacopoeia. For its part, Africa conceals many interesting medicinal plants, widely used at the traditional level and often well studied scientifically, but whose use has not yet been recognized by local or international institutional bodies.
Why treat yourself with medicinal plants ?
Man has always sought in nature the means to heal himself.
Although medicine has made tremendous progress through chemistry and recently through biology, drugs that are developed to treat severe illnesses are often ill-suited to chronic conditions that start out mildly and then get worse and worse. the bed of much more serious problems. This disproportion between the evil and the remedy has become blatant. Too many drugs, developed to treat serious diseases, then spread to the population of small chronically ill patients who thus benefit from their shock effectiveness, but also suffer from the risks and undesirable effects which are attached to them. In pharmacology the law of “who can do more can do less” does not apply.
Herbal medicine has its place in this gap between the end of the means. It has its place with therapeutic effects that may be less powerful at the moment, but less problematic in the long term and that it is possible to maintain over long periods without difficulty.
The objective of the phytotherapy articles on the Soin et Nature blog is to promote the recognition of common medicinal plants in the world, some of which already have a regulatory status in certain countries, in order to be able to diversify our therapeutic arsenal with plants, many of which have made their mark. evidence in their respective cultures and in scientific validation studies.
A medical material, a tinctorial plant but also a spice, turmeric has provided its benefits to men for 3,000 years . This perennial plant, some specimens of which nowadays adorn florists’ shops, is best known for its underground parts which, like ginger, are in fact made up of rhizomes. A little history Turmeric has been known to the … Read more
The term “blackcurrant” takes its etymology from the Phoenician. This vegetal blackcurrant is a word appearing in the 16th century, at the same time as the first writings granted to it ( Rembert Dodoens , 1583) as well as the first medicinal mentions of its leaves and fruits ( Petrus Forestus , 1614). A little history Dodoens is Flemish, Forestus is Dutch. They are therefore … Read more
Caralluma flowers give off such a putrid smell that the Arab nomads nicknamed it qahr al-luhum (carnal sore, abscess). Over time and trade, the plant arrived in the West where its name was Latinized in Caralluma . It is a so-called “succulent” plant: it is capable of storing water in its stems and leaves . In fact, it was traditionally used by the Indians … Read more
First used by the Amerindians of North America for food and therapeutic purposes (to disinfect the urinary tract), the cranberry was then discovered by Europeans, who first used it on board ships that crossed the Atlantic to fight against scurvy , due to its high vitamin C content . A little history As early as the middle of the 19th century, German doctors helped … Read more
Oats are to the north of Europe what barley is to the south, although they are not widely grown in the far north (Russia, Scandinavia). The first known uses of oats date back more than 4,500 years. It continued to be used during the Copper Age and then the Bronze Age, in the temperate regions … Read more
The word artichoke is explained by an etymology of Arabic origin “ ardi chouk” , which means: “thorny terrestrial”, taken up and transformed by the Lombard term “ articiocco” . But at this point, we are still far from Lombardy. However, the future artichoke, a cardoon in transformation , slowly takes its path and reaches the kingdom of Naples in the 15th century, … Read more
The 19th-century mythologist Angelo de Gubernatis relates an interesting fact. According to him, mixing nettle seed with the bran given to hens increased egg production. What appeared to be a simple propitiatory ritual turned out to be true. It is now recognised that nettle seed stimulates hens to lay eggs. In Scandinavian countries, it makes … Read more
Crohn’s disease is a transmural chronic inflammatory bowel disease . It usually affects the distal ileum and colon , but can occur anywhere in the digestive tract. Symptoms include diarrhea and abdominal pain. Abscesses, internal and external fistulas as well as obstruction of the intestine can occur. Extra-intestinal symptoms, including arthritis, may also occur. A little history The name of Burrill Bernard Crohn quoted thousands … Read more
Any plant, as long as it has been considered a panacea, drains legendary tales after it . Let us remember that Olivier de Serres gave the gentian as suitable for fostering childbirth , something which seems to underline, by its cheerful aptitude, a great vitality, a remarkable detail, especially since in the time of this eminent agronomist, a good number of French people … Read more
When we speak of an obsessive disorder in the sense of a disease, we describe a behavior , characterized by the irrepressible need to constantly repeat a ritual , often bizarre (compulsion). Professional, family and social life can be seriously threatened. Obsessive thoughts are absurd thoughts. The person who suffers from them feels them as such, but fails to get rid of … Read more
Much more used by popular medicine, milk thistle will have to wait until the beginning of the 16th century before therapists finally take it into consideration . However, from the eighteenth century, the virtues of milk thistle, as diverse as they are, were thrown away by practitioners. Whatever. The twentieth century will restore the image of this repudiated plant. A little history The name milk thistle … Read more
Benefit of the earth nicknamed “sovereign essence”, ginseng has been considered for millennia throughout the Far East as THE plant sent by the gods to help men since their creation. This vegetable gnome, this homunculus having captured telluric energies is, whatever the date of its first use, considered as a panacea (of the goddess Panakeia , daughter of Asclepius god of medicine, … Read more