Yes! of course.

"Let food be your medicine & medicine be your food" (Hippocrates).

A good herbal diet (herbal remedies) is a winning combination of an effective approach to optimal health and the answer to health, health care and medical happiness.

https://rain-tree.com/plantdrugs.htm

yes ,to some extent.

Brigid Conroy Yes!

For lifestyle disorders and metabolic disorders (like obesity, type-2 DM, hypertension, etc), functional foods should be promoted as an adjuvant (but with proper regulations). More research especially clinical studies need to be warranted in this context.

https://livingwellinthe21stcentury.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/functional-food/

Article Medicinal plant usage by traditional medical practitioners o...

Article Ethnomedicinal Importance of the Plants in Villages in Kusht...

Yes, with purification or modification to get best function

I like to think all diseases of whatever kind have a cure deep rooted in plants. So yes, I believe in plant based medicine. When the world was created, however it formed, all these were taken into consideration. It's about careful and rational extraction the medical contents.

One example from Nigeria (mostly southern Nigeria) is Pepper Soup. Hot pepper soup is culturally or traditionally a recommended food for people with illnesses such as Malaria fever or other maladies that reduces one's appetite and taste for common foods in general. Pepper Soup is also recommended for women who put to bed or newly delivered babies because it is meant to cleanse their system.

Brigid Conroy

Yes .. I believe it. we take hot water with turmeric, neem powder, ginger powder in the early morning everyday.

I have self diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis (there is a familiy history)although a nurse I am reluctant to take medication because of potential side effects and so have been self treating through diet food that is considered to have anti inflammatory properties such as tumeric.

Anecdotal claims and unsubstantiated claims are unacceptable. Well powered, well designed RCT's on the final product with good standardisation of the ingredients (GLP) will convince me. I am not against plant medicine but I would say 99% of the plant medicine are unsubstantiated.

In places where Alternative medicine or Contemporary medicine is practiced, advice on appropriate food for particular disease is the norm.

For example, the approach to a particular disease is such that imbalance of physiology leads to disease. To quote, "since Jaundice is related to increased heat produced by increased consumption of such food constituents, such activity that produces heat, should be normalised and the excessively produced bile / bilirubin should be expelled out." Recovery of Liver in Viral Hepatitis is supposedly aided by a Herbal product (Phyllanthus niruri)

Interesting usage of food supplements are seen in modern medicine too. Use of Probiotics in infantile colic Paediatr Child Health. 2020 Apr;25(3):149-159

Yes it is good general way of solving medical issues.

Dear Catherine Heckman

Michael Symon and Seamus Mullen are chefs who have written cookbooks on dealing with RA. I have Mullen's. I think that it is pretty good. Good luck.

brigid

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/food--cooking/diet-discoveries-that-ease-pain/h8Ftn6K8pcCpuleKtVxumM/?ecmp=dining

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/11327784/Seamus-Mullen-the-chef-who-cured-himself-of-arthritis.html

Dear Dr Md. Mizanur Rahman

Thank you for the great links. Food has a strong link to health and disease. Thank you for joining the conversation.

brigid

It is an interesting idea to add diet advices to management plan of many diseases. for example some antioxidant vegetables..apricot..dates..coconut..

Dear Paria Najarzadeh Torbati

Thank you so much for the link. Food as health is a fascination.

brigid

Dear Dr. Brigid Conroy , It is my pleasure....

is there any researches about specific role of food modifications lead to better outcome of certain diseases. hope to see them thank you

Dear Darwin Kaushal , Joseph Anderson II , Asthervina Widyastami Puspitasari ,

Thank you for your comments and support as food medicine.

brigid

Dear Raghunath Singh ,

Thank you for your insights and the link. I agree with you how food choices can hurt the body when used unwisely, my hope is that we will stop and consider how it can help. The DASH diet is old and well respected but there are cultural treatments and family remedies that stand as proof that food can be helpful.

