Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-Care Professionals [Hardcover]

Joanne Barnes (Author), Linda A. Anderson (Author), J. D. Phillipson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0853692890 | ISBN-13: 978-0853692898 | Publication Date: January 1996 | Edition: 2nd

This work, produced under the direction of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, is intended to serve as a reference work for pharmacists, doctors and other health-care workers and to help them provide professional advice on the use of herbal remedies to members of the public.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Pharmaceutical Press; 2nd edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0853692890
• ISBN-13: 978-0853692898
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,107,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark reference, March 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-Care Professionals (Hardcover)

First published in 1996, this book stands as a landmark reference work on herbal medicines for health professionals, particularly pharmacists. The authors are all affliliated with the Department of Pharmacognosy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, and the book was commissioned by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in response to the many questions they were fielding on herbal medicines from practicing pharmacists. This is not a book that will interest most lay people as it is quite technical in its approach to the topic. The book, however, is very readable, despite being technical. It is organized around 141 monographs on individual medicinal plants. Each monograph includes species, synonyms, parts used, availability of other pharmaceutical monographs, legal category of product (in Great Britain), constituents, food use, herbal use, pharmacological actions, side effects & toxicity, contraindications & warnings, a pharmaceutical comment from the authors, and references. The monograph sections on pharmacological actions summarize both animal and human studies. In addition to the 141 monographs on individual medicinal plants, the book has a number of quick reference tables, e.g. potential drug/herb interactions, listings of ingredients by their primary activity, e.g. cardioactive, laxative, diuretic, hypotensive, hypertensive, anticoagulant (etc.), and listing of ingredients by constituents, e.g. coumarins, flavonoids, saponins (etc.). The book begins with a list of potential adverse effects of the herbal ingredients listed in the monographs and another list of herbal ingredients that is is best to avoid or use with caution during pregnancy. The book is well-referenced throughout, including a listing of general references at the beginning of the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ...not so very useful, November 30, 2006

By 

Jaime B. Seltzer "kirinin" (Columbia, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-Care Professionals (Hardcover)

Although I have had this book for years, I find myself turning to it less and less. This is not because the information has grown out of date, but because the writings are tinged with an almost alarmist viewpoint, frequently basing cautions and warnings on in vitro research of one isolated chemical or extremely concentrated extract of a plant.

Herbal Medicines: a Guide for Health Care Professionals has been written to appeal to - and somewhat to pander to - the mainstream, and is most useful in the capacity of the mainstream. The monographs are short, often one page per herb, and don't contain enough information for proper use. There isn't even any talk about methods of administration! If anything, this reads as a list of possible interactions and difficulties one may acquire through the consumption of natural products rather than a guide to properly using them.

That said, in 1996, this was likely one of the very first compilations of herbal research that was bound and delivered concisely, and the authors deserve recognition in light of that. However, I do wish that someone with more of a bent towards acutal herbalism was included in the authorship.