Smart parents for naturopathy in children

Smart parents favor herbal medicine for their child.

(05.07.2010) When their children are ill, parents in Germany prefer to use herbal medicines. Among the most zealous proponents of the herbal medicines are mainly mothers and fathers with a higher level of education, parents who live in a city and families who have a higher income. This was the result of a recent study at two university children's hospitals in Leipzig and Munich as well as in two Leipzig pediatrician practices.

The Leipzig pediatrician Prof. Dr. med. Wieland Kiess and his team used a standardized questionnaire to interview the parents of a total of 413 children on the use and treatment success of herbal medicines. Here the most important findings of the just published study (Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2010; 135: 959-964):

85.5 percent of parents in Germany treat their children, if possible, with a herbal medicine, especially with colds and stomach aches. In comparison, in England it is 28 percent, in the Netherlands 13.5 percent and in the US only 10 percent.

The main motivation of the parents to use herbal remedies is - contrary to the general assumption - by no means the dissatisfaction with the „Conventional medicine“, but the desire for a natural, safe and low-side-treatment. The most frequent source of information was reported to be 80.2 percent of the pediatrician and only 4.2 percent a health practitioner.

Compared with the so-called. „Conventional medicine“ 13.6 percent of parents rated the success of treatment with herbal medicines as „greater“, 39.3 percent as “same size“ and 21.9 percent as „smaller“.

The overall success of the treatment with phytopharmaceuticals is considered by 12 percent „very well“, of 55.1 percent as „Well“, of 26.6 percent as „medium“, of 5.1 percent as „not good“ and only 1.1 as „not good at all“ classified.

With 87.3 percent, parents in the new federal states are particularly likely to treat their children with plant medicine. One possible reason: prior to reunification in 1989, phytopharmaceuticals were barely available in the GDR. The great satisfaction with the phytotherapy also shows the following figure from the new study: In case of a disease of her child, 96.3 percent of the interviewed parents would again resort to a herbal medicinal product. (KFN 11/2010)

Picture: Mike Frajese