Does Herbal Medicine Work?
It’s all natural! No side effects! It cures everything! (Did I mention it was all natural?) Ask Science looks at the science (and science fiction) of herbal medicine and homeopathic remedies.
Lee Falin, PhD
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Does Herbal Medicine Work?
What do herbal medicine, probiotics, chiropractic care, meditation, magnet therapy, and homeopathy have in common? They are all on the National Institute of Health’s list of “Complementary and Alternative Medicines” or CAM for short.
Proponents of these practices claim that they are just as effective (or even more effective) than conventional medicine. Some people even go as far as to claim that doctors, nurses, and other higher-ups in the conventional medicine ranks are involved in a conspiracy to suppress knowledge of these things.
So how much if this is true? Do herbal medicines work? Is it true that herbal medicines have “no side-effects” because they’re all natural? Is there a shadowy FDA conspiracy to suppress the truth about medicine? Who are these FDA people anyway and can we trust them? Let’s use science to find out.
Flower Power
I wish I had time to look at every alternative medicine technique today, because there really are some interesting ones. We’ll start small and look at one of the most popular herbal supplements on the market today, Echinacea.
According to the product label on a popular brand of Echinacea supplements, “Echinacea helps general well–being during the cold and flu season.” Another bottle claims “Echinacea is one of the world’s leading herbs for immune system support.”
Echinacea is actually the name of a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family which containing multiple species. The most common species used in herbal medicine is Echinacea purpurea, or Purple coneflower.
See also: For more about taxonomic classification systems, see What Is Interspecies Breeding?
As with many other epidemiological studies, current research is a bit divided about the efficacy of Echinacea. A 2008 study found that Echinacea was effective at inhibiting the activity of Rhinovirus (the main virus that causes the common cold). Another studyopens PDF file in 2009 found that Echinacea extract was more effective than Tamiflu at inhibiting the H1N1 and H5N1 virus replication in cell cultures. (Though it should be noted that a company that manufactures Echinacea extract funded the 2009 study.)
Well that’s all great for cell cultures, but what about real people? The most well-known review on the effectiveness of Echinacea analyzed the results of 14 separate studies and found evidence that Echinacea can help prevent you from getting colds and can help shorten the duration of a cold if you do get one. Critics of this review say that the combined studies were too different in scope to be combined in a way that allows you to draw meaningful conclusions.
Still, the odds seem in your favor. Shouldn’t we all rush out and buy some Echinacea supplements? Like most difficult questions in science, the answer is a definite…maybe.
A Flower by Any Other Name
The review study I mentioned earlier pointed out that none of the studies agreed on important factors such as which Echinacea species is most effective, what the proper dose should be, or the best way to prepare the Echinacea.
Some supplements use essential oils extracted from the plant, others use powered Echinacea root, still others use the whole plant. Since every part of the plant is different, they all have different compounds.
Another problem with herbal supplements is standardization. Since the FDA doesn’t regulate herbal supplement makers, there’s no guarantee that a supplement maker isn’t stretching the truth about their ingredient list. While some supplement makers do use standardized processes to guarantee a certain concentration of active ingredients in their supplements, most of them do not. Another problem is that not everyone agrees on which chemical components should be standardized for a given herbal remedy.
The final myth often used by proponents of herbal medicine is that they are 100% safe because they are all natural. Well it doesn’t take much searching to know that there are plenty of all natural things that can be harmful or fatal if used incorrectly. (Hemlock is otherwise known as water parsley, but you wouldn’t dream of brewing some in your tea pot).
In addition, many herbal supplements have been shown to interact with conventional medications, so you need to make sure you know the potential dangers before taking any kind of supplement.
Conclusion
The take home message is this: There is plenty of scientific research that supports the claim that Echinacea is effective in the treatment and prevention of colds. There is not however any research that I could find that agrees on what the proper dose or formulation of Echinacea to use. Nor is there any research on the long-term side effects of taking Echinacea.
Since there is no regulation of herbal supplements, you need to be sure that you trust the company whose supplements you are using and you need to keep in mind that like all medicines, herbal medicine can have side effects and can interact with other medicines you might already be taking. So always check with your doctor before you start taking any new supplement.
That’s it for this week. Next week we’ll take a little side trip and look at the science involved in FDA drug screening and approval.
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References
Sharma, Schoop, and Hudson, “Echinacea as an Antiinflammatory Agent.”
Shah et al., “Evaluation of Echinacea for the Prevention and Treatment of the Common Cold.”
The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook
Echinacea image courtesy of Shutterstock
