by Caroline Kramer

Created on: January 18, 2009   Last Updated: January 28, 2009

There can be few of us who do not have a tub of dried basil or some black pepper somewhere in a kitchen cupboard - some of us might even have a whole smorgasbord of herbs and spices - but how often do you think of picking up and of them when you are sick or in need of antiseptic or a tranquilizer?

In 1653 a book called Culpeper's Complete Herbal was published. It was written by an English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper

and is fascinating reading. It is fascinating because it puts into book form what people had know about the plants around them for centuries. It uses plants which we have heard of and some which we would have to search the English hedgerows to find. But it should not surprise us that plants are powerful allies in our quest for health and that the idea of herbal medicine is not one which is so far removed from the realms of sensible possibility. After all some of the most powerful drugs which have been produced in recent decade - dilantin (heart) from Foxglove and L-Dopa (Parkinsons) from a tropical bean.

Some of these old remedies have been put to the test in clinical trials. Researchers find that there are properties in the plants which match the claims for their healing. Burdock has an antiseptic properties, likely why it was good against dog bites. Feverfew is credited with blocking both serotonin and prostaglandins which are causes of the onset of migraines - so its traditional use in the treatment of headaches makes sense.

So there may well me a scientific backbone for many of these claims but which herb and spices do we include in our day to day life and which do we avoid?

First of all avoid fads and pills. If you cannot buy a herb or grow it you can usually buy it cheaply at a wholefood store in tablet form. Brands make big promises and cost big bucks. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about what different herbs do and try them out. If you are going to take them in concentrated form, especially the ones that can affect mood and feelings, add one at a time and leave at least a month for your system to adjust between each one. They can be dangerous.

This brings me to my second point - know your herbs. Some herbs can be dangerous for some people. St. John's Wort has been well catalogued as a problem for some people. If you have had any problems with anti-depressants in the past, be careful with this herb. The same is true if you have a mood disorder , it has been reported to cause mania. But St. John's Wort is not the only problem. If

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