Chinese Medicine: Contentions and Global Complexities
Booker, A. 2015. Chinese Medicine: Contentions and Global Complexities. in: Heinrich, M. and Jäger, A.K. (ed.) Ethnopharmacology New York, United States Wiley. pp. 293-302
Booker, A. 2015. Chinese Medicine: Contentions and Global Complexities. in: Heinrich, M. and Jäger, A.K. (ed.) Ethnopharmacology New York, United States Wiley. pp. 293-302
Chapter title | Chinese Medicine: Contentions and Global Complexities |
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Authors | Booker, A. |
Editors | Heinrich, M. and Jäger, A.K. |
Abstract | Chinese medicine is underpinned by a unique medical philosophy that aims to identify and treat the root causes of ill-health. It has gained popularity in the west due to this perceived holistic approach, but it lacks a solid evidence base for its efficacy and safety, and has been implicated in instances of poor practice. In the field of drug discovery, a metabolomics approach has been used to identify compounds that may be responsible for some of the effects of Chinese herbal medicine and successes in this area may help to validate some of the Chinese medical wisdom that guides treatment strategies. Metabolomics is also useful in the analysis of medicinal herbs and complex Chinese herbal formulae, and may have an important role to play in the quality assurance of these. Professional and educational standards and the content of training courses outside of China can be extremely variable. The quality of education in Chinese medicine for practitioners in the UK is of a good standard in terms of governance but the content of many courses needs to be put on a firm scientific base if future practitioners are to be accepted as legitimate healthcare practitioners. |
Keywords | Chinese medicine; medicinal plant; metabolomics; quality; safety; regulatory environment |
Book title | Ethnopharmacology |
Page range | 293-302 |
Year | 2015 |
Publisher | Wiley |
Publication dates | |
Published | 18 Sep 2015 |
Place of publication | New York, United States |
ISBN | 9781118930748 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118930717.ch25 |
Web address (URL) | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118930717.ch25/pdf |