Herbal Medication & Dietary Supplemets PPP. Health, Medicine Essay (Essay Sample)

Herbal Medicine
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Question 1
Herbal medicine is defined as the use of plants to for healing, aromatic or therapeutic reasons. Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals or amino acids taken on top of regular food to improve it. They are taken through the mouth in form of pills, capsules, powders and drinks. As a matter of fact, herbs are taken to be a form of dietary supplement. Some of the commonly used herbs in America include: echinacea (Echinacea purpurea and related species), St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), garlic (Allium sativum) and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). Herbs have been in use for close to 8,000 years. Indians’ Ayurveda has been practiced for more than 6,000 years while the Chinese have been using herbs for slightly over 2,000 years. Herbs are also popular in Africa whereby they functioned as the mainstream medicine for centuries. Their use was often done together with a set of rituals. Development in chemical analysis has enabled scientists to isolate the active ingredient in these herbs for use as conventional drugs. They have also been able to engineer synthetic drugs that mimic the functions of herbal medicine.