Herbal Medicine In Modern Medicine

Our Mother Nature stands as an inexhaustible source of therapeutic agents for thousands of years and a remarkable number of modern medicines find their origin in natural products. Although modern medicine system has steadily developed over the years by scientific and observational efforts of scientists, the basis of its development remains rooted in traditional medicine and therapies prevailing throughout the world for thousands of years, which continue to provide mankind with new remedies. Natural products, including plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of human diseases. The plants based herbal drugs are currently in great demand all over the globe as they imply safety in contrast to the synthetic modern medicines

It is in this context the relevance of the holistic approach of herbal therapy becomes important. In spite of the overwhelming influences and our reliance on modern medicine, a large segment of the world population still hangs on drugs from plants. According to a report by World Health Organization, more than three-quarters of the current world population still mainly trusts on herbal products for primary health care. Major factors that led to the increased prominence of herbal drugs in this modern world include: inadequate supply of drugs due to an upsurge of diseased individuals among the growing population, rise in the cost of treatments in the modern systems of medicine, drug abuse and resistance of many synthetic drugs, etc. So it is quite evident that the blind dependence on synthetic drugs is diminishing and more people are coming back to naturals with the hope of getting safe and secure remedies. Presently, approximately 25 % of drugs prescribed by the modern medicine are plant-based, which are either directly isolated or synthetic derivatives of the bioactive molecules isolated from

Its diversity is unmatched due to the presence of 16 different agro climatic zones, 10 vegetative zones and 15 biotic provinces. The country has about 18,000 species of angiosperms, 23,000 fungi, 2500 algae, 1800 bryophytes and 30 million micro-organisms (Kamboj, 2000). In India, drugs of herbal origin have been used in traditional systems of medicines such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Folk (tribal) medicines since ancient times. Among these systems, Ayurveda is the most practiced and widely accepted alternative system of medicine in India. Ayurveda, dating back to 1500-800 BC has been an integral part of Indian culture. As the name implies, it is not only the science of treatment of the ill but covers the whole array of happy human life involving the physical, metaphysical and the spiritual aspects. Ayurveda is gaining prominence all over the world as a natural system of health care. The number of plant based crude drugs included in Ayurvedic Materia Medica ranges from about 260 in Dhanvanthrya Nighantu which is considered to be the oldest written document to 570 in Bhavaprakasha Nighantu, written between 1500 and 1600