Phytomedicine - Whole Plant Preparation

Ancient cultures had no idea why herbs worked: they simply knew that certain plants produced certain desired results. Records of ancient medical practices show that herbs were used extensively to cure practically every known illness.
In Europe, the word phytomedicines, a category of plant derived drug products, is widely recognized. Phytomedicine is a term that has been used in Europe for many decades, mainly referring to therapeutic products sold only in European markets, often prescribed by physicians, and generally available at pharmacies rather than health and natural product stores. Many leading phytomedicine products in Europe were developed in the 1960s and have been available ever since. In the United States, herbal remedies were used widely until the early 1900s, when what was to become the modern pharmaceutical industry began isolating individual active compounds and producing drugs based on them.

Phytomedicine is the term that is becoming often used in the US in the last couple of years, but few of us could give a definition if asked. The prefix "phyto" originates from the Greek phyton: plant. It refers to an herbal medicine that is a whole-plant preparation, rather than a single isolated chemical compound. Phytomedicines are defined as therapeutic agents derived from plants or parts of plants, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, or the preparations made from them.

Phytomedicines are plant preparations, the traditional use of which has been verified by pharmacological experiments, and whose effectiveness is proven by clinical studies and recognized by practitioners' experiences. The pharmaceutical industry was originally based upon the ability to isolate these ingredients and make them available in a purer form. Herbalists, however, contend that nature provides other ingredients in the same herbs to balance the more powerful ingredients.

Therefore, when you use herbs in their complete form, your body`s healing process utilizes a balance of ingredients provided by nature. Today, scientists are taking a second look at herbal remedies. Particularly in the past fifteen years, a growing body of research (much of it done in Europe) has pointed to the therapeutic potential of numerous herbs. But much work remains to be done; only about 15 percent of the estimated plant species on Earth have been investigated for possible medicinal uses.

A phytomedicine represents the totality of the medicinal plant or one of its parts (such as root, leaf, flower, fruit, plant dug out of the ground, or a phytomedicine). On the other hand, isolated chemical compounds, derived from plants, are not considered to be herbal medicines or phytomedicines, although they can be very powerful substances. Phytomedicines are available as teas, capsules, tablets, pressed juices, tinctures, solvent - extracted preparations, or combinations of these various product forms.

Since the 1970s, the German Commission E has been the leading group to study and report on the beneficial effects and bad side effects, in some cases, of herbs. Because the FDA does not require studies to be done on herbs and supplements in the US, we might consider turning to what Germany has been doing for over 20 years in terms of studying plants, because Germany requires that their use, dosage information, and side effects be studied before they can be given to the public.

In the American market different companies use different standardization to identify the most powerful active components in any given botanical and what percentages are going to be used for a particular herbal product. Therefore, many phytomedicine products, especially those available on the American market, are standardized to a certain component or group of compounds, which means that only one chemical has been extracted from the plant.

However, a plant has up to hundreds of different chemicals! Thus, only a fraction of the whole extract may be concentrated and standardized to whatever constituent researchers decide is most important. For example, St. John`s Wort preparations are most often standardized to 0.3 percent hypericin, although some manufacturers use 0.2 percent, or other concentration markers. More important, and often ignored, is the efficacy-constituent relationship. Efficacy or effectiveness can be deduced from the specific ingredients. They are co-determined for effectiveness: that is, in most cases,not one but two or three different plant constituents are known to be responsible for the observed effectiveness.

While hypericin is an important component of St. John`s Wort, which has been linked to anti-depressive activity, this herb also contains dozens (if not hundreds) of other components found in the dried tops, as well. The activity of St. John`s Wort in the treatment of mild to moderate cases of depression is now believed to be attributable to at least three types of substances found in the flowers and leaves: hypericins, hyperforin, and flavonoids.

Typically, phytomedicines that are standardized extracts consisting of primary active components, secondary components, and accompanying compounds manifest better effects and a greater therapeutic range of activity than individual isolated compounds (i.e., conventional drugs).
Phytomedicines have been valued for their medicinal value for centuries and only recently that scientific research stepped in to offer evidence. Today, phyto-medical practice is grounded in the principles of evidence - based medicine and research of the modern biomedical sciences, which are proving that many herbs are gentle and effective healers. By using such herbs, you are taking in the whole synergy of complex chemical components, exactly as they occur together in nature, to help heal the body.