Dear Ikechebelu Divine

Thank you for your insights, I agree with your philosophy.

brigid

Dear Isoken T. Aighewi ,

Thank you for your wonderful anecdote. I use spicy foods like jalapenos when I am congested. Don't like them, but, wow, do they clean out my sinuses.

brigid

Dear Nirmala S.V.S.G

Thank you for the tip about turmeric, I have attempted it a couple times for arthritis but I haven't had enough benefit to overcome the taste. How long should i take it before knowing it won't help. I like ginger for stomach problems, but i have never heard of neem powder.

brigid

Dear Ezhil ARASAN Ramanan ,

Thank you for your response and wise comments. But then, even with research, pharmaceuticals like to make claims beyond the research or it is twisted to support the claim. I am in favor of research that proves or disproves food as cure. However, I have seen dad use folk remedies on the cattle and himslf with good effect. We used to tease him that if he had been smart we would have been rich because he took an herbal tea for bleeding ulcers that cured it. Years later the surgery asked him about surgery that he had had for bleeding ulcers and when dad said he never did, the surgeon wanted dad to bring him in the plant. Unfortunately the tree grove was now a parking lot and strip mall. We also had a cow with a massive infection. The vets said that the excessive amount of carrots that we were feeding was the only reason they could think of that Prancer did not die. They thought it was the iodine content. After that, dad ate carrots whenever flu season started.

brigid

Yes Brigid Conroy I do. In Zimbabwe, there is evidence that the longevity of our rural folk is largely due to their consumption of indigenous herbs rich in antioxidants and other medicinal properties. Examples are tsine (Bidens pilosa) gavakava (Aloe barbadensis miller) and zumbani (Lippia javanica).

Dear Krishna Kumar Govindarajan ,

Thank you for your insights and sharing the information about jaundice. This is where I get confused. I have gallbladder disease. Eating beets has been a very successful strategy for me, especially when I am stressed and/or eating high fat foods. But, I am uncomfortable with claims of foods that can repair liver damage. Yes, drug reactions and illnesses can cause a temporary jaundice, but liver disease can't be reversed only managed. In that, I agree, foods and medicines that stress the liver need to be limited.

brigid

Dear Ali Hussein Swailem ,

Thank you for joining the conversation, and for your insights.

brigid

Dear Oswell Namasasu

Thank you so much for the anecdote and joining the conversation. I believe that there are so many things that we can learn from our older citizens and relatives, not just in regard to healthy food habits.

brigid

There is research evidence available on how traditional plant based medicine has remained as the most affordable and easily accessible source of treatment in the primary healthcare system of resource poor communities in Zimbabwe. This is the gist of an excellent article on the subject by Alfred Maroyi published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine in 2013. The relevant link is:

https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-4269-9-31

Yes, I believe highly. Because this enables natural growth.

Regards

N Das

Dear Nityananda Das

Thank you for your valuable insight and for joining the conversation

brigid

Dear Brigid, the reference to jaundice and plant based medicinal extract was only to cite an example. As is known, Liver has an excellent regenerative capacity, so much so that just 20% of Liver remnant can regenerate / grow back to the full Liver over a period of time.

Yes, I believe and believe in nutritional supplements.

Dear Oswell Namasasu ,

Thank you for that link and you continued insights. This is an intriguing subject.

brigid

Dear Krishna Kumar Govindarajan ,

I am sorry to sound defensive, I have taken care of so many patients with liver disease in the serious to end stage that I forget how versatile it is. It is interesting that a person can donate a lobe to a relative and both people will be able to live. That being said, because the liver is so important to metabolism, it is one of my mental blocks and I tend worry about claims by pharmaceutical or nutraceuticals that a product can clean the liver. Two cousins contracted Hep C and needed liver transplants. My dad had temporary liver failure from medicine. Fortunately, my sister noticed the signs and he recovered fully.

I do appreciate your insights and do believe strongly in the power of food to heal and or maintain function.

brigid

Dear Elena Tarkhanova ,

Thank you for your insight and joining the conversation.

brigid

Yes, I do believe in plant based medicine.

Dear Dr Md. Saroar Jahan

Thank you for joining the conversation. Are there particular plants that you find effective or illnesses that benefit from treatment by plants?

brigid

Yeah, Garlic and onion plant is effective in some cases.

Dear Dr Md. Saroar Jahan ,

Thank you for your suggestion.

brigid

You are most welcome dear.

One should not forget that many chemical substances that medicine actually use on regular basis have been first discovered in plants (secondary metabolism of plants)!

