Chinese herbology

Dried herbs and plant portions for Chinese herbology at a Xi'an market
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Chinese herbology (traditional Chinese: 中藥學; simplified Chinese: 中药学; pinyin: zhōngyào xué) is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A Nature editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action.[1]

The term herbology is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, and mineral products are also used, some of which are poisonous. In the Huangdi Neijing they are referred to as 毒藥 (pinyin: dúyào) which means toxin, poison, or medicine. Paul U. Unschuld points out that this is similar etymology to the Greek pharmakon and so he uses the term pharmaceutic.[2] Thus, the term medicinal (instead of herb) is usually preferred as a translation for 藥 (pinyin: yào).[3]

Research into the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal therapy is of poor quality and often tainted by bias,[4] with little or no rigorous evidence of efficacy.[5] There are concerns over a number of potentially toxic Chinese herbs.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference swallow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Unschuld Paul U., Medicine in China: A History of Pharmaceutics, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 1986
  3. ^ Nigel Wiseman; Ye Feng (2002-08-01). Introduction to English Terminology of Chinese Medicine. Paradigm Publications. ISBN 9780912111643. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shang-2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Siegfried, N. L; Hughes, G (2012). "Herbal medicine, randomised controlled trials and global core competencies". South African Medical Journal. 102 (12): 912–3. doi:10.7196/samj.6392 (inactive 2024-11-10). PMID 23498035.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shaw-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).