by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
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| It is difficult to assess the extent to which Plants are used as medicines throughout the World, but the World Health Organization has estimated that perhaps 80 percent of the world's population relies on traditional therapies for their primary health care needs. Since botanical medicine is the major part of traditional therapies, it can be safely stated that the majority of the world's population relies on Plants as medicines.
Unfortunately, most people in the United States still know very little of the tremendous value of Plants as medicine. |
| For many people in the World, herbal medicines are the only therapeutic agents available. It is difficult to assess the extent to which Plants are used as medicines throughout the World, but the World Health Organization has estimated that perhaps 80 percent of the world's population relies on traditional therapies for their primary health care needs. Since botanical medicine is the major part of traditional therapies, it can be safely stated that the majority of the world's population relies on Plants as medicines. |
| During recent decades, per capita fish consumption has expanded all over the World. Several factors determine the consumption of fish and shellfish, the main ones being a country's own supply of these products, the country's economy, and tradition. One of the major reasons fish and shellfish consumption is increasing in the United States is the desire of many Americans to eat more healthfully.
In 2004, total worldwide seafood production (excluding aquatic plants) was estimated to be nearly 150 million tons, of which 58 million tons came from aquaculture. |
| Mints are now grown and cultivated virtually all over the World.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Mints exert a wide range of health benefits. Like other aromatic Plants, their primary application has been as a carminative and digestant. The oil of the peppermint plant is an excellent example. It has been shown to relieve spasms of the gastrointestinal tract and gas. In fact, an enteric-coated peppermint oil capsule has been shown to be very effective in relieving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. (Enteric coating prevents the oil from being released in the stomach.) Peppermint oil relaxes smooth muscle. |
| HISTORY
Native to Central Asia, garlic is one of the oldest cultivated Plants in the World. Its usage predates written history. Sanskrit records document the use of garlic remedies approximately 5,000 years ago, while the Chinese have been using it for at least 3,000 years. The Ebers Codex, an Egyptian medical papyrus dating to about 1550 b.c.e., mentions garlic as an effective remedy for a variety of ailments. Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Pliny cited numerous therapeutic uses for garlic. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Hops
Latin name: Humulus lupulus (Cannabaceae [marijuana] family)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Hops is a perennial climbing vine found in the wild in Europe and Asia, and cultivated throughout the temperate-zone climates of the World for use in making beer. Male and female flowers are borne on different Plants. The conelike flowers of the female hops Plants are picked for use in brewing beer and in herbal medicine.
EVIDENCE OF BENEFIT
Hops has been used to treat anxiety and insomnia for more than a thousand years. A pillow filled with hops has been used to encourage sleep. |
| Licorice
Latin names: Glycyrrhiza glabra, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Gly-cyrrhiza uralensis (Fabaceae [legume] family)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Next to ginger, licorice is the world's most widely used herbal remedy. The licorice plant is a woody-stemmed perennial that grows to a height of six feet (two meters). It bears clusters of creamy white flowers similar in appearance to those of its relative, the lupine. In the autumn, roots of three- to four-year-old Plants are dug for medicinal use. |
| South Africans have drunk rooibos tea for at least 200 years, and it became widely used in South Africa during World War II, when black tea was unavailable. It is one of the few indigenous Plants that have become an important commercial crop. Rooibus tea should be not be confused with honey bush tea.
Rooibos contains at least thirty-seven natural antioxidants, minerals, vitamin C, and alpha-hydroxy acids. It does not contain caffeine, and it has a very low tannin content.
EVIDENCE OF BENEFIT
Rooibos is an antiviral, antianxiety, and antiallergy agent. |
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II
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 Never before have we affected the natural environment to such an extent that we are losing our topsoil, our massive North American aquifers, and our world's rainforests.10 We are changing our climate so rapidly that many of the world's best-informed scientists fear the future. Never before have we been eliminating plant and animal species from the face of the earth as we are doing now. Never before have we introduced, on such a large scale, genetically altered varieties of Plants into the environment without knowing what the repercussions will be. |
| Burkitt was awarded the prestigious Bower Award, the richest award in the World next to the Nobel Prize. He invited me to speak at his award ceremony at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, only two months before his unfortunate passing. He offered his opinion that our China Study was the most significant work on diet and health in the World at that time.
