The issue of the beneficial health benefits of herbs is one that raises strong feelings of acceptance or scepticism, depending upon your beliefs and/or prejudices.

For me it can be a can of worms, raising, as it does, the ire and derision of those with a vested interest in the pharmaceutical industry. However, I have read too much and listened to too much evidence to be readily browbeaten into writing off herbal medicine as humbug.

Before pharmaceuticals, herbs were all we had, and I'm not convinced that we are much, if any, better off today with our supposed wonder drugs. Hippocrates himself, the father of the practice of medicine throughout the ages to the present day, was totally convinced of the efficacy of the medicinal use of herbs

In any case, this site deals mainly with culinary rather than medicinal herbs, although some information is included on the uses of medicinal herbs and herbal supplements. Sometimes the distinction between culinary and medicinal herbs is blurred, to say the least. Herbs is herbs. Of the culinary herbs that I discuss in these pages, all of them in common use for millennia, there is a mountain of evidence, corroborated from disparate sources, of their contribution to healthy eating and a healthy diet. They may or may not cure acute ailments as many attest, but there is no doubt in my mind that they contribute significantly to our wellbeing in the many ways described in these pages.

In the issue of culinary herbs and health, bear in mind that I'm talking about health, not illness. Good health is not simply the absence of illness, it is as many dimensions beyond that as you care to take it, and the although the inclusion of herbs, and herbal supplements if necessary, in your diet will contribute to the healthy eating part of your life goals, a healthy lifestyle embraces much more than just what you eat. Growing your own herbs can also be part of that lifestyle.

Most people I talk to have strong views on the health benefits of consuming herbs and herbal supplements. If you have something to say, let's hear it. Send your comment to me in the box opposite