Because herbal medicine that works is called medicine. By the way, have you friends ever wondered why we look for medicines in plants, rather than rocks or other animals? It's super obvious, in hindsight, but things that go without saying go better when we say them. Plants can't move. They evolved to survive without moving. That means chemical warfare. If an animal isn't happy with the food around here then it can just go somewhere else. A plant has to fight where it stands, repelling other plants or animals. After billions of years, plants have developed an insane variety of chemical components to help with their survival. So many complex weird molecules! Even if a very small percentage can be made useful to humans, it's worth looking.
Yes. However two things are true. 1. People have a bad tendency to discount an herbal remedy because it doesn't work as well as the pharmaceutical products, or because a doctor didn't recommend it. And 2. Pharmaceutical companies benefit from people preferring something they can patent and control over something they could grow in their own garden.
Both of these mean that herbal medicine, and I mean medicine which is found naturally in plants without the need for pharmaceutical processing (as opposed to quackery), is largely discredited. And homeopathic remedies are largely what people thing when they hear "herbal medicine" and unfortunately a lot of that is quackery and advertisements.
Unfortunately as long as profit is such a key motive in developing treatments, we are not going to see a good answer become obvious. Ideally we should avoid putting more drugs into our bodies than we really need- and whole food herbal medicine (such as honey for a sore throat) is probably...
...a better option when the disease doesn't need further cure. After all, sideffects are a real and serious problem.
That being said-herbal medicine should never replace seeing a medical professional. Especially if you have a serious illness. People attempting to treat cancer or aids with herbal medicine are usually doing little more that offsetting some of the symptoms while the disease continues to kill them just are sure as it would while doing absolutely nothing.
As a rule of thumb: If what the doctor prescribes is to treat the disease, you need to follow medical advice. If it's to treat the symptoms, its probably safe to self medicate. If you don't know: ask your doctor.
grandma's home remedies are awesome.
Both of these mean that herbal medicine, and I mean medicine which is found naturally in plants without the need for pharmaceutical processing (as opposed to quackery), is largely discredited. And homeopathic remedies are largely what people thing when they hear "herbal medicine" and unfortunately a lot of that is quackery and advertisements.
Unfortunately as long as profit is such a key motive in developing treatments, we are not going to see a good answer become obvious. Ideally we should avoid putting more drugs into our bodies than we really need- and whole food herbal medicine (such as honey for a sore throat) is probably...
That being said-herbal medicine should never replace seeing a medical professional. Especially if you have a serious illness. People attempting to treat cancer or aids with herbal medicine are usually doing little more that offsetting some of the symptoms while the disease continues to kill them just are sure as it would while doing absolutely nothing.
As a rule of thumb: If what the doctor prescribes is to treat the disease, you need to follow medical advice. If it's to treat the symptoms, its probably safe to self medicate. If you don't know: ask your doctor.