It
has been increasingly realized that herbal products are very useful for health,
as studies done in different parts of the world have revealed.
Chamomile
flowers were used as sedative to induce calmness and sleep over centuries, now
a study sponsored by University of Michigan has confirmed that the advantages
of this herbal medicine is comparable with the sleeping pill prescription.
These can be used to reduce the stress of modern life and induce calmness and
sleep in people with lack of sleep. Many other herbal formulations may act
similarly.
DIABETES
PREVENTION:The flour of the plant ‘Detarium senegalense Gmelin’is
used as a soup thickener in Africa since centuries, where the incidence of
diabetes and heart illness is lowest in the world, and the people who adopted
western lifestyle or have migrated to United States had a higher incidence of
Diabetes and heart disease as compared to native African people.
Uchenna Onyechi,a Nigerian research
scientist brought several of her
country's native plants into research laboratory at Kings college, London.
Many plant extracts like Aloe Vera, Amla
are known to have anti diabetic and natural healing properties.
HEART DISEASE: Control of
heart disease can be done by control of blood pressure and stress. It is
estimated that a very high percentage of people of Afro Caribbean and Asian
descent have high blood pressure which is a silent killer as it increases the
risk of heart disease.
A variety of herbs is used in the
treatment of stress and high blood pressure. Basically the formulation should
be low salt and patients are encouraged to take a low salt diet. Some of these
from the traditional African medicines are Gum Arabic, bitter Aloe, wormwood
and many more.
Some researchers in United States have
claimed to reverse the coronary artery blocks in patients when they are put on
special diet with herbal supplements.