Why do we love medicines so much?

Sullivan, Richard; Behncke, Isabel; Purushotham, Arnie

doi:10.1038/embor.2010.108

Cited by 19 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Media hype fuels the perception that new must mean better 15 . The complexity of the disease probably also makes it easy for the various players of the medical-industrial complex to persuade policymakers to prioritize hightech solutions.…”

Section: Three Major Shiftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cancer patients need better care, not just more technology

Sullivan

Pramesh

Booth

2017

Nature

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Section: Three Major Shiftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, more scientific rigour, media scrutiny and public debate globally could make it harder for the cancer community (including researchers, physicians and patient groups) to celebrate marginal wins and endorse policy focused on technological innovation 15 .…”

Section: Three Major Shiftsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cancer patients need better care, not just more technology

Sullivan

Pramesh

Booth

2017

Nature

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“…Humans love medicines (Sullivan et al 2010 ). Expenditure on pharmacological drugs was US$455.9 billion in the USA in 2017 (Schumock et al 2017 ) while global spending on pharmaceuticals was a startling US$1.25 trillion in 2019 (Mikulic 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The extent of the human desire for medicines suggests this may be an evolutionary behavior (Johns 1990 ; Sullivan et al 2010 ), while a study of some modern medicinal plants that linked the useful medicinal compounds of certain plants to the way they were used in three separate regions of the world provides an indication of the antiquity and efficacy of their use (Saslis-Lagoudakis et al 2012 ). However, searching for evidence of use of medicines in the archeological record is challenging; plant remains only rarely survive into the deep Paleolithic past, and when they do survive, it can be hard to demonstrate deliberate medicinal application.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use

Hardy

2020

Rev. Bras. Farmacogn.

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Modern human need for medicines is so extensive that it is thought to be a deep evolutionary behavior. There is abundant evidence from our Paleolithic and later prehistoric past, of survival after periodontal disease, traumas, and invasive medical treatments including trepanations and amputations, suggesting a detailed, applied knowledge of medicinal plant secondary compounds. Direct archeological evidence for use of plants in the Paleolithic is rare, but evidence is growing. An evolutionary context for early human use of medicinal plants is provided by the broad evidence for animal self-medication, in particular, of non-human primates. During the later Paleolithic, there is evidence for the use of poisonous and psychotropic plants, suggesting that Paleolithic humans built on and expanded their knowledge and use of plant secondary compounds.

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Paleomedicine and the use of plant secondary compounds in the Paleolithic and Early Neolithic

Hardy

2019

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Reconstructing plant use before domestication is challenging due to a lack of evidence. Yet, on the small number of sites with assemblages, the wide range of different plant species cannot be explained simply in terms of nutrition. Assemblages from the Lower Paleolithic to the Early Neolithic were examined to investigate the relative edible and medicinal properties of the plants. The assemblages contain a mixture of edible species, plants that are both edible and medicinal, and plants with only medicinal properties. The proportion of medicinal plants at all sites is well above the natural average and increases over time. Mechanisms for preventing intestinal parasitic infections are common among animals and together with chimpanzees’ preventative and curative self‐medication practices suggest an evolutionary context for this behavior. A broad‐spectrum approach to plant collection is likely to have been in place throughout the Paleolithic driven, in part, by the need for medicinal compounds.

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Why do we love medicines so much?

Abstract: Humans have an irrational desire for medicines. The authors explain that this ‘pharmophilia’ could have evolutionary roots and may have a profound impact for public health policies.

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Cancer patients need better care, not just more technology

Cancer patients need better care, not just more technology

Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use

Paleomedicine and the use of plant secondary compounds in the Paleolithic and Early Neolithic

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