Botanical Influences on Illness by M. Werbach, MD
 

About the Author (as excerpted from his published biographical sketch):

"Doctor Werbach received his education at Columbia College, Tufts University School of Medicine, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Among his appointments, he has served as Consultant to the Pain Center at the City of Hope National Medical Center, and Director of Clinical Biofeedback and Psychological Services at the UCLA Pain Control Unit.
...
Doctor Werbach is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and holds a faculty appointment in psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. Listed in American Men and Women of Science as well as in several Who’s Whos, he is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Nutritional Medicine (UK). the Journal of Optimal Nutrition (US), Health News and Review (US), and Alternative Medicine Digest (US), an Advisory Panel member of What Doctors Don’t Tell You (UK), consultant in nutrition to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and a member of the advisory committee to The Dead Sea Conferences (Israel), an international forum dedicated to integrating mainstream, traditional and alternative approaches to medical care. He is an honorary life member of the Biofeedback Society of California and an honorary member of the Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.  ... "

Editorial Reviews:

About the Book:

An excellent insight into the book can be gained from the Introduction to Botanical Influences on Illness (2nd Edition), quoted as follows:

"Botanical medicine refers to the use of plants or plant substances as medicinal agents.  While the medicinal use of plants has existed since the dawn of time, the scientific investigation of herbal remedies is a recent development, and our knowledge of how plants actually affect human physiology remains largely a mystery.  As of today, even though investigators are intent on proving whether or not medicinal applications of plants and plant substances are effective and, if so, what their mechanisms of action may be, many practitioners remain content to accept empirical evidence of a plant's efficacy.

Botanical Influences on Illness seeks to demonstrate the growing scientific basis for the medicinal application of botanicals.  The bulk of the text consists of a series of chapters covering the major illnesses for which a reasonable amount of scientific literature exists.  Individual plants and plant substances are discussed first, followed by any notable mixtures of two or more botanical ingredients.  Our emphasis in the selection of abstracts is on studies of clinical interest, namely those that have investigated the efficacy of preventive and therapeutic interventions.  We have attempted to approach the subject in an unbiased manner by selecting studies with negative, as well as positive, outcomes and by including warnings of known contraindications and side effects.

In each chapter. following the listing of a botanical  agent, we present a series of statements concerning that agent, each of which is followed by selected abstracts from the literature which either substantiate or refute it.  None of these statements is a therapeutic recommendation!  When available, abstracts from review articles have been included to provide the perspective if acknowledged experts.  Randomized, double-blind controlled studies are emphasized; however, because such studies are often unavailable, uncontrolled studies (open trial), observational (epidemiological) studies, animal experiments, in vitro studies and even informal clinical observations are included.

Abstracts are presented in the order of their year of publication, with the latest papers listed first.  As it is not possible to include all studies, preference has been given to the best, the most relevant, and the most recent.

While Botanical Influences on Illness provides information that can be used to make therapeutic decisions, it is meant to be used as a sourcebook, not as a treatment manual, and therefore assumes that the reader who wishes to utilize botanical medicines either has an appropriate professional background or is under the guidance of a trained professional.

It is our hope that you will come away from this book with a deeper appreciation of the state of this rapidly evolving field as it exists today - and that the professional reader will be better able, not only to utilize botanical medicines in practice, but to answer the many questions concerning these important natural substances being asked by an increasingly sophisticated public."