Johannes Schweiger’s pharmacy is located in the heart of Freising. Over the past 20 years, the attitude of his customers has changed significantly. The acceptance of herbal remedies in Schweiger’s pharmacy is now significantly higher than that of chemists. “Of everything we now sell through manual sales, 70 to 80 percent are naturopathic remedies,” he says.
The pharmacist regularly takes walks through the garden of the Weihenstephan pharmacy. He swears by the healing effects of plants and herbs – for example St. John’s wort: “It can be used for nervous restlessness and depressive moods. So it is not only a wonderful preparation for laypeople, but also an important remedy for doctors to be able to treat mild depression,” says Schweiger.
Interactions may affect medications
Naturopathy is becoming increasingly popular, as health insurance companies such as AOK also note. However, it also warns on its homepage against the use of alternative healing methods for serious illnesses such as cancer. This reduces patients’ chances of recovery.
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich even has its own naturopathic consultation center for cancer treatment. Specialist Wolfgang Doerfler takes one hour per patient. He also wants to point out the dangerous side effects of certain herbs. He also sees this with St. John’s wort: “The problem is that it is often processed through metabolic pathways in which other drugs, including cancer therapies, are also metabolized,” says the doctor. “This means that St. John’s wort helps a chemotherapy substance to be broken down faster or slower than intended. This can either minimize the effect or increase the side effect.” This applies in both directions. “This means that St. John’s wort should unfortunately be avoided, at least during chemotherapy.”
There are often interactions between naturopathic products and conventional medicine that laypeople are not aware of. For pharmacist Johannes Schweiger, naturopathy also has clearly defined limits: “You have to consider whether you can assess something yourself – for example a mild cold problem – or whether it is bronchitis, where I certainly won’t get anywhere with thyme tea alone.” Herbal therapy is over and medical advice is needed.
Naturopathy: partially uninformed use of plants
For the pharmacist, naturopathy can actually harm health instead of promoting it. Wolfgang Doerfler also criticizes the uninformed use of plants and therapies. “Most of what people do is trial and error – even those who don’t even come here. If you get advice here, I want to check: what are the scientific findings? And then it works. “It’s also a question of being able to at least assess whether it is harmful,” says Doerfler. Naturopathy can have its absolute justification with individual and competent advice. “But conventional medicine cannot replace it,” says Doerfler. In addition, its use is very individual and often varies from patient to patient.
Studies to be able to make recommendations based on the best knowledge and belief are not yet as available in naturopathy as desired – despite the great interest, scientific knowledge is still lacking. “So you would have to research substances that you cannot even patent,” says Doerfler. “And so there is no interest in financing such studies. What would then be needed is university research with public money so that more work can be done in this direction, even if one cannot expect a large financial result.”
When in doubt, listen to professional experience
The correct use of naturopathy is also a matter of money. In addition to all the positive active ingredients in plants, there are hidden dangers, some of which are currently not even known to experts. “It is very difficult to understand what helps and what does not,” says Doerfler. “And how a layperson should do this is a complete mystery to me. As a doctor, I find it very difficult to always find the right compass.” He also advises against alternative doctors who promise to cure cancer with herbs: “The risk of missing timely treatment is enormous.”