I would like to talk about herbal medicines and some issues concerned about it. till yesterday i was thinking it has to be FDA approved but i found that Herbal supplements are considered foods, not drugs, by the FDA and, therefore, are not subject to the same testing, manufacturing, and labeling standards and regulations as drugs.

heres some more inforamtion from different websites

Herbal supplements are products made from plants for use in the treatment and management of disease and certain medical conditions.

Many prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications also are made from plant derivatives, but these products contain only purified ingredients and are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Herbal supplements may contain entire plants or plant parts; moreover, they are considered foods, not drugs, by the FDA and, therefore, are not subject to the same regulations as traditional medications.

some of the most commonly used herbal medicines are Black cohosh, Echinacea,evening primrose,feverfew,garlic, gingko biloba, gingseng, greentea,etc.

some available in Nepal are mrigmadasav, trifala churna, drakchadi churna, sitopaladi,etc

The advantage herbal medicine has over pharmaceutical drugs is the factor of safety. When was the last time you heard or read of someone dying from a reaction to an herbal preparation. Of course, one can overdose on anything. Enough water can kill you. However, taken as directed, herbal preparations are extraordinarily safe, and in the experience of most people, at least equally effective. Another plus is the fact that they are considerably less expensive than many pharmaceutical drugs.

Herbal medicines are not sublect to US FDA since its considered as food not drugs but the product ingredients are testified by NTP(National Toxicology Program). Active and toxic ingredients continue to be nominated and being studied by NTP. We need more study coz less research has been done compared to pharmaceutical drugs.

thank you

 

so what is ur point ?

Racheeta-

Anugaman said - I would like to talk about herbal medicines and some issues concerned about it. I think the point here is sharing info and knowledge. i may be wrong but at least that is what i can think of................

first of all thank u for reading my post guys. i was just trying to share some information here rather than analytical writing. It was also mentioned in the first paragraph.i hope that answers all your Qs.

thanks for your valuable time

I'm all for Herbal products too. Kevin Trudeau, an "unsuccessful defendant in several FTC lawsuits", whom I highly admire despite the lurking controversies, has discussed a number of alternatives in his renowned books: Natural Cures They" Don't Want You To Know About and More Natural Cures Revealed.

One of the supplements 'acidophillus', which is among his recommendations, has been miraculous to me. The only, but a huge downside is -- these things, in most cases TAKE TIME to prove right. For those with less patience, including myself ---- using herbal medicine is a teeth-grinding task.

Bottom line; Regardless of what FDA tells, Herbal medicines are a great 'available' option for the ones that have patience, desire, and faith on alternative medicines. 

~@~

FDA doesnt say anything bad about herbal products. since it considers herbal products as food not as drugs only the components are checked just for consumer safety. The FDA claims that they can only regulate things which fall under the two categories, namely foods and drugs. According to the Food and Drug Act passed in 1906 and 1938, all food additives and drugs should be approved by the FDA before they can be sold in the market. They all need to submit evidences about their health claims or how they can cure an ailment or condition, before they can be legally sold to the public.

Herbal remedies, which are classified under dietary supplements, are composed of processed or unprocessed elements such as plant barks, extracts and essential oils. Since they are considered as dietary supplements, they are not regulated by the FDA like drugs or prescription medications.

They are more likely classified and regulated as food, which helps make it easier for herbal remedies to be sold in the market since there are fewer restrictions in terms of their approval. Unfortunately, since these herbal remedies make health and disease claims, there have been discrepancies as to where they are going to be classified, and how they are going to be regulated.

heres some advantages of herbal medicines over pharmaeutical drugs

http://www.home-remedies-that-work.com/advantages-of-herbs.html

 

What is "acidophilus"?

Acidophilus is a probiotic. It is basically a bacterial culture that is essential for keeping your mucosal system from the mouth right down to the anus healthy. And you produce acidophilus actually as you get older but you still need to get acidophilus into your system and it's in usually we think of it in terms of yogurt. It's in foods like yogurt and kefir and those kinds of foods. For a total vegan they can find it in soy yogurt, you know, the next alternative is soy yogurt. It's very, very beneficial for destroying the unhealthy bacteria that grow in your colon. You have both, so you need to out-populate or over-populate the system with healthy probiotic.

I don't trust FDA.

can u elaborate nightelf

@ anugaman
My skepticism comes from reding "skinny bitch" and "omnivores delima". In the past they have approved marketing of products and foods that have had negative side effects that were greater than the problem those problems were trying to solve. I am sorry I cant post specific examples because I can not remember them.
Also, have you noticed the label "Organic" is in almost every food product? It is because FDA owns the word (if put on a food product). Small farmers can not afford to buy it so they cant sell it as organic even though their products are super-organic.
There is one more issue. FDA might approve the new swine flu vaccine under some emergency measure. I am not sure if that means that the vaccine will not have been tested properly, but I am suspicious. (please feel free to post if you have any information on that). When a swine flu vaccine was administered in 1970 they did not know that a "common side effect" was paralysis until thousands of people were suffering from it. Times have changed since then, but this particular news made me more skeptic towards the vaccine.