BACKGROUND Some herbal galactagogues have gained reputation and recognition by the public and health professionals as alternative approaches to increase breast milk supply. This study explores the perspectives and attitudes of breastfeeding women towards the use of herbal galactagogues while breastfeeding, their experiences, and why and how they have chosen an alternative option over convention...

For years, conventional medicines have been broadly used for treatment of malaria. As malaria is a widespread disease, resistance of Plasmodium species towards conventional treatments has driven our attention towards the cons of this therapy. Another factor that has encouraged us to review use of these conventional medicines is their toxicity and after drug adverse effects. A large repository o...

BACKGROUND Germany is a country with a high use of herbal medicinal products. Population-based data on the use of herbal medicinal products among children are lacking. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, patterns and determinants of herbal medicine use among children and adolescents in Germany. METHODS As data base served the German Health Interview and Examination Survey ...

BACKGROUND The popularity of non-conventional treatments, especially the consumption of herbs is showing an increasing tendency all over the world. The consumption of herbal medicines might cause several complications during perioperative care. METHODS The survey was conducted at the First Department of Surgery of Semmelweis University and focused on the demographics of patients consuming her...

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic digestive disorder, which is characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation periods. The etiology is unknown. Based on the different mechanisms in the etiology, treatment focuses on controlling symptoms. Due to the longtime of syndrome, inadequacy of current treatments, financial burden for patients and pharmacologic effects, sev...

This article provides an overview of the clinical evidence of interactions between herbal and conventional medicines. Herbs involved in drug interactions--or that have been evaluated in pharmacokinetic trials--are discussed in this review. While many of the interactions reported are of limited clinical significance and many herbal products (e.g. black cohosh, saw palmetto, echinacea, hawthorn a...

herbal medicines include a range of pharmacologically active compounds: in some cases it is not well understood which ingredients are important for a therapeutic effect. the supporters of herbal medicine believe that isolated ingredients in the majority of cases have weaker clinical effects than whole plant extract, a claim that would obviously require proof in each case. generalizations about ...

BACKGROUND A large proportion of patients use herbal remedies with a potential to interact with prescribed drugs. Such interactions can be dangerous, particularly if the therapeutic window of the prescribed drug is small, as with warfarin. AIMS Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of the use of herbal medicines by patients taking warfarin (co-ingestion). DESIGN OF STUDY Postal questionnai...

Microscopic identification is the method most commonly used to authenticate Chinese herbal medicines. By means of various microscopic techniques, structural and cellular features of herbs are examined in order to determine their botanical origins and assess their qualities. This method is useful for identifying species from fragments or powders and for distinguishing species with similar morpho...

Treatment with herbal medicines is very popular in Europe. In order to get information on the evidence of effectiveness of oral herbal medicines in the treatment of pain in the joints or lower back, OVID(MEDLINE), PUBMED and COCHRANE COLLABORATION LIBRARY were searched back to 1985 for systematic reviews. The level of evidence of effectiveness was defined as strong – at least two confirmatory s...