The Danger of Herbal Fads

If you’ve been on social media or gone to a health food shop or upscale grocery store, you’ll undoubtedly have seen the rise and fall of a new miracle herb every year. One year it’s Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), then Turmeric (Curcuma longa), then Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). And then, just as fast as they rose to popularity, they fade back down again into the unknown. 

Nowadays, these herbs aren’t just sold in tincture form or as dried herbs to make tea with. You can buy premium seltzer “formulated with adaptogens,” coffee with Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) powder, and just about any other type of concoction you can imagine. 

Seeing the rise and fall of herbal fads has left me thinking—can herbal fads be dangerous?  How does the “new” trendy herb get chosen each year, and how does it catch such attention in the market? How do these impact the cultures and traditions that use them? And even more importantly, can it negatively impact the ecological status of the herbs? The emerging market of “trending herbs” has left me with lots to think about.  

I want to talk about some of the dangers of herbal fads, why we need to be aware of them, and the importance of educating the people around us about them too. 

If you’re a practicing herbalist, there will no doubt come a day when a client tells you they want an herb or are taking an herb that’s trending. They may not even know why they’re taking it, but someone told them it’s good for them, so they are. 

As herbalists and healers, we need to learn how to convey the true meaning of herbal medicine and help people avoid the trap of falling into herbal fads. By doing so we help the environment, protect cultures, and support our community.

How Herbal Fads are Born

What exactly is an herbal fad? This is when a particular herb becomes trendy, often showing up in stores, on social media, and on influencer pages, seemingly all at once. They’re often “good for” just about everyone and have miraculous effects that will help your conditions… without you needing to change anything. 

I’ve noticed that fads develop in a few different ways. One is when a new piece of research emerges about an herb that is seen as a breakthrough. Many companies capitalize on this immediately to start making new products they can sell. And voila, now there’s a market of people interested in a new “miracle” product and a company that’s eager to sell it to them. 

As discussed in a recent blog post, you can’t trust all herbal research. Often, research on herbs is conducted in petri dishes, not humans, and it’s inaccurate to expect the results in a petri dish to perform the same way in a human body. This is called a false extrapolation, and unfortunately, it’s all too common in the herbal research industry. Not to mention research done by the product companies themselves, which obviously have a vested interest in positive results. 

Sometimes scientists only study one specific compound in a plant instead of the entire plant as a whole. This can also lead to false conclusions. Just because new herbal research was released doesn’t mean it should be immediately taken as the infallible truth. Look at who paid for the study, how much of the herb was used, what medium was used to test it, and other factors.

Another thing to consider is that companies capitalizing on this new research sometimes don’t care whether the research is correct. They care about earning money by selling products people want, even if the product is misleading or dangerous.

Another way herbal fads happen is when famous celebrities, doctors, or influencers talk about the herb. Suddenly, everyone who wants to be more like that person will be buying that herbal product to curate the self-image the product promises. It’s important to understand that just because someone has a big social media following or even is a doctor that they may not necessarily understand herbal medicine or have clinical experience in using it. 

The Dangers of Herbal Fads

Back when I used to work as a consultant in an herb/supplement shop, I remember a period when everyone coming in suddenly wanted Acai for weight loss. It turns out, a celebrity doctor was pushing the idea that Acai can make you lose weight, and overnight millions of dollars worth of Acai berry juice, capsules, and other products were being purchased. People thought they could drink this “magic cure” and suddenly get rid of all their extra weight without needing to adjust their diet, exercise, or lifestyle. 

People came in buying it non-stop and years later returned, grumbling about how it didn’t work. I thought to myself, well, yeah, because there are several factors involved in losing weight, and drinking a juice isn’t going to be the “magic pill” to shortcut those steps. 

I’ve dedicated my life to the study and practice of herbal medicine, so when I see a famous celebrity or influencer talk about an herb that’s good for [insert miracle cure] and see it explode in the market, I think about all of the consumers who will buy it and who aren’t herbalists, don’t understand traditional herbal medicine, and don’t understand how to properly use herbs. All of the people buying it only understand it through the allopathic lens the marketing ploy sold it through. 

Discrediting Herbalism 

The power of herbal medicine is how specific it is to each person. You may see 10 clients all coming in with brain fog, and each client could require a totally different herb than the next because of their constitution, energetics, and other underlying dietary and lifestyle patterns. Someone might have brain fog because they have metabolic syndrome, others because of hypothyroidism, digestive issues, or because of insufficient sleep.

