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Herbal Origins of Pharmaceutical Drugs
By Angela S. Hoover,
Staff Writer
It’s easy to take the plethora of
pharmaceutical drugs for granted. We
have all lived in a world where there
have always been drug-based treatments. Before there were pills, plants
and herbs were medicine and many
of the pharmaceuticals readily available to us are derived from medicinal
plants used in ancient herbal remedies.
“Practically all of the most widely
used drugs have an herbal origin,”
according to Catherine Ulbricht,
PharmD, senior attending pharmacist
at Massachusetts General Hospital
and chief editor of publications
for the Natural Standard Research
Collaboration, which evaluates
scientific data on herbs. Cures our
ancestors relied on can hardly be
denigrated to folklore, as is often the
case in modern times.
From the most banal and common
sources — artichoke, black mustard,
cinnamon, cocoa, cotton, pineapple
and papaya, poppy, licorice, mint and
wintergreen, oranges and grapefruits,
thyme and turmeric — to the more
mysterious sounding bloodroot,
deadly nightshade, drunken sailor,
magic and resurrection lilies, mandrake, naked lady, scotch broom,
squill, white false hellebore and
wormwood; medicinal plants form
the framework for modern pharmaceuticals.
In 1983, a WHO study found that
25 percent of pharmaceuticals were
directly derived from medicinal plants
and another 25 percent were modeled
from compounds in a medicinal plant
that were modified and synthesized to
mimic a natural chemical. Of the 25
percent directly derived from plants,
74 percent of these drugs are used in
the same way the native people used
the plant medicinally. Today, about
25 percent of modern prescription
drugs contain at least one compound
now, or once derived or are patterned
after compounds derived from higher
plants. The reason for the increase for
synthesizing has much to do with patents and profits, as recognized as early
as 1993 (http://www.hort.purdue.
edu/newcrop/proceedings1993../
V2-664.html); although there are
other reasons, such as isolation and
potency of a chemical.
The main difference between pharmaceutical drugs based on plants and
the actual plant is that pharmaceutical
drugs extract one isolated chemical
from the plant and discard the rest of
the plant; whereas, the plant will have
several compounds and chemicals
that work together synergistically.
The herb may have a very mild effect,
but the drug that is derived from it
can have a pronounced, pharmacological or biological effect, which
is the aim of pharmaceutical drugs.
When the herbal effect is increased,
the chance of an adverse reaction can
also be increased. Diluted levels of a
compound working in synergy with
other compounds become potent
and potentially toxic in some cases.
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Therefore, sometimes it’s beneficial to
extract just one compound but other
times it’s best to have all the compounds working together.
Aspirin is a synthetic version of a
compound found in the willow tree.
Many statins are based on fungi, and
Tamiflu originated from Chinese
star anise. The heart drug digitalis is
from the foxglove plant. Bromelain is
extracted from pineapple for its antiinflammatory properties. Morphine
and codeine are both derived from
the poppy plant. Daffodil bulbs
are used to make galantamine for
Alzheimer’s. Indian snakeroot is used
to make the blood pressure medicine
reserpine. And cancer drug vincristine comes from rosy periwinkle
plant.
Medicinal plants are the origin or
blueprint for synthetic derivatives for
the following pharmaceutical treatments: abortifacient; amoebicide;
analeptic; ananalgesic; anesthetic;
anti -arrhythmic, -cancerous, -cholingergic, -depressant , -dysentery,
-emetric, -fungal, -gout, -hepatotoxic,
-histamine, -humor, -hypertensive,
-inflammatory, -leukemic, -malarial,
-oxidant, -parkinsonism, -pyretic,
-thelmintic, and -tussive; aphrodisiac;
ascaricide; astringent; bronchodilator; capillary fragility; cardiotonics;
central nervous system stimulants;
cerebral stimulant; cholinesterase
inhibitor; cholerectic; circulatory disorders; detoxicant; diuretic; emetic;
expectorant; hemotatic; laxative;
male contraceptive; mucolytic;
muscle relaxants; ocular tension;
oxytocic; parasympathomimetic; proteolytic; respiratory stimulant; rubefacient; scabicide; smoking deterrent;
sympathomimetic; tranquilizer; vasodilator and vulnerary.
For an exhaustive but still not
complete list, visit http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/
aa061403a.htm. To learn more about
herbs as medicine, visit the American
Botanical Council at abc.herbalgram.
org. As always, use common sense,
caution and check with your doctor
before using herbal remedies.
Homing Kim DDS