By Michael Moore
Research regarding the active ingredients of herbs seems to be a key point for the acceptance of herbal remedies in the West. This research is very valuable. It lends credibility to herbal remedies, and the body of scientific knowledge naturally grows to include what herbal practitioners have known for centuries.
However, there is another camp of practitioners who would rather herbs remain classified and studied from the traditional perspective that classifies herbs by their functions and energetic properties, as is the case in Chinese medicine.
Chinese herbs are categorized according to their functions and properties within the Chinese model of the human body. The Qi of herbs have a certain temperature, their substantial aspect has one or more tastes associated with it. These properties benefit us medicinally when applied to the appropriate imbalance found through traditional Chinese diagnosis.
The active ingredient in Chinese herbs cannot always be accurately determined by scientific methods, practitioners of TCM understand that the active ingredient is not a chemical, but an energetic property.
The following satire is a humorous description of one man's interpretation of what happens when Western science attempts to understand a Chinese herb.
In the 1950s, some researchers in India found that if you gave some rats
Centella asiatica (Brahmi or Gotu Kola) it took them longer to drown when
dropped into a big barrel of water whose sides they could not climb. (I
would hope these researchers were Christian, Moslem or Atheists, otherwise
they've been doing Karma-Time as brine shrimp in bioassays or, if Jaina,
perhaps even worse)
The Chinese added Panax and (Naturally) they started testing LOTS of their
Then the Russians added Eleutherococcus, Rhodiola, some Aralias and
(Naturally) they started testing everything on their athletes.
Then Korean researchers started to work with THEIR Panax and THEIR patent
So did researchers in Malaysia and Thailand, reporting work on THEIR
patent medicines and traditional formulas.
The dust settles.
The Indians start working on THEIR Ayurvedic patents, meanwhile claiming
that Pakistan is stealing their secrets.
The Chinese publish 1,473 monographs on THEIR products that stimulate
Non-Specific Resistance. The West completely ignores the monographs
because, as usual, the Chinese refuse to use Control Groups. The Chinese
counter that "Control Groups" are a capitalist ploy; it costs as much to
NOT test animals as to TEST animals and the Dogs of the West and their
Kremlin Bootlickers (it is now late 1960's) are only seeking to waste the
People's Money. Taiwan may YET be invaded, since they, too, have been
doing their OWN counter-research with Control Groups.
The Russians now have ALL their athletes taking Russian Non-specific
Resistance herbal preparations, are marketing OTC versions across the
USSR...and besides, Prof.V.K.Taktishtashvilli discovered the whole thing in
1827, while working with potatoes.
(In the U.S. Joe Namath had won some sporting event and in Great Britain,
the Home Secretary is STILL denying any involvement, despite the blurred
photographs making the rounds of the London tabloids, with Her Jeweled
Crista Battlebum III, a prized Yorkshire Terrier)
t's 1970. We now have a body of research, purely
observational, and using newly-developed bio-assay techniques, showing a number
of plant medicines and traditional formulas and patents (including some Deer's
Horn and plankton studies) that increase non-specific resistance and generally
increase the capacity for stress in a variety of mammals... including us. All
work to this point has been done with WHOLE plants and WHOLE formulas; their
traditional uses were the basis for their testing, and the various countries
(and the patent owners) are now marketing these products with new knowledge and
a (perhaps) better understanding of their value in human use. Along the line,
someone decided the effect needed a "pharmaceutical" term and invented the word
"adaptogen" and "Non-specific-resistance-stimulant" was generally dropped. NSRS
was a poor acronym, anyway, except in Malaysia, where it also meant "Female Wild
Boar in Heat" in one widely-spoken language and was retained.
Enter (bumpda-bumpda-bump) the Medical-Pharmaceutical folks.
The Germans isolate 72 Panaxosides and Panaxolides, with three separate
camps claiming "Their" group can prove which individual ones are
Responsible for the Adaptogenisis. All three groups have completely
different lists of "active" compounds.
The Japanese answer by isolating 473 (!) of these, but call them
Ginsenosides, and can separate their effects into their effects on liver,
pituitary, glucocorticalsteroid, reproductive, etc.
The Koreans ALSO find 473, but apply different numbers to them, and claim
they can prove only THEIR Panax is the best.
The Japanese (the numbers AND names for the ginsenosides have already
undergone three revisions, although one major pharmaceutical manufacturer
has created a new constituent category completely, based on presence of
ferulic acid skeletal remnants, but won't publish the specifics, since they
are now patented) claim THEIR sub-species to be the best, as well as the
phylogenetic precurser to the Korean variety.
The Germans have begun work on semi-synthetic (and patentable) analogs to
certain ferulic-acid skeletal-remnant panaxosides, in a mutual agreement
with an unnamed Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer.
(Great Britain has found that Raspberries work splendidly.
The FDA is pursuing Laetrile clinics.)
An adaptogen is now classed as a compound, usually plant-derived, that
increases resistance to environmental stress in laboratory animals and
humans. In some research circles the term has been changed to a newer one:
Non-Specific Resistance Stimulants, or NSRS.
The Soviets win 1,212 medals (out of a possible 1,002) in the 1972
Olympics. The IOC promises an investigation.
A body of observations meant to explain the mechanisms whereby a number of
traditional herbal medicines seem to enhance resistance to stress has now
been reduced to gnarly, secretive, heavy-metal pharmaceutical in-fighting,
in the attempt to market patentable pharmaceutical chemicals that will
produce the effects of the original plants.
(There exist a few artful exaggerations in the above story)
Moral of the story:
The adaptogenic aspect IS THE HERB.
If you enjoyed this article, you'll love all of the other teaching and clinical manuals, over 1,000 medicinal plant images and class announcements for the Southwest-School-of-Botanical-Medicine available at Michael Moore's Website: http://www.swsbm.com/HOMEPAGE/HomePage.html.