**Complementary Medicine with High Dilutions Strengthen Conventional Therapies and Health Strengthen Conventional Therapies and Health**

**Complementary Medicine with High Dilutions** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72415

Silvio Leite Monteiro da Silva Silvio Leite Monteiro da Silva Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72415

#### **Abstract**

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Breeders that have any concern to conventional therapies with sheeps and goats may be interested in complementary medicine with high dilutions. There are plenty of advantages in favor of adding these tools options to the animals care. Connections with breeders, animals, veterinarians and consumers trends are considered. The chapter discusses the context related to the opportunities the current state of art of high dilution medicines offers and the challenges that are faced by the mainstream current worldwide solutions. Six therapeutic styles are identified as useful for these small ruminants. Some of them need specialized professional support and some do not because they are already ready for acquisition and use. References of how work evolves in systems and how to find them are provided. The findings clearly state that the introduction of complementary high diluted medicines offers advantages to the current demands.

**Keywords:** ultra high dilutions, alternative treatments, residues, sheep and goats, small ruminants

#### **1. Introduction**

The contextualization of the usage of ultra-diluted medications benefits the understanding of the potential that this tool based evidences can provide operations with goats and sheep. The challenges and risks concerning the breeding of these small ruminants must be mitigated with an increase in the safety of this sector, and part of this optimization is the certainty of availability of non-residual therapeutic tools for veterinarians and full access to producers. Thus, ultra-diluted drugs may reduce the sanitary and management risks of the activity itself and provide a good animal product, entailing less tasks for workers who daily handle animals by decreasing the demand for work. Broadening the capability of maintaining the herd

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

healthy or making decisions in the face of an outbreak in a herd is a preventive measure, and, as is known about preventive measures, they are less costly than implementing a reactive remedial action in a specific disease or adversity.

The results of the use of ultra-diluted medicines were adapted from human medicine and are independent of beliefs or religions, and the achieved effects are different than the placebo effect, even if animals or caretakers are not aware of the introduction of those medications. Generally, the healing processes in animals are remarkably higher in terms of qualitative response and time in relation to if they were compared to humans. Recently, a change in the research epicenter regarding ultra dilutions has been observed from Europe to Brazil. Example countries that are well-known for using ultra-diluted treatments are Brazil, India, and France, but there are veterinarians and doctors that employ this kind of treatment all over the world, and it can be easily noticed in some specific events of the sector, and it is clear that there is availability, and the access to such professionals will depend on a matter of choice. China has started a remarkable movement of research funding, whereas, against history, a group in the European Community has decided to impose a restriction to investments in research. In Switzerland, there are institutions engaged in research and cancer treatments with ultra-diluted and anthroposophical medications (e.g. Weleda, the Ischia Institute); in Italy, there are wards in hospitals that make use of very common ultra-diluted medicines in Toscana region. In Brazil, there are pharmaceutical industries of ultra-diluted medicines for animals that are distributed to retail and packed in sacks with up to 20 kg, which are shipped throughout the country and for exportation. The recognized benefits by popular use of people in charge of animals or caretakers in farms, or even in pets, as well as by a specific category of professionals impose to the agility and interest with which universities and public research centers are unable to get updated and make experiments. Thus, attention of opinions from individuals with a lack of deep area knowledge must be paid with restrictions. There is a need to check the origin of information and their reliability should be checked if comes from an ultra-diluted substances expert [5–7].

Complementary Medicine with High Dilutions Strengthen Conventional Therapies and Health

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72415

311

The following sections will identify the use of high dilutions with their opportunities and

Treatment of animals is part of the food supply chain for people, thus there is an interface with human health. People who choose ultra-diluted medicines are generally constituted of more educated and wealthier individuals, and it is known that the offer of this kind of therapy reduces the financial expenses of its users with healthcare plans. On the other hand, there is still part of the population that demonstrate problems with the use of conventional medicines (allergies, intolerance, adverse symptoms, recurrence of symptoms, and resistance) and that benefit from treatments with ultra-diluted drugs. There is an applied area of pharmacological studies that makes major efforts in the application of individualization and customization of treatments that employ therapeutic drugs, but are restricted to the enhancement of the manipulation of dose protocols or the introduction of a conventional medicine for the metabolism

**3. Material and methods**

and predetermined conditions.

challenges.