Dietary fiber is exclusively found in plant-based foods. This material, which gives rigidity to the cell walls of Plants, comes in thousands of different chemical variations. It is mostly made of highly complex carbohydrate molecules. |
| We are changing our climate so rapidly that many of the world's best-informed scientists fear the future. Never before have we been eliminating plant and animal species from the face of the earth as we are doing now. Never before have we introduced, on such a large scale, genetically altered varieties of Plants into the environment without knowing what the repercussions will be. All of these changes in our environment are strongly affected by what we choose to eat. |
| He offered his opinion that our China Study was the most significant work on diet and health in the World at that time.
Dietary fiber is exclusively found in plant-based foods. This material, which gives rigidity to the cell walls of Plants, comes in thousands of different chemical variations. It is mostly made of highly complex carbohydrate molecules. We digest very little or no fiber. Nonetheless, fiber, having few or no calories itself, helps dilute the caloric density of our diets, creates a sense of fullness and helps to shut down appetite, among other things. |
Paul Pitchford
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 AMARANTH
Used by the ancient Aztecs as a valuable food and in their worship rituals, amaranth has recently come to the attention of World health workers with the discovery that in areas of Africa and Latin America where it is consumed, there exists no malnutrition. Because of its high nutritional value and ability to thrive in poor soil and during drought conditions, amaranth and Plants with similar ¦^^J^ properties (such as quinoa) are considered part of a "bene-m ficial lost storehouse" of the world's agriculture and diet. |
David Winston, RH(AHG), and Steven Maimes
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 Medicinal Plants can be found in every region of the World. James Duke, PhD, a recently retired botanist for the United States Department of Agriculture, put together a database that includes eighty thousand Plants with more than twenty thousand species throughout the World that can be documented as being used for medicinal purposes. In North America, excluding Mexico, there are approximately twenty-two hundred species of Plants that have been used for medicinal purposes in a traditional context.
Herbal medicine is one of the most ancient forms of health care known to humankind. |
| The World Health Organization reports that approximately 75 percent of the world's population depends on botanical medicines for its basic health care needs. In fact, people in a number of countries are using medicinal Plants as a significant part of their health care regimens.
Herbs have been used as medicines for millennia. Prior to the introduction of modern pharmaceutical drugs, herbal remedies were among the few reliable healing and treatment methods available.
Approximately 25 percent of modern medicines are still made from Plants first used in traditional medicine. |
| History of Adaptogens
Herbs grow around the World, and their history is certainly as old as the first vegetation on planet Earth. We cannot date when Plants were first used by man, but we know that people in every region on Earth found important uses for herbs. The history and experience of using these Plants was transmitted orally for millennia. Around 2000 to 3000 BCE, the earliest written accounts of using medicinal Plants were created. For instance, there is a great deal of mythology and history surrounding the plant holy basil. |
| James Duke, PhD, a recently retired botanist for the United States Department of Agriculture, put together a database that includes eighty thousand Plants with more than twenty thousand species throughout the World that can be documented as being used for medicinal purposes. In North America, excluding Mexico, there are approximately twenty-two hundred species of Plants that have been used for medicinal purposes in a traditional context.
Herbal medicine is one of the most ancient forms of health care known to humankind. |
Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D.
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 In 1980, the World Health Organization urged researchers to examine whether traditional medicines produced any beneficial clinical results. In the last ten to twenty years, scientific investigation has confirmed the efficacy of many of these preparations, some of which are remarkably effective. Covered here are those Plants which appear most effective, are least toxic, and have substantial documentation of efficacy. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 As they have for centuries, indigenous rainforest tribes around the World rely on the forests for virtually all their medicines. They too have incorporated herbs into their religions and everyday lives. Researchers estimate that the world's rainforests contain literally thousands of potentially useful medicinal Plants. Rainforests exist on every continent, though most research attention is currently directed at the rainforests of South America, particularly in the Amazon, and of the South Pacific Islands. |
| OTHER HERBAL HEALING SYSTEMS
The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the earth's population today depends on Plants to treat common ailments. Herbalism is an essential part of Ayurvedic (Indian), traditional Asian, Native American, and naturopathic medicines. Many homeopathic remedies are derived from Plants as well.
