Phytotherapy is a therapeutic method that treats diseases using natural extracts of plants or medicinal herbs
Phytotherapy recognizes scientific evidence for some herbs, to the point that some of their herbal extracts fully fall into the category of drugs and are prescribed as such.
Traditional remedies are based on somewhat coarse preparations that allow the use of medicinal herbs as such without directly extracting the active ingredients.
Modern phytotherapy, on the other hand, deals with selecting and obtaining purified extracts. In this way, all the principles contained in medicinal herbs are made safer and more effective. Phytotherapy therefore allows you to use the heart of the plant giving scientific evidence to what popular tradition had intuited for centuries. Let's see some examples:
Centella asiatica is a "herb that in traditional Indian medicine was used in its entirety to exploit its sedative effect. After many centuries it was discovered that specific substances contained in it (triterpenes) had a" specific activity on the venous system. Today these substances have been isolated and registered as a medicinal specialty indicated in the treatment of "venous insufficiency and hemorrhoids. It is therefore an" indication of use completely different from the traditional one and mostly without the risks of the tincture or powder of this " medicinal herb (sedative effect).
Even cypress, if used in the form of a fluid extract, is particularly useful in the treatment of venous insufficiency and more generally in cardiovascular problems (eg varicose veins). Distilling the berries and extracting the essential oils contained in them produces a preparation with a fluidifying action on catarrhal secretions and sedative of cough. Also in this case the medicinal plant is always the same but the properties are clearly different.
With modern extraction techniques, only the substances that are needed can be extracted from medicinal herbs, eliminating the harmful ones responsible for side effects. In fact, a normal plant contains hundreds and hundreds of chemicals, some of which are toxic or otherwise have no beneficial effects.
Herbs can therefore also be dangerous for our health (hemlock, castor beans, oleander leaves, etc.). In phytotherapy these plants are obviously avoided, or are treated in such a way as to separate the toxic substances from the beneficial ones.
Effectiveness of medicinal herbs
Medicinal herbs are a valid support to traditional medicine but generally cannot replace it. Some diseases, on the other hand, can be effectively treated using only herbal extracts recognized by the Ministry of Health. When we talk about phytotherapy we are not talking only about unconventional or alternative medicine, but about a real therapeutic method capable of treating specific diseases.
In other cases, medicinal herbs have proven to be a valuable aid in relieving symptoms and making a contribution to medical therapy. The health efficacy of these herbs must then be considered from a "preventive point of view, without forgetting that" adjective "medicinal" which should make us reflect before using them. Finally, we must consider that just like the active ingredients contained in medicines, even those extracted plants have a minimum threshold of effectiveness below which the result obtained is null, or in any case modest.
NATURAL ORIENTAL MEDICINES: Many traditional medicines, including some anticancer drugs, are essentially derived from medicinal herbs. Obviously, if these pharmaceutical specialties are produced through controlled processes there is almost absolute certainty that the content of the drug is not only effective but also safe. If, on the other hand, we go to collect the plant as such, we can certainly enjoy a modest effectiveness, but we run a greater risk of side effects.
Interactions between medicinal herbs, drugs and foods
10-15% of the Italian population uses herbal preparations for health purposes. In most cases it is self-medication and the doctor is not warned. This behavior is rather risky and makes a detailed information campaign on the subject essential.
Medicinal herbs are not a game or a miraculous potion and should therefore be used exclusively under the supervision of qualified professionals. Only in this way will it be possible to avoid unnecessary risks by making the most of the natural resources at our disposal.
St. John's Wort, for example, known in popular medicine for the emollient properties of the oil, is now widely used as an antidepressant drug, having proved effective in the treatment of medium-sized depressive syndromes.
The indiscriminate use of this drug has seen in recent years an increase in reports regarding the possible interaction with some drugs taken at the same time.
The greater the number of plants associated with each other, the greater the risk of pharmacological interferences, allergies and side effects. So pay attention to domestic infusions or decoctions based on different types of herbs.
Grapefruit juice can greatly increase the absorption of drugs and their bioavailability, even 5-9 times (in particular antihistamines, sedatives, anxiolytics and calcium antagonists). Ginko Biloba is highly toxic when taken together with anticoagulant therapy. On the other hand, allina, the active ingredient in garlic, seems to increase the gastric injuries of commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
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