Phytotherapy

For thousands of years, man has been able to exploit the natural resources around him for food and health …

On each continent, different traditions have developed, based on empirical knowledge that has been transmitted and enriched over generations.

Today, in Africa, China or India, traditional medicines still rely on this power of plants. In Europe, phytotherapy – from the Greek, phytos, plant, and therapy, care – that is, the treatment of diseases by plants – has integrated this centuries-old knowledge with the latest medical discoveries to propose, either alone or Complement, different treatments.

From the nineteenth century onwards, there was a marked disaffection in herbal medicine, due to the development, between 1806 and 1888, of two large groups of medicines, isolated from plants: alkaloids and heterosides.

But the most obvious example is probably that of acetylsalicylic acid, an analhetic and antipyretic remedy, naturally present in the queen of the near, which was to be synthesized industrially from 1899: it is aspirin.

The therapeutic use of plants is still the most widely used form of medicine in the world; It is also the oldest, since the first traces of writings referring to it appear from the Sumerian period (about 3500 years before the Christian era). Archaeological excavations at the Nippur site (now in Iraq) have revealed clay tablets covered with cuneiform writing, the study of which reveals an advanced medical and medicinal knowledge. The discovery of the Ebers papyrus (dating from about 1543 BC) in Luxor, in a very good state of conservation, attests that the Egyptians had at their disposal a real medical treaty: to each disease described was attributed the treatment Appropriate, usually preparations made from local plants.

Alone or as an adjuvant supplement to a treatment, herbal medicine is indicated in most diseases or ailments. Plants possess a real power that it would be dangerous to underestimate or to consider as necessarily beneficial to the pretext that what is natural is not harmful!

Self-medication can be dangerous, so we recommend that you use the products only in their coded forms (ie, taking into account the usual recommendations) and do not hesitate to consult the doctor as soon as This is necessary.

Consultation is all the more important because the phytotherapist’s approach to his patient is primarily holistic (lifestyle, family history, etc.). Despite the current enthusiasm for this therapeutic approach, it is important to remain measured and cautious about the ability of everyone to take charge of their health. It is evident that this area remains entirely reserved for medical prescription.