So I have some lemon balm and peppermint in my garden and we use it to make tea.
I really like the smell and aroma of lemon balm and if I look online, it mentions for example that lemon balm is used for relieving anxiety, stress and can improve cognitive function.
But how is this tested, how can people even tell?
Does it really have this effect? And what would happen if you drink a lot of it?
Historically, they have been scientistic method to test things out depending on the technology available and how far the knowledge of a domain went. This was always perform by scientist, or whatever the equivalent of a scholar name at the time. At the same time, there is also people who want to tell you how to cure yourself based on how their neighbor got better once.
Every plant have an effect. You are eating them after all. But the ones with too strong effect to be consumed outside medication are often famous for that, or for being toxic. If you don’t have a strong medical conterindication, you should not fell more that mild positive or negative effect when consuming a eatable plant in reasonable quantity. And for seeing real effect, that’s a doctor or nutritionniste job. You can’t do anything at home without playing with your health.
But sometimes playing with your health is a way to figure out what things work for you and what doesn’t right? I suppose the reason specific medication or herbs are being properly tested with the scientific method is because some researcher decided to ingest it or accidentally touched it and experienced the effects. Then decided to study it properly and ask people to do the same.
I’ve also found that some things that have well know effects, like coffee. Don’t work for me at all or have the opposite effect. So you always have to test it someway on yourself, even after checking the scientific consensus.
I won’t call trying some plant with famously wild effect playing with my health. I could try different way to drink tea and coffee and see the effect for myself. But I shouldn’t try to find out what happened to me if I injest some plant with famously strong medical effect such as Artemisia absinthium or Ruta graveolens .
Yeah, everything depends on the plant and mostly the dose. Both examples you give are apparently safe to use in small amounts as a herb for flavouring food or drinks. (from wikipedia) So I suppose even for those plants with know strong effects, just eating a leaf wont do much.
I won’t supposed so. A single pinch of woodworm make a whole kettel if herbal tea with already medicinal effect. In households, aruda is used for its smell only, as consumption could quickly harm someone.