Thursday 2 December 2021

What Herbal Research Does For Us

Herb Garden: Photo & Article © Ann Walker

These days, apart from folklore, documented traditional use of herbs and the knowledge of herbalists with clinical experience, there is an addition resource at our fingertips: from research. Clearly much of this research is aimed at finding key herbal ingredients which could be used or copied by the pharmaceutical industry to produce modern medicines. While laboratory studies like these can highlight compounds in a herb that might support physiology, these types of studies cannot predict the effects of herbs on human beings.

For that we need studies on human volunteers. Fortunately, clinical trial evidence of the use of many herbs is becoming increasingly available. This is deepening our knowledge and understanding and even opening-up new applications for herbs to add to their traditional use. Although funding for such work is scarce, progress is being made. Human studies are highlighted in nineteen new herbal monographs prepared for the Discovering Herbal Medicine course. The herbs in the monographs are popular and widely-available from many outlets, including the internet, as tablets or capsules carrying a Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) – a seal of safety and quality for home use.

In preparing the new monographs, we were keen to convey two main themes: traditional herbal use and modern research. Without documented traditional use, the applications of botanicals for disease would be largely unknown or confined to folklore and word-of-mouth. The THR scheme requires documented evidence for the of use of herbs for at least fifteen years in Europe.

Fortunately, many of our predecessors have kept detailed accounts of herbal remedies and examples of these are used throughout these monographs. Going on these old records, our ancestors weren’t so badly off without the benefits of modern medicine. Indeed, they had access to some powerful herbal medicines. Not only is modern research supporting this ancient knowledge, but it is augmenting it in ways our ancestors would never have dreamed of!

PMID, PubMed identifier

Ann Walker PhD FCPP MNIMH RNutr
Herbal Practitioner and Nutritionist
Course Director Discovering Herbal Medicine

Thursday 25 November 2021

Lavender: A Nerve Tonic

Lavender Flowers: Photo & Article © Ann Walker

The traditional applications of Lavender are diverse and numerous, extending from positive effects on the nervous and digestive systems to soothing skin problems. Lavender has a valuable role in midwifery and in palliative care, mostly as a healing agent in aromatherapy through the skin. Lavender oil is gentler on the skin than almost all other essential oils and can be safely applied without dilution to help heal skin problems such as wounds, burns etc.

Less commonly, but increasingly, the oil is used as a remedy internally and capsules are now available to the public, for use as a carminative and nervine (search lavender on British Herbal Medicine Association website https://bhma.info/). A series of small studies of lavender oil capsules showed promising results in reducing anxiety and depression in the elderly (e.g. PMID: 24456909). But it is not just the essential oil which has nervine properties, a small study (PMID: 32444033) of 60 elderly people showed that in just 2 weeks, drinking 4 g of lavender tea per day can reduce depression and anxiety scores.

There have also been small clinical studies showing that Lavender oil has positive effects on mental function in Alzheimer’s disease, in stress conditions and for insomnia. These studies confirm the traditional understanding of the health benefits of lavender for the nervous system, being a unique mix of calming, balancing and uplifting properties. The herb is well indicated for bringing a harmonious balance in all types of stress and emotional situations.

PMID, PubMed identifier

Ann Walker PhD FCPP MNIMH RNutr
Herbal Practitioner and Nutritionist
Course Director Discovering Herbal Medicine

Monday 25 October 2021

Echinacea for Viral Infections

Echinacea Flowers
Echinacea (E. purpurea) Photo & Article © Ann Walker

Echinacea had a long traditional of medicinal use among American’s First peoples and it was taken up as a remedy for infections in a big way by the early American colonists. The herb today is one of the most popular over-the-counter remedy for respiratory infections, including the common cold. Several compounds in Echinacea have been shown to kill microbes, including viruses, and the most important are the alkylamides. As well as having direct broad-spectrum anti-microbial properties, in the laboratory Echinacea shows its ability to enhance immune function, including promoting white blood cells to tackle infective agents.

While the anti-viral effects of Echinacea are seen every day in clinical practice among herbalists, getting clear evidence of the efficacy of the herb for infections through clinical studies has proved difficult. For a start, there are several species of Echinacea used medicinally and while E. purpurea is the most common, some studies have reported on E. angustifolia.

Moreover, human studies have been done both on the leaves and flowers of the plant and on the root, which adds complexity. Regarding E. purpurea root, which is most commonly found in over-the-counter products, a Cochrane systematic review in 2006 (PMID: 16437427), concluded that the aerial parts of E. purpurea showed weak evidence of being effective for naturally acquired colds in adults.

Another team also published a meta-analysis* in 2006 (PMID: 16678640), looking at the effects of the herb after inoculation of the cold virus. In that study, infection rate was 55% higher for people taking placebo compared with those on Echinacea. Furthermore, those taking Echinacea who did contract a cold, suffered reduced symptoms.

There have been other meta-analyses and systematic reviews, some of which, but not all, showed that the herb decreased the odds of developing colds and shortened cold duration. Unfortunately, funding for clinical trials on herbs is becoming more and more difficult to obtain these days, so obtaining proof of efficacy which will stand up to mainstream medical scrutiny will take a long time. While we wait for gold-standard clinical trial evidence we already know that Echinacea in all its forms is a very safe medicine and well tolerated. For many people it is already the go-to remedy for all types of infections.

* Pooled data from several placebo-controlled clinical studies
PMID, PubMed identifier

Ann Walker PhD FCPP MNIMH RNutr
Herbal Practitioner and Nutritionist
Course Director Discovering Herbal Medicine

Wednesday 7 April 2021

Discovering Herbal Medicine Course NOW Online!

 
It has taken a year to get the Discovering  Herbal Medicine online, but I am delighted that I have had the opportunity and  time to conserve, update and rebrand this legacy distance learning course.  Accredited by the British Herbal Medicine  Association, DHM has been delivered for over 40 years in mailed-out format, but  this version will cease as soon as the current students have completed their  studies.

Putting DHM online will make it more readily available to a wider audience both in the UK and abroad.DHM has been designed to enable the herbal enthusiast to explore the healing relationship between the human body in health and disease and the wonderful remedial properties of herbs that herbal practitioners use on an everyday basis.

This one-year course is not a practitioner course, as the amount of information that can be covered in one year is clearly limited. However, it does provide the opportunity to absorb the essence of the relationship between human health and plant medicine without resorting to an enormous amount of clinical detail. Having said that, this is not a superficial course and does require considerable application and fundamental interest in the power of nature.

For more information and to purchase the course go to www.newvitalitytuition.com.

The cost of the full course (four Stages comprising twelve Modules) is £700 and there is an introductory discount of £125 using the code “intro2021” which is valid until the end of April. Alternatively, each of the four Stages can be purchased independently for £185.

Ann Walker DHM Course Director.