I recently came across an article that, at first glance, looked promising. The title felt a little vague, but I assumed that was just the usual attempt to pull readers in and let the real substance live in the body of the piece.
It claimed that older women who drink tea have better bone health.
Okay. Interesting. But what tea? What plant? What preparation?
So, I kept reading.
And I kept reading.
Just kidding it was fairly short.
Until my eyes practically rolled back in my head because the entire article turned out to be a nothing burger. Not because it covered material I already knew. Not because it challenged me in any way. But because it ultimately told me…nothing.
And that is exactly why I want to talk about it.
Articles like this do the herbalism and integrative health community a real disservice. Vague, unsupported claims about plants do not move our field forward. They quietly reinforce the very stereotypes that keep herbalism and other integrative approaches stuck in cycles of being d…
