Healthcare in Britain is currently receiving a lot of media attention, most of which is quite damming. Until relatively recently herbal remedies and natural healing techniques were the only tools available to us, but our healthcare no longer has much use for these tools, viewing them as outdated and of little value.  This is an enormous shift, most of which has taken place over the last 150 years, with the rate of change increasing exponentially as time passes. Today, standard treatment for the majority of illness is either in the form of pharmaceutical drugs, prescribed by a GP, or a visit to hospital for invasive diagnostic techniques or surgery.  Both are very costly. Drugs are expensive to develop and test, and many have nasty side effects, which then require further treatment. Surgery too is expensive; there are long waiting lists and a dire lack of hospital beds.  Hospitals in Britain are plagued with MRSA, an anti-bacterial resistant bacterium which infects wounds and causes septicemia.  This is very unfortunate as, unlike the rest of Europe, in Britain hospitals are synonymous with surgery. Our National Health Service has become difficult to manage and is both economically and environmentally costly.  Herbal remedies and natural healing techniques are becoming increasingly popular, with sales of over the counter herbs rising each year. Quite rightly, there is growing concern regarding this area of the market, because at present, these disciplines are not cared for within our healthcare system, leaving little guidance and protection for the sick and vulnerable who cannot find relief within the current healthcare regime.  

To understand how this situation occurred we need to examine the past.  The first hospitals were built by Christians, but before that medicine was administered within the community.  The number of hospitals grew with the growth of population, trade and towns, and by the close of the fourteenth century there were about 470 hospitals in Britain.  They were generally tiny and barely medical, only in London were there hospitals of any significance.  During the reformation of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the dissolution of the monasteries and chantries brought the closure of practically all such hospitals, and the Crown seized their assets.  A handful were re-established, however, on a new and secular basis.  From this point Britain became different from the rest of Europe.  In Catholic countries, no equivalent of the reformation of Henry VIII occurred and Religious and lay elements remained within the hospitals, which generally worked well together.  (R. Porter)  In 1543 the Charter of Henry VIII was produced, creating a further divide from Europe.  Also known as the Herbalists Charter, 'This charter not only enabled the great number of poor people of this time to obtain the means of relief for diverse physical woes but also protected the position of the herbal practitioner.  It left for posterity the cornerstone, which safeguards the practice of herbal healing in this country to this day. (G.Davies).  At the time of Henry VIII, the trade of herbs was in the hands of apothecaries and spicers, importers of drugs from far afield, who might also offer medical advice to their clients.

At the start of the next century, in 1610, we find the fist properly documented caesarean section (that is, where both mother and baby survive).  Also, technology begins to have an influence on medical practice;

Before the invention and spread of printing from the mid-fifteenth century, anatomical illustrations were relatively rare and lacked the precision and standardization that reproduction techniques made possible

But, prior to this;

Realism was irrelevant: the aim was to reinforce the verbal message, to indicate the standard conclusions of the learned physic ......They presented the body as a teaching aid, neatly labeled and connected to the macrocosm. (R. Porter)  

Over the next two hundred years, the British Empire continued to grow, bringing more wealth and the Age of Enlightenment. In the 18^th century most medical care in Britain was performed by men who were not qualified physicians but had trained as apprentices and passed the examination of the Society of Apothecaries or the Company of Surgeons.  Evidence suggests that there was concern regarding the quality of care available and although legislation was in place to tackle the problem, it appears that it was ignored. In 1747 The Examination of drugs to prevent adulteration, Apothecaries Petition was presented to the House of Commons, but unfortunately nothing was done about it at the time.  The Bill was aimed to revive, explain and amend the Act of the better viewing, searching and examining all drugs, medicines and waters, oil and composition used in medicines.  The Petition states that unskilled or dishonest practitioners are dispensing drugs of dubious quality, often comprising incorrect ingredients.  These products are often aimed at the country or colonial market to avoid censure.  (R. Porter)   

By European standards at this time, there were few hospitals in Britain, but during the Age of Enlightenment a few sought to address this;  

Although by European standards early-modern England was exceptionally ill-endowed with hospitals - and also with sister institutions such as orphanages - this lamentable state of affairs changed rapidly in the Age of Enlightenment when philanthropy, secular and religious, raised many new foundations.  The new hospitals founded in 18^th century  England were meant for the poor (although not for parish paupers, who would be dealt with under the Poor Law),  Granting free care to the respectable or deserving sick poor would, it was hoped, confirm social ties of paternalism, deference, and gratitude. (R.Porter.)

