Healing Potential of Plants

A comprehensive research study published in PLOS One found that natural products can rival the potency levels of man-made drugs, potentially reducing or eliminating the negative side effects associated with pharmaceutical drugs. This article, published by Waking Times, covers the study's findings and explains the healing power of taking natural products in sufficient quantities and combinations that produce synergistic effects.

Active ingredients in natural products can compete with synthetic anticancer and antibacterial drugs. These natural remedies must be administered in larger quantities or taken over a longer span of time. Empirical evidence from indigenous tribes and cultures that have used natural products for long periods of time, often pre-dating the historical record, show great success with plant-based medicine practices.

Many herbs, fruits, and vegetables work better than medication for specific diseases. For example, soursop fruit has been found to kill cancer up to 10,000 times more effectively than chemotherapy. Eating apples daily has been found to be more effective than statin medications at reducing heart disease.

The research study was led by Professor Chen Yu Zong from the National University of Singapore. "There have been claims that natural products simply have a placebo effect… in our study, we looked at more than 100 types of natural product combinations that are perceived to be the best and found that it is possible for natural products to achieve the same effectiveness as man-made drugs," said Professor Chen.

Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine Kate Robinson supported the study's findings. "Organic medicinal ingredients align extremely well with the body at all molecular levels through all systems, so naturally concentrations would be lower than pharmaceutical drugs designed for acute responses which are very foreign to the body," Robinson said.

Maintaining a thoughtful plant-based diet may prove more efficacious than succumbing to a doctor-recommended pharmaceutical drug routine. "Consuming organic medicinal ingredients would be equal if not superior in the long-term since the alignment would allow the body to heal naturally without the risk of damage to other body systems and organs unlike pharmaceuticals," Robinson said.

This study's findings may provide a foundation for further studies on the effectiveness of herbal medicine, and may lead to new research that will assess more efficient combinations of natural products that can fight diseases. The research team plans to conduct more research in this area in the future.