The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7473 p394
13 October 2007

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Herbal medicines tailored to individuals lack evidence

No convincing evidence exists to show that individualised herbal medicine is effective for any condition, a review in the Postgraduate Medical Journal has concluded (2007;83:633).

The researchers conducted a search for randomised, controlled trials of individualised herbal medicine and considered 1,345 studies. All but 15 were excluded for being irrelevant and only three were considered to be randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of at least moderate quality. The authors also contacted professional herbalist bodies, which were unable to contribute any further studies.

Two of the three studies identified failed to show statistically significant differences between treatment and control groups. The third showed that individualised treatment was better than placebo, but inferior to standardised treatment.

“Individualised herbal medicine, as practised in European medical herbalism, Chinese herbal medicine and Ayurvedic herbal medicine, has a sparse evidence base and there is no convincing evidence that it is effective in any indication,” the authors conclude.

“Because of the high potential for adverse events and negative herb-herb and herb-drug interactions, this lack of evidence for effectiveness means that its use cannot be recommended,” they add.Β