By the 19^th century, Britain was wealthy and powerful, the British Empire was at its peak, but an enormous imbalance of wealth and power was occurring.  The majority of the population was living in abject poverty, suffering poor sanitation, disease and ill health.  Political reforms of the time fought to stabilize a new order and healthcare issues started to become entwined with economics and politics and matters became complex and fraught with mixed interests.  While the poor were covered by the poor law, the middle classes were calling for a single practitioner who would be able to fulfill all of the family's medical and surgical needs;

 'Among middle-class families, the demand was rising for a single practitioner who would be able to fulfill all of the family's medical and surgical needs, from bleeding and lancing boils to dispensing physic.  These families, according to an observer in 1815, had long wished for a class of faculty to whom they could apply with confidence in any description of case in which medical or surgical aid was necessary.  Thus, 'medical man' came to mean apothecary-surgeon or general practitioner, and 'doctor' meant  a qualified member of the Royal College of Physicians in London, a tiny elite of physicians who supplied health care to the rich and consulted in difficult cases.' (R. Porter)   

With an act in 1815 these surgeon-apothecaries began to be recognized as general practitioners, giving them more status, but still left them subordinate to 'doctors'.   The Government restricted prescribing and dispensing to qualified people only.  The Apothecaries Act increased the power of the Society of Apothecaries while maintaining the subordination of apothecaries to physicians, and excluding from apothecary practice all those general practitioners who had not taken the Society's License, even medical graduates.  Eight years later, in 1823, the Royal College of Surgeons created a national examination for its Membership diploma, and was shortly followed by the Royal College of Physicians, whose License outranked that of the Apothecaries but was subordinate to the Royal College of Surgeons. But people were not happy with the situation; these new corporations remained the targets of radical reformers.  At this time, British towns were over crowded and schemes to reduce expenditure on the poor were planned. 'the middle classes began to worry about the 'abuse of medical charity', and to formulate schemes for forcing self-reliance.  When workers were called 'hands', and hands were plentiful, many workers became fearful of doctors, of their hospitals, and the official precautions against epidemics.  The medical profession, not least by encouraging grave-robbing appeared to value the poor more highly as corpses than as patients'. (R. Porter)    While the workers were concerned about being more valuable dead than alive, middle classes were deciding on the type of health care they preferred and doctors were concerned where their place in society lay;

'Doctors experienced intense competition, a loss of traditional rank, and an entrepreneurial culture in which medicine was viewed as merely a trade.'     

''Doctors' came to identify with each other.  Although a doctor with a prestigious shop might still regard himself as an apothecary, most of the retail end of medicine had been lost to the chemists and druggists.'             

'Most doctors saw themselves as 'general practitioners', although they may still be using the title physician or surgeon as their title.  In the search for respectability, and to distance themselves from mere trade, British doctors established local medical societies, especially during the 1830's.  They resembled the new wave of scientific societies, in which doctors rubbed shoulders with lawyers and the better-educated merchants and gentlemen.  They collaborated to form a national association - the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, which later became the British Medical Association, the voice of general practice.'(R. Porter)  

In 1858 a Medical Reform Act was passed in an attempt to regularise medical practice in the UK.  It created a single overseeing council, and stipulated that only the universities and the established corporations (Surgeons, Apothecaries, Physicians)) of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland could grant medical licenses (and no longer the Archbishop of Canterbury, for example). It established a single register for all doctors with recognised qualifications and did not ban unqualified practitioners.  It maintained the principle of 'buyer beware' as regards private practice.   'This Act gave general practitioners the same legal though not social status as the elite consultants  physicians of London, and established the framework within which primary care would grow for the next century.'  (R. Porter)   

The 1858 Medical Reform Act didn't appear to appease everybody at the time;

'The world of medicine and its interaction with political reforms was well depicted by George Eilliot in Middlemarch, especially through the character of the young physician Dr Lydgate:' (R. Porter)   