**3.1. Opportunities**

In addition, the customers that eat and make use of animal products are becoming more demanding and are aware of their own health, especially referred to the risk of chemical, microbiological, and systemic contaminations of products and substances that will be exposed to the social-environmental impacts caused by the sector, which invariably can affect them. However, there are restrictions to traditional and registered medications liable to be used in goats and sheep, which aggravate due to the fact that innumerous classic and conventional therapeutic tools like antimicrobials and antiparasitic are at risk of functional collapse. Therefore, ultra-diluted medications may, individually or collectively, make the systems more competitive, reactivate in practice the healing capability of conventional treatments in a joint action, decrease the mortality of animals in outbreaks, and prevent an end of the feasibility of production systems that make use of goats and sheep anywhere.

## **2. Literature review**

It is important to conceptually distinguish ultra-diluted to phytotherapic medicines regarding the occurrence of residual risks. Phytotherapic medicines are herbal drugs that generally have a smaller industrial processing and are based on the presence of concentration of chemical compounds present in parts of plants that are used. Like, for example, a passion fruit extract (*Passiflora sp*.) that produces a soothing effect if ingested, marigold extract (*Calendula oficinalis*) as a topical anti-inflammatory that acts in the region it has been applied, and garlic (*Allium sativum*) as antibacterial and antioxidant [1, 2].

On the other hand, the ultra-diluted medications can originate from plants, minerals, or animals, like, for instance, *Atropa belladonna* (dynamized belladonna) for acute inflammations, including some acute mastitis, *Natrum muriaticum* (dynamized NaCl) for physical illness due to separation at weaning; and *Apis mellifica* (dynamized bee) for acute allergic reactions. The dynamization process extracts from the original compounds the medicinal principle through consecutive dilutions and shaking. The original compound needed to make an ultra-diluted medication is called mother tincture and depending on the substance, it can be directly used as an herbal medicine before the dynamization. The debate on the active principles of ultra-diluted substances is important for the differentiation regarding the presence of residues, while herbal medicines and mother tinctures have high concentrations that can be excreted and modify the taste of milk and meat, and it might need a waiting period and disposal of milk, for example, ultra-diluted drugs have a low concentration of molecules and the risk of the presence of residues and need of waiting period or disposal derived from the medication is unnecessary. The presence of herbal medicine residues may be less significant than antimicrobials, hormones, and anti-inflammatories, but the local bodies that regulate drugs for animals that process food imposes legal restrictions even if not always complied [3, 4].

The results of the use of ultra-diluted medicines were adapted from human medicine and are independent of beliefs or religions, and the achieved effects are different than the placebo effect, even if animals or caretakers are not aware of the introduction of those medications. Generally, the healing processes in animals are remarkably higher in terms of qualitative response and time in relation to if they were compared to humans. Recently, a change in the research epicenter regarding ultra dilutions has been observed from Europe to Brazil. Example countries that are well-known for using ultra-diluted treatments are Brazil, India, and France, but there are veterinarians and doctors that employ this kind of treatment all over the world, and it can be easily noticed in some specific events of the sector, and it is clear that there is availability, and the access to such professionals will depend on a matter of choice. China has started a remarkable movement of research funding, whereas, against history, a group in the European Community has decided to impose a restriction to investments in research. In Switzerland, there are institutions engaged in research and cancer treatments with ultra-diluted and anthroposophical medications (e.g. Weleda, the Ischia Institute); in Italy, there are wards in hospitals that make use of very common ultra-diluted medicines in Toscana region. In Brazil, there are pharmaceutical industries of ultra-diluted medicines for animals that are distributed to retail and packed in sacks with up to 20 kg, which are shipped throughout the country and for exportation. The recognized benefits by popular use of people in charge of animals or caretakers in farms, or even in pets, as well as by a specific category of professionals impose to the agility and interest with which universities and public research centers are unable to get updated and make experiments. Thus, attention of opinions from individuals with a lack of deep area knowledge must be paid with restrictions. There is a need to check the origin of information and their reliability should be checked if comes from an ultra-diluted substances expert [5–7].
