Herbal Medicine
Many people, doctors included, scoff at herbal medicine, but the facts are indisputable – it has been around for thousands of years, it is still used openly in many cultures and it works. Many of the drugs that are in common use today are based on compounds found in plants, and there is a vast amount of research carried out all around the world on traditional herbal compounds to discover exactly what their properties do.
The uses of plants for herbal medicine changed little in early medieval Europe. One of the most famous women in the herbal tradition was Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth century Benedictine nun, who wrote a medical text called Causes and Cures. There has been a revival of herbal medicine in many Western countries where it had previously fallen away in favour of modern drugs.
There has been extensive research carried out around the world but especially in China on the Goji berry, which has been shown to contain numerous herbal medicine compounds including 18 amino acids, 21 trace elements, several vitamins, antioxidant carotenoids, beta-sitosterol (an anti-inflammatory), several essential fatty acids and a number of other compounds of benefit to the heart and blood pressure, menstrual discomfort, leukaemia and the immune system.
The Goji berry also contains a greater percentage of protein than whole wheat and contains a powerful anti-fungal and anti-bacterial compound. The Goji berry is a very valuable component of herbal medicine that is recognised the world over. It is no wonder that many of the inhabitants of the region where it is produced live well into their 100s.
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