Thursday, October 13, 2011

Western Medicinal Plants - Cranberry Juice Herbal Medicine

The use of medicinal plants and the discovery of new medicines form herbs has largely been associated with China, India and other countries in the third world. In recent years, however, the West has also contributed handsomely towards the development of new drugs from plants, some of which do not even grow in Asia, Latin America or Africa.

One such plant is Hypericum perforatum known in Europe as St John’s Wort. This plant has been shown to have a beneficial effect on patients who are suffering from mental depression, a very difficult condition to treat. Nearly 1,600 patients of clinical depression have now been treated in Austria and Germany with St John’s Wort and the results indicate that the plant is as effective as synthetic drugs and perhaps induces fewer side effects than the more powerful synthetic drugs. Recently a whole issue of a psychiatric journal was devoted only to the effects of St John’s Wort. The leaves and flowers are used for their beneficial effect. Interestingly, the plant is also used for treating cuts and bruises. The plant may also have good effect on the pain of rheumatism, neuralgia and sciatica. The plants is taken in the form of an infusion.

This plant grows in India also, and is known in Hindi by the local name of Bassant, Balsasnta and Dendhu. In the Traditional medicine system in India it is used for several conditions but an effect on mental depression is not one of those. It is however suggested in Indian traditional medicine system that this plant reduces the quantity of milk in lactating cattle. This effect could be via the hypothalamus, the area where depression may also be related to. The discovery of taxol from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree for treatment of ovarian cancer by an American scientist has also been described. This is another discovery in the western world of a new plant medicine.

There are several other leads which have recently been published. The use of cranberry juice, made from cranberries has been a folklore remedy for bladder infection for generation in England. It was, however, only recently that scientific evidence of this has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

All men would like to avoid surgery for the treatment of benign hypertrophy of the prostate. The most recent advancement in non-surgical treatment of prostate hypertrophy is the use of a new drug, called finasteride. However, it has been known in England for a long time that an extract of Saw palmetto leaves also is effective in the treatment of hypertrophy of the prostate. It costs one third of the price of the synthetic drug.

Another plant which has recently come in to some prominence in the United Kingdom is the fever-few plant. The botanical name is the Tanacetum parthenium. This plant apparently is not found in India. This plant is used for the treatment of migraine. According to Nicola Peterson who has included a description of fever-few in her book Herbs and Health, about 70 per cent of the migraine patients benefit from fever-few. There could be total remission of the problem or partial improvement.

It is believed that the plant acts by dilating the constricted cerebral vessels and thus opening up the flow of blood to the brain. It also being used for the treatment of arthritis. It is the leaves of the plant which are effective. It can be seen from these few examples that new drugs from medicinal plants are also being discovered, not only in the third world but in highly developed countries of the West.

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Chitika