Yes

Only limited numbers of plant secondary metabolites have the potential to alleviate the complications of chronic disorders. Unfortunately, the literature strongly exaggerated about various aspects of natural products' biological activity.

Dear Jean-Pierre Jost

Thank you for your continued interest in this thread. I agree most definitely that many drugs have a plant component. Perhaps the medicine is stronger but it might not be.

Dear Rasouli H.

Thank you for joining this conversation. I think that research is needed to know whether fruits and vegetables as well as plants have the power to alleviate symptoms. Many foods have salicylates I remember reading that 10 almonds had the equivalent of 2 aspirins. That was my pain pill of choice for years. While I have dealt with many patients with an allergy to aspirin, I have never had one to almonds. Interesting.

brigid

Bioctive compounds present in plants and foods exert biological effects and modulate physiological pathways. These compounds produce long term effects but differently to drugs they are inocuos because they have been used for centuries! However, some of the natural compounds with more potent pharmacological properties, usually present in toxic plants, are used isolated as drugs (For instance morphine, atropine, paclitaxel...)

Dear Brigid Conroy

I agreed with you. Nature is a pool of safe and supportive secondary metabolites. We should know first how these compounds should be introduced into clinical trials. Up to now, alkaloids are pioneer metabolites in the cornerstone of human disease prevention.

As Prof. Victor Lopez pointed out, some classes of plant metabolites directly used as authenticated drugs which isolated from toxic plants, not edible ones. The current knowledge of natural products-based therapeutics policies highly required some reconsideration to optimize and identify few classes of promising safe agents for clinical applications.

In spite of considerable researches that performed on natural products-in particular polyphenols-FDA presently doesn’t approve these compounds as potential substances to ameliorate the complications of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s disease. It seems quite clear that approvement of these metabolites requires time to persuade clinicians for taking nominated compounds into attention.

Therefore, finding target plants, chemical/structural optimization of promising metabolites, and purifying these compounds for large-scale application are the primary steps we should strongly take towards the future of drug design strategies. More importantly, the issue of natural product adulteration should not be forgotten because traditional medicine-based scams are among the most dangerous activities that may jeopardize individual health and the effectiveness of healthcare programs.

CC:

Dear Expert Colleagues,

This's an interesting thread of answers to a critical question we should ask ourselves before recommending natural products for clinical applications. The content may be interesting for you.

Jelena B Popović-Djordjević

Hari Prasad Devkota

Aleksandar Ž. Kostić

Compounds isolated from natural products are often scafolds for many synthetic compounds.

Dear Professor Victor Lopez

Thank you for joining this conversation and for your professional knowledge.

brigid

Dear Rasouli H.

Thank you so much for the fabulous detailed answer. I appreciate your continued interest in this thread. There is so much potential benefit in research that proves or disproves the claims of herbals and foods as medicine.

brigid

Dear Prof Jelena B Popović-Djordjević

Thank you for you insights. I appreciate your participation in this thread.

brigid

Yes, sure I believed in Plant-based Medicine, The origin of treatment and drug manufacture is from medical dinners, but with varying degrees of concentration and extraction of therapeutic materials from it.

Have you ever heard of Orthomolecular Medicine

Brigid Conroy please email for more details in regards to your question.

Dear Professor Arcelan S. Sadiq

Thank you for insight and interest in this thread.

brigid

I have no real idea if food considered to be 'anti inflammatory' is helping my RA but I 'believe' it is and belief is a very strong thing rather tlike the placebo effect

Dear Brigid,

In line with the previous speakers, there are indeed many roads to Rome, as the English saying goes. Plants have been for centuries the source of medicines. How they are prepared and used have differed over time.

With the increased sophistication of chemistry, extracts of potent components have been used as medicines. This mode of making medicines brings with it the risk of unpleasant effects especially to those who are allergic.

The most useful heart medicines from food, or plants, are two, which are employed mainly by practitioners employing homeopathic medicines. I am a former consultant physician who has employed homeopathic medicines for about 28 years. There are Ts&Cs attached to my recommendations. Please obtain medical diagnoses from those qualified, and study the indications of each of the medicines below. How I manage patients with the two medicines is beyond the scope of this discourse.

