Herbals, cancer prevention and health

The use of herbs for medical benefit has played an important role in nearly every culture on earth. Herbal medicine was practiced by ancient cultures in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The recent popularity in use of h erbals can be tied to the belief that herbs can provide some benefit over a nd above allopathic medicine and allow users to feel that they have some co ntrol in their choice of medications. The widespread use of herbs, either d irectly or as dietary supplements, has raised many scientific questions. Ar e herbal preparations safe? Do herbs interact with pharmaceutical medicatio ns to enhance or reduce their efficacy? The first interaction can be shown by the effects of St. John's Wort, a mild herbal antidepressant, and many c ommonly used medicines. St. John's Wort can induce the CYP3A family of acti vation enzymes through which similar to 50% of drugs are metabolized. This poses some risk of inadvertently reducing the half-life of such drugs as in dinavir, cyclosporin and cyclophosphamide. On the other hand, herbal produc ts may act in a pathway similar to pharmaceuticals yet without side effects . Natural anti-inflammatory compounds abound in the herbal world and are fo und in green tea, the spices turmeric and rosemary, feverfew and others. Be cause the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is associated with a reduced risk for several cancers, it is at least plausible that nat ural NSAID should be explored for possible use as cancer preventives.