The Big Modern "Change" in Herbs

Until recently, most herbs were available in "plant form" only. The average person was not educated enough in the field of herbal medicine to tap into the potential healing powers of producing herbal remedies at home. For most people, that still holds true today. 

However, what has change a great deal in modern times is the "availability" of herbs and other alternative medicines to just about anyone who desires them. These days, the majority of the most important healing herbs are readily available in forms other than there natural plant form. Hundred's, even thousand's of herbal remedies are now available in capsules, crèmes, teas, and pre-prepared extracts that are easily accessible at neighborhood natural food stores, mail order catalogs and of course the internet.

While the availability of herbs and herbal remedies has increase tremendously in recent times, herbs have been used by man to prevent or treat diseases for literally thousands of years. Even in these modern times of synthetic drugs and great medical discoveries, nearly 50 percent of all commercial drugs used and prescribed today are derived from either a natural plant source or a chemical compound that directly imitates a natural herb or plant compound.

Digitalis, which is used in the treatment of heart arrhythmias, is made from the foxglove plant. Quinine, a treatment for malaria, is made from the bark of cinchona tree. Even a modern day antibiotic such as penicillin was derived from a mold produced by a natural fungus.

There is nothing new about people living healthier lives by using herbs and herbal remedies. It is this increase in the access to safe, consistent, pre-prepared herbal remedies that has been the biggest modern change in mankind's age-old use of herbs and alternative medicines.