1. Cratageus as a 6x potency, used homeopathically.

2. Cactus grandiflorus 6x, also used homeopathically.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Herman Jeggels

Of course. I´m Pharmaceutical etnobothany. And It said that we are wath we eat. Food have relation witn microbionta. That ´s an interesting area.

Dear Josefina Anllo Naveiras

Thank you for joining the conversation and for you insights. I agree that natural remedies has a role to platy i

Dear Catherine Heckman , give flax seed oil a chance . Down side, it makes some people amorous because of the plant based estrogen, SAM-E is popular in Europe and my sister liked it but it must be give at s6 pecific times. , diarrhea can be a big takr are

Dear Dr Herman John Jeggels,

Thank you so much Dr Jeggels for your timely advice and your insights. I am meeting so many interesting people through this link.

I am so glad that you joined the conversation. You represent what I hope medicine can morph into. You are a Western practitioner who can see the potential of botanicals before BIG pharmacy makes home remedies too expensive for the poor.

brigid

Dear Brigid,

You're welcome. The reality is that scientific education does not result in a man with an open mind (Thomas Kuhn). That person does not easily think outside the black box of her/his training. It is tragic that western doctors will not even clutch at straws to save their own lives, let alone of their patients, and all that due to being closed minded. Thus, polarisation will unfortunately persist.

Kind Regards,

Herman Jeggels

from my experience I can say that there are some foofd elements act as immune stimulator and l need you're help to prove that facts by solid research in order to generalise these important facts.

Dear Dr. Herman John Jeggels ,

Thank you for your continued interest in this thread.

I grew up in a rural area. My grandfather's doctor was a chemist before becoming a physician. He made cough syrup that was dynamite, very effective. His wife was a dietician. I think because of that I approach medicine (the field as well as drugs) differently. I agree that becoming locked into a belief system (Western vs Eastern practices)limits possible treatments. It is why old wives' tales flourish. Using granny's cure for a cold isn't medically based, mom will be happy I listened. No conflict, but using a manure plaster to cure cancer is Crazy. I had a patient come in with a raging infection because the folk medicine cure was not working. Her breast cancer had eroded her chest wall. I do think that I have ever seen anything worse. Dad had bleeding ulcers that were healed with a vile tea.

brigid

Dear Brigid,

Thanks for sharing your background. So much to say, so much to explore. There's tons of information on folklore which became mainstream, etc. Also, the ancients knew their environment so much more intimate than the "moderns". For that reason Levi Strauss sarcastically called his seminal book, The Savage Mind.

Thus, please stay safe and healthy.

Kind regards,

Herman

Yes! of course.

"Let food be your medicine & medicine be your food" (Hippocrates).

A good herbal diet (herbal remedies) is a winning combination of an effective approach to optimal health and the answer to health, health care and medical happiness.

Dear Mehdi Shakibaei ,

Thank you so much for joining the conversation. I agree with the benefits of foods and herbs.

brigid

Sorry for not intervening more in this forum. I find it an exciting topic and with many possibilities for the future. Now I am with exams but when I finish I will try to contribute a little more. My experience in cosmetics is that I perceived a characteristic predisposition of the skin to a better response to vegetales products. Its effects became visible in the luminosity of mature skin, in reactive skin and in healing. A clear reflection of customer satisfaction could be seen in the number of units of product sold. Figures that in moments of crisis do not lie. I understand that this affinity, the scene of synergies, can transfer food

To a certain extent yes. Do not forget that many medicament have at their origin molecules discovered in plants

Dear Josefina Anllo Naveiras ,

I am also busy with school papers so I have been neglecting my own discussion.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post and share your thoughts. Yes, medicine and many things in our life that we depend on are plant based. I love olive oil for the skin. We have an olive oil based barrier cream for our patients that is very effective.

Best Wishes with exams.

brigid

Dear Jean-Pierre Jost ,

Thank you for your continued support of this thread. Part of my purpose is to talk about food as food, and how it helps maintain health. I think that we have a responsibility to investigate traditional medicine and herbal cures because they are easy to obtain and are often more affordable than medicine for the poor.

brigid

Yes..food is the best medicine and the best therapy if taken correctly.. and in moderation..

