Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 1997; 2: 134
Reviewed by J Barnes, Exeter, UK
This book, written by two teachers of herbal medicine in New Zealand, aims to bring together information on botanical nomenclature, active constituents of, actions and indications of around 120 Western herbs relevant to students and teachers of herbal medicine in the Southern Hemisphere.
Monograph-type summaries for the herbs included are arranged in botanical families. Each summary contains some useful information on botanical aspects of each herb – a concise description of the herb, and brief information on its habitat and cultivation and parts used. A small black-ink drawing of the herb is also included, but because of its size and lack of colour, the use of the drawings in identifying plants is limited.
The remainder of each summary is dedicated to listing the active constituents, actions, medicinal uses, precautions and contraindications for each herb. Frankly, I find this section misleading, inaccurate and overenthusiastic about the possible uses of herbs – at present, there is simply not enough (if any) evidence to support many of these claims. For example, without providing references, the authors list 9 actions for Hypericum perforatum (including those with topical use), yet only its use for depression is well-documented. Similarly, under medicinal uses, they claim that “it is possible that Hypericum has some anti-tumour properties … through its antiviral activity”, and that because of its antiviral activity, Hypericum may also be used in the treatment of e.g. colds, influenza, peptic ulcers, diarrhoea, cold sores. Again, no references are supplied. When making these kinds of statements, it is crucial that the authors should provide the reader with references to the original report so that he/she may independently of the author(s) consider the basis on which such statements are made and the quality of the study. If such sources are not provided, the reader is left with the suspicion that the statements are not based on evidence, but on traditional use, experience or other (unreliable) notions.
The lack of referencing is a feature throughout this book – there are no references to original research, even where reliable evidence exists (e.g. Kleijnen and Knipschild’s systematic review of Ginkgo biloba for cerebral insufficiency).1 There is a list of “References and further reading”, but this contains only a list of books.
The book is also rather light on safety, stating that “[side-effects] in general, are rare”. At present, reporting systems for adverse effects to herbal remedies, and public awareness of the possibility of such effects occurring, are insufficient for a judgement about their frequency to be made. This book probably achieves its aim, and it is clear that the authors have worked extremely hard to compile it, but for the reasons discussed above, in many respects it comes across as being rather amateur.
