“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine shall be thy food” Hippocrates, (460-377 BC)

It is known that humans made use of plants, both for food and remedies, very early on.  The first text ever written about plants in medicine, compiled by the Sumerians some 3000 years BC, comprises a set of tablets engraved with cuneiform letters.  Thus begins the official history of phytotherapy. Since that time, humans have continued in their quest for knowledge of the secrets and beneficial properties of plants. 

Today, science has made great strides and opened up new horizons for the use of phytotherapy, providing cutting-edge scientific methods for the ongoing study of the active principles of plants, discovering new properties and more convenient ways of integrating phytotherapy into our modern lives. Plants are finally gaining widespread recognition for their medicinal uses.

“Standard” or “chemical” medicines are often viewed in opposition to phytotherapy, yet there is a place for each in the array of therapeutic options available to us today.  While it is an undisputed fact that the use of “standard” pharmaceuticals has achieved excellent results in many spheres - and thus they have held centre-stage in medical practice for nearly a century - it must also be acknowledged that, little by little, we have become aware of a plethora of unwanted and alarming side effects. 

By contrast, “health” medicines - the fruits of phytotherapy - offer treatments, gently stimulating good reactions in the body without attacking it.  The aim is not simply to treat illnesses as they come along, but to prevent them from occurring in the first place. The result is effective and longer lasting action, both for overall health and in treatment of chronic problems; insomnia or arthrosis, for example. And importantly - they are free from side effects.

In an era marked by the quest for a healthier life, a return to nature and personal balance, phytotherapy emerges as an ideal answer to the ‘modern-day ills’ characteristic of our society, such as stress, sleep-loss, and weight gain.  Advances in agronomy, chemistry, and pharmacology have made it possible to develop safer, more suitable and more effective therapeutic forms, and the level of technical and scientific expertise now achieved in the field of phytotherapy makes it highly successful.  

ref.Arkopharma