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Welcome to our blog, we hope it to help you widening your knowloge about such a polemic and benefic to human health. We thank your visit: Elis Parode, Fernanda Beling, Guilherme Dalcin e Lucas Saccol, colégio Sant'Anna, Santa Maria - RS - Brasil. Teacher Leticia!

Are there any problems about using other medicines along with phytotherapics?

The phytoterapics are allopathic medicines, having chemical composes that may interact with other medicines. The medicinal plants also have active chemical composes that can promote this kind of interaction.

One should take care when gathering medicines with or without medicinal plants, what can diminish the effects or cause unwanted reactions.An exemple of this is the use of Hypericum Perforatum together with contraceptive medicine, which will allow a woman to get pregnant or the use of Ginkgo Biloba with anticoagulants, as warfarin or acetylsalicylic acid, which may cause hemorrhages. A doctor must be always consulted before the use of any medicine and/or combination of them.

What should one be aware about the phytotherapics?

The same prevention taken for other medicines:
Gather information with health professionals;
Talk to your doctor about any bad reaction that happened while using medicinal plants or phytotherapics;
Take special care about pregnant or breast-feeding women, kids and elders;
Inform your doctor if you are using medicinal plants or phytotherapics, especially before a surgery;
Get the phytotherapics from authorized pharmacies only;
Pay attention to recipes;
Deny miraculous medicines.

Can the phytoterapics make any bad to someone’s health?

As in any medicine, it’s misuse can cause many disorders such as high pressure; liver and kidney diseases and even death, depending of the product and use.

What it is not considered phytoterapic?

Tea: In Brazil, the teas are taken as beverages.

Homeopathy: The homeopathic medicines are produced in a different way of the phytoterapics, through dinamization. In this kind of therapy, are used other than just active substances of vegetal sources, any mineral, animal and/or synthetic substance.

Parts of medicinal plants: These plants are considered raw material from what is made the phytoterapics. The medicinal plants can be commercialized in Brazil in pharmacies and specialized craft shops, as long as they don't have a specific recipe, do have the proper classification and are taken care in the right way.

Can the manipulation pharmacies produce phytoterapics?

Yes. The manipulation pharmacies have permission to manipulate medicines and along them the phytoterapics, but these products aren’t registered in Anvisa. A Phytoterapic can be manipulated if it is granted the right prescription or if it’s formula is in the “Farmacopéia Brasileira”, “Formulário Nacional” or in a similar statement.

What is the difference between medicinal and phytoterapics?

The medicinal plants are those able to relieve or heal diseases and are traditionally used as medicine in a community. To use them, is needed to know the plant and how to prepare it.

When the medicinal plant is used massively to craft industrialized medicine, the result is a phytoterapic. The process of industrialization avoids bacteria and other infections plus it padronize the quantity and way of use, being safer.

The industrialized phytoterapics must be registered in Anvisa/Health Ministry before they are commercialized.

Know some PHYTOTERAPICS...

Aloe Vera: has traditionally been used for the healing of burns and wounds. A systematic review (from 1999) states that the efficacy of aloe vera in promoting wound healing is unclear, while a later review (from 2007) concludes that the cumulative evidence supports the use of aloe vera for the healing of first to second degree burns.

Eldeberry: (Sambucus nigra) may spreed the recovery from type A and B influenza. however it is possibly risky in the case of avian influenza because the immunostimulatory effects may aggravate the cytokine cascade.

Garlic: (Allium sativum) may lower total cholesterol levels.

Ginger: (Zingiber officinale), administered in 250 mg capsules for four days, effectively decreased nausea and vomiting of pregnancy in a human clinical trial.

Honey: may reduce cholesterol. May be useful in wound healing.

Shiitake: mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) are edible mushrooms that have been reported to have health benefits, including cancer-preventing properties. In laboratory research a shiitake extract has inhibited the growth of tumor cells through induction of apoptosis. Both a water extract and fresh juice of shiitake have demonstrated antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria and fungi in vitro.