Ethnopharmacology

Medical Pluralism and Traditional Medicine

Two key concepts in understanding ethnopharmacology and ethnopharmacological literature are medical pluralism and traditional medicine. Medical pluralism is the adoption by a group, family, or individual of more than one medical system. Common Western examples of medical pluralism in practice include dealing with depression with both Prozac and Zen meditation or treating a cold with both a decongestant and a homeopathic remedy. Treating depression with Prozac and cognitive behavioral therapy, on the other hand, is not a valid example; while pharmaceutical remedies and behavioral remedies are two different types of remedy, they are not from wholly separate medical systems. Even these distinctions have become blurred over time as medical systems have gradually integrated elements from other medical systems.

Medical systems outside mainstream medicine, which has been subjected to scientifically rigorous testing, are often referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in professional literature. Some examples include acupuncture, homeopathy, and chiropractic medicine. In ethnographic and anthropological literature, CAM is more often called traditional medicine or folk medicine and comprises the medical practices followed by a given culture. In some states, practitioners of alternative health practices are subject to some form of licensing.

CAM systems and the ethnopharmacological practices included therein are generally predicated [Page 837]on religious or supernatural grounds or on traditional practices, which predate and have not yet been proven (or have been disproven) by modern science. There is an important distinction between unproven and disproven. The “unproven” element is especially important because ethnopharmacology seeks to ensure that many traditional practices are scientifically sound. For example, a certain leaf used in traditional medicine to alleviate headaches may contain caffeine or may expand the capillaries in a manner similar to caffeine. Similarly, cayenne pepper was used in folk medicine as a pain-relieving salve long before it was discovered that capsaicin, the chemical that causes chili peppers to be “hot,” was a topical analgesic, one that is now included in over-the-counter medicines.

Foxglove, found in temperate regions of North America, is the original source of the heart medicine digitalis. The presence of digitoxin makes the plant's leaves, flowers, and seeds poisonous to humans. The plant's clinical use was pioneered by William Withering, an English botanist, chemist, and physician.

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