Someone I know asked me about a herbal formula recommended to them by their midwife. Apparently the midwife recommends this formula to all her patients, in the 5 weeks leading up to the patient's due date, saying that it prepares the patient for labor and helps reduce potential bleeding. The formula contains: Blessed Thistle herb, red raspberry leaf, false unicorn root, partridge berry herb, blue cohosh root, ginger root, skullcap herb (not sure what kind), motherwort herb, wild yam root, bayberry root bark; Dosage: 1/4 tsp 3x/day. With the caveat that I don't have experience working with some of those herbs and that I do not work in birth work, my question is: is this formula safe to use for a majority of people, especially when you emphasize tailoring herbs to the specific person? A corollary question: given the lack of available information about the clinically relevant factors of dosage and individual patient specifics, what are the metrics you would employ to determine trust in the practitioner or the herbal formulator's claims? Put another way, can the anecdotal safety/efficacy claims by the experienced midwife prescriber, as well as the claims of "low" dosage and anecdotal claims of safety (indeed total absence of adverse effects) by the established formulating company be viewed as trustworthy without more detailed information about the herbal formula dosage, intended effects, and patient energetics/symptomology.

David said: false unicorn root (endangered species and often adulterated) blue cohosh root (has caused neonatal congestive heart failure) wild yam root and bayberry root bark (no real benefit for this purpose) I would not use this formula. A corollary question... Anecdotal evidence is a type of evidence, but it can be low quality or moderate quality depending on multiple factors. Another type of evidence is historical and traditional use, this can be a bit more compelling especially if it is 3000 years of use in TCM or Ayurveda or the detailed clinical usage of the Eclectic physicians. Then you also look at modern research, in vitro is the least useful, then animal and then human. RCT’s are better than observational trials or epidemiological trials for instance.