Herbal Medicine

The majority of the commonly used herbs have a history of use that goes back thousands of years. Over that time, a vast amount of experience has been gained that has gone towards perfecting their clinical applications.

Many modern drugs have been developed from the herbs, such as treatments for asthma and hay fever from Chinese ephedra, hepatitis remedies from schizandra fruits and licorice roots, and a number of anticancer agents from trees and shrubs. However, herbs are rarely used individually - typically herbal formulae contain between 8 and 16 drugs. Herbal formulae are used as complete treatments in their own right or as supplements in order to increase the effectiveness/ reduce the side-effects of modern chemo-synthetic drugs.

Popular ways of taking herbs in the west are decoctions, tinctures and concentrated extract powders/granules. The powders are typically taken by mixing a heaped teaspoon in a small cup of  hot water, twice a day.