'Also, the high standard held up to the public mind by the College of Physicians, which gave its peculiar sanction to the expensive and highly-rarified medical instruction obtained by graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, did not hinder quackery from having an excellent time of it; for since professional practice chiefly consisted in giving a great many drugs, the public inferred that it might be better off with more drugs still, if they could only be got cheaply, and hence swallowed large cubic measure of physic prescribed by unscrupulous ignorance which had taken no degrees.'  (George Elliot - Middlemarch)

As previously stated, the quality of herbal medicines on general sale to the public could not be guaranteed at this time.  Although the Charter of Henry VIII gave apothecaries the legal right to practice, herbal practitioners began attempts to attain state registration, 'The National Institute of  Medical Herbalists was founded in 1864 in the expectation that herbalists could gain similar professional status as that granted to doctors by the Medical Act of 1858.  But the National Institute's efforts to gain statutory recognition were constantly thwarted.' (M McIntyre).  

It is interesting to note that by 1923 it would appear that the council set up by the 1858 Medical Act to oversee medical matters had totally lost the knowledge that herbs were ever successfully used as medicines;

A typical response to overtures by the herbalists was the pronouncement in 1923 by the then Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Charles Newman. ''The object is obviously to secure legal recognition for herbalists'  No doubt the arguments of the promoter would be that if people wish to be treated by some kinds of herbalists, it is better to be treated by herbalists who have some kind of training than by those with none.  I do not know how herbalist are trained, but it is at least doubtful whether a trained herbalist is any less dangerous than an untrained one.'' (M. McIntyre)

In 1941 the Pharmacy Act formally dissolved herbal medicine in Britain, although for economic reasons, it was used by the British during World War II. 

In 1948 the National Health Service was founded.  Apothecaries declined to join, as the amount of funding offered was considered grossly insufficient.

A handful of herbalists continued to practice illegally until 1968, when the Medicines Act was passed.  Because of the of existence of Henry VIII's Charter, the Act included exemptions that now gave herbal practitioners the legal right to dispense herbal remedies to the public after private consultation.  The Act also stated that therapeutic claims cannot be made without a product license and caused many herbs to be sold as foods.

By 1994 Britain was part of the European Economic Union and while adjusting British law to suit Europe, the British Government planned to merge the 1968 Medicines Act with 65/65EEC, ending the 1968 Medicine Act exemptions.  Public opinion together with the Charter of Henry VIII prevented the merge from going ahead and the UK Medicines Control Agency (MCA), have been appointed to set up Statutory Self Regulation for herbal practitioners and to ensure that herbs sold to the public are of good quality. The MCA is an Executive Agency of the Department of Health set up 'to promote high standards of public health through the regulation of the efficacy and safety of human medicines; and to work for the benefit of the wider interests of the UK economy.'

This brings us back to the present day where our current health service places very little value in medicine derived from natural sources.  It appears that this shift was caused by a number of factors; the Dissolution of the Monasteries removed religious involvement from medicine, thus allowing more freedom in its teachings.  Anatomical illustration changed in character shortly after the dissolution of monasteries, and at the time of the first printing machines. They became more representational and included realistic detail, they lost the 'energetics' and 'our attachment to the macrocosm'.

This indicates that medics started to specialise in an area in more detail, in this example, the study of anatomy.  There was money enough to develop new technologies, and the absence of religious involvement gave more freedom; for a monks' agenda would have been much more concerned with the soul and of laying the dead person to rest peacefully, he would have been more likely to have used the dissection tools on the plant rather than the deceased's body.  Medical knowledge was no longer confined to the monasteries; texts were now available to those who could read.  With the advent of printing machines, and with increasingly detailed medical knowledge, which was no longer held within the confines of the church, specialist information became much more readily available to wider sections of society.  Although it must be pointed out that until relatively recently it was only the wealthy in Britain who received an education and could read.

Further funding became available for technological development from the British Empire, which took Britain to the Industrial Revolution, providing more wealth and technological development, bringing us to the Technological Age of the present day.  But today we no longer have such reserves of cash available.

