What are herbs? Herbs are a kind of plants with underdeveloped xylem, low lignin content in cell wall and soft stems. In contrast, woody plants with developed xylem, hard xylem and tall plants.
Herbs are generally short and can be divided into annual, perennial and perennial. Annual plants wither in spring and autumn; Perennial plants generally germinate in the autumn of the first year, blossom and bear fruit in the spring of the second year, and die in summer and autumn; For perennial plants, the aboveground parts live in spring and autumn every year, and the underground parts live for many years with perennial roots and bulbs.
In addition, most herbs have no secondary growth. In other words, the stem will only grow taller after it grows, and will not become thicker through cell division. Even if it thickens, it will be due to the expansion of cell volume. Unlike woody plants, the trunk can continue to thicken.
Use of herbs: 1. Herbs have many uses. All important grains are herbs, such as wheat, millet, corn, barley and sorghum, which can be eaten by human beings.
2. Many animals in nature, as well as pigs, cows, horses, sheep and other domestic animals also eat herbs, so herbs are an important part of the food chain.
Some herbs can be found everywhere in daily life and can be used to make utensils. There are also houses made of bamboo in Southeast Asia.
4. Many herbs in nature are not only food for animals, but also produce a lot of oxygen to prevent soil erosion.
Many herbs are important sources of Chinese herbal medicine.
Harm of herbaceous plants: If a product uses the words "natural" and "herbaceous", it seems to make people feel safe. Actually, it's not entirely true. Examples abound. For example, tobacco leaves, coca leaves (the source of cocaine), marijuana (the source of marijuana drugs) and poppy (the source of heroin and morphine) are all natural ingredients, but they are harmful to health. Therefore, herbs can be divided into two categories: edible herbs and herbs without harmful side effects. When the formula is wrong or used improperly, it will be harmful to health. Some pharmaceutical manufacturers have no professional qualifications, so they can't use herbs or plants correctly when developing drugs. Other manufacturers are driven by business profits, completely ignoring the safety of consumers.
Here are some herbs with dangerous side effects:
1, ephedra
Ephedra contains ephedrine as the active ingredient. Ephedrine is a common ingredient in diet pills, which can cause heart disease, blood poisoning and hemorrhagic stroke. The FDA (American Food and Drug Administration) has got 150 death reports related to ephedra. According to the journal Neurology, taking 32 mg of ephedra every day will increase the growth rate and increase the risk of stroke. However, the label of the drug containing ephedra shows that people should take as much as 100 mg every day. The federal government of the United States has banned ephedra as an auxiliary diet.
2. Herbs with high caffeine content
Sometimes, when ephedra is taken with plants containing a lot of caffeine (such as melon seeds), it will lead to sudden death such as stroke, spasm and high blood pressure.
Caffeine-rich herbs, including guarana seeds, kola nuts, tea trees and coffee beans. These herbs are widely cultivated all over the world, such as Masi and Sri Lanka.
They are very popular substances to lose weight, because it is said that caffeine can promote metabolism. According to different varieties, the caffeine content of guava fruit is as high as 10 {BF}, camellia is about 3.5 {BF}, and coffee bean is about 2.2 {BF}.
Excessive caffeine intake can lead to anxiety, addiction and even death in hypertensive patients.
When some of these plants containing a lot of caffeine are mixed with herbs with diuretic effect to become ingredients in diet pills, they will make the body excrete a lot of water and cause temporary weight loss. This makes people mistakenly think that the caffeine-rich diet pills they take can burn fat. In addition, excessive diuretics can damage the kidneys.
3. Guar gum
Guar gum (guar gum) GBNo. (GB20.025) Guar Gum is prepared by peeling, drying, crushing, adding water, hydrolyzing under pressure, precipitating with 20 {BF} ethanol, centrifuging, drying and crushing the endosperm part of the seeds of leguminous plants. The main producing areas are the arid areas of Pakistan and India or the southeastern United States.
Guar gum is a weight loss ingredient, which was banned in the 1990s. Guar gum is a complex carbohydrate, which swells when wet, so it will feel full when eaten. However, its side effects include severe stagnation of stomach, throat and intestinal yin.
4. White willow bark
Bai Liu peel contains salicylic acid, which is the effective component of aspirin. The FDA pointed out that this herb is used in some children's medicines, but the labels of these medicines indicate that they do not contain aspirin. White willow bark can cause some internal bleeding symptoms in adults who are sensitive to aspirin. The American Anti-Health Fraud Committee appealed to the public to pay attention to the fact that the use of white willow bark to treat chickenpox or flu in children will lead to a liver disease-Wright syndrome.