Oriental herbs are a recent addition to the American herb scene, with the influx of several popular Chinese herbs. The Chinese are today's foremost herbalists, drawing on thousands of years of experience in compounding and processing roots and herbs. |
| Researchers estimate that the world's rainforests contain literally thousands of potentially useful medicinal Plants. Rainforests exist on every continent, though most research attention is currently directed at the rainforests of South America, particularly in the Amazon, and of the South Pacific Islands. Out of this rich storehouse of natural remedies, only a handful are now commonly found in health food stores, among them pau d'arco, boldo, cat's claw, kava, yerba mate, suma, yohimbe, guarana, and passionflower. More and more rainforest remedies are becoming available. |
Leslie Taylor, ND
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 The Amazon rainforest contains the largest collection of living plant and animal species in the World. The diversity of plant species in the Amazon rainforest is the highest on Earth. It is estimated that a single hectare (2.47 acres) of Amazon rainforest contains about 900 tons of living Plants, including more than 750 types of trees and 1,500 other Plants. The Andean mountain range and the Amazon jungle are home to more than half of the world's species of flora and fauna; in fact, one in five of all the birds in the World live in the rainforests of the Amazon. |
| Herbal Primer here are currently more than one hundred substances derived from Plants in use as drugs throughout the World. Since drugs and active cu i' chemicals in Plants can have widespread effects when consumed, it is important that people understand the differences and similarities between drugs and medicinal Plants. Part One: Rainforest Herbal Primer discusses the use of herbs in health care, pointing out the differences and similarities between drugs and medicinal Plants and the need for users to be well informed about the herbs they use (Chapter 2). |
| Today, rainforests occupy only 2 percent of the entire Earth's surface and 6 percent of the world's land surface, yet these remaining lush rainforests support over half of our planet's wild Plants and trees and one-half of the world's wildlife. Hundreds of thousands of these rainforest species are being extinguished before they have even been identified, much less catalogued and studied. The magnitude of this loss to the world
Some scientists believe that there are between 10 million and 30 million yet-to-be-discovered insect species living in rainforest canopy trees. |
| It's important to note that much of the history of the medicinal uses of the Plants discussed in this book is mainly recorded in tropical Third World countries where the Plants grow. The populations of people using plant-based herbal remedies don't regularly take the amount or types of prescription drugs Americans do, and the history of side effects or contraindications when combining the Plants with the drugs we use is virtually nonexistent. |
| People in tropical forests around the World have used the Plants growing in their backyards as part of their healthcare systems for millennia. In fact, archaeologists have discovered the remains of Plants used as medicine at archaeological dig sites in Latin and South America dating back to 8000 B.C. In the northwestern Amazon alone, at least 1,300 plant species are used to create drogas do certao or "wilderness drugs" for the primary health care needs in the region today. Many of these plant-based remedies have never been subjected to any type of scientific research. |
| By purchasing renewable and sustainable rainforest products and resources and demanding sustainable harvesting of these resources using local communities and indigenous tribes of the rainforests, we all can be part of the solution, and the rainforests of the World and their people can be saved. part one rainforest Herbal Primer here are currently more than one hundred substances derived from Plants in use as drugs throughout the World. |
Joseph E. Mario
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 Hemp is one of the most useful and versatile Plants in the World with an estimated 25,000 commercial uses (Popular Science 1932). Hemp is hardy and drought-resistant, one of the fastest-growing Plants known, 77% cellulose, one acre of Hemp produces as much paper pulp as 4.1 acres of a 20-year old forest, without the wood pulp's need fortoxic chlorine bleaching or dioxin residue. Hemp farming could reduce deforestation 50% worldwide, and bring in revenues for small farmers. |
| Psychoactive experiences can be mystical, paranormal, a new awareness of the world's beauty and harmony, including heightened visual, auditory, and tactile senses, a rapture of oneness beyond words, an actual communion with Creation, a divine experience; or a "bum trip or burnout" if lacking nutrients, psychic skills, and/or positive attitude. Physical effects of psychoactive Plants are dilated pupils, peripheral artery constriction, systolic blood pressure rise, Brainwaves in normal arousal state, spinal reflexes increase (knee-jerk). 95% have no reported case of human death. |
| The 16th-century Swiss Paracelsus taught "The physician is only the servant ofNature, not her master; therefore, it behooves medicine to follow the will ofNature;" and Nicholas Culpeper's Herbal esteemed the use of herbs in England; the uses for which spanned the World to include the American indigenous red race Amerinds who spiritually respect the powers of Grandfather Sky/Fire Spirit from above; and of Grandmother Creative Earth Spirit from below—the eternal spiritual directors who balance, nurture, and inspire temporal earthly Plants, creatures, and comen. |
Marie-France Muller, M.D., N.D., Ph.D.
