How to transfer traditional knowledge about medicinal herbs? or TCM plants: a black box for modern oncologists
Judith Büntzel1, Oliver Micke2, Jens Büntzel3
1Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
Objective:
How could we transfer knowledge about healing plants from other cultures? We analyzed the results of literature search in two exemplary fields-oral mucositis and polyneuropathy.
Materials And Methods:
In both systematic searches of existing literature, we found 57 studies investigating 68 plants from different traditional cultures (16 Western Medicine, 14 Persian Medicine, 9 Japanese, 10 Chinese, and 8 other sources). We analyzed studies regarding their ingredient plants and reproducibility in relation to the system of origin.
Results:
Western and Persian Medicine trials investigate single plants, whereas Japanese and Chinese trials focus on mixtures and decoctions. European folk medicine knows of only 50% of plants used in both Asian cultures. The used ingredients and dosages were reproducible in all analyzed trials except TCM studies.
Conclusions:
Herbal knowledge has been transferred from all folk medicines worldwide. However, Western oncologists should be aware that Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs are still a black box of knowledge for us until today.
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