Herbal Supplements Benefits

9 Health Benefits of Herbal Supplements That You May Not Know About!

It is essential to get familiar with the benefits of herbal supplements. Today’s market is flooded with herbal supplements. Supplements are used by many individuals for a variety of reasons, including general health and particular health issues. Vitamins, minerals, herbs, and enzymes are just a few of the various kinds of supplements available.

We live in a culture where maintaining one’s health and fitness is so important. Okay, maybe not on how we value living a healthy lifestyle in general, but rather on how we have placed such a hefty price tag on healthcare.

We’ve identified cures for a variety of diseases, and our present scientific research is focused on making further discoveries for afflictions and health issues for which we don’t yet have a name.

However, that discovery and continued practice did not come without a cost, and hence the proverb “prevention is better than cure.”

That is why herbal supplements have been more popular and widely used over the last decade. Preventing illness is preferable to spending a lot of money to treat it.

The price tag of an ounce of prevention is more attractive than a pint of treatment.

But how does one prevent illness if a complete lifestyle change is difficult and sometimes inconvenient?

Given the daily assault of toxins and health risks to our body, is there even a healthy way to be healthy? The answer has come to many of us, and it goes by the name of herbal supplements.

What Are Herbal Supplements?

Herbal supplements, sometimes called botanical supplements, are non-pharmaceutical dietary supplements that contain medicinal substances derived from natural plants.

They are used to prevent diseases, supplement pharmaceutical drugs and conventional treatments or promote general health and wellbeing.
Herbal supplements come in tablet, capsule, powder, or liquid form.
They are essentially food supplements and those who take them need to ingest them orally so that the body’s chemical process of extracting nutrients from food could unleash the benefits of herbal supplements.

Our contemporary consumption of herbal supplements follows the ancient practice of herbalism or using herbs and plants for their therapeutic properties. For medicinal herbs’ accessibility to most contemporary societies throughout the world, as well as their notable health benefits and safety profiles, conventional medicine has not stood tall atop herbalism.

The World Health Organization estimates that medicinal herbs are used as the main source of health care by roughly 80% of the world’s population.
Herbalism is also central to the practice of homeopathic, traditional Asian, and Native American medicine.
The practice of medicine in Europe also relies heavily on herbal medicines.
Herbalism coupled with the convenience of store-bought supplements has also seeped into countries where conventional medicine is still the dominant practice.
In the US, for example, 25% of Americans are now using herbal supplements.
About 25% of drugs sold in the US market are also plant-derived, with Aspirin derived from willow bark, heart muscle strengthener digitalis from foxglove, and cancer therapy drug Taxol from Pacific yew.

Herbal Supplements Health Benefits.

The continuing practice of herbalism owes largely to the fact that medicinal herbs successfully treat illnesses and promote health and wellbeing.

Herbal supplements have grown in popularity precisely because they offer the same successful health results, with several companies now producing and marketing their line of natural herbal supplements for common health concerns.

Despite this, however, modern scientific studies on the exact and quantitative efficacy of herbs and herbal supplements are rather limited, and it would perhaps take several more decades for modern science to accurately identify the benefits, potential ill effects, and degree of efficacy of herbs.

9 Most Popular Herbal Supplements.

As commonly practiced today and also as a result of scientific studies already conducted, herbal supplements containing the following herbs are used to treat certain conditions and ailments:

Chamomile to relieve indigestion.
Echinacea to boost immunity.
Feverfew to treat migraine and headaches.
Garlic to lower high cholesterol.
Ginger to prevent nausea and motion sickness.
Ginkgo Biloba to promote blood circulation, relieve leg pain due to poor circulation and improve memory.
Ginseng to improve blood circulation and promote vitality.
Saw palmetto to relieve inflammation and improve urinary flow.
St. John’s Wort to treat mild and moderate depression.

Caution And Safety.

There are, however, some herbs that have been identified to react harmfully when ingested, and it would be best to take caution or altogether avoid using herbal supplements that contain them.

Chaparral, which is sold either as tea or in capsule form is marketed as an acne cure, blood purifier, cancer cure, and an antioxidant, and has been found to cause non-viral hepatitis.

Comfrey used in tea, tablet, and capsule supplements has also been linked to liver damage.
Ephedra, used as an anti-asthma supplement, is also said to raise blood pressure, cause muscle injury, nerve damage, memory loss, psychosis, and even stroke.

Herbal supplements are potent sources of nutrients and plant-derived chemicals that the body needs to battle many ailments and heal itself.

Herbs, on the other hand, maybe hazardous if administered without a thorough understanding of how they operate and interact with other natural substances and chemicals in the body, as any traditional medicine practitioner will confirm.

To remain healthy while maximizing the benefits of herbal supplements, use care and seek the advice of expert herbalists and doctors.