“And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is On the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you; to you it shall be as food.” Genesis 1:29 (NKJV)
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“Do you believe in Herbs?” the woman on the phone asked recently. (I hear the silent “H” capitalized.) This is not an unusual question when talking with people who use what they call “herbs” for “health support and nutrition.” But what are herbs? Why should we “believe” in them?
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What are “herbs?”
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Herbs are plants which are used in a number of ways including cooking, religious ritual, and medicine.
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In botany herbs are defined as seed-producing plants with non-woody stems which wither and die back to the ground after each season’s growth. In contrast, trees and shrubs have woody stems which live from year to year. Most “weeds” are thus “herbs!”
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In cooking “herbs” are vegetable products which are used to add flavor to food. Popularly, herbal teas are often simply a tasty source of refreshment, while avoiding caffeine. In religion herbs can be used in ritual and ceremony, imparting smell and symbolism - bitter herbs at Passover, the magi’s gifts, burial herbs, incense, and Native American “smudging,” for examples.
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Regarding health use, (the context in which the above question was asked), “herbs” are a source of pharmacologically active substances which affect the living organism they are used on or by. Herbs used this way are medicinal herbs, and therefore are drugs. Herbal authority Varro Tyler, PhD, ScD, is the Lilly Distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy at the Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences. Pharmacognosy is the study of crude forms of plant, animal and mineral medicines. Tyler defines herbs as “crude drugs of vegetable origin utilized for treatment of disease states, often of chronic nature, or to attain or maintain a condition of improved health.” (Herbs of Choice, Pharmaceutical Products Press, 1993.)
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Food? or Medicine?
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There are some herbal products which can be both food and drug. For example, psyllium seed in a cereal is there for “bulk” and “roughage” much as bran is, as a food. But psyllium seed taken by the spoonful as a laxative (providing bulk and lubrication) is being used as a medication.
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The great majority of the increase in herbal products sold in recent years are herbs are sold for medicinal use. Herbs can be bought in “bulk” when you buy from larger quantities and prepare the remedies yourself. More popular are the forms where dried and processed herbs are sold in various capsule or liquid forms. Health food stores sell “herbs” for health use and discount stores and pharmacies now carry a number of the more popular herbs. Multi-level marketing of herbs has become a very lucrative business, as the profits are extremely high. The accountability is equally as low.
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The use of the misnomers -- “food” or “nutritional supplements” -- is disinformation to get around the fact that using herbs is a way of medicating one’s self and/or one’s children -- with drugs! To claim otherwise is “double speak,” or
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