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Herbalists claim a single herb may simultaneously address
several of these factors. Likewise a factor such as ROS may
underly more than one condition. In short herbalists view their
field as the study of a web of relationships rather than a quest
for single cause and a single cure for a single condition.
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Optimal chemical defenses have been selected for and have thus
developed over millions of years.Human diseases are
multifactorial and may be treated by consuming the chemical
defences that they believe to be present in herbs. |
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In
specific cases the claims of synergy and
multifunctionality have been supported by science. The open
question is how widely both can be generalized. Herbalists would
argue that cases of synergy can be widely generalized, on the
basis of their interpretation of evolutionary history, not
necessarily shared by the pharmaceutical community. Plants are
subject to similar selection pressures as humans and therefore
they must develop resistance to threats such as radiation,
reactive oxygen species and microbial attack in order to
survive. s |