There are so many factors that can lead to brain fog. Selling a one-size-fits-all miracle herb and marketing it as the cure-all for everyone with brain fog simply doesn’t make any sense. Herbal medicine was never meant to be used with a one-size-fits-all allopathic approach. To be honest, it contradicts the fundamental tenets of holistic herbalism to begin with. 

In most cases, herbal fads are herbs marketed as a cure-all for massive groups of people all suffering from a specific symptom. The marketers don’t care whether these people all suffer for different reasons, and it doesn’t matter to them that the herb will likely only help a few people, do nothing for others, and make the symptoms worse for some. The people it worked for may sing high praise for the herb, but the herb that didn’t help, or harmed, has made those people lose faith in the credibility of herbal medicine. 

These are often the people who balk at herbal medicine saying “Yeah, I tried that herb and it didn’t do anything so I don’t think any of it is really true.” Herbal fads capitalize on a single property of a plant, such as Echinacea’s (Echinacea purpurea) impact on immunity, completely forgetting and ignoring the complexity and entirety of the plant, such as that it was traditionally used as a blood purifying alterative. Herbal fads discredit the validity of herbalism by stripping it of the essential qualities that make it so person-specific while simultaneously writing over traditional uses of plants for a single new researched property. 

Pigeonholes Herbs

Another danger of herbal fads is that marketing techniques pigeonhole herbs as good for one specific thing. This can harm your learning process if you’re studying herbal medicine. Herbal fads result from great marketing, and marketing sells simple ideas. A famous example is how Echinacea is marketed as an immune stimulant. If you ask someone who doesn’t know a thing about herbal medicine and ask them about Echinacea, they’ll probably still know it has something to do with the immune system because of how far-reaching herbal fads are. 

Since Echinacea is marketed as an immune stimulant, all of a sudden it’s put in every immune, cough, cold, infection, and flu formula. This can lead to herbalists forgetting about what the traditional usage of it was, which was an alterative and blood purifier for sepsis. If someone got the sniffles, they wouldn’t reach for Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea). They would take it if they had an infected wound with a red streak traveling up the arm. This herb was used for brown recluse spider bites, rattlesnake bites, copperhead bites, and poisons by neutralizing and protecting the body from them. This traditional knowledge gets lost when modern marketing paves over it with a quick “new” fix. 

A similar thing happened to Elderberry (Sambucus nigra), another herb hit by the herbal fad industry. Elderberry is known as “the antiviral herb.” The danger of thinking of Elderberry as an antiviral herb is that people think it’s a cure-all for all viruses. In reality, research shows it’s effective for influenza and the common cold—but not all viruses! There is no strong research showing Elderberryis a broad-spectrum antiviral capable of killing all sorts of viruses in the body. In fact, there isn’t such a thing as broad-spectrum antiviral, even in pharmaceutical medicine! This is just one more herb that became pigeonholed. 

A third example is with Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens), “the prostate herb.” Everyone thinks this herb is only useful for men, but it’s also beneficial for the female reproductive and respiratory systems. Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) is pigeonholed as “the menopause herb” when it was traditionally used as an antispasmodic. 

I share all these examples to showcase how complex plants are and what happens when reduced to a single marketable phrase. By doing so, herbal fads erase their past and future. As herbalists, we need to teach others that herbs can’t be pigeonholed. When we do this, we miss out on many of the ways they can help us.

There’s a story that herbalist Paul Bergner shares. He was visiting an old physiomedicalist clinic dispensary in Europe and had the chance to see old formulas. He saw one called “Black Cohosh Compound” and wondered what other female reproductive or menopause herbs were in there. But as he looked on, saw that it was a cough formula. Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) is a relaxant antispasmodic, and in this case was formulated for the respiratory tract and useful for spasmodic coughs and asthmatic conditions. However, because of how we pigeonhole it today, he was surprised to see it used differently. 

Downright lies and Misinformation about Herbs

Some herbal fads piggyback off downright lies. A prime example is with Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa), which is marketed as herbal progesterone. To put it bluntly, Wild Yam is not a natural source of progesterone and this myth stems from the fact that it contains diosgenin, a chemical resembling endogenous hormones in the body like progesterone. 

