In general, herbal medicines work in much the same way as conventional drugs. Each herb has a variety of chemical constituents that have varying effects on physiology. The primary difference is in philosophy. While the pharmaceutical industry will tell you the negative aspect of an herb is it is not fully characterized, an herbalist will tell you the complex and chaotic nature of herbal medicines are what make them effective with fewer side effects. In allopathic medicine, it is felt by many that using smaller doses of more than one antihypertensive medication, will produce blood pressure control with fewer side effects. This would be analogous to the many active constituents of an herb. Herbal medicines often have multiple active ingredients, some of them with varying degrees of affinity for a single receptor site, and others with synergistic affinities for different receptor sites.

The "Guidelines for the Assessment of Herbal Medicines" published by the World Health Organization in 1991, advises its member nations to take under consideration traditional usage, and acknowledge that where a botanical has been used long-term for specific indications without having produced undue harm, it should be judged as relatively safe. In the United States, herbal preparations fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration. They are viewed as food supplements. After the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act passed in 1994, the FDA allowed manufactures to list use and safety information on herbal product labels. No curative or preventative actions were to be listed. Unfortunately, these FDA regulations obscure the worldwide recognition of herbs as therapeutic agents and create a difficult environment in United States for herb use, quality control and research.