What is phytotherapy?
phytotherapy is a form of medical treatment that relies on the use of plants, overall or in the form of prepared extracts and essences. For thousands of years, plants have been a primary source of therapeutic drugs for cultures around the world. With the 20th century, the development of synthesization techniques and completely synthetic drugs came, which caused phytotherapy to fall out of popularity. However, plants still have a very important place in medicine and will continue to do well into the foreseeable future. Herbal medicine is a form of phytotherapy and many of the drugs used in homeopathy are also phytotherapeutic origin. Plant extracts are also used in the preparation of some commercial drugs, as well as synthetic drugs that are based on compounds found in plants. Scientists are also constantly studying plants to find new pharmaceutical compounds and potential applications for them.
When phytotherapy is carried out responsibly, the products used are standardized, which means that they are grown,harvested and processed in a way that is designed to create a very reliable and stable dose of effective raw materials. Many processors regularly test a lot of drugs that are prepared to confirm that they are present active ingredients and exist in the expected concentration and manufacturers of such drugs also behave, grow and harvest plants in a way that is designed to increase reliable performance.
Quality and safety are also important problems in phytotherapy. Producers want to produce high quality products and reliability to make doctors feel comfortable prescribing and patients will be used comfortable. Due to the lack of regulation over herbal preparations, renowned manufacturers must also be able to police to confirm that their products are safe for use.
practicing can use phytotherapy in alternative medicine in which plant forDuks provide the focus of the course of medical treatment and also in complementary medicine, which mixes more conventional medical practice using methods that are considered an alternative. Many people support supplementary medicine as a safe middle soil that provides patients with access to techniques and treatment from various medical traditions in a controlled environment.
phytotherapy is not automatically safe simply because it is natural. In fact, many of the products used can be very dangerous if they do not follow them correctly or when patients for whom they are contraindicated are accepted. Patients should always work with a physician to start any course of medical treatment, and this includes phytotherapeutic approaches to health problems.