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 Also dependant on this process are the animals that supply us with food, the fish in our rivers and oceans, and the world's Plants and trees. Damage to cellular respiration spells the eventual death of our forests, fish, and animals and the emergence of what we call "incurable" animal and human illnesses.
OUR HYDRO-MINERAL BALANCE
As we learned earlier, the colloidal state is a fundamental condition for living matter. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 In the system of anthroposophical medicine, the light released by the plant World helps to stimulate, form, and maintain our nervous system. In an exquisite, divine way, the taking in of plant food makes a cyclic connection of our inner light with the outer light of the solar system and plant World. One benefit of eating vegetarian food is that the light of Plants is directly released into our bodies in a way that stimulates the inner light and the nervous system. This benefit is lost when we eat a primarily animal diet. |
| Since 1974, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recorded 54 accidents at 132 irradiation facilities around the World. In New Jersey, which has the highest concentration of irradiation Plants, almost every plant has a record of environmental contamination, worker over-exposure, or regulatory failures.
Accidents can be extremely dangerous to surrounding communities and to workers at the plant. In 1991, a worker in Maryland suffered critical injuries when exposed to ionizing irradiation from an electron beam accelerator. In 1988, Radiation Sterilizers, Inc. |
Andrew Pengelly
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 Phytochemical basis of herbal medicines
Since herbal medicines are products of the biological World, their properties and characteristics can be studied using the accumulated skills and knowledge embedded in the natural sciences—especially botany and chemistry or biochemistry. Through an understanding of simple principles of chemistry we see there is a similarity in the molecules that make up Plants and humans, while foods and medicines derived from Plants provide a chemical continuum between these two kingdoms. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Like the world's rainforests, which contain thousands of species of Plants that we have not yet identified, the ocean floor is filled with numerous mysterious Plants and creatures that may offer important cures for common diseases. For example, researchers recently have discovered that the green-lipped mussel contains a natural anti-inflammatory agent that is a wonderful treatment for arthritis. |
| One critical area in which we are dragging our heels is saving the world's precious rainforests, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere. Within the past 20 years, half of the rain forests have vanished, being cleared away or logged at a rate of 320 square miles daily. Tragically, these rainforests contain more than 200,000 species of Plants, of which only a few thousand have yet been identified. |
Earth RightH. Patricia Hynes
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| Trees are part of a diverse living World of Plants and animals that offer medicine, food, fuel, and shelter to those who live near and in them. They are home to more species of Plants, insects, and animals than any other ecosystem. Indian women who understand this have embraced trees so loggers could not cut them; they have placed themselves between chain saws and trees where intense logging was destroying primeval forests; they have formed human chains across logging roads to keep out logging equipment.
What kind of person hugs a tree? |
| The World Resources Institute predicts that a doubling of lower atmosphere ozone could cut in half yields of ozone-sensitive Plants, such as peanuts and soybeans.
One school of thought, however, takes a different view. Simply put, their theory states that the trend in global warming from a carbon dioxide-enriched atmosphere will enhance agriculture. Researchers have demonstrated in laboratories that Plants grow faster with increased carbon dioxide and that some crops use water more efficiently. Added warmth can increase the rate of photosynthesis. |
| In California, several 30-megawatt solar thermal electric Plants supply electricity to utilities at competitive prices. The World market for wind turbines doubled every year from 1981 to 1985, reaching the equivalent of one coal-fired plant per year. All this has been developed without the government subsidies that nuclear power has enjoyed and the artificially low costs from which fossil fuels have benefited, because the tab for environmental damage they cause is picked up elsewhere.
If renewable sources were used to their capability, U.S. C02 emissions would be reduced 2. |
| The Du Pont Company, which originally developed the chlorofluorocarbons and has manufactured about one quarter of the world's annual production of 2 billion pounds of chlorofluorocarbons, announced in March 1988 that it would phase out production of these three compounds by the end of the century. These same three compounds are the subject of the Montreal Protocol.
As refrigerants alone, CFC-11 and CFC-12 are used in 100 million home refrigerators, in the air conditioners of 90 million cars, and in the central air conditioning Plants of 100,000 large buildings in the United States. |
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