Good Herbal Health

The Philippines is abundant with botanical or herbal medicines. In ancient times, in the absence of technology, our forefathers depended on the potent healing powers of herbal medicines to cure diseases.

Today however, modern living dictates that we should take medications that are prescribed by doctors that usually come in tablet or capsule form. Prescribed medicines can be costly and may be out of reach from the larger population relying on meager income.

The Department of Health (DOH) launched in 2002 a campaign to promote the various local herbal medicines available. The project is to provide the Filipinos medicines that are reasonably priced. The DOH wants to promote the manufacture and use of medicines from herbal plants that are found within the Philippines’ lush flora.

Women stand to benefit more from these herbal medicines because they are usually more open to alternative healing than men are.

Remember pitu-pito, the concoction of seven herbal plants widely believed to heal several numbers of diseases? Or the broth of boiled guava leaves as stomach-ache remedy and the leaves used to disinfect wounds? What about the countless tea leaves that were supposed to rid our body of toxins that causes ailments?

In the busy streets of Quiapo or in the obscure corners of Baclaran or Divisoria, hundreds of herbal plants are being sold known to cure different illnesses. Of course, very few take notice because of their odd or suspicious packaging.

In provinces and some parts of the metropolis, herbolarios (medicine man) still practice indigenous ways of healing. They only prescribe herbs to their patients.

The worst form of ignorance we have about herbal medicines is they maybe growing right in our own backyard and we only think of them as useless weeds. We fail to recognize them because we don’t know or understand what they are.  In fact, studies show that our country is home to around 8,000 to 12,000 species of herbal plants. Imagine if we could develop their full potential to help give us a healthy and long life.

The Department of Health prioritized 10 of these herbal plants during the information drive. These 10 herbal plants were subjected to major studies to find out their viability as alternative drugs to be marketed commercially.

Benefits of Noni Juice

The 10 herbal plants are: lagundi, sambong, tsaang-gubat, akapulko, niyug-niyogan, bayabas, yerba Buena, bawang, ampalaya, and ulasimang-bato.

Lagundi is indicated for cough and asthma while Sambong is used as a diuretic and anti-kidney stone alternative medicine. Tsaang-gubat is an intestinal anti-motility agent, Akapulko is basically anti-fungal, Niyug-niyogan is an anti-helminthic whereas Bayabas is an antiseptic.

Yerba Buena is good for fever and body pains. Finally, Bawang, Amplaya and Ulasimang-bato are good for lowering cholesterol, blood sugar, and uric acid levels, respectively.