What is PHYTOTHERAPY? Is the study of the use of extracts of natural origin as medicines - PowerPoint Presentation

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What is PHYTOTHERAPY?

Is the study of the use of extracts of natural origin as medicines or health-promoting agents. Also, is a form of medical treatment which relies on the use of plants, either whole or in the form of prepared extracts and essences.

phytotherapy (from the Greek phytos, meaning ‘plant’); a term, first used by Henri Leclerc (1870– 1955), that has been applied to a cluster of approaches to the therapeutic utilization of botanical agents.

For thousands of years, plants were a primary source of therapeutic medication for cultures all over the world. With the 20th century came the development of

synthesization techniques and totally synthetic drugs, causing phytotherapy to fall out of popularity. However, plants still have a very important place in medicine, and they will continue to do so well into the foreseeable future.

This technique involves the study of plants to determine their properties, and the careful application of plants to treat medical problems.

Herbal medicine (or "herbalism") is the study and use of medicinal properties of plants. Harbal medicine is a form of phytotherapy.

Traditional

phytotherapy

is a synonym for

herbalism

and regarded as

alternative medicine by

much of Western medicine

.

Ethnobotany

(the study of traditional human uses of plants) is recognized as an effective way to discover future medicines.

In recent years more people throughout world are turning to use medicinal plant

products in healthcare system. World wide need of alternative medicine has resulted in growth of natural product markets and interest in traditional systems of medicine. Herbal drug technology is used for converting botanicals materials into medicines, where standardization and quality control with proper integration of modern scientific techniques and traditional knowledg is important.

An herb is a plant or part of a plant valued for it’s medicinal, aromatic, or savoury qualities. Each plant is like factory capable of synthesizing unlimited number of highly complex and unusual chemical substances producing a number of chemical compounds. Herbal remedies or medicines consist of portions of plants or unpurified plant extracts containing several constituents, which often work together synergistically. Herbal medicine or

herbalism is the use of herbs or herbal products for their therapeutic or medicinal value. They may come from any part of the plant but are most commonly made from leaves, roots, bark seeds, and flowers.

Herbal medicines include herbs, herbalmaterials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products.Herbs include crude plant material, such as leaves,

flowers, fruit, seeds, stems, wood, bark, roots, rhizomes or other plant parts, which may be entire, fragmented or powdered.Herbal materials include, in addition to herbs, fresh juices, gums, fixed oils, essential oils, resins and dry powders of herbs.

Herbal preparations are the basis for finished herbal products and may include comminuted or powdered herbal materials, or extracts, tinctures and fatty oils of herbal materials. They are produced by extraction, purification,concentration, or other physical or biological processes. They also include preparations made by steeping or heating herbal materials in alcoholic beverages and/or honey, or in other materials.

Finished herbal products consist of herbal preparations made from one or more herbs. If more than one herb is used, the term “mixture herbal product” can also be used. Finished herbal products and mixture herbal products may contain excipients in addition to the active ingredients. However, finished products or mixture herbal products to which chemically defined active substances have been added, including synthetic compounds and/or isolated constituents from herbal materials, are not considered to be herbal

Chemicals known to have medicinal benefits are referred to as “active ingredients” or “active principles” and their presence depends on a number of factors including the plant species, the time and season of harvest, the type of soil, and the way the herb is prepared.

Phytotherapeutic agents or phytomedicinesare standardized herbal preparations

consisting of complex mixtures of one ormore plants which are used in most countriesfor the management of various diseases.

WHO definition

:herbal drugs contain as active ingredients plant parts or plant materials in the crude or processed state plus certain excipients,

i.e.,solvents

, diluents or preservatives.

. One basic characteristic of

phytotherapeutic

agents is the fact that they normally do not possess an immediate or strong pharmacological action. For this reason,

phytotherapeutic

agents are not used for emergency treatment.

Other characteristics of herbal medicines

are their wide therapeutic use and great

acceptance by the population.

Extracts

of plants are used in the preparation of some commercial pharmaceuticals, as are synthetic drugs which are based on compounds found in plants. Researchers are also constantly studying plants to find new pharmaceutical compounds and potential applications for them.

Many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including aspirin, digitalis, quinine, and opium.

When phytotherapy is conducted responsibly, the preparations used are standardized, which means that they are grown, harvested, and processed in a way which is designed to create a very reliable and stable dose of active ingredients. Many processors regularly test batches of the medicines they prepare to confirm that the active ingredients are present and exists in the concentration expected, and producers of such drugs also breed, grow, and harvest plants in ways which are designed to enhance reliable performance.

Quality and safety are also important issues in phytotherapy. Producers want to make products of high quality and reliability so that practitioners will feel comfortable prescribing them, and patients will feel comfortable using them.

Due to the lack of regulation over herbal preparations in many nations, reputable producers must also be able to protect themselves to confirm that their products are safe for use.

Phytotherapy is not automatically safe simply because it is natural. In fact, many of the products used can be very dangerous when they are not handled properly, or when they are taken by patients for whom they are contraindicated. Patients should always work with a doctor when embarking on any course of medical treatment, and this includes phytotherapeutic approaches to medical issues.

Examples of some phytotherapeutic agents

GIT

Respiratory System

Cardiovascular System

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