During the winter season, some college students have to deal with colds and depression, but instead of taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, there is another remedy: an herbal remedy.
Kent Bullis, the director of the Ball State University Amelia T. Wood Student Health Center, said people took alternative medicine compared to the conventional medications because many people perceived the herbal remedies as being safer. "I think many people who have problems are unable to find traditional [medicines] and are desperate to find a solution," Bullis said, "so they turn to herbals because they can't find anything to help them."
According to the National Institutes of Health Web site, herbal medicine is also known as Botanicals or Phytotherapy, and the products are dietary supplements people take to improve their health. An herb is a plant or part of a plant that is used for its scent, flavor or therapeutic aspects, according to the Web site.
Bullis said the most common herbal remedy he sees Ball State students using is cretin for weightlifting and bodybuilding. Students also are taking supplements to lose weight, are taking Echinacea to help prevent colds and upper respiratory infections and St. John's Wort for depression.
Although Bullis said he had only seen students use a few types of herbal products, Dr. John Peterson said there are thousands of herbal remedies people use.
"I'm interested in some of the herbal supplements around here like at drug stores, but I'm also interested in Indian and Chinese herbs with millions to choose from," Peterson, who works at a private practice on Jackson Street, said. "I'm not sure if there's one any more than any other that I recommend."
Peterson said a month's supply of herbal remedies ranged from $5 to $10 for products such as Echinacea or vitamins to $30 to $80 for exotic herbs that are imported.
"[That's] less expensive than some prescriptions," he said. Herbal supplements come in various forms including teas, straight from the plant, nasal administration, liquid, paste and most commonly in tablets, he said. The newest way is through herbal treatment patches similar to some prescription drugs, Peterson said.
Despite students believing herbal remedies help and might be better than prescription or over-the-counter drugs, Bullis said he did not think botanicals were safer to use.
The biggest problem with herbals is they can vary widely on the content of any active ingredient based on their growing conditions and the plant, he said. Herbal remedies also are not regulated by any agency to keep track of the side effects, he said.
"Herbal remedies do not have the proven track record, or safety record, and people are taking their health in their hands," he said. "That's not to say there's no risk with OTCs, but the risk is more quantifiable and you can know the risk when taking them."
According to the National Institutes of Health Web site the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates herbal supplements as foods, which means herbals do not have to meet the same standards as prescription and over-the-counter medications for proof of safety and effectiveness.
Bullis said studies have conflicted on how helpful herbal remedies actually are, but they have not proven to be any benefit and do not work.
"I think they take them because they believe they're going to work," he said. "They don't investigate or research them thoroughly."
Peterson said he thought herbal remedies had fewer side effects than prescription drugs. He said he would use whatever method worked for a patient.
A prescription drug is derived from herbals anyway, he said, and all manufacturers have done is isolate the active ingredients from herbal treatments and then add various chemicals to enhance their effectiveness. He said the problem comes when people take too many herbal supplements at once.
"When you take so many it's confusing and you can get weird effects," Peterson said. "There are also potential interactions with prescriptions and OTC. I tell folks that if they can get by with nothing it's better, but if you need to take something and there's an herbal or nutritional [product] that does the job it's less expensive and quite often safer.
"A lot of folks come in with unusual medical problem and are scared to take drugs because of bad history or reactions, and you want to be able to offer alternatives to people to give them the best results."
Peterson did agree with Bullis that people who choose to use herbal remedies should learn about them first.
"You have to be pretty selective and you have to look at literature to see if there's been some scientific inquiry on the effectiveness of its preparation," he said. "Also, if they've withstood the test of time and if it's been there for thousands of years you can count on it being effective or else it wouldn't have stood the test of time."
SupplementsFor more information about herbal supplements, visit:
Types of supplementsA dietary supplement must meet all of the following conditions, according to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994:
- It is a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet, which contains one or more of the following: vitamins; minerals; herbs or other botanicals; amino acids; or any combination of the above ingredients.
- It is intended to be taken in tablet, capsule, powder, softgel, gelcap or liquid form.
- It is not represented for use as a conventional food or as a sole item of a meal or the diet.
- It is labeled as a dietary supplement.
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