IN THE FUTURE WE MAY OWE OUR HEALTHY STATE TO SIMPLE PLANTS INSTEAD OF CHEMICALS

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 80% of the global population continues to rely on medicinal plant preparations to meet primary health care needs. The use of herbs for medicinal purposes has been developed over the millennia by personal experimentation, local custom, anecdote, and folk tradition. As few as 5,000 of the estimated 500,000 known species and subspecies of plants have been identified and studied for their medicinal properties today . The knowledge of the healing properties of herbs has been preserved from the time of the clay tablets of the ancient Sumerians over 5,000 years ago, to the sacred texts and pharmacopoeias of the Hindu and Chinese cultures, to the works of Greek and Roman physicians preserved by Byzantine scholars, to the European folk herbalists and physicians such as Nicholas Culpeper and, more recently, to the Native American herbalists. Colonists brought their herbal knowledge and plant specimens to settlements in North America and learned from the indigenous Americans how to make use of numerous additional plants native to the New World.

The benefits of botanical medicines are tremendous when administered properly and in designated therapeutic dosages. They trigger fewer side effects for most patients than pharmaceutical drugs, and are generally less costly than prescription pharmaceutical drugs. Herbal remedies usually have a much slower effect than pharmaceutical drugs too. There are eight different ways the essential elements in the plants can be made useful: Infusion, Decoction, Tincture, Capsule, Oil Infusion, Ointments, Poultice, Essential Oils. Herbal remedies prepared by infusion, decoction, or alcohol tincture from the appropriate plant part, such as the leaf, root, or flower are generally safe when ingested in properly designated therapeutic dosages.Essential oils should not be taken internally without expert guidance due to the potential for toxicity even in very small amounts. Side Effects: Herbs contain numerous phytochemicals formed in the metabolic process of the plant. These chemicals act on the body in different ways; some of these act on the whole body, while some act on a specific organ or system. An herb's effect may be due to a particular chemical in the herb, or it may be due to an interaction among constituents within the plant.

Science is really just beginning to take on the huge job of identifying how useful plants can be. But judging from the single instance of Aspirin, more than a century ago, the future of medicine could be very bright and we all could end up much healthier.