Herb Consults

Is there really a conspiracy to ban herbs?

Since the Codex Alimentarius Commission was formed in 1963, the group has been suspected of conspiracy. Consumers were alarmed that this international regulatory Codex, adopted by the World Trade Organization, would limit their choice in dietary supplements. The controversy keeps popping up online, where outdated information plagues worried readers.

Over the years, consumers have been concerned that this group would force legislation on the United States. The topic is especially inflammatory because, although not related to the Codex, the concern—limited access to supplements—is valid. Confounding the issue is the easy e-mail and long-term data storage of the Internet. According to www.snopes.com, the ubiquitous online myth-busters, two versions of a bill proposing the regulation of dietary supplements that were introduced in 2003 (but not even voted on) gave rise to a 2005 e-mail that continues to circulate, warning that, “your right to choose your vitamin, mineral and other supplements may end.”

The Codex doesn’t really affect dietary supplements, as most countries treat them as drugs. The United States puts vitamins and minerals in the food category, but that is a unique regulatory category. Ultimately, the Codex, formed by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), is a standardizing force in the international trade of food goods.  Read more... (313 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Pamela Bond recently reported on the natural products industry criticism of a new research review published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (02-01-2010) that warned of dangerous herb-drug interactions that some herbal supplements can cause in heart disease patients taking prescription drugs.

“The errors and problems in this paper are too numerous to list completely at this time,” said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the Austin, Texas-based American Botanical Council. “While there are potential and actual interactions that various herbs can have with drugs used by patients with cardiovascular diseases, this paper will do little to improve professional awareness and skill in this area.”

In a press release, the American Botanical Council specified several errors in the published study:

• Latin names for herbs are missing. For example, the authors don’t clarify the species of ginseng discussed. Many ginseng species “cause varying pharmacological effects,” noted Blumenthal in the release.
• Some herbs labeled in the study as “commonly used” are not generally available in the U.S. dietary supplement market.
• Capsicum is listed as being used for shingles, trigeminal, and diabetic neuralgia. But the over-the-counter and prescription drug capsaicin, a compound derived from chili peppers (Capsicum spp.), actually is used for those purposes.

“There are more [flaws],” said Blumenthal, adding that the study “should not have been published in its present form without serious additional edits, revisions and deletions, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology would be advised to retract it.”  Read more... (513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Eric Brand recently reported on his participation in an ongoing research project regarding authentication of herbs.

Authentication is a multidisciplinary specialty within Chinese herbal medicine that focuses on the correct identification of medicinal products.

Over the centuries, many different regional substitutes and adulterants have been introduced into the herbal marketplace, and many herbs that have similar names and appearances are easily confused. To achieve reliable therapeutic results and avoid potentially harmful substitutes, it is essential for Chinese medical practitioners to use correctly identified herbal medicines.

Many commonly used herbal formulas are very old – some have been in use for thousands of years. And this is because they work! But some of the problems today stem from either the lack of herbal formula ingredients or particular ingredients ave been banned – so substitutes have to be found and tested.

You may recall the withdrawal of ephedra or ma huang several years ago. Ephedra was associated with kidney failure and several deaths in Europe. Now Herbalists and Oriental Medicine Doctors were not the ones prescribing ephedra for weight loss – - it was Western Medical Physicians! In TCM – weight loss is not an indication to use ephredra.

Correctly identified herbal medicines improve therapeutic results and assure the authenticity of a given herbal formula.

What this research and collaboration of multiple sources means to you is that there will be more safe guards in place to assure the ingredients of an herbal medicine are what they should be and are what the label says it is.  Read more... (300 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)