Potential Dangers of Using Herbal Remedies

Herbal remedies have been around for a long, long time and have been used to help cure a variety of health concerns. Most of the remedies used before comprised mainly of herbal remedies since there were no other alternatives at the time. Herbal remedies were used by different cultures in different ways for different ailments and diseases, all before the development of our modern day pharmaceutical medicines.Nowadays, we have been used to using different pharmaceutically developed medicines for our ailments and diseases, reducing the need for herbal remedies. Although such is the case, a lot of people still are using herbal remedies to address their health concerns, even if there are pharmaceutical drugs readily available to us.One of the appeals of herbal remedies is the fact that they are tagged as “natural”, which means that they are made up of natural ingredients, giving them the appearance of a much healthier alternative to our modern day medicines and drugs. However, though such is the case, people seem to forget that most of the pharmaceutical medicines and drugs that people are using nowadays are also made up of natural ingredients, similar to those herbal remedies that we see and use. The only difference is that the ingredients in pharmaceutical remedies have been processed and developed specifically so that they contain the exact amount of dosage and potency. These pharmaceutical remedies have been rigorously tested before they were even permitted to be sold in the market, which is why their effects and side-effects remain constant.With herbal remedies, however, their potency is not constant and standard. The same type of herbal remedy may not be as potent as the other since a lot of factors help determine the level of potency that a herbal remedy gets. Factors such as soil conditions, rainfall, as well as exposure to the sun can greatly affect the quality of the ingredients that make up the herbal drug, and can influence the potency of the remedy. And since these herbal remedies do not undergo the same level of safety and preparation, as well as the same level of inspection and testing before approval for use in the market as with pharmaceutical medicines, their quality is not always assured.Another potential danger of using herbal remedies is that there are over 37 percent of these herbal remedies that are either known to be safe, or whose safety is unknown. This is a large percentage for people to rely too much on herbal remedies in addressing their health concerns. Since herbal remedies are not regulated by the Food and Drugs Association (FDA), there is no way of knowing for sure if the types of herbal remedies that you are using are actually safe to use or not.Also, what makes herbal remedies potentially dangerous is the fact that it is not just made up of the ingredients that it indicates that it is made of. Since there are no strict policies and rules on how these remedies should be prepared and produced, other natural ingredients may find their way into the herbal remedy. These other ingredients may have adverse effects on the person using them, which is why people using herbal remedies cannot be entirely sure of the quality and effectiveness of the herbal remedies that they are using.