What is herbal medicine?

Herbal Medicine is the practice of using plant based medicine to treat and prevent disease by correcting internal imbalances and aiding the body’s natural healing ability. Herbs can affect the function of particular organs or systems in the body such as the liver, the skin, the kidneys or the gastric or nervous system.

Herbal medicine works more slowly than allopathic medicine but it also comes with no side effects (the often stated reasons for people not wanting to take medication) when used by an experienced and qualified practitioner

Increasingly herbal medicine is being validated by scientists as they test active ingredients in plants for efficacy, Hypericum perforatum being one of the most widely studied plants. Research such as this identifies the chemical constituents within plants which are responsible for their healing abilities. The natural balance of these minimises the possibilities of side effects which can occur from isolating just one particular active ingredient.

Many pharmaceutical drugs have been derived from those chemicals found in plants, such as digoxin from Digitalis purpurea.