Herbal Treatment of Children – Western and Ayurvedic Perspectives

This book aims to provide an overview of herbal treatments for childhood ailments from Western and Ayurvedic perspectives. It is written in the format of a practical guidebook for healthcare professionals. The author, Anne McIntyre, is a practitioner of herbal and Ayurvedic medicine, and author of several other books on the subject with years of clinical and personal experiences in the relevant topics. In the first of the 13 chapters included she gives some general information about herbal medicine, including historical background, holistic approach, chemistry and safety issues. She emphasises the use of whole plants instead of active ingredients and highlights the lack of serious side-effects in clinical practice. The most beneficial patient group is described as ‘those with chronic problems for which orthodox medicine has not enough to offer or has not been successful in resolving over the long term’. These include asthma, eczema and other skin conditions, hay fever, sleep problems, behavioral problems, bowel disorders and a range of stress-related conditions. Although ‘a systems approach’ in each section includes subtopics on side-effects and adverse reactions for each remedy, such a conclusion seems debatable for herbal medicine.

In the parts that follow, classifications and descriptions of the herbs according to their pharmacologic and chemical activities are discussed in their clinical applications on particular body systems. Ayurveda seems to be the most appealing to the author and a general description of Ayurvedic principles and concepts of disease are presented. In the chapters following, commonly used Western and Ayurvedic herbs are listed and brief information is supplied under subheadings, such as actions, indications, routes of administration and precautions. The most common paediatric health-care problems of particular systems are evaluated and an integrative approach concerning a variety of treatment options is listed for both Western and Ayurvedic herbs. Although most of the data are up to date and accurately referenced, some of the general recommendations (steam for croup) and citations (Cochrane reviews for cranberry juice and echinacea) are quoted in a misleading way. Overall, as a paediatrician, it was a great joy for me to read this book and it could be a good starting point for a conventional practitioner willing to adopt an integrative approach.