Productive discussions at the first Natural Products Futures Forum

Michael Heinrich presenting at the Natural Products Futures Forum

At the end of this week I attended the inaugural Natural Products Futures Forum, hosted in Ballina and Lismore by Southern Cross University’s National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine. I was attending as a representative of Torrens University, providing an educational perspective to what turned out to be a very successful weekend of brainstorming.

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Are essential oils useful for agitation in patients with dementia?

Volatile oils in bottles, with herbs in background

Dementia is a chronic disorder, with increasing incidence throughout the world, and can cause significant agitation and distress in both patients and their families and friends. Antipsychotics are commonly prescribed to help manage agitation in the people, however these pharmaceuticals can cause undesired side-effects, which can sometimes be significant. Is there another option?

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New role: Senior Learning Facilitator at Torrens University – a change for the better

Since the closure of Endeavour College’s Office of Research, Endeavour’s path and mine have slowly been diverging, and I am pleased to announce that today I started as Senior Learning Facilitator – Naturopathy & Western Herbal Medicine, at Torrens University Australia (TUA).

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Are herbs containing arbutin actually harmful?

Photo of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry)

In May 2018 we suddenly found out that herbs containing the natural constituent arbutin, including Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry) and Turnera diffusa (Damiana) had been restricted to prescription only Schedule 4 medicines by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). However the reasoning for such restriction was questionable, and so myself and Laura Dwyer – my research student – set out to determine if there was actually evidence that these herbs might be harmful. We just published the results of our review.

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