Why are Natural Plant Medicinal Products Effective in Some Patients and not in Others with the Same Disease?

Abstract

We had previously found that the clinical efficacy of natural medicinal products was significantly enhanced by pretreatments of the natural compounds with far infrared radiation heating and brewing that effected degradation of high molecular polymers to yield free forms of low molecular monomers with anti-oxidant activity. The gastric samples from the patients were incubated with untreated or treated natural products, and the resulting materials assayed in vitro for the capacity to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS). The gastric fluid of patients who had responded to the untreated natural products showed a significantly greater scavenging ability than did the patients who had not responded to these agents. Similarly, the gastric fluid of patients who responded only to the treated, commercial products also showed a slightly greater scavenging ability than did those who failed to respond to any agent, treated or untreated. Acid and pepsin contents were demonstrated in largest amounts in the gastric juice from the patients who had responded well to the untreated natural medicines. Furthermore, the materials incubated with gastric fluid from the responding patients produced an increase in the free forms of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and flavoprotein as compared with the fluids of nonresponding patients. These findings suggest that one of the factors determining the clinical response to natural herbal medicinal products is the ability of the patient's digestive system to degrade the product to liberate bioactive low molecular compounds from repeating polymers.