Money, tools and the right environment have enabled scientists to examine the things around us in greater detail, the net result of which is specialisation.  Anatomy has come a long way since the 1650's, in the year 2002 one area of anatomy is concerned with the study of DNA.  But only one hundred and fifty years ago when, Ignaz Semmelweis put infection control measures into practice in the hospital where he worked, because he believed in the existence of bacteria, there was so much opposition to his novel views that he became resentful and frustrated, and eventually died in a lunatic asylum in 1865.  It would appear therefore that it is not wise to dismiss something just because we are unable to see it with the naked eye, or more correctly, when we have not yet created a tool by which we can see and measure it, but at the same time we are able to detect positive results, with no harmful side effects.

While the Dissolution of the Monasteries in part enabled medicine to become specialised and detailed, the Charter of Henry VIII has protected the right of the British people to use herbs as medicines to this day, and it can be argued that the Charter was also instrumental in bringing the issue of herbal medicine to the attention of Europe.  Even though funding has been practically non-existent, herbal medicine has managed a healthy survival in Britain, and the herbs themselves have become an increasingly lucrative market for traders. 

During the time that has passed since the Charter was produced, we have neglected to have a significant influence on the quality and trade of herbs. The vast majority of funding went to the new technologies, leaving herbs as an almost forgotten source, maybe the reason being that it doesn't need huge sums of cash to be effective.  However, we are currently still in the 'buyer beware' situation, there is little in place to prevent unscrupulous trade. Fortunately, the position regarding the quality of herbs is finally being addressed by MCA. 

Today, standard treatment for the majority of illness is either in the form of pharmaceutical drugs, prescribed by a GP, or a visit to hospital for invasive diagnostic techniques or surgery;

Our current system has become too specialised and narrow in its approach, it has become stale and is far too reliant on technology.  It doesn't have time to look at the whole picture.  Health care is an economic problem (See Reference 1).  Our hospitals are hugely expensive to run, surgery is a very expensive procedure, and hospitals have become synonymous with surgery;

'Today surgery and hospitals go hand in glove.  Without hospitals, no advanced surgery is possible; or at least without a battery of invasive treatments, the hospital would lose its unique place in the medical system.  These reciprocal ties reflect modern medical realities, but they provide a wholly misleading picture of the past.' (R, Porter)

Surgery was able to develop after the introduction of anesthesia in the 1840's, but before that all invasive surgery depended on the swift hand, sharp knife, and cool nerve of the operator, so as to minimise pain.  Although a few highly dangerous operations were performed in dire emergency, such as caesarean section.  The first mention of Caesarean operation occurs in Babylonia  around 1700 BC, and as previously mentioned, the first properly documented caesarean in 1610. The first record of a successful caesarean being performed in Britain with the mother surviving was in the 1790's.

'But it must be assumed that they were only ever performed in an emergency, when the mother was dying and a desperate attempt was made to save the life of the baby.  There is little firm evidence of mothers surviving caesareans until the nineteenth century.' (R.Porter)

Two hundred years later, in 1999, the BBC News headlines read:

'Caesarian section too common'..  Medical experts fear too many babies are now being delivered by Caesarian section in the UK. '..The Royal College of Midwives says that in some parts of the UK only 52% of deliveries were traditional births.'

The World Health Organisation puts the acceptable rate of Caesarian sections at 10-15% for countries in the developed world.  Even if people don't agree that this is an unhealthy situation, they cannot disagree with the fact that it is hugely expensive.  Why is this happening?  It has been suggested that the rise is in part due to the fact that doctors don't have the skills that they once had, and rely heavily on the surgical techniques that they do know.  The right pre-natal care can ease childbirth, it is much less expensive and would have health benefits for both mother and baby.  I think this is a good example of the misuse of technology, rendering it inefficient, we are using it 'because we can', rather than when it is needed.   The suggestion is not that we should stop performing life saving operations, rather that we become more economical with its use, employing such techniques only when necessary.  We are not using technology to its fullest potential, we often waste it in an attempt to resolve a situation quickly.

