By now you've learned that there are a myriad of factors that can impact
the quality in conclusions of botanical research.
This makes it really important for you to identify good sources for finding research
on botanical medicines so you have the best evidence to inform your practice.
The guidelines I will share in this video will help you identify good sources for
finding research on botanicals and helping to streamline your search.
You may be already be familiar with some general factors to consider when
evaluating and selecting research sources including is the study relevant?
Is the study valid?
Are the results statistically significant?
And do the results compare to other research?
There are several other important points to keep
in mind specifically when evaluating a research study on botanicals.
A good research study should always identify the plant by its scientific or
Latin name, which identifies the plant's genus and species.
Lemon balm's scientific name, for
example, is melissa, the genus officinalis, the species.
This may sound like a really obvious point, but you'd actually be surprised how
often a botanical research study simply identifies a plant by its common name.
For example, a research study may report the effects of ginseng
never identifying what type of ginseng was at use.
Was it Panax ginseng or Panax quinquefolius?
What part of the plant that was used is also a really important detail even though
it may not seem like a big deal.
Was it the root, the leaf, the seed, the bark, etc?
The reason this is so important is that different parts of the same plant
can actually have different therapeutic properties.
This is a really important detail to be looking for
in any botanical research study.
It's also crucial to know hot the plant was prepared.
Was it extracted with water, with alcohol and in what ratios?
All of this speaks to the potency of the botanical.
And the different preparation techniques can also impact the therapeutic
properties of the plant.
Finally, how is the botanical dosed and in what form?
Was it a pill, was it a tincture or a tea?
All of these are really important factors when interpreting botanical research.
You just learned some important components of a botanical research article.
Let's see if you can remember what to look for.
To further illustrate the nuances of botanical research,
I want to talk about an article that was published back in 2005.
This research study look at 437 participants,
who are randomized to receive preparations of echinacea augustafolia
root extract versus placebo in the prevention of and
treatment of upper respiratory infections, or URI for short.
Researchers found no benefits for the prevention or
the treatment of URIs with echinacea augustafolia.
At this point, this was one of the first major studies on the use of echinacea.
And many academics felt it was enough evidence to warrant
discontinuing research on echinacea.
Now we need to ask ourselves, is this one study enough to say that
echinacea is not effective for the symptomatic treatment of URI?
Let's take a closer look at it.
The species that was used in the trial was E Angustifolia.
However, the most research species of echinacea is actually echinacea purpurea.
This is the first sign that we may not be able to apply the results of the study
to all studies of echinacea.
Remember to some people, echinacea is just echinacea, but there are different
species of echinacea, and they have different therapeutic properties.
Most of the body of research on echinacea is on the fresh pressed juice of
the aerial, or the above ground, parts of E purpurea.
The Turner study use an aqueous extract of E angustifolia root.
So again, we need to look at not only the preparation but
what specific part of the plant was used.
We simply can't compare the Turner results to studies
were a different species in a different part of the plant was used.
Finally, the dosing of echinacea in the study was at 900 milligrams per day.
The World Health Organization recommends 1500 to 3000 milligrams per day.
And many herbalists will give up to 6,000 milligrams per day for acute infections.
This means that the Turner study may have significantly underdosed
the study participants.
Many research studies using the fresh-pressed juice of E purpurea in
higher dosages showed benefit for its use in the prevention or treatment of URI.
However, to be clear, other studies have not shown benefit.
My goal in teaching you about this article is not to make a conclusion on echinacea,
but to simply to speak about the importance of not drawing conclusions
based on a single research study, whether it's positive or negative.
It's really important to keep abreast of the most current comprehensive research on
any medicines botanical or pharmaceutical that you may be recommending.
If you are wondering where to find research on botanicals, I suggest starting
with the same resources as you would check for pharmaceutical research.
Some good examples, especially in the United States, are PubMed, Cochrane, and
the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
All can be found through a quick Internet search.
Please make sure that you're using these types of sources, and not just going
by whatever an advertisement for a supplement claims to have studied.
It is important to remember that the quality of research sources for
botanicals can vary.
Using the quality indicators taught in this video
will help you identify good sources.
That being said, you should always start botanical research with the same source
that you would use for pharmaceutical research.
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