The present review deals with practice and regulation of herbal medicines in Europe, United States (US) and India. Herbal medicines are widely used for treatment of human ailments in various systems of medicines like Ayurvedic, Homeopathic, Sidha, Unani and other regional systems of medicines. Herbal drug products classification vary from country to country, some categories include functional f...

BACKGROUND There is growing concern that serious interactions are occurring between prescribed/over the counter and herbal medicines and that there is a lack of disclosure of herbal use by patients to doctors. This study explores women's perspectives about the safety of herbal remedies, herb-drug interactions and communication with doctors about herbal medicines. METHODS Qualitative, cross-se...

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy is associated with women's attitudes towards herbal medicines and their sociodemographic features, such as age, education level, and income. Two-hundred ten women (110 "users," 100 "non-users") were studied. The probability of using herbal medicines among women who had negative atti...

BACKGROUND High prevalence of herbal medicines used in pregnancy and the lack of information on their safety is a public concern. Despite this, no significant research has been done regarding potential adverse effects of using herbal medicines during pregnancy, especially among developing Asian countries. METHODS Cross-sectional studies were searched up to year 2016 on PubMed/Medline and EMBA...

BACKGROUND Traditional herbal therapies have been used for a long time to treat gastrointestinal disorders including irritable bowel syndrome, and their effectiveness from clinical research evidence needs to be systematically reviewed. OBJECTIVES To assess the effectiveness and safety of herbal medicines in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the following el...

BACKGROUND Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health condition in Australia. In addition, there are many people who experience problematic anxiety symptoms who do not receive an anxiety disorder diagnosis but require treatment. As herbal medicine use is popular in Australia, and little is known about how adults experiencing anxiety are using these medicines, this study aimed to ide...

In ancient times in Iran, infectious diseases of animals and human beings were referred to as choleraic diseases. Rhazes (9th century), followed by Avicenna (10th century), Jorjani (11th century) and others, had specific opinions on the cause and effect relationship in these diseases, which recall the fermentation theory of Louis Pasteur. In ancient Iran, the methods adopted for veterinary proc...

Numerous studies have indicated that in cancer treatment Chinese herbal medicines in combination with chemo- or radio-therapy can be used to enhance the efficacy of and diminish the side effects and complications caused by chemo- and radio-therapy. Therefore, an understanding of Chinese herbal medicines is needed by physicians and other health care providers. This review provides evidence for u...

An increasing number of people in the western world are using traditional Chinese herbal medicines. There are concerns that these Chinese medicines may contain potentially toxic ingredients and contaminants such as heavy metals. Undeclared conventional western drugs such as the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antihistamine drugs, steroids and oral hypoglycaemic agents are frequently added t...