The other standard form of treatment is that of pharmaceutical drugs.  Modern pharmaceutical medicines are usually based on a single compound.  But the study of human evolution tells us that a major factor in the development of humans was the consumption of a diversity of plant material and its complex arrangement of chemicals. (See Reference 2).  That it was 'because of 'the existence of higher plants, rather than 'in spite of' them that humans had the ability to adapt and develop.  Higher plants contain secondary plant chemicals, these are a store of compounds maintained by the plant that are 'not deemed necessary for the life of the plant', although they can be described as being necessary for its survival.  Secondary plant chemicals can be varied in response to changing ecological pressures, 'a resource which may enable species to adapt to future climatic upheavals, such as global warming predicted by many' (L. Fellows and A.Scofield)  Or looking at it another way, the plant is alive and growing, but if its immediate environment changes for the worse, the best it can do is try and adapt to the situation, it can't up roots and move on to a more comfortable spot, so it keeps a supply of chemicals it can use to mix and match in order to make itself comfortable within its surroundings for at least long enough to reproduce.   We evolved eating lots of these chemicals, some of which are highly toxic in large doses, but may be desirable in smaller ones, mixed with lots of nutrients.  Also, plant foods are frequently seasonal in nature, so an animal that eats plant material must have a detoxification system that can remain flexible enough to cope with low levels of a plethora of compounds (L.Fellows and A.Scofield).  It is thought that herbal medicine may have begun when early farming techniques developed, in order to compensate for missing elements in the diet.  The implications, therefore are that if we consume plant material, especially that which grows locally to us, then the plants' secondary chemicals will already be in the correct proportions in order to help us thrive, because our bodies are already well adapted to their use.  Furthermore, because of seasonal changes, there is not a constant supply of fresh plant material available all year round, so our bodies have developed to be able to withstand periods of time without them. (See Reference 4).

Another feature of higher plants that has been in the press recently is that plants breathe out many active compounds into the air around them, implying that we need only be within their proximity to feel their benefit.  'Scientists at the Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO measured natural volatile organic compounds (VOC) from 3 U.S. woodland.  They found that plants and trees exhaled 78 different compounds that they could measure.' (C.Hobbs)

A modern herbalist is taught, amongst other things, plant chemistry and anatomy and physiology.  They are trained how to look at the person as a whole, as an individual entity with its own unique blend of attributes, to recognise which elements an individual may be lacking from their current lifestyle, and which herbs will provide the required responses.  This differs from conventional medicine, which looks at one area of the body in great detail and applies a specific treatment, it can be described as the reverse logic of current conventional treatment, that is, conventional medicine uses complex diagnostic techniques to detect which single compound medicine should be administered, whereas a herbalist retains a level of simplicity in order that they have the capacity to view the person as a whole, thus allowing the problem areas to be exposed, leaving the complex arrangement of chemicals found within the selected herb or herbs do the rest of work.  While conventional medicine has been looking inside the body for answers, so natural healers were have been studying the outside for physical traits that can be used an indication of health.

The major killers in Western industrialised countries are cancer and heart disease, they are both preventable by diet and lifestyle.  They are diseases that reflect the completely new environments and ways of living that we have created for ourselves.  (See Reference 3).  'It appears that some of the genes that may have been selected because they were advantageous in our evolutionary past are just those that make us prone to the hazards of our new surrounds and lifestyles.' (D.Weatherall)  So, the study of DNA tells us that some of us are missing elements from our evolutionary past, that are no longer available in our present environment;

'If the epidemiologists are right, their message is frightening.  In essence, they are telling us that most, if not all, human beings are unsuited at least at this stage of their evolution, to life in the modern world.'  (D.Weatherall)

We are being told that the major killers today are environment related and our existing methods are struggling to resolve the situation.  We keep performing fire-fighting techniques, such as sending doctors and nurses on business management courses in order to improve efficiency, rather than facing up to the problem.  We have the information, but are afraid of the implications. (See reference 5)

'Although, we can do much to improve our lifestyles, we are not likely to revert to those of our hunter-gatherer forebears.  Even the acutely health conscious, with their vegetarian health food cultures, which start the day with what could pass as macerated cardboard, and their valiant attempts to obtain a few calories from mounds of foliage, are still a long way from their cave-dwelling ancestors. (D. Weatherall) 

But also, 'we could undoubtedly help our patients by applying what we know more effectively.' (D. Weatherall) 

Lifestyle change isn't popular, the modern world has become so complex, and this information is so fundamental, that people immediately start to think of radical change and are then tempted to totally dismiss the idea as ridiculous.  We have established that in order to 'thrive' we need to consume a large variety of plant material, and that it would potentially be of greater benefit to us if it were grown locally because it may have the potential to help us adapt to our environment.  The suggestion isn't that everybody needs to become a cave dweller, merely that we can obtain great benefit from herbal medicines and by eating a variety of good quality, fresh, fruit, vegetables and grains.  The extent to which we use this knowledge is a matter of choice, anything is a bonus.  It has been proved that it is possible lead this type of lifestyle in the modern world, as 'vegetarian health food cultures' clearly do exist.  But without information and knowledge of how to apply it, people are not being given a reasonable opportunity to make that choice.    

