Evidence-based

Phil has a scientific and objective but inquisitive approach to the multiple medicinal claims of natural medicines, and pursues an ‘Evidence-Based’ approach to identifying herbal medicines that have a good chance of helping with particular health situations. With herbal medicines, ‘evidence’ derives from three main sources:

a)    Strong and validated evidence of popular historical or current use for the particular ailment or one closely related, in Traditional Medicine practices.

b)    Scientific studies supporting either traditional uses or other relevant therapeutic activities.

c)     Personal experience with the successful use of herbal medicines, on himself, friends and family, and much more so, in treating thousands of patients over the past 27 years.

The Benefits of Using ‘Local’

Medicinal plants tend to have greater therapeutic properties and healing powers when they have been recently harvested from healthy soils, and New Zealand is an ideal country to grow a wide range of such plants. As with our fruits and other food crops, medicinal herbs have also shown excellent quality parameters when grown in the NZ environment.

Getting to know and grow or sustainably ‘wildcraft’ medicinal plants from our local surroundings, has many benefits both to ourselves and our environment.

Apart from having high levels of active constituents (phytochemicals) and thus health benefits, by using herbs grown in New Zealand, we help to build more of a local industry and knowledge, and reduce our dependence on drugs and imported medicines.

Incorporating Herbs into the Diet

The saying ‘Let Food be thy medicine’ is sound advice, and many well known plants and culinary herbs and spices have powerful medicinal properties. Incorporating more of these into the diet or taking them as a daily tonic, can therefore help prevent many illnesses, and optimise general health and wellness. Growing some herbs and medicinal plants in our own gardens can have numerous benefits, and it’s no surprise that science is now confirming that the more healthy plants we eat, the healthier we become!

Dosage

Knowledge about how much of a particular herb to take or use in different situations, is often lacking, and use of too low or too high a dose, is a common cause of failure of a given treatment to produce the desired results. Phil has a keen interest in this subject, and his pharmacy background and 27 years of clinical experience, has taught him a lot about dosage and its importance in achieving the clinical outcomes required. While infants and children need to be treated very carefully when it comes to all medicines including plant-based ones, there are situations where adults and even some children, require larger doses than usual, to achieve a satisfactory response.

Safety & Product Quality

As with all medicines, herbal medicines can sometimes cause adverse effects, but when selected according to each patient’s particular situation and medical history, these are extremely rare, and almost always very mild. However when a suspected adverse event occurs, these are taken seriously, and should be managed appropriately.

As the Founder and Technical Director of a company that manufactures more than 300 different herbal medicines and is certified and audited by the Ministry of Health under the Code of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Phil has always been committed to ensuring that all herbal medicines he uses, are fit for purpose and ‘true to label’.

Combining Herbs with Drugs

While most health conditions and situations can benefit from herbal medicines as a primary treatment, there are others where combining them with drug medications, can be the best approach.

Phil’s experience as a pharmacist, and interest in herb-drug interactions, has enabled him to develop the skills and maintain an up to date knowledge when it comes to combining natural medicine with conventional medicines. Caution needs to be taken during this situation, but in fact evidence is growing that combining certain herbal medicines with specific drugs can produce additional benefits. These include an improved response, reduced drug-related adverse events, or a reduction in drug dosage requirements.