The Great Herbal And Substance Database

(Page FINALLY updated on 2/23/2014... been a bit busy)

Welcome to the Great Herbal And Substance Database (GHAS)! This is a database containing information on the reputed properties of herbs, vitamins, amino acids, and other supplements. A database of nearly 1000 entries, including what bodily systems they affect, some descriptions, any toxic effects, and all you need to decide what to do at the local healthfood stores.

Why this Database?

Well, just take a look at any given herbal supplement at the healthfood store; the label doesn't tell anything about what it's supposed to be good for, and yet you know there's all sorts of things these herbs are supposed to be good for. The reason for the blank label is that, here in the USA, the FDA won't permit any descriptive labeling until it's gone through about 20 years of testing, several testing fees, and been finally marketed a decade after it's too late for anything to matter (and then priced beyond anyone wanting to buy it) - read as, the AMA and FDA have a thing going together, but that's a different story. Your only option then is to buy one of those inch-thick books by all those helpful doctors that tell you which herb does what, but only after you've paid a good chunk of money for them (after which, you can then no longer afford to buy the herb that you wanted to find out about!).

Enter this database and the concept of freedom of information. From several sources (including health store mailings, ingredient labels, and an actual book on herbs or two) I have gleaned information on the uses of over 1000 herbs, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and other substances and put it inot the very useful and extremely universal database format. Now if you want to know what an herb does, or what's best for a given ailment, all you have to do is a quick database search (I'll assume you own a computer or you wouldn't have downloaded this, or I think they give database programs away in cereal boxes).

Considering the exploding popularity of supplements and alternative medicine, I think this should prove to be an extremely useful database.

Formats

As you wil notice, there are two different archives. The first archive contains the database in two Amiga formats; the first in the native format for the Twist2 database program and the second in text format (tab delimited, first line are the field names). You will find this format in the "LHA" archive file. This format is no longer maintained.

The ZIP archive is the current one, with the main full-color format in FileMakerPro format, along with other exports into tab delimited, CSV, and Excell formats; for these other formats the first line of each file contain the various field names in the order that they appear in the text records; the rest of the file is, of course, the various records. Each archive also contains a copy of this page as the docs file.

The fields for the database are described below, listed by their name and in the same order that they appear in the text database.

Fields

The following are the descriptions of the different fields used in this database. All fields are text types, with single line records, except for "Properties" which is text but is a milti-line memo field with possible carriage returns within it's text field (which my database program comverted to those occasional funny looking symbols you see therein).

Name: The name of the material in question. The name used is the common name by which it is known, though there are a very few (about a dozen or so) that I give only the botanical names for; this is because those where the only names I found (if anyone knows the common names for these scientific ones then please tell me and I will update the database accordingly).
Botanical_Name: The botanical name of the herb in question (where applicable and where I could find one).
System_Affected: A general overview list of the general types of bodily systems affected by the material.
Properties: The specific properties and reputed effects and uses that it has.
Description: A general description, where available, of the her or material in question, and sometimes which part of the herb is to be used.
Origin: The origin, when given, of the herb; where in the world it originated from.
Notes: Any other notes on the material, preparation, warnings on use, etc.
Toxicity: The toxicity, if any, of the substance, or any warnings regarding overdose. "None" means that it definitely has no toxic side effects, but if nothing is given in this field (whether an actual effect or the worn "none"), then it means that I have found no mentioned toxic side effects but neither did I find an EXPLICIT mention of no toxicity; however, if this field is blank then it is most likely non-toxic (since I'd found none mentioned in any texts).
Dosage: A new field added in from the original database, the recommended dosage is given here (for cases in which I was able to find one). In some cases the dosage is in the form of a tea that can be made from that herb and then drunk; in such a case the keyword "Tea" is followed by the a ratio of herb to water. If an herb can be taken both in a given dosage and as a tea then both will be given.
Type: The general type of the material. At present the possible entries in this field are "Herb", "Vitamin", "Mineral", "Animal" (for any animal products or animal-derived substance), "Amino Acid", "FruitVeggy" (for any fruit or vegetable), "Enzymes", and "Other" (for anything else that doesn't fall neatly into the previous categories).

Future

I've worked on this database for a while now and have finally gotten it complete enough to upload. It contains most all the herbs and supplements you're likely to find in any health store and is probably more complete than anything you'll find on the net (and in database format, much more useful than just plain text). If I find another major source of information with enough new entries, or if enough people email me corrections or additions on things, then I'll upload the occasional update or two.

In the meantime, spread this as far and wide as you care to.

Disclaimer

Insert you favorite disclaimer here. Basically I don't claim that anything mentioned here works or will do anything more than taste funny. So, don't go writing to me if your hair falls out or your dog turns purple.

Anywhere

If you like this database, find it useful, or just like sending things, then email me, send me money, prizes, or cereal box surprises, or whatever suits your fancy, and then re-upload this entire archive to somewhere else.

For Amiga Users Only

The Amiga archive (LHA) also contains the ARexx script Herbex.rexx script by Chris Dawson. It converts the database into a form more usable by some PC database programs (apparently the ascii version I've included isn't entirely compatible with some programs). Documentation is in the archive.

Archives: (New update: 02/23/14)