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Herbal supplement benefits and dangerous side effects

After a rise in the popularity of dietary supplements in the 1990s, their use seems to have plateaued, although exposure may continue to increase with the addition of herbal supplements to mainstream multivitamin products, according to an article in the February 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. During the last decade the use of alternative medicines, particularly herbal products, has increased considerably, according to background information in the article. Americans spent $4.2 billion on herbs and other botanical remedies in 2001, and their benefits are being cited more and more in the media. The percentage of people using a href="http://herbalcare06.blogspot.com">dietary supplements increased from 14.2 percent in 1998 1999 to 18.8 percent 2002, with a low of 12.3 percent in 2000 and a high of 19.8 percent in 2001. The percentage of people aged 45 to 64 years who took supplements increased by about half between 1998-1999 and 2001-2002. However, the use of Ginko biloba and Panax ginseng declined during the study period. Overall, supplement users were older, more likely to be female (59.9 vs. 55.5 percent) and white (80.7 vs. 75.6 percent). The use of lutein, a component of multivitamin products, increased in both men and women, with a prevalence of 0.3 percent, 0.5 percent, 6.6 percent, and 8.4 percent, respectively, in 1998-1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. "Our observations regarding lute in use were unexpected," the authors noted. This carotenoid antioxidant, which it has been suggested may be protective against macular degeneration, was first added to many popular multivitamins in late 1999 and 2000. Another antioxidant, lycopene, was added to major multivitamins in 2003 as a cancer preventative. "The addition of these supplements to multivitamin products has signaled two subtle, but important, changes in recent years," the researchers suggest. "First, the acceptance of herbal supplements and other dietary supplements as part of the mainstream health milieu has apparently increased. Second, the marketing strategy for multivitamin products appears to have broadened from supplying recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals that may be lacking in the diet to preventing chronic disease, such as macular degeneration and cancer." "Approximately one quarter of adults in the United States use multivitamins, and this prevalence may increase following the recent recommendation that all adults take a multivitamin daily," the authors write. "Although the deliberate use of herbal products may have reached a plateau in the last few years, exposure to individual herbal ingredients may continue to rise as more of them are added to mainstream multivitamin products."

A benefit of Herbal Supplements People takes herbs and supplements for a variety of reasons. Some people take Echinacea if they have a cold or the flu. You might turn to ginseng to boost your energy, increase sexual stamina, reduce stress or combat the effects of aging, such as memory loss.

The world of herbal medicine offers a wide range of applications and treatments on several different levels, ranging from everyday over-the-counter remedies for more symptomatic relief of minor ailments, to individualized prescriptions prepared specifically for patients after in depth consultation with a qualified medical herbalist. Certainly herbs have their place as self-help for minor infections, coughs, colds, catarrh, stomach upsets, indigestion, constipation and so on. The wealth of information that abounds today about herbs is enabling people to make increasingly informed decisions about the specific remedies they choose to self-administer. In the 10th century, the Arabs invented a process of distillation that allowed for more efficient extraction of the essential oils from plants, and for centuries, cultures from every part of the globe have inhaled aromas, drunken potions, and worn aromatic amulets as healing aids and to protect them from harm.

By extracting the essential oils from plants and herbs, aromatherapy has been, and continues to be, used to address a wide range of physical and emotional ailments, from headaches to herpes, from dry skin to acne, and from arthritis to asthma.

In modern times, France and England have led the attempt to reintroduce many ancient remedies to the world in the early 1900s, and to help aromatherapy gain greater acceptance in the traditional medical community. France still leads the world in rediscovering modern uses for ancient remedies, and many French doctors routinely prescribe aromatic remedies for their patients. That practice is reinforced by the fact that French pharmacies stock a wide variety of essential oils, and insurance companies are willing to pay for treatments involving ancient healing methods.

Side effect of using herbal supplements a study has found that herbal supplements, among the most popular of the products, may pose a special risk. The supplement appears to reduce sharply the effectiveness of the drug saquinavir, researchers report in the current online issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. For the moment, the researchers are advising only those patients being treated with saquinavir to avoid the supplements. But the researchers said more work was needed to determine whether herbal supplements affected Natural herbal supplements are supposed to help boost our immune systems, give us more energy and make us generally healthier. However, many of these "harmless" supplements could cause for more dangerous side effects.

All 55 percent of patients who used herbal supplements took at least two different supplements and at least one on a daily basis. The most popular herbal supplements were chondroitin (22 percent), ephedra (22 percent), echinacea (18 percent) and glucosamine (8 percent).

Chondroitin is often used to treat osteoarthritis. People using chondroitin may suffer from bleeding complications. Particularly when used in combination with doctor-prescribed blood-thinning medications. Ephedra has been known to promote weight loss, increase energy and treat respiratory tract conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have banned this agent because it can raise blood pressure, heart rate and metabolic rate, ultimately causing heart attacks, heart arrhythmia, stroke and even death. Echinacea is often used for the prevention and treatment of viral, bacterial and fungal infections, as well as chronic wounds, ulcers and arthritis. However, it can trigger immunosuppression, causing poor wound healing and infection Glucosamine, often offered in conjunction with chondroitin, Contains chemical elements that mimic human insulin Other common supplements taken by patients in the study that may cause dangerous side effects included gingko biloba, goldenseal, milk thistle, ginseng, kava and garlic. Keywords:- Herbal nutrition supplement, herbal dietary supplement, herbal nutritional supplement, herbal weight loss supplement, herbal diet supplement, natural herbal supplement, herbal supplement for energy, herbal medicine supplement, herbal supplement for woman, herbal supplement for diabetes, herbal supplement side effects, herbal pregnancy supplement,

Before you use any supplements, ask your physician about health risks, and visit with a dietetics professional for the best advice on food, nutrition and supplements.

The key to the success of AyurvedicCure is the quality of the ingredients they use, the way in which formulae are based on ancient Ayurvedic traditions, a careful manufacturing process and an ongoing research program for testing and evaluating new and old products.

Herbal supplements are a type of dietary supplement that contain herbs. An herb (also called a botanical) is a plant or plant part used for its scent, flavor, and/or therapeutic properties.

Finding healing powers in plants is an ancient idea. People in all continents have long used hundreds of indigenous plants, for treatment of various ailments dating back to prehistory. There is evidence that Neanderthals living 30,000 years ago in present-day some of the countries used plants for medicinal purposes. These plants are still widely used in ethnomedicine around the world.