A fragrant pharmacy

[Guest guest]

From what I read, one of the reasons that traditional herbals are more effective

is because they come packaged synergistically by nature with many other

compounds in the same plant and that helps it work, just as many herbalsists

will mix herbs in a formula to work synergistically together. F.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1033937,00.html

 

A fragrant pharmacy

 

As scientists reveal that sage could help Alzheimer's, Monique Simmonds reports

on the medicine cabinet in your garden

 

Tuesday September 2, 2003

The Guardian

 

Plants have played a key role in providing us with medicines for centuries, yet

in the latter half of the 20th century, synthetic chemists have provided many of

our new drugs. In Britain plant-based remedies have been largely ignored,

especially since 1945 and the introduction of the NHS, which has traditionally

actively discouraged herbal remedies. Some sections of the medical profession

still consider plants as yesterday's medicines, but others are increasingly

open-minded and are actively using advances in molecular biology and chemistry

to re-evaluate the role plants could play in the health of people in the 21st

century.

Reports last week that researchers are studying the use of sage in the treatment

of Alzheimer's disease illustrates some of that new interest in plants.

Scientists at the universities of Newcastle and Northumbria discovered that

people taking sage oil extract showed a marked improvement in their memory.

" This proves how valuable the work by old herbalists is, and they should not

just be ignored because they were writing centuries ago, " said lead researcher

Nicola Tildesley.

So should we all eat more sage to protect ourselves from Alzheimer's? Sage is a

name given to a whole range of species of salvia, and before we have people

increasing their intake of sage and onion stuffing, they need to check which

species of sage they have growing in the garden.

The species of sage used traditionally in Britain for improving the memory was

salvia officinalis, but the essential oil of this species contains a compound

called thujone, which is known to be a convulsant. Salvia lavandulaefolia is

known as Spanish sage and is the species under investigation in Newcastle. It

has low levels of this convulsant. And do not use wood sage, teucrium

scorodonia, as this plant contains chemicals that could cause adverse reactions.

There is a difference in promoting the use of specific plants in your diet to

increase your general health in contrast to the use of plants to treat specific

diseases. We must take care when using traditional knowledge to promote the use

of a plant for the treatment of a specific condition, since it does not always

take into account the negative activity of some plants. However, traditional

knowledge can assist us identify which plants should be selected for a study.

A range of plants are used traditionally in different societies to improve

memory, and it is hoped that more research can be undertaken to evaluate whether

they contain compounds that have the potential to be developed into drugs.

Traditional Chinese medicine is a rich source of plants used to improve memory,

such as the famous ginkgo tree, and certain species of angelica, biota,

codonopsis, coptis, crocus and magnolia all have been used over the centuries to

enhance memory, but whether they have potential in the treatment of Alzheimer's

is an open question. Even that soya sauce you add to your Chinese takeaway

contains compounds called isoflavones that have been shown to improve memory.

Other species that warrant further research are less exotic. Melissa

officinalis, known as balm, has been used in Europe to restore memory, and in

Germany is used to treat insomnia.

At Kew Gardens, we are attempting to maximise the use of traditional knowledge

and state-of-the-art methods in plant chemistry to find compounds in plants that

can assist us in the fight against drug resistant bacteria and fungi as well as

diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Aids. However, it takes many years from

the discovery of a lead, as has occurred with the Newcastle research, to the

delivery of an approved drug in a capsule.

In the meantime, maximise the use of culinary herbs that not only make food

taste good but also do you good. The addition of many fresh common herbs such as

thyme, lavender and mint to our diet increases the diversity of compounds that

have different forms of antioxidants and heath-promoting actions. For example,

rosmarinic acid in rosemary is said to increase our resistance to infections.

But before plunder your herb garden, check that you can distinguish among the

different species.

 

· Professor Monique Simmonds is head of the team at Kew Gardens investigating

the medicinal properties of plants.

 

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Useful links

British Medical Association

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World Health Organisation