redsturgeon wrote:Clinical trials that show efficacy and side effect profiles can be run on plant and herb remedies without a problem. The issues come when traditional remedies are used without evidence of their effectiveness.
Studies run of homeopathy for instance have not shown any measurable effects. Though the placebo effect is generally well known and can be useful.
I'm as close to a career sceptic as you could ever hope to find
, but the beneficial effect of my wife's daily rose hip supplement ("Gopo") on her damaged knees has been damn near miraculous. Within a couple of weeks of beginning this unscientific quack cure, the distance she could comfortably walk was quadrupled, and her sleep improved.
As you'd expect, the manufacturers are not allowed to make any claims of such a kind. But it's notable that rose hip supplements are also used in the horse racing world, where I gather that they have been found to extend the competitive careers of dumb animals who aren't exactly noted for their keenness on reading the labels in search of placebo effects.
In the final analysis, we are all composed of variants upon variants upon variants of the plant-like organisms that developed in the distant primeval soup. Perhaps it shouldn't be such a shock coincidence that plants can still help to reset things when they go wrong?
BJ