Statutory Self Regulation should make it easier for people to make a choice, because then, at least, they can be assured that they will be attended by a herbal practitioner that is qualified.  But there are also simple measures that we can take that would help on a wider scale, on the basis of bringing herbs into modern life as opposed to taking modern life back to the caves.  If the monastic physic garden provided more than meets the eye, as current atmospheric research suggests, then the urban planting of herbs could have enormous benefits, for both health and the economy.  Taking this a stage further, if people were educated in the use of common herbs, they could provide a source of medicine available when needed.  As previously stated, it doesn't matter to what extent this is undertaken, anything is of benefit.  There is also much scope for research, for example, the random screening of herbs, atmospheric testing, and with Statutory Self Regulation imminent, drug interaction with herbs, there are probably many more. Conventional medicine has become stale, and our existing methods are struggling to resolve the situation.  Herbal medicine and natural healing could provide an introduction of fresh material with which to work. 'It appears ... that advances in medical science usually result from the coming together of knowledge at a particular stage of development in a number of fields' D.Weatherall)  We have seen that technology, social science, information, education, religion and nature have all had some part to play in our attitudes towards the manner in which we take care of our well-being.  Hopefully, the introduction of new ideas in the form of herbal medicine and natural healing techniques into mainstream medicine could spawn some exciting new discoveries.

References

Ref. 1    From 'Science and the Quite Art by Sir David Weatherall

'Observers of the medical scene in affluent Western societies might conclude not without justification, that all is not well.  Whether they system is based on the marketplace economy of the United States or the government-funded health services of some European countries, and regardless of the percentage of gross national product (GNP) that is spent on health, nobody seems to be able to get it right.  The consumption of money by high-technology medicine appears to be limitless.'

The situation in the rest of the developed world is not much better.  In Britain, a country that spends considerably less of its GNP on health than do the United States and may other European countries, the government-funded National Health Service has undergone one reform after another, all based, apparently, on the notion that many of the difficulties of providing health care could be overcome by greater efficiency.  The latest reform, which attempts to make a clear division between purchasers of health, that is, the government-supported health authorities, and providers, the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff, has again put the accent fairly and squarely on improved managerial efficiency.  Nurses and doctors are disappearing to business colleges, and management has been included in the curriculum of medical schools, interviews for medical appointments appear to be directed more at assessing  candidates administrative skills than at evaluating their clinical competence.

Since it may be a while before we reap the benefits of the new developments in preventative medicine and in the basic medical sciences, we must try to improve our current approaches to the avoidance and management of disease.  For although there are huge gaps in our knowledge of almost every aspect of pathology and therapeutics, we could undoubtedly help our patients by applying what little we know more effectively.

Ref. 2  From 'Chemical Diversity in Plants' -Linda Fellows and Anthony Scofield

'The concept of 'secondary' chemicals was first introduced in the 1890's to mean those which were not deemed necessary for the life of the plant.

'Plant secondary compounds are - indicators of genetic viability, a resource which may enable species to adapt to future climatic upheavals, such as global warming predicted by many.'

'The understanding and maintenance of existing variation is important at the present time for several reasons.  One is the re-introduction into crop species of defensive traits, many of which were deliberately bred out by our ancestors.  There are many examples of where genes from wild relatives have been successfully incorporated into a crop species to improve its natural pest resistance and where some species have adapted to polluted areas but others have not.  More important is the retention of the potential to adapt in the face of new climatic upheavals which some scientists predict will occur through global warming.  If the gene pool continues to be eroded, large-scale extinctions of species may occur.

Secondary chemicals have been important since the beginning of life on earth.  The elimination of large sections of the gene pool by which they are generated may have serious consequences for life as we know it.

