Many people swear by herbal supplements, and there is this idea that these supplements have no side effects. Often they are useful, but you need to be careful:

For one, anything if taken in excess can harm your body. In other words, it’s poisonous. Even ayurvedic and ‘herbal’ medicine and supplements. They are not standardised the way ‘western’ medicine is, and every batch of a medicine may contain different amounts of the effective substance. They also tend to contain heavy metals. So you should not overdose on herbal supplements, thinking it cannot harm you.

Two, if you have a serious illness - AIDS, hepatitis, cancer, kidney disease - your best bet is still  regular medicine. Many people in India distrust public hospitals and find private treatment too expensive, and so go to alternative medicine doctors, and some people really believe herbal treatment can cure them. But ‘western’ medicine is still the best we have for these diseases and many other problems (fractures, transplants, ).

You can use herbal treatment alongside regular treatment, but you should never forego regular treatment, especially for a serious disease.

Read more about herbal medicine here:

1. Information about herbal medicine

2. Herbal beauty oils

3. Herbal menopause remedy debunked

4. Herbal medicine factory closes after its drug  causes death