Interesting discussion.

Appreciate your kind sharing Dear Brigid..

Be safe and healthy 🙏

Amina

Yes, indeed!

I believe holistic and plant based medicine can work in certain circumstances.

Dear Dr Amina Sultan ,

You definitely know when someone is not following good nutrition. Are there foods that you think promote dental health?? Thanks for your participation, stay well, be safe, find joy,

brigid

Dear Chuck A Arize

Thank you for joining the conversation,

Peace, Joy and Safety,

brigid

Dear Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak ,,

Thank you for your interest in this topic,

Peace, Joy and Safety,

brigid

It is the most effective. However, care must be taken in it's administration as the concentration is usually unknown so may pose other issues.

I agree with Josefina Anllo Naveiras

Yes

Yes, I think some plants

Yes

Dear Joan Nyika , Abdelkader Dehbi , Shno Mustafa Ali and Mundher Alsaaidi منذر السعيدي

Thank you so much for joining the conversation

brigid

Dear Nimisingha S. Deinkuro ,

Thank you for you insights. Food can offer so many solutions and cause a few problems.

brigid

Brigid Conroy

yes..

That means “mother of medicine.” Just like the mother to a child, it took care of the Palauans. DANIEL: Historically, delal a kar has been used as an energy booster and as the base in a variety of traditional medicines. Even now, as Palauans age, they often drink a tea made from the leaves of the plant.

Dear Nirmala S.V.S.G

Thank you for joining the conversation and your mention of delal a kar. I am going to have to google it. I think that we are grossly underestimating the power of food to heal.

brigid

I do believe that plant based medicine can work in some contexts.

Dear Chuck A Arize ,

Thank you for continuing the conversation, do you have any foods that you or your family use to treat a sickness or disease?

brigid

Certainly it is real, as many medicines are extracted from wild plants, etc., and many plants will be used in the diet, and this is a fact. Greetings

Dear ا.م.د. محمد سراج الدين قحطان .

Thank you for joining the conversation. Are there any foods that you or your family use to treat a sickness or disease?

brigid

In fact, some plants have been used in nutritional balance such as lemons and citrus fruits in general, as well as green plants such as mint, celery, broccoli, spinach, etc.@Brigid Conroy

Dear ا.م.د. محمد سراج الدين قحطان .

Thank you so much for sharing. I am a staunch believer in the use of citrus, limes are especially useful for allergies and upper respiratory diseases. Mint is great for so many things.

brigid

It can work but it cannot fix everything.

Medicine helps us to fit our bodies from any sickness, on the other hand, food provide us the energy to remain our body healthy and sound. So the optimum amount of food, it acts as like a medicine for our body, indeed.

Dear Chuck A Arize

I agree with you totally, food is not a cure but it can help, it is cheaper and more accessible than medicine is, so it would be beneficial if we used research to prove or disprove old wive's tale and folk cures.

brigid

Dear Dr Md. Abdur Razzak Choudhury

Thank you for your insights and addition to the conversation. I have multiple drug allergies so I have had to research foods that can heal. I agree that many foods can cause problems, it is a matter of moderation and research to determine if a food does indeed help.

brigid

Food as medicine should be treated as a way of living rather than a quick cure for an ailment that Western medicine provides. One would get the benefits from food over a long period of time as in Ayurvedic diet and medicine

Dear Srini Vasan

I apologize for not responding sooner. Thank you for your interest in this thread. I agree totally that food choices make us healthier or sicker and that incorporating food choices into a lifestyle is wise.

brigid

I am a staunch believer in fitness through food, and do practice the same in my day-to-day life.

Unfortunately, I had to undergo Cardiac Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) in the year 2015. After that I must take a number of medicines life-long for my survival.

Now, I understand that I need to flush out all the end metabolites of these medicines from my system as quickly as possible. To achieve this, possible ways are (a) urination and (b) stool. As a rule, I indulge in drinking 3 to 4 litres of water daily in order to facilitate excretion of those metabolites through urine. In addition to this I consume a lot of fruits, various vegetables to promote regular bowel movement.

As a routine, honey, amla (Indian Gooseberry) powder, citrus fruits are also included in the diet, - each one with a purpose.