The Synergy of Plants

The fence between science and magic

I recently was asked by somebody, about my thoughts on standardized extracts, which is usually a tablet which contains only one isolated (usually the active ingredient) constituent of a plant, and I thought this would be really interesting discussion to bring to you all, as it intersects the realms of science and folk medicine rather nicely.

Herbalism is the foundation of modern medicine, and I think that it is important to remember this as we discuss whether or not a plant is useful, and if so whether its use can be attributed so a single constituent.

There is an increasing world view that favors rigorous scientific ways of approaching everything in life and I have written extensively in a more fluid and mystical way about my believes on breaking the spell of science. Whilst scientific methods and perspective can be useful it is also important to acknowledge our limitations, as after all science is still human made.

After 3 years at university reading peer reviewed studies on plants I came to the conclusion that plants basically have very little proven use in the literature, whilst the same 3 years of clinical observation taught me the complete opposite, patients found great medicine in the herbs. For my BSc in herbal medicine, I focused my dissertation on reviewing the historical use of Marshmallow, which I then had to compare to the EMA’s (European Medicine Agency) monograph for the plant, which also dictates its legal commercial use, if any at all. Here below is a short extract: