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 Internet Guide
to Herbal Remedies

David J. Owen, MA, PhD

The Haworth Information Press®

An Imprint of The Haworth Press
New York • London • Oxford
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© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, and recording,
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Printed in the United States of America.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE
The development, preparation, and publication of this work has been undertaken with great care. However,
the Publisher, employees, editors, and agents of The Haworth Press are not responsible for any errors
contained herein or for consequences that may ensue from use of materials or information contained in this
work. The Haworth Press is committed to the dissemination of ideas and information according to the
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expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publisher, Directors, management,
or staff of The Haworth Press, Inc., or an endorsement by them.
Due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet, Web site names and addresses, though verified to the best of
the publisher’s ability, should not be accepted as accurate without independent verification.
Cover design by Kerry E. Mack.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Owen, David J.
Internet guide to herbal remedies / David J. Owen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-2230-1 (case-13 : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-2231-8 (soft-13 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-2230-3 (case-10 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-2231-1 (soft-10 : alk. paper)
1. Herbs—Therapeutic use—Computer network resources—Directories. 2. Web sites—Directories. I.
Title.

RM666.H33O976 2006
025.06'615321—dc22
2006015772
To the memory of my mother and to the memory
of my mentor, Miss Margaret “Maggie” Collins
 NOTES FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANS
AND LIBRARY USERS
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 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1. Navigating the World Wide Web 7

Understanding Web Addresses 7

Browsers 9
Web Surfing with “Bookmarks” or “Favorites” 10
How to Navigate a Web Site 10
Avoiding Eyestrain 12
Web Sites for Browser Downloads 12

Chapter 2. Online Conversations 15

Electronic Discussion Groups 15

Chat Rooms and Instant Messaging 16
Web Logs 17
Netiquette 18
Web Sites for Chatting Online 18

Chapter 3. Herbal Information on the Internet 21

The Good, the Bad, and the Sales Pitch 21

Web Sites for Evaluating Web Content 24
What’s in the Bottle? Understanding Product Labels 25
Web Sites for Decoding Herbal Product Labels 28
General Health and CAM Web Sites 30

Chapter 4. Searching the Medical Literature 37

Understanding the Science of Herbs 37

Web Sites for Background Botany 40
The Importance of Medical Journals 42
PubMed (MEDLINE) 43
 Google versus PubMed 44
Web Sites for Links to Databases, Technical Information,
and Published Research 45
Chapter 5. Herbal Safety and Efficacy 53

Are Herbs Safe? 53

Web Sites That Discuss Herbal Side Effects
and Herb/Drug Interactions 55
Let The Buyer Beware: Fraud and Quackery 59
Web Sites Dedicated to Consumer Awareness 61

Chapter 6. Diseases and Conditions 65

AIDS/HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) 66

Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia 66
Anxiety 67
Arthritis 69
Cancer 69
Cardiovascular System 75
The Common Cold and the Flu 75
Depression and Memory Impairment 76
Diabetes 77
Headaches and Migraines 78
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) 79
Menopause 79
Prostate Problems (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, BPH) 79
Sexual Dysfunction/Erectile Dysfunction 80
Skin Conditions 81
Sleep and Insomnia 81
Sports Injuries/Use of Supplements in Sports 82
Substance Abuse/Alcoholism 83
Teeth and Gum Diseases 83
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) 84
Chapter 7. Herbal Information for Specific Populations 87

Women’s Health 87
Information for Children and Parents 91
Aging 94
Chapter 8. Herbs for Pets 97

Chapter 9. The Bottom Line! 101

Glossary 103
Index 113
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David J. Owen, MA, PhD, is Education Coordinator for the Basic Sci-
ences in the Library and Center for Knowledge Management at the
University of California, San Francisco. He also holds an appointment
as Assistant Clinical Professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy. Dr.
Owen previously worked as an information specialist in the biotechnol-
ogy field and is the author of The Herbal Internet Companion: Herbs
and Herbal Medicine Online (Haworth).
 Acknowledgments

This book would have taken longer to complete without an award

from the University-wide Research Grants for Librarians program pro-
vided by the Librarians Association of the University of California
(LAUC). This grant allowed me to spend some time away from the li-
brary during 2004-2005 to concentrate on the actual writing.
I wish to acknowledge the following people who, in many different
ways, provided support and encouragement during the writing of this
book: Mr. Stephen Rosenberg, Ben, Andy, Keith, David, and Warren;
my friend and colleague Min-Lin Fang; my dad and my sister Chris-
tine. Thanks also to M. Sandra Wood and the staff at The Haworth
Press.

Internet Guide to Herbal Remedies

© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/5855_a xi
 Introduction
Introduction

The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to

find it.
Samuel Johnson

This book is aimed at the consumer who wishes to go online and find
reliable information on herbs and herbal remedies. Though information
about herbs is widely available on the Internet, its quality is very un-
even and, in my opinion, much of it is of little value to the average user.
Many health-related Web sites do provide accurate and up-to-date
news, facts, and advice about herbs, but many others do not. Instead,
they may provide information that is not only misleading, but possibly
harmful. Literally thousands of Web sites are dedicated to nearly every
conceivable health subject. How do you find the good stuff? Which
Web sites can you trust? How do you know when information is mis-
leading or when a Web site is just a thinly veiled advertisement for
someone selling a product? If you are new to using the Internet to find
health information, or are an experienced surfer wishing to find herbal
information you can trust, this book can help you.
My first encounter with medicinal herbs occurred in England during
my student days in the 1970s, when the “back to nature” movement re-
kindled public interest in so-called “alternative” medical remedies. Out
of curiosity, and in a search for something to treat insomnia, I picked up
a copy of Maud Grieve’s 1931 A Modern Herbal1 in a secondhand book
store.* Among the many delights and revelations in this book was a

*Mrs. Grieve’s Modern Herbal was published in 1931 and at the time was considered
“modern” because it was the first new herbal for over 100 years. Though still widely used by
herbalists, it’s rather dated now and is mainly of historical interest.

Internet Guide to Herbal Remedies

© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/5855_01 1
2 INTERNET GUIDE TO HERBAL REMEDIES

chapter on the benefits of valerian tea as a way to get a good night’s

sleep. At that time you couldn’t buy herbal preparations at your local
pharmacy, so off I trotted to an old dusty herbal shop buried away in a
London suburb, where both the shop and its owner seemed to have
stepped straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. Valerian proved to be
an effective remedy for getting to sleep at night and many years later I
still occasionally use it, along with cups of mint tea to perk up during
the day and chamomile for relaxation after a hard day’s work.
Much has changed in the herbal world since the 1970s. On my last
visit to England I found a whole section of shelves in my parents’ local
supermarket devoted entirely to herbal teas. In addition to the usual fa-
vorites such as mint and chamomile, I discovered teas containing lico-
rice, raspberry, new ones such as chi (pronounced like “pie”) and some
I’d never heard of, such as “red tea” or rooibos (pronounced ROY-
boss), a tea with high levels of antioxidants. In the town’s main phar-
macy, next to shelves filled with the standard drugs such as aspirin,
cough medicines, and antibiotic cream, I discovered a wide range of
herbal products that wouldn’t have been there a decade ago: St. John’s
wort for depression, echinacea for insomnia, and tea tree antiseptic oil
for fungal infections.
Herbs are currently enjoying an unprecedented popularity: see Table
I.1 for a list of the most popular ones used in the United States. Al-
though herbal remedies have been prescribed by physicians in several
European countries for many years, the rapid rise of interest in so-
called “alternative therapies” by the American public has taken many
health professionals in the United States completely by surprise. It was
only in the 1990s that they really became aware of just how many of
their patients actually use them. Until recently, there was a limited
number of professional handbooks and consumer guides: even physi-
cians had a hard job finding information. Fortunately, mainstream med-
icine is becoming more open-minded about herbs, acupuncture, and
other unconventional therapies, so many health care providers are now
much better informed than they used to be. Furthermore, many more
scientific studies are now being carried out on popular herbs such as
echinacea and St. John’s wort, and federal agencies such as the Na-
tional Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
have been set up to make information more readily available to the pub-
lic.
 Introduction 3

TABLE I.1. Most Popular Herbs Sold in the United States.

Common Name Scientific Name Used For

Ginkgo Ginkgo biloba Dementia
St. John’s wort Hypericum perforatum Depression
Ginseng Panax ginseng Fatigue and weakness
Garlic Allium sativum High cholesterol
Echinacea Echinacea pupurea Colds
Saw palmetto Serenoa repens Prostate conditions
Kava kava Piper methysticum Anxiety
Valerian Valeriana officinalis Insomnia
Evening primrose Oenothera macrocarpa Inflammation
Goldenseal Hydrastis canadensis Colds
Milk thistle Silybum marianum Liver disorders
Bilbery Vaccinium myrtillus Eye disorders
Black cohosh Cimicifuga racemosa Menopause, premenstrual
syndrome
Cranberry Vaccinium macrocarpon Urinary tract infections

It seems somewhat ironic that the resurgence of public interest in

medical practices once widely regarded as relics of more ignorant
times should have occurred at a time when computers and the Internet
are revolutionizing the way we access and use information. An increas-
ing number of people are now seeking health information online. Infor-
mation that used to be only available in research journals or in the col-
lection of a local medical library is now being published on Web sites
that can be accessed by anyone with a home computer and an Internet
Service Provider (ISP). However, many health professionals and orga-
nizations are justifiably concerned about consumers using the Internet
to find health information because of the extreme variability in its qual-
ity. Casually surfing the Web for herbal information is not recom-
mended, since you’ll have to navigate a tangled maze of unsubstanti-
ated claims, anecdotal information, and a good deal of mumbo jumbo, a
large percentage of it written by nonprofessionals or herbal product
manufacturers. Some of this information is often more confusing than