Health and medical information

Weeds, seeds, stems, leaves, roots, flowers – these are the stuff manly medicine is made from. Really.

For example, there’s a palm seed that relieves prostate enlargement as well as or better than prescription drugs and with fewer side effects. In your spice rack, there’s a seasoning that will lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, fight minor bacterial infections, and help guard against cancer. Chewing certain roots just plain makes you feel more vibrant. It’s true. What’s more, about a quarter of modern prescription medicines in North America are derived or synthesized from natural plant remedies just like the ones we’ve mentioned above – herbal remedies that have been used, in some cases, for thousands of years.

As you’ll learn, herbs can help you live longer, better. We think you should know about them. We are not in any way encouraging you to self-diagnose and self-treat any potentially life-threatening illness. Far from that. But we do believe that an informed man should be aware of his options, including the availability of natural healing compounds that often are effective in guarding against common ailments that attack men. You can find these herbs at your nearest health food store. Many are available in drugstores and groceries. Some may even be growing in your own backyard.

Just what are herbs good for? Here’s a list of ailments and complaints men face that herbs have been shown to help.

Cutting cholesterol, fighting infections. If you want to do both, garlic is your herb. Eating about a clove per day ought to do it, recommends Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., dean emeritus of Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences in West Lafayette, Indiana, and distinguished professor emeritus of pharmacognosy (natural pharmaceuticals). Garlic kills many bacteria, including those that cause ear infections. It reduces cholesterol and keeps blood from clumping and sticking to artery walls, thus avoiding the deadly narrowing of the arteries that can lead to high blood pressure and heart attacks.

Garlic gets its power from a natural antimicrobial ingredient called allicin (pronounced like the girl’s name Allison), which is formed when the garlic is chewed or crushed. So if you’re going to take your garlic raw, you need to chew it, says Dr. Tyler. Of course, taking garlic that way will get you your allicin, but in the process you may lose your Allison. Dr. Tyler recommends getting your garlic the odorless way-through a coated tablet or capsule. Make sure that the label says it yields between 2,500 and 5,000 milligrams of allicin per dose.

Reversing liver damage. Taking lots of prescription medication over the years, drinking too much alcohol, breathing or ingesting too many pollutants of any sort-all of the above gets processed by the liver. Take in too much of this stuff and the liver can wear out or get damaged. An herb known as milk thistle seems to guard the liver and even help reverse some damage, says Dr. Tyler. The active ingredient here is silymarin. In Europe, doctors have been able to effectively counter otherwise often deadly mushroom poisoning by injecting a standardized form of silymarin into patients. An effective formulation of milk thistle herb should state on the label that it contains 80 to 85 percent silymarin, says Dr. Tyler. Follow the dosage instructions on the labels.

One milk thistle no-no: Don’t down a handful of capsules because you’re heading to a party and planning to get smashed, Dr. Tyler says. Taken as an herb, milk thistle is a gentle liver healer, not a poisoning preventive or liver protector.

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