Chinese and western herbs have been used for millennia to
restore health. Pharmacopoeia’s of various traditions have
classified thousands of herbs. The oldest Chinese materia medica
was the Shen Nong dated nearly 5,000 years ago. Many conditions
greatly benefit from the use of Chinese herbal therapies alone,
or with acupuncture. Western pharmaceuticals, in contrast, tend
to strongly move the body and suppress symptoms, rather than
address the root imbalance causing the disease. Because the FDA
only approves them when they are proven on group of people, each
having an individual, unique constitution, they often are are
very strong and have harsh side effects. Also, the for-profit
pharmaceutical industry promotes patentable, expensive medicine
and doesn’t have much interest in low-cost, natural
alternatives. Harsh western drugs an not meant to be in the body
long A fundamental difference between western pharmaceuticals
and herbal medicine is the herb is not a single alkaloid
extracted from the plant (or sometim