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Is lemongrass and all the other hippy-dippy calming tea ingredients bullshit? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I buy these things but I wonder if they are truly pharmacologically-active and not just bullshit. Discuss

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[–] Seasm0ke@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, a natural medicine doesn't cease to exist after a pharmacologist "discovers" its use. Willow tree bark is used to make asprin but there are still warnings out there that there is no scientific proof of its efficacy.

Maybe the medicine derived from salicylic acid is the only effective thing about it, or maybe other presently unknown compounds contribute in a way that will later be used to develop a new medicine.

Valerian root for example has been proven in animal studies and other clinical trial to have some effects, and possibly interact with GABA receptors but the mechanism is unknown and it is still described as having no science to back up its uses, despite being similar to Willow in history.

I'm not saying this to encourage people who go 100% naturopathic and might swear that all modern medicine is a poison. Just want to include some nuance in a conversation thats is often way too extreme in its convictions either way.