No Evidence That Individualized Herbal Medicine Effective

A review in Postgraduate Medical Journal finds no convincing evidence to support the use of individualized herbal medicine for any ailment.
Individualized herbal medicine, as practiced by traditional herbalists, involves prescribing mixtures of several herbs rather than single substances or standardized combinations. A systematic review found three relatively small randomized clinical trials of this approach.
Two showed no statistically significant benefit of individualized herbal medicine over placebo for treating osteoarthritis of the knee (20 patients enrolled, 14 analyzed) or preventing chemotherapy-related toxicity (120 enrolled, 111 analyzed). The third found it better than placebo for irritable bowel syndrome but inferior to standardized herbal treatment (116 enrolled, 99 analyzed).
The authors conclude: "Because of the high potential for adverse events and negative herb–herb and herb–drug interactions, this lack of evidence for effectiveness means that its use cannot be recommended."