“Immune-boosting mushrooms + other must-take supplements!” said the subject line. Replace “immune-boosting” with “super-growing,” and you’d think you’d stumbled upon my spam folder. But this text was actually part of an email from a perfectly reputable integrative pharmacy that I shop at. While I do enjoy my cruelty-free beauty products and organic soaps and lotions, I haven’t availed myself of the store’s dizzying array of holistic, herbal, and homeopathic offerings. This is not because I harbor any particular skepticism about their efficacy; it’s just there’s this great little restaurant and bar across the street, and I’d rather spend my money there. In sum, herbal remedies and supplements have never made it onto my short list.
But it would seem I am in the minority. As Sanjay Gupta reported in a Time.com article called “Herbal Remedies’ Potential Dangers,” use of herbal supplements has risen 83 percent between 2006 and 2008. And according to the American Botanical Council, national sales of herbal supplements almost doubled between 2008 and 2009. Herbal supplements are touted endlessly, and seemingly innocently, as remedies and health aids for a variety of ailments—from head colds and the flu to Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and heart disease. But very few of these consumers, and certainly not the multibillion-dollar industry, are asking many questions about whether these herbal supplements have any true effect on the symptoms and illnesses for which they are being taken, and furthermore, if the supplements themselves are safe for extended consumption.
Herbal Remedies or Maladies?
In May 2010, the New York Times published an article that stated, “Nearly all of the herbal dietary supplements tested in a Congressional investigation contained trace amounts of lead and other contaminants, and some supplement sellers made illegal claims that their products can cure cancer and other diseases.”
So much for happy, healthy holistic medicine, right? Or is it just another panicky symptom of our liability-conscious society? It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, and the surfeit of contradictory information available on the Internet, and even in retail settings, means it’s hard to make a fully informed choice about what would be helpful or hurtful to your bodily temple.
