Herbal Medicine. Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects

DESCRIPTION

Features

• Contains more than 3,550 current references
• Conducts risk-benefit assessments of herbal medicinal products such as Echinacea, garlic, Ginkgo Biloba, Kava, and St. John's Wort
• Analyzes the adverse effects of traditional and herbal medicine and herb-drug interactions
• Evaluates the efficacy, biological mechanisms, and potential adverse effects of popular herbal products
• Considers the challenges that lie ahead in combining traditional and western medicines
• Discusses the role of herbal medicine in national health care and public policy

Summary

Responding to the increased popularity of herbal medicines and other forms of complementary or alternative medicine in countries around the world, this reference reviews and evaluates various safety, toxicity, and quality-control issues related to the use of traditional and herbal products for health maintenance and disease prevention and treatment. With over 3,550 current references, the book highlights the role of herbal medicine in national health care while providing case studies of widely used herbal remedies and their effects on human health and wellness and the need for the design and performance of methodologically sound clinical trials for the plethora of herbal medicines.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Herbal Medicine: An Introduction to its History, Usage, Regulation, Current Trends, and Research Needs, Sissi Wachtel-Galor and Iris F. F. Benzie
• Antioxidants in Herbs and Spices: Roles in Oxidative Stress and Redox Signaling, Ingvild Paur, Monica H. Carlsen, Bente Lise Halvorsen, and Rune Blomhoff
• Evaluation of Nutritional and Metabolic Effects of Aloe vera, Meika Foster, Duncan Hunter, and Samir Samman
• Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.),Wing-kwan Chu, Sabrina C. M. Cheung, Roxanna A. W. Lau, and Iris F. F. Benzie
• Cordyceps as an Herbal Drug, Bao-qin Lin and Shao-ping Li
• Cranberry, Catherine C. Neto and Joe A. Vinson
• The Amazing and Mighty Ginger, Ann M. Bode and Zigang Dong
• Biological Activities of Ginseng and Its Application to Human Health, J. J. Wee, K. Park, and A. S. Chung
• Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi): A Medicinal Mushroom, Sissi Wachtel-Galor, John Yuen, John A. Buswell, and Iris F. F. Benzie
• Pomegranate Ellagitannins, David Heber
• Medical Attributes of St. John’s Wort—Hypericum perforatum, Kenneth M. Klemow, Andrew Bartlow, Justin Crawford, Neil Kocher, Jay Shah, and Michael Ritsick
• Tea, Mauro Serafini, Daniele Del Rio, Yao Denis N’Dri, Saverio Bettuzzi, and Ilaria Peluso
• Turmeric, the Golden Spice: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine, Sahdeo Prasad and Bharat B. Aggarwal
• Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects of Chinese Wolfberry, Peter Bucheli, Qiutao Gao, Robert Redgwell, Karine Vidal, Junkuan Wang, and Weiguo Zhang
• Botanical Phenolics and Neurodegeneration, Albert Y. Sun, Qun Wang, Agnes Simonyi, and Grace Y. Sun
• Cardiovascular Disease, Richard Walden and Brian Tomlinson
• Herbs and Spices in Cancer Prevention and Treatment, C. M. Kaefer and J. A. Milner
• Herbal Treatment for Dermatologic Disorders, Philip D. Shenefelt
• Diabetes and Herbal (Botanical) Medicine, William T. Cefalu, Jaqueline M. Stephens, and David M. Ribnicky
• Bioactive Components in Herbal Medicine: Experimental Approaches, Foo-tim Chau, Kwok-pui Fung, Chi-man Koon, Kit-man Lau, Shun-yin Wei, and Ping-chung Leung
• Ethics of Using Herbal Medicine as Primary or Adjunct Treatment and Issues of Drug–Herb Interactionl, Lauren Girard and Sunita Vohra
• Integration of Herbal Medicine into Evidence-Based Clinical Practice: Current Status and Issues, Anthony Lin Zhang, Charlie Changli Xue, and Harry H. S. Fong

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book is wonderful. Like on a treasure hunt, you can find answers to most questions that you might have on the topic of herbal and traditional research."
Free Radical Research

"Should be in any library of hospitals and medical schools."
-Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews, Vol. 3, No. 1, Sept. 2005
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