Jonathan Treasure1. 1. Centre for Natural Healing, Ashland, OR 97520, USA. jtreasure@herbological.com
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To present Western herbal medicine from the perspective of a "food" model of herbs in contrast to the pharmaceutical "drug" model derived from mainstream medicine. Historical, political, and regulatory aspects of herbal medicine in the United States; core principles of herbal medicine in terms of the natural link between food and medicine; dietary chemopreventive plant compounds in the form of herbal medicines; and herb-drug interactions are briefly discussed, with an emphasis on beneficial interactions with conventional chemotherapy. DATA SOURCES: Literature on dietary chemopreventive compounds; phytotherapeutic training and clinical practice. CONCLUSION: Botanical medicine, based on dietary chemopreventive compounds plays an important role in integrative cancer treatment. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Knowledge of the differences between herbal and conventional medicine in terms of a food, medicine, and poison model will help nurses facilitate patient decision-making choices in integrative cancer treatment.
OBJECTIVES: To present Western herbal medicine from the perspective of a "food" model of herbs in contrast to the pharmaceutical "drug" model derived from mainstream medicine. Historical, political, and regulatory aspects of herbal medicine in the United States; core principles of herbal medicine in terms of the natural link between food and medicine; dietary chemopreventive plant compounds in the form of herbal medicines; and herb-drug interactions are briefly discussed, with an emphasis on beneficial interactions with conventional chemotherapy. DATA SOURCES: Literature on dietary chemopreventive compounds; phytotherapeutic training and clinical practice. CONCLUSION: Botanical medicine, based on dietary chemopreventive compounds plays an important role in integrative cancer treatment. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Knowledge of the differences between herbal and conventional medicine in terms of a food, medicine, and poison model will help nurses facilitate patient decision-making choices in integrative cancer treatment.
Authors: Maria P Torres; Moorthy P Ponnusamy; Subhankar Chakraborty; Lynette M Smith; Srustidhar Das; Hwyda A Arafat; Surinder K Batra Journal: Mol Cancer Ther Date: 2010-04-27 Impact factor: 6.261