How do you differentiate between herbal and non-herbal drugs?!


Question: How do you differentiate between herbal and non-herbal drugs.?
I'm doing a science fair project and I can't decide on what the herbal equivalent of caffeine might be. But in order to figure that out, I need to know what really makes herbal drugs different from non-herbal (or chemically made) drugs.Health Question & Answer


Answers:
Caffeine occurs naturally in Kola nuts and coffee beans. Both are plant products.

Here is what makes herbal drugs different from refined drugs that are produced using organic chemistry synthesis techniques:

Nothing. Both are chemicals and cause some sort of physiological effect when ingested by an animal. One is produced in nature, and one in a lab, but both are still chemicals. You cannot tell the difference in a caffeine molecule produced in a lab, or a caffeine molecule produced by a plant.

What the real point of this issue is is this. Are herbal drugs, being naturally occuring in plants, safer than drugs produced by a lab.?

There is a lot of commotion over this issue, but science lands on the side of lab produced medicines for the following reasons. Herbal drugs are not regulated like pharmaceutical drugs. Herbal drug producers are not required to test their products for safety, dosage, or purity. They are not allowed to make specific health claims (like curing cancer), but they are allowed to say weasally things like, "promotes the bodies natural responses to cancer". The lay person cannot tell the difference between the solid statement and the weasal words and buys the herbal drug because they have bought into the notion that 'natural is safer', which is nonsense. Many herbal drugs kill you: deadly nightshade, belladonna, ergot, etc. They are drugs because they have chemical in them that cause specific biological effects. They are NOT safe by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Pharmaceutical drugs, on the other hand, have to go through a massive amount of testing in order for the FDA to approve them. Sometimes drugs get through that are harmful in the long run, but they are caught. The herbal drugs, on the other hand, do not have to go through the same rigors as pharmaceutical drugs do and may have side effects just as harmful as any pharmaceutical drug that has been pulled off the market. Herbal drugs, in addition to the chemical that would be useful in a treatment, also have other chemicals that may not be safe. Herbal drugs cannot be dosage controlled because the occurence of the active chemical varies widely from, say, leaf to leaf.

So the difference is simply that one is made by a plant's little cellular laboratories, and one is made using different mechanisms in a much larger lab made by people and not biological processes. Chemically speaking there is no difference at all in the end product. Caffeine is caffeine whether produced by kola nut, or Steve the organic chemist.Health Question & Answer

Caffeine is a component of an herb... Herbs are plants. Herbal extracts (tinctures, standardized extracts, etc.) are multi-component extracts taken from the raw herbs through a variety of extraction methods (steam, alcohol, hot water, hot water plus "maceration", cold water, oil, etc.)

That means that when you do an extraction, you get many different "active ingredients"... in coffee, the caffeine itself doesnt have any flavour, for example. The flavour, the color, the anti-oxidants that are in the herb and lots of other chemical ingredients are extracted all together. The different kinds of extraction can "tip the scales" so you maximize one ingredient over others, but you always get a mix of the many active properties of the herb.

Drugs (pharmaceuticals) are single "active ingredient" components that have either been highly isolated from the raw herbs OR synthetically made.

Back to caffeine as the example... caffeine pills would be a drug. Coffee is technically an herbal extract. Coffea arabica is the herb.
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EDIT: Just have to clear up a few misconceptions that arise in the other answers to your question...

First - Coumadin/Warfarin is not made from Tumeric - this is a long-standing misunderstanding of the chemical properties of this herb. Tumeric (Curcuma longa) does contain coumarin, but this chemical ingredient is actually NOT in a form that relates to coumadin and does not have similar properties. Nor is there an herb-drug interaction between Curcuma longa and Coumadin.

There ARE herbs that do interact with Coumadin and herbs such as Melilotus spp. (sweet clover.) These contain active coumadin-like compounds. Tumeric is just not among them.

Regarding safety, regulation, dosage control and testing (to standardize to active chemical ingredient or for purity and efficacy): - - There ARE regulations for natural health products in Canada and the US. This regulation in Canada is currently under review and herbal medicines are to potentially be brought into the DRUG category. All herbal medicines sold in Canada are required to have a DIN# and to list the active and non-active ingredients on their labels. There are stringent federal requirements for attaining DIN#s that include proof of testing for safety, content and purity.

Reputable suppliers (particularly professional grade products, which require prescriptions to obtain) do test extensively for efficacy, as well.

Are herbs necessarily safer than drugs.? Of course not. Herbs should be considered drugs by patients who take them AND by physicians who prescribe them. Which is why I always recommend that people seek advice from a REGISTERED Naturopathic Doctor who, in North America, has had **extensive** training in medicinal herbology, as well as pharmacology and the interactions between the two.Health Question & Answer

I'm not sure I completely understand your question but do want to help you figure this out. I'll do my best and maybe you can clarify a little more. You gave a great example right in your question what the difference is. If you brew a cup of coffee or black tea you have the "herbal" form of caffeine. That's how caffeine occurs in nature. If you take the caffeine out and isolate it from the source and put it in a pill you now have a drug. Similarly, if you find a way to make a synthetic caffeine you also have a drug. Many drugs today got their start as herbal remedies as in Digitalis like Foxglove and Coumadin like Turmeric. Hope that helps and if I see more info on your question I'll give it another shot.Health Question & Answer

Hi there , try this link , it may help !!!
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