The beneficial effects of natural herbs are coming to the forefront of modern health care. Why did it take so long?

In some cultures, it didn't. Traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine is still used today in its native lands and is coming into greater popularity in the West. Traditional Chinese medicine also makes copious use of natural herbs and is still embraced at home as well as abroad. Natural herbs have been used by Native Americans for millennia. But in modern Western culture, acceptance of natural herb therapy has been slow in coming.

Much of the development of modern Western medicine has had a two-pronged approach. First, there has been the attempt to cure existing diseases and conditions. Second has been palliative care, or treatment of the stress, pain, and disability brought on by either existing conditions themselves or induced by the methods used to cure them. Looking to medicine only to fix what is already broken has limited the adoption of natural herbs or any other methods of preventive care into Western practices.

Similarly, the use of natural herbs for treatment and palliative care has been neglected, as Western medicine has sought to precisely measure all treatments and farm them out to highly regulated pharmaceutical companies. These companies do not research herbal remedies because they cannot be patented. Therefore, doctors are faced with the choice of using herbs in the varying intensities common to their natural states or not at all. In the era of the lawsuit, they have been understandably reluctant to take any chances.

However, the long history of the beneficial effects of natural herbs is undeniable, and the research accumulated on traditional herbal cures has become substantial enough that even many Western doctors have begun to prescribe their use in both regular and preventive care. Many herbs and herbal extracts have been found to have no contraindications for the conditions they are used to treat, while having powerful effects. Most are so inexpensive that trying them out is a very low risk proposition.

Some natural herbs and extractions have been used even in Western medicine for a long time. An example is the use of cilantro extract for treatment of mercury poisoning. Cilantro bonds with the ions in mercury, enabling it to enter into the bloodstream for eventual excretion.

Other treatments for more common ailments include valerian root for sleeplessness, St. John's Wort for depression, milk thistle for liver health, red-yeast rice to lower cholesterol, and saw palmetto for prostate health. There are almost as many herbal remedies as herbs, and new herbal medicines are being uncovered every day.

Western science has recently become so enamored of the beneficial effects of natural herbs that it is working overtime to catch up on the missing herbal link in its traditions. Leading university and pharmaceutical scientists visit South American rainforests to pick plants in order to subject their natural compounds to laboratory scrutiny, and also in the hope of finding new species. They consult with traditional native shamans to find out if the thousands of treatments developed by ancient cultures can unlock cures still unknown to the wider world.

The beneficial effects of natural herbs are no longer a secret buried in the past; they are an everyday boon to modern society.