”I rather stick to my herbal medicine! Plants are so much safer than those drugs Big Pharma sells us to make us even sicker!”
How many times have I read this, or a variation of it, in the comments of one of my medical posts? How often have I read it online, in chat rooms, in Facebook comments, in every place where people gather. And I get it, it’s easy to mistrust companies that earn their money because people get sick. But as a biology student, a future scientist and someone interested in medical research, I see the other side too.
I see how my professors fight to have money for their research, be it liver cancer, yeast-based vaccinations or dementia. I see the Ph.D. students slave away in the laboratories, see them feeding, weighing and checking individual lab mice. I see them train bees to gain insight into how memory works.
Sure, someone who produces medication for profit isn’t doing it only because they care so much about people, but in the end, the money is needed for further research. Do you know how much lab equipment costs? How expensive the chemicals needed are? And don’t forget that the researchers need money to live too. All this still doesn’t justify the sometimes ridiculously high drug prices, especially in the USA, but it at least shows why the medicine can’t be for free.
Now to the actual question, why can’t we just chew some herbs like our ancestors did? Why do we have to isolate and refine everything and then press it into pills? Surely, it would cut a lot of the costs to just grow the herbs?
Aside from the fact that growing that many plants would take up space we need for food production, it’s a lot easier to distribute pills. They don’t go bad as easily. But more importantly, the amount of active substances is actually controlled.
Go to a store and buy two apples. Bite in the first one and chew. How does it taste? Now bite into the second one. Does it taste exactly the same? How about the density? Is it softer than the first apple? Slightly harder?
I’d be surprised if you had grabbed two apples that are exactly the same. Bonus points if they’re not commercially produced but from a small farm or something. It’s very unlikely that the two apples contain exactly the same amount of sugars and acids. And the same applies to medicinal plants.
Moreover, many plant-derived chemicals are actually deadly if you get them directly from the plant they’re in.
Atropine is generally used to treat specific kinds of pesticide poisonings or extremely slow heart rates. Do you know where it’s from? The plant is called Atropa belladonna but maybe you know it better as deadly nightshade. You shouldn’t eat the berries of A. belladonna, as the atropine contained in it can not only slow your heart rate but also stop your sweating and breathing.
Want something to possibly treat cancer with? Colchicine might be a promising (don’t laugh) candidate for that because it interrupts cell multiplication. But wait, this kind of cells don’t just exist in tumors, right?
Colchicum autumnale, known as meadow saffron, can be easily confused with Allium ursinum (wild garlic or bear leek) and if you eat it, it induces vomiting and, depending on the degree of your poisoning, death. Fun fact: There is no antidote yet!
By Hedwig Storch
Wait, that wasn’t fun …
One more candidate to treat cancer (that’s already being used) is Taxol, which is called Paclitaxel in its natural form. It’s produced by the Pacific yew, along with a bunch of other alkaloids (the name of this group of chemicals). Paclitaxel isn’t the chemical that will kill you, the other alkaloids contained in this plant will. But we’re talking about herbal cures here, you don’t get isolated substances! All or nothing!
Now before you start typing your comment in outrage (if you planned on doing that I’m actually impressed you got as far as this sentence! Thanks for reading before commenting! Include the word “Pumpernickel” in your comment to get a 15% instead of 10% upvote! Only applies to comments I’d usually upvote.), let me say that I don’t generally oppose herbal treatments.
Yes, you heard me right. After everything I just said, I don’t think taking certain herbs for certain illnesses is wrong.
But
Not everything can be treated with plants. Not all plants that contain helpful substances can just be eaten/cooked/made into tea. It’s often necessary to refine them to make them safe. If you’re not very invested into the topic and don’t have knowledge that isn’t funded on stuff a random person on the internet once said (and yes, I am including myself), you shouldn’t just go ahead and pick whatever plant you think is right for the given situation.
There is a reason people study this shit for years. You wouldn’t ask a pharmacist to build a car. Don’t ask the car mechanic to tell you what you should take for your severe ear infection. They’re specialized for a reason.
Additionally
Even when you are 100% you’re doing the right thing and taking the correct herbs, double check if they’re as safe as you think. There was an analysis in the USA of 251 Asian herbal products. 36 contained arsenic, 35 contained mercury, and 24 contained lead. You can kill yourself by taking these.
And if you’ve found a safe source for your safe herb, check for interactions with herbs and drugs you are already taking. Gingko and blood thinners combined are dangerous. So is Primrose Oil when you have epilepsy.
So please, be careful and think before taking any “miracle cure” (Read 
Be smart. Get a reliable doctor whom you trust. Take plants and herbs when appropriate but also take drugs when appropriate. There’s a reason we developed modern medicine.
Sources:
Dietary supplements and herbal medicine toxicities—when to anticipate them and how to manage them
Herbal medicines can be lethal, pathologist warns
Pictures taken from pixabay.com
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