Plant-Derived Products in the Treatment of Internal Diseases: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, tremendous progress has been made in the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of internal diseases, reflected in the considerable change in the prognostic and course of these diseases. However, importantly, severe or even life-threatening side effects mar the employment of these novel treatments. Despite the statements in the guidelines, patients are not actually encouraged to perform the much-needed lifestyle changes that would make at least some of these new drugs less necessary, if at all, especially for the management of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and chronic obstructive lung disease. There are many instances of inappropriate employment of conventional drugs in the treatment of symptoms/disorders for which those drugs are not indicated: antibiotics for viral diseases, coronary heart disease medication for unspecific (including psychosomatic) chest pain, blood pressure-lowering medication for emotion-related fluctuations in blood pressure, etc. Many honest practitioners acknowledge that they should use something else but lack the trust in or knowledge about alternative therapies. A large segment of the population prefers alternative treatments, one of the most popular being herbal treatment. Individuals relying on alternative therapies are more amenable to health-promoting lifestyle changes.

Unfortunately, among the researchers and practitioners of mainstream medicine, there is a high degree of skepticism about the effectiveness of natural products, given the paucity and low quality of evidence supporting them. Let us, those that understand the considerable and insufficiently tapped potential of natural products, provide high-quality studies and reviews promoting the use of these products!

Dr. Dorin Dragoş
Dr. Adelina Vlad
Guest Editors

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