2.

5 Herbal Medicine as Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is a term used to define various medical modalities outside of

conventional medicine focusing on stimulation of the human body’s healing ability through
herbal medicine, energy channeling and/or alignment, and other techniques. This discipline is
more common used to treat symptoms of illnesses and produce relief, unlike conventional
targeted therapies like antibiotics (Kisling & Stiegmann, 2021). Herbal medicine is one of the
most common forms of alternative medicine used worldwide (Welz et al., 2018).

Herbal medicine can be found in various forms. Jamu is a traditional herbal medicine
known in Indonesia composed of herbs which are preserved and consumed through oral route.
The most common types of combination are named jamu paitan, jamu kunir asem, jamu beras
kencur, jamu temulawak, and jamu gula asem. Each jamu are composed of different herbs and
therefore preserve different efficacies. The traditional medicine jamu paitan, for example, is
composed of Andographis paniculata, a bitter herb also known as sambiloto locally is used as
the basic ingredient along with Tinosporacrispa, Alstoniascholaris, Ziziphusmauritiana,
doroputih, rhizome, and fennel. Sambiloto can provide anti-inflammatory and anti-infection
effect when used in the right composition and combined with the right substances. This is the
desired effect of jamu paitan in people using it. The challenge in herbal medicine is that
everything needs to be measured correctly while composition ratios are not a common thing in
jamu making (Sumarni et al., 2019).

The usage of herbal medicine as preferred first-line, complementary, and alternative

medicine is still common up to this day. A research conducted by Pengpid and Peltzer concluded
that traditional medicine, especially herbal medicine is preferred to treat cough and cold in
children and adolescents in Germany. This result is similar to what can be found in Indonesia.
There were not enough data about factors associated with this preference, but demographic data
shows that children who have poorer health and socioeconomic status are more likely to use
herbal medicine as an alternative to conventional medicine (Pengpid & Peltzer, 2019).

Despite being famous, herbal medicine usage as alternative medicine has its downside.
Without proper consultation to conventional healthcare providers regarding drug interactions,
indications, and contraindications, taking herbal medicine as well as substances contained in it
can be harmful. As mentioned earlier, there are no fixed ratio in mixing substances for most
herbal medicine. This can cause undesired side effects and cause changes in metabolism as well
as the efficacy of any drug taken (Kisling & Stiegmann, 2021; Pengpid & Peltzer, 2019). To
regulate things, World Health Organization (WHO) set a regulation of herbal medicine use.
Substances that qualify as components of herbal medicine must be proven safe, in a good quality,
and effective prior to public consumption (WHO Report, 2019). Therefore, further study is
needed to every new combination of herb as alternative medicine to determine its efficacy and
safety. Observation to patients consuming any kind of medicine, including herbal medicine
should be implemented to prevent inappropriate drug use, undesired side effects, and drug
eruption (Pengpid & Peltzer, 2019).
References
Kisling, L.A. & Stiegmann, R.A. (2021), “Alternative Medicine”, The Abnormal Menstrual
Cycle, StatPearls Publishing, pp. 171–180.
Pengpid, S. & Peltzer, K. (2019), “Use of traditional medicines and traditional practitioners by
children in Indonesia: findings from a national population survey in 2014–2015”, Journal
of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, Dove Press, Vol. 12, p. 291.
Sumarni, W., Sudarmin, S. & Sumarti, S.S. (2019), “The scientification of jamu: A study of
Indonesian’s traditional medicine”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 1321 No. 3,
available at:https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1321/3/032057.
Welz, A.N., Emberger-Klein, A. & Menrad, K. (2018), “Why people use herbal medicine:
Insights from a focus-group study in Germany”, BMC Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 1–9.
WHO Report. (2019), WHO Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine 2019,
World Health Organization, available at:
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/312342/9789241515436-eng.pdf?ua=1.