Herbal Supplements for as long as we can remember have been used to stay healthy and treat illnesses. Their use can be traced back to early Chinese medicine. The dietary herbal supplements are made up of processed or unprocessed plant parts (leaves, flowers, bark, fruits and stem), essential oils and extracts. They usually come in the form of tablets, capsules, teas and powder. Herbals can be sold as combined or single substances, such as combinations of vitamins and minerals or as single entities of them selves.
The food and Drug Administration (FDA) of USA classifies Herbs as dietary supplements and not drugs. This indicates that the strength and quality of herbs can vary greatly from brand to brand. As per the laws of different countries, herbal supplements can be sold legally so long as they don't make any kind of health claim. Though, when one looks at it in a practical way, the information given on various health supplements can be very miss leading most of the time.
Majority of the consumers make use of herbs in order to maintain good health or to relieve symptoms. Herbal products are used to supplement conventional medicine but one should be cautious and never use it as a substitute for treatment. There are some cases in which herbals have dangerous side effects or critical drug reactions. If one is careful and aware these hazards can be avoided. These can be done by following the below given instructions:
' Read the label carefully ' Different herbal products have different qualities. Different markings are there on each label indicating the quality of the product. It is not only product specific but also country specific, where different counties have different legal formalities and labeling requirements
' Know the product that you are taking
In some cases, herbal medicines are a more inexpensive and safer alternative to pharmaceuticals. In the U.S. alone, which constitutes 4% of the world's population, 106,000 patients died from and 2.2 million were seriously injured by adverse effects of pharmaceuticals.
In order to ensure the safety of the medicine proper double- blind clinical trials are conducted to determine the efficiency and safety of each plant before they can be processed in to medicines. In addition to this many consumers believe that herbal medicines are safer because of their natural origin. This is not true. Since herbal medicines react with the synthetic drugs and can lead to the toxicity of the patient, therefore herbal products can only be safe once they have been proven to be efficient.
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