| Mind Your Food: Herbal Dilemma |
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| by Judith J. Wurtman, Ph.D. | ||||||||
| Wednesday, 01 March 2006 | ||||||||
The only way to know is to study people with a particular disorder who are treated with a medicinal herb or placebo (sugar pill) and compare the results. Few such studies have been done and the results are quite inconsistent. According to a report in Nutraceuticals International, saw palmetto helps maintain prostate health but its long-term usefulness is unknown. Ginseng has antioxidant effects but its role in preventing disease is unclear. Raw or cooked garlic (get out the breath mints) may help prevent intestinal cancer but supplemental garlic has not been shown to have the same effect. Feverfew may help or may not. Ginkgo improves memory in people with dementia (severe memory loss) but not in those of us who have trouble remembering where we put our keys. Echinacea may shorten the duration of a cold and then again, may not. It's your choice. Want to be confused more? Consider this: Product analyses of several popular herbal supplements showed that many brands contain less of the active ingredients than claimed on the package label. Six of the eight St. John's wort products found in the United States failed to meet standards for effectiveness. The two key ingredients: hyperforin and hypericin were present in too small a concentration to do any good. Six of 13 preparations of SAMe, another mood stabilizer, contained less than the amount claimed on the label. And 6 out of 13 glucosamine-chondroitin combination products, an arthritis remedy, were found to have extremely low amounts of chondroitin. Want more information? Check out the Web site of the laboratories that did these analyses www.consumerlab.com and www.vitacost.com. Judith Wurtman PhD is a Research Scientist at MIT, the founder and director of Harvard University's TRIAD Weight Management Center and a co-founder of Back Bay Scientific. Dr. Wurtman received her Ph.D. in cell biology from MIT, took additional training as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in nutrition/obesity. She is currently co-director of ADARA Weight Management Services. http://www.adaracenter.com
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Comments (1)
 Nutritional Supplements written by Homeherb, September 03, 2008
Most of the people struggle through out the life to get the required amount of nutrients in USA for the proper functioning of the body. One has to fulfill the deficiency of essential nutrients to attain maximum health. Herbal food supplements can be the best option for fulfilling the deficiency because they provide the essential elements to the body. Although dietary supplements cannot replace the habit of healthy eating, but it will help in improving health so that a person can achieve higher levels of health.
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