Once this research came out, people started adding it to creams and other things, but it didn’t work because Wild Yam doesn’t contain progesterone. To push this myth further and sell more products, companies started formulating Wild Yam with synthetic progesterone. Consumers, however, still thought they were getting a natural boost from Wild Yam, not the other hidden additives. Traditionally, Wild Yam was used as a cooling and drying antispasmodic to relax spasms in the intestines, bile ducts, ureters, and urethra. This couldn’t be further from how it’s used today. 

A similar parallel today is how certain essential oil companies promote and push for the internal consumption of essential oils, which is downright dangerous. Essential oils are incredibly concentrated, and high enough amounts taken internally can damage the nephrons in your kidneys, which can cause irreversible damage. Companies pushing for this may have even paid for studies proving the safety of consuming essential oils. These findings are often presented in really convincing ways as well. The goal there is to prevent you from overlooking the potential dangers so you buy more products and they earn more money.

If an essential oil company tells you to consume essential oils in food or water, that’s a big red flag, and I would run in the opposite direction. Many of these companies are often MLMs and pyramid marketing schemes that can wind up hurting people. It’s important to remember that being trained by a company is NOT being trained in clinical herbalism, but being trained as a sales rep. 

These companies are good at marketing but not at health. Some of them even provide training for their sellers so they can call themselves herbalists or another title at the end of their name to better sell products. However, they are not herbalists—they’re company representatives and salespeople. I’m intentionally not stating any company names, but they’re quite obvious and should be avoided. 

Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) too, is currently marketed as a cure-all, with some companies even calling it an adaptogen. To clear things up, Cannabis is not an adaptogen. As an herbalist, it’s infuriating sometimes to see an herbal medicine so misrepresented. There are specific criteria a plant has to meet to be considered an adaptogen, and you can’t call any herb this willy-nilly, yet there are lots of companies that do exactly this. Cannabis is a powerful herb, has its place in herbal medicine, but certainly isn’t for everyone and definitely is not an adaptogen. 

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is another herb famed for being “the anti-inflammatory herb.” It’s often recommended to just about anyone with musculoskeletal or joint pain. However, Turmeric is a very warm, drying, and astringent plant. If someone has joint pain because of underlying dryness, Turmeric (Curcuma longa) can aggravate their pain further. As an herbalist, we would notice that and give them cooling and hydrating remedies, but herbal fads overlook energetics because they’re based on allopathic problems and solutions—not on the individual. 

Within this category, I also think of Elderberry (Sambucus nigra), which has been thrown under the bus since COVID when inaccurate research said that it can cause cytokine storms, and shouldn’t be used to treat colds, flu, and immune infections. Suddenly, an herb cherished for centuries and originally came to the surface as a fad herb died back down because of misinformation based on bad research.

I believe the herbs we work with deserve better than this. Especially with social media (and now AI) as a dominant force of misinformation, we need to practice extra caution to see whether or not the research we’re reading is trustworthy and reliable before making any big decisions or spreading further misinformation. 

Confusion about Herbal Effectiveness Compared to Fad Products

Herbal fads present another risk when research focuses on standardized extracts or phytopharmaceuticals rather than the whole plant. For instance, Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is often studied in a highly concentrated standardized extract, not as a tincture. This can create misconceptions, with some herbalists believing that a simple Ginkgo leaf tincture is as effective as the concentrated extracts used in research, which can be concentrated in ratios as strong as 5:1. When the effects shown aren’t as strong as the research indicates, they may wonder why the herb “didn’t work.” This illustrates how missing even a few key pieces of information, such as the concentration used in herbal research, can lead to a range of misunderstandings.

Similarly, there’s strong research supporting the effectiveness of Remifemin, a popular supplement based on Black Cohosh  (Actaea racemosa), for menopausal symptoms. However, some people start taking Black Cohosh tincture expecting it to perform in the same way as Remifemin. In reality, while the concentrations of Remifemin were proven effective, Black Cohosh as a full-spectrum plant hasn’t been studied in the same manner. It’s incorrect to project the same conclusions onto Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) without similar research on its specific form.

Treating Herbs Allopathically 

Another danger of herbal fads is the tendency to apply an allopathic approach to healing with herbs. This is a big one for me because herbal fads can lead herbalists to think in an allopathic manner.

