22SW15 - Herbal Medicines and the Gastrointestinal Microbiota: Herbs that Nurture and Herbs that Kill

Speaker: Jason Hawrelak, ND  Research demonstrating the vital importance of the gastrointestinal
tract (GIT) microbiota to human health has been growing exponentially
over the past two decades. Investigations have also been finding that an
altered GIT ecosystem (i.e., dysbiosis) is involved in the pathogenesis
of a number of different disease states – from depression, autism and
metabolic syndrome to Alzheimer's disease, inflammatory bowel disease,
and even hypertension. Recent studies have revealed that many herbal
medicines have the capacity to alter the composition and functioning of
this microbiota. In this presentation, Dr Hawrelak will provide a brief
overview of the importance of the GIT microbiota and highlight some of
the published research that has assessed the impact of herbal medicines
on our GIT microbiome. We will feature botanicals that appear to nurture
the microbiota, as well as herbal formulas that can be used to target
specific infections or imbalances in the ecosystem. Finally we discuss
botanicals whose use may result in unwanted collateral damage to this
vital human ecosystem.

Related product: The PowerPoint for this recording is available here: 2022 Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine: Conference Book Download (PDF)