'The relation between primates and fleshy fruits was established in the early-mid Eocene (55 to 48 million years bp) when the tropical forests reached their maximum latitudinal extent. Plants have formed a significant part of the diet throughout human evolution and there can be no doubt that a wide range of plant chemicals were thereby ingested.  Although there is evidence to suggest that the evolution of plant secondary compounds was closely influenced by their interaction with insect pollinators, there is no evidence that mammals have and any impact on the distribution of the compounds but have adapted to them.'

'providing some support for the view that the current range of plant secondary compounds was established early and was not greatly influenced by mammalian herbivory.'

The chemical industry seeks novel, single active molecules which can preferably be synthesised in a laboratory.  The evolutionary pressure on plants has apparently caused them to maintain an arsenal of strategically useful compounds which can be varied in response to changing ecological pressures.  These needs have been met by mixtures of metabolically-related variants on particular skeletal themes, frequently complex and only isolated or synthesized with difficulty.  The observed activity of crude extracts seldom can be attributed to a single molecule, but is frequently the result of several compounds acting in synergy.  That commercially useful single molecules have been isolated from time to time may be attributable more to good luck than to nature's providence.

Ref. 3      From 'Science and the Quite Art' by Sir David Weatherall

'The emerging view, therefore, is that the major killers in Western industrialized countries reflect the completely new environments and ways of living that we have created for ourselves, set against the background of aging and a genetic makeup that, although it served us well for thousands of years in the wild, may not be adapted to our new lifestyles.  Rather, it appears that some of the genes that may have been selected because they were advantageous in our evolutionary past are just those that make us prone to the hazards of our new surrounds and lifestyles.'

'If the epidemiologists are right, their message is frightening.  In essence, they are telling us that most, if not all, human beings are unsuited at least at this stage of their evolution, to life in the modern world.'

Ref. 4    From 'Chemical Diversity in Plants' -Linda Fellows and Anthony Scofield

'Further factors which ensure that the generalist approach to feeding is, for most herbivores, the optimal strategy include availability of food, which is frequently seasonal in nature, and its security, which is often threatened by climatic factors.  A consequence of this approach is that their detoxification systems must remain flexible enough to cope with low levels of a plethora of compounds.  These may easily be overloaded if restricted to a few food items.  As mammal have evolved overall because of, rather than in spite of green plants, it may not be fanciful to suppose that low levels of potentially toxic chemicals may actually be beneficial at low concentration and in the presence of adequate nutrients.  This might go some way to explaining why it is that many natural medicinal agents are toxic at high doses.  Toxicity is relative.  As Janzen (1978) has pointed out, animals will not necessarily prefer to feed on plants with low levels of plant secondary compounds if they can feed on those with higher levels whose negative effects are offset by high concentrations of nutrients.'

Ref. 5    From 'Science and the Quite Art' by Sir David Weatherall

'Although, as we saw in the preceding chapter, we can do much to improve our lifestyles, we are not likely to revert to those of our hunter-gatherer forebears.  Even the acutely health conscious, with their vegetarian health food cultures, which start the day with what could pass as macerated cardboard, and their valiant attempts to obtain a few calories from mounds of foliage, are still a long way from their cave-dwelling ancestors.' (D. Weatherall)  Where did that come from?? (L.Swindells!)

'Recent studies of the relation between cholesterol and coronary artery disease in Shanghai emphasize some of the problems we will have to face up to.  Overall, the blood cholesterol levels of the Chinese are low compared with those of western populations.  'They have encountered population in China with extremely low cholesterol levels and with even lower rates of coronary heart disease and suggest that they serve as an 'interesting model' for what might eventually be achievable in the West, if methods could be devised for the widespread reduction of cholesterol levels.  In other words, most of the world's populations have cholesterol level that may be too high.'  'At first sight, they suggest that most human populations should drastically change their eating habits or receive cholesterol-lowering agents, preferably ones with no side effects.  This news will be of little comfort to anybody except the shareholders of our large pharmaceutical houses.  Clearly this will not be feasible.  By reevaluating our eating habits and educating populations that seem to be at high risk as they adopt more westernized cultures, we might make some progress in the reduction of heart disease.  But Western society is not going to adopt the lifestyles of Chinese rural communities.

Bibliography

Porter, Roy  The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine.  Cambridge University Press, 1996

David Weatherall  Science and the Quiet Art; Medical Research and Patient Care.  Oxford University Press 1995