An herb is a plant or part of a plant used for its flavor, scent, or potential therapeutic properties. Includes flowers, leaves, bark, fruit, seeds, stems, and roots. Herbal medicine products are dietary supplements that people take to improve their health. Many herbs have been used for a long time for claimed health benefits. They are sold as tablets, capsules, powders, teas, extracts and fresh or dried plants. However, some can cause health problems, some are not effective and some may interact with other drugs you are taking.

Dietary supplement is a product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements and treats them as foods, not drugs.

To use an herbal product as safely as possible:

• Consult your doctor first

• Do not take a bigger dose than the label recommends

• Take it under the guidance of a trained medical professional

• Be especially cautious if you are pregnant or nursing

                                            National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

List of Herbs at a glance
Aloe Vera Astragalus Bilberry Bitter Orange Black Cohosh Cat's Claw Chamomile Chasteberry Cranberry Dandelion Echinacea Ephedra European Elder	Evening Primrose Oil Fenugreek Feverfew Flaxseed and Flaxseed Oil Garlic Ginger Ginkgo Ginseng (Asian) Goldenseal Grape Seed Extract Green Tea Hawthorn Hoodia	Horse Chestnut Kava Lavender Licorice Root Milk Thistle Mistletoe Peppermint Oil Red Clover Saw Palmetto St. John's Wort Turmeric Valerian Yohimbe
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Why should I use herbal products?

The decision to use herbs to improve your health is, as with all health decisions, a personal one. There are, however, many good reasons to consider herbal products to  complement your own health care methods. One of the best reason, however, may be the fact that herbs and herbal products, continue to provide real health benefits while maintaining a remarkable safety profile. Readily available natural substances were the first medicines used by humans. Primitive and ancient civilizations as well as contemporary cultures throughout the world have always relied on herbs to provide the benefits that have been observed with their use. In fact, the World Health Organization has estimated that 80 percent of the world's population continues to use traditional therapies, a major part of which are derived from plants, as their primary health care tools. In our own time and culture, most herbs are available in the form of "herbal supplements." These products are found in the form of teas, tablets, capsules, liquid extracts, and others. We now have ready access to products that bring the herbal traditions from all over the world in a variety of convenient forms. In addition, scientific inquiries continue to develop our knowledge of the benefits of plants, and often validate the observations made over the past centuries.

Are herbs safe?

Plants that enjoy broad culinary and therapeutic usage are generally safe. We can flavor our food with any number of herbs to make a meal more flavorful. We can appreciate a delicious cup of peppermint leaf or ginger root tea, or benefit from the soothing properties of marshmallow root or the bark of slippery elm. We can take an herbal supplement containing dandelion root or saw palmetto berries, or any number of the other herbs. Although allergies and reactions have been recorded for a few herbs that are widely used in foods and supplements, such individual concerns are also seen with many foods, and do not diminish the safety profile of the many herbs that are generally recognized as safe. On the other hand, and as everyone knows, there are any number of plants that are highly toxic, even deadly.

Updated: August 5, 2009