Each January, the editorial staff of the American Botanical Council (ABC) compiles a list of the 10 most popular HerbalEGram articles from the previous year. The list reflects the breadth of ABC’s coverage of medicinal plant-related topics and provides insight about trending topics of interest to our diverse membership.

The top 10 HerbalEGram articles of 2018, as determined by the number of individual link clicks, include the organization’s response to misleading media coverage of issues related to dietary supplements; a field report on ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi, Malpighiaceae) from the Peruvian Amazon by Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham; and several articles from ABC’s ongoing Food as Medicine (FAM) series. In recognition of FAM’s four years of publication, ABC Education Coordinator Jenny Perez collaborated with HerbalGram Associate Editor Hannah Bauman in 2018 to update older FAM publications with new and promising research on health-promoting foods that consumers commonly find in their local grocery stores.

The most-clicked HerbalEGram article of 2018 described and responded to a trend by scientific journals, as exemplified by an editorial in The Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, to restrict acceptance of papers reliant on antioxidant and phenolic assays. ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner, PhD, explained the rationale behind the journal editors’ decision. Since the 1990s, interest in antioxidant assays — particularly the widely used Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) test — has increased significantly; however, the scientific community is beginning to view these results, absent any additional data, as less meaningful. According to James Harnly, PhD, the author of the editorial and a research leader at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory, because nearly all plants contain antioxidant compounds that interact with reactive oxygen species in vitro, the raw data from antioxidant assays may not always directly translate to an in vivo effect. In the natural products community, the debate continues.

The second most-clicked story by HerbalGram Assistant Editor Connor Yearsley is an update on the regulatory issues swirling around the Southeast Asian tree kratom (Mitragyna speciosa, Rubiaceae). Following an attempt to place kratom in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continued to oppose unrestricted use of kratom leaf. The FDA issued a warning about kratom’s “opioid” effects and deaths associated with kratom-containing products as part of its argument.

In general, ABC’s members and registered users showed great interest in stories about psychoactive substances, including the aforementioned kratom and the South American brew ayahuasca, the subject of HerbalEGram’s eighth most-popular article of 2018. Other stories that narrowly missed this list include a review by Dennis McKenna, PhD, of the past 50 years of psychedelic research¹ and the second part of Kilham’s ayahuasca vine field report.²

Below is the full list of HerbalEGram’s 10 most popular stories of the year.

1. Scientific Journals Increasingly Skeptical of Antioxidant Research
By Stefan Gafner (January 2018)

In its December 2017 issue, The Journal of Food Composition and Analysis published an editorial in which it announced that it “will no longer accept papers for review that employ antioxidant and total phenolic assays.” The announcement was part of a recent trend started by other scientific journals that focus on natural products. In this article, Gafner explains the debate surrounding the usefulness of these isolated antioxidant assays to the research community.

2. FDA Intensifies Warnings against Kratom
By Connor Yearsley (July 2018)

To support its position against the Southeast Asian tree kratom, the FDA pointed to a collection of deaths associated with kratom-containing products, but various factors obscure the significance of the data. In addition, the FDA declared that kratom is “an opioid” despite the availability of published scientific studies that identify important differences between kratom compounds and classical opioids.

3. Food as Medicine: Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae)
By Hannah Bauman and Jenny Perez (July 2018)

Fresh and green as spring despite its nasty sting, nettle has been used for thousands of years as a source of fiber, wild food, and medicine. Some of the most promising areas of modern research include clinical trials on nettle aerial parts for osteoarthritis and nettle root for lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

4. Food as Medicine: Burdock (Arctium lappa, Asteraceae)
By Hannah Bauman and Bethany Diaz (January 2018)

Commonly known as gobo in sushi restaurants, burdock root is considered an invasive weed in North America. However, its high fiber content and anti-inflammatory properties may make people think twice before clearing it out of the yard. Modern research has investigated burdock root extract for internal and topical applications, and preliminary studies have uncovered exciting activities that may lead to possible adjuvant therapies in patients with type 2 diabetes and liver damage.

5. JAMA Article on Conventional Drugs Marketed as Dietary Supplements Attracts New Attention to Decades-Old Issue
By Stefan Gafner, Michael Levin, and Mark Blumenthal (November 2018)

An October 2018 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) provided a summary and discussion on FDA data regarding products that contained undisclosed active pharmaceutical ingredients and were illegally marketed as dietary supplements. Despite the sensationalist media attention it attracted, the JAMA paper provided little new information concerning this ongoing problem.

6. Food as Medicine: Pistachio (Pistacia vera, Anacardiaceae)
By Hannah Bauman and Erika Martinez (March 2018)

Pistachio nut has an excellent vitamin and mineral profile for everyday health, as well as an array of phytochemicals that have been shown to be beneficial for chronic degenerative conditions. With potential benefits for cardiovascular disease, as a source of complete protein for vegan diets, and even as sunscreen, pistachio nuts should be a staple of one’s vow to eat more “greens.”

7. The Top 10 HerbalEGram Stories of 2017
By ABC Staff (January 2018)

The HerbalEGram staff took a look back at the top stories of 2017, as determined by the readers. The topic of the most-read story will surprise few who have read HerbalGram’s annual market report, while other stories cover global interests.

8. Field Report: Ayahuasca Vine Cultivation and Harvesting in the Peruvian Amazon
By Chris Kilham (March 2018)

Ayahuasca, which is both a plant in the Malpighiaceae family and the name of the psychedelic brew made from the vine, is highly popular in Peru and throughout the Amazonian region of Brazil. As interest in the healing ayahuasca ceremony grows, however, so too does the potential for negative impacts on the plant’s wild populations. Kilham traveled to multiple sites in early 2018 to interview shamans, farmers, and ayahuasca suppliers to gain a better understanding of the plant’s future.

9. Food as Medicine Update: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum, Fabaceae)
By Hannah Bauman and Mallory Houck (November 2018)

Originally domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 7,500 years ago, the chickpea has become an important protein staple crop around the world. The mineral, phytochemical, and dietary fiber contents in chickpea seed have made it a popular functional food for centuries, and modern research is finally catching up to the legume’s benefits for chronic conditions, weight management, and gut microflora.

10. Remembering Donald Gary Young: 1949-2018
By Hannah Bauman (June 2018)

D. Gary Young, founder of essential oil giant Young Living Essential Oils, leaves behind a legacy of hard work, dedication to quality, and philanthropy. Following an accident in his youth, Young began studying the healing properties of essential oils and founded a company that is currently worth more than $1 billion and revolutionized the US essential oils market.

—ABC Staff

References