Chris Kilham is the Indiana Jones of natural medicine. Instead of hunting for archeological treasures or adventure, Kilham has spent a lifetime traveling the world in search of medicinal plants that can treat everything from depression to heart disease to diabetes.
 

Kilham, an ethno-botanist and author of more than a dozen books on natural medicine, tells Newsmax TV’s “Meet The Doctors” that a number of healing compounds are only as far away as your kitchen pantry. Garlic, ginseng, turmeric and other more exotic botanicals all contain substances that offer health benefits. He adds that modern-day scientists are just beginning to understand what natural healers have known for centuries: That Mother Nature’s medicine chest holds the key to boosting health and longevity.
 

“We have gotten our treatments from the Earth for all of history — up until about 1940,” he explains. “We have thousands of medicinal plants that are lifesavers that are the basis of modern pharmacy that are used widely in hospitals all over the world. [And] I’m totally in favor of keeping that trend going.”

 

 

 

Kilham has spent a lifetime working with companies and health groups to develop, popularize, and market plant-based food and medicinal products. H has also written extensively about new treatments, therapies, and health-boosting foods derived from herbs, plants, and trees that he argues are less-risky alternatives to synthetic drugs, most of which carry potentially dangerous side effects.

 

“Plants are safer medicines,” he says. “Every year about 200,000 or more Americans die from the proper use of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Most years, not one American dies from herbs. They have a longer history of use and they have as many scientific papers [supporting their effectiveness] published as drugs do.”
 

Increasingly, even the world’s pharmaceutical companies are recognizing the enormous potential of plant-based treatments. For instance, the National Institutes of Health reports about 140 new drugs have been developed from Chinese medicinal plants alone in recent decades — including new treatments for leukemia, hepatitis, dementia, and even malaria.
 

In many cases, plant-based drugs take less time — and cost dramatically less — to develop, than medicines derived from other sources or synthesized entirely in the lab.
 

Noted health and wellness expert Erika Schwartz, M.D. — author of Dr. Erika’s Healthy Balance newsletter — explains that many drugs are derived from plants, including bio-identical hormones, which (unlike synthetic chemical hormones) are derived from yams and soy.
 

“All our pharmaceuticals have evolved from plants,” she says, adding that drug companies are “still using plants, only they use in the lab ways in which t they just change a little bit of a molecule, even though it’s from a plant, so they can get a patent on it and then they can sell it for a few billion dollars for the drug companies. They’re not helping you and me; they’re helping themselves.”

 

Kilman notes a handful of key natural remedies are common staples in many kitchens. Among them:

 

Garlic. A natural antibiotic, garlic has also been shown to boost cardiovascular health. “Very good for thinning the blood, reducing [dangerous blood fats] triglycerides, reducing the risk of atherosclerosis — hardening of the arteries,” he notes, adding with a smile: “[It’s] excellent for keeping away vampires, of course. There are a lot of studies that show benefits of garlic including reducing high blood pressure.”

 

Turmeric. Several studies have shown that this common Asian can boost brainpower, ease depression, and even improve the memory of people who are in the very early stages of diabetes and at risk of dementia. Antioxidant compounds in the spice — long used in traditional curry dishes — could halt the progression of dementia or reduce its impact reports, according to the latest research out of  the Monash Asia Institute in Taiwan.
 

Ginger root. Used in traditional medicine for several thousand years, ginger root is effective in treating motion sickness and some viruses, and is available in virtually every supermarket, he explains. “In human clinical studies, it proves to be every bit as effective for motion sickness as Dramamine, but more effective when you’re sea sick,” Kilham says. “It’s good for treating colds. It kills the rhinovirus that causes colds [and treats] nausea [and] indigestion. You can grate it and you can drink a tea out of it. You can also get ginger chews which are these kind of pleasant candies that are super-infused with ginger extract.”

Sangre de grado. This exotic elixir, derived from the sap of a tree, is used to treat skin problems in South America. It is harder to find than garlic, ginger root, and turmeric, but is available in some specialty ethnic and health food stories. “This stuff is the No. 1 remedy for skin problems in the Amazon...” Kilham notes. “This is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory … so it kills the bad stuff in a cut, in a wound. It makes a little latex bandage over it to protect the skin. It’s a rapid skin-healing agent…[used to treat] a burn, a bite, a sting, a cut, an abrasion.”

 

Dr. Schwartz notes that conventional doctors are trained to treat individual health conditions — such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and depression — with pills and medicines. But alternative practitioners using natural medicines often take a more holistic approach, boosting general health and wellness, while also addressing specific ailments.

 

“The problem is that … conventional doctors [are] trained that you have to give somebody a pill for a particular problem,” she says. “The reality is if you’re taking an herb or a supplement, it’s going to affect everything…and they probably do it a lot gentler, a lot better, and a lot safer.”