For example, if someone has a prostate problem, they might be given Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens). If someone experiences hot flashes, Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) might be recommended. If someone has joint pain, Turmeric (Curcuma longa) might be given. While these herbs may sometimes provide relief, they often fall short because they’re not selected specifically enough to address the individual’s unique needs.

Rather than considering the whole person, including their tissue state and the root causes of their issues, and developing a personalized protocol involving dietary changes, lifestyle adjustments, and tailored herbal formulas for transformative healing, fad herbs are often chosen to merely suppress symptoms, resulting in flimsy unreliable results. 

At its worst, picking herbs based on their popular uses without further personalization can be harmful. The right herbal medicine is one that’s customized for the individual–a concept that herbal fads steamroll over.

Remember that almost always, herbs that become fads are promoted by companies, celebrity doctors, influencers, and marketing agencies who may not always have your best interest in mind. They might be thinking more about their dollar than whether or not this fad will do people good. Therefore, it’s good to approach new herbal fads with a healthy dose of skepticism and caution. When a new fad herb hits the market, conduct thorough research before deciding whether it’s suitable for you or your clients. 

Ecological and Cultural Impacts 

Another risk associated with herbal fads is their ecological and cultural impact. For example, in the nineties, Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) and Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) were considered the ultimate immune-boosting herbs. However, Goldenseal grows really slowly, leading to its status as an at-risk and endangered plant. And Echinacea has been close to being wiped out from the Great Plains from overharvesting. 

A few years ago, I recall a few influential people in the alternative medicine community promoting Chaga (Inonotus obliquus). This made me feel concerned because it grows in a narrow ecosystem range and can easily become an at-risk plant with over-harvesting, much like American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). The ecological impact of an herb becoming “trendy” can be devastating, and it’s important to remember that these plants need time to renew themselves, or we risk losing them altogether.

There’s also a significant cultural impact to consider. The allure of new and exotic spices or products from some faraway land combined with the insatiable human desire for novelty and more of everything can be a dangerous combination. When a herb becomes popular, there’s often a business model that involves exporting it to other countries for profit. However, in this process, these herbs are removed from their traditional contexts and can sometimes be used in inappropriate ways.

For example, Guayusa (Ilex guayusa), a relative of Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis), grows in the Ecuador region and holds cultural and spiritual significance. I once studied with an herbalist there who explained that, for a time, Guayusa was revered as one of their top spiritual medicines, deeply intertwined with their culture and spirituality as a dreaming herb. It was used to foster community, with people gathering to drink Guayusa and share their dreams. It was also used by their traditional medicine people to help them to better understand the plants and the spirit of nature.

Over the years I’ve noticed products popping up on shelves marketing Guayusa as an energy drink. It makes me wonder how this misuse culturally impacts the people back home who have such a rich and deep history with the plant to it suddenly being reduced to a quick caffeine fix.

It’s possible the community can benefit from this export financially, which can certainly be a good thing. But there’s also a high potential for the commercialization of their sacred herbs as a commodity can lead to the loss of traditional knowledge and change the way future generations relate to the plant. Now rather than respecting and revering their Guayusa, maybe it just becomes a product and source of financial gain. 

These are important things to consider, especially when an herbal fad involves limited resources and plants coming from specific ecological niches steeped in traditional cultures. 

Final Thoughts

There are many dangers associated with herbal fads, ranging from ecological damage to misinformation, and from pigeonholing herbs to downright harming someone through using herbs allopathically. Every dollar we spend supports a specific mission or goal, so as herbalists and people who cherish nature, we need to practice extra caution and raise awareness about the dangers of herbal fads.

If an herbal fad catches your attention, dig into the research, find potential underlying agendas or sponsors, and remember that there’s no such thing as a cure-all or a single remedy that will universally work for everyone. 

There’s a lot of information out there, and misinformation spreads faster than ever with social media. It’s more important than ever to be cautious and ensure we don’t overlook the traditional uses of medicinal plants and see them instead through a marketing lens. For example, while it’s incredible to discover the immune-boosting properties of Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea), we shouldn’t discard the millennia-old traditional knowledge on how to use that plant. Instead, we should integrate both traditional wisdom and modern discoveries to develop a more comprehensive understanding of herbal medicine.

By educating ourselves and others, respecting the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants, and being mindful of the communities and ecosystems they stem from, we can navigate the realm of herbal fads more safely and sustainably, preserving the integrity of these valuable resources for future generations to come. 

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