The title of this article summarizes a major principle taught at the School of Natural Healing. Those of you who ascribe to natural medicine might say “that’s a given,” however many people might be puzzled by the declaration “the whole is greater than the part.” Today’s medicine advocates for the extraction of active ingredients from medicinal plants, utilizing them as drugs, and proclaiming their superiority. Thus, they are proclaiming that the part is greater than the whole.

I read an article last week titled “Potency of these Alzheimer’s pills might not match the label.” (Harvard Health Letter, May 2024). In the article they compared 11 generic galantamine drugs with 10 dietary supplements of galantamine. Their studies showed that all of the drugs were accurate as to the amount of galantamine in each pill, whereas the supplements were variant ranging between less than 2% to 110% of the labeled quantity. There exists no question of the positive Alzheimer effectiveness of galantamine, which is an alkaloid extracted from plants in the Amaryllidaceae family. The question is safety, especially knowing the side effects of these extracted alkaloids.

When found in its whole state, as part of a plant, galantamine is safe and can pass through the blood brain barrier as a reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. This action provides more acetylcholine for the brain by preventing its enzymatic breakdown. Galantamine is now available as an isolated alkaloid in the symptomatic treatment of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. However, in its “partsome” (extracted) form galantamine can cause minor and serious side effects as listed below (found on https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-20737-6218/galantamine-oral/galantamine-oral/details):

Side effects of the extracted alkaloid, galantamine can include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Decreased appetite

These side effects are minor compared to these major side effects:

• Inability to empty bladder
• Muscle twitching, jerking, spasms, tremors, uncontrolled movements
• Stiffening of arms and legs
• Falling or losing consciousness
• Seizures
• Heart rhythm changes including cardiac arrest
• Severe skin reactions
• Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), which is a horrible condition causing all your skin to fall off

Although medical texts list plants that contain galantamine as poisonous, none of these major side effects have ever been attributed to the herbs that contain the naturally occurring alkaloid in its whole state. My favorite example of plants that contain this naturally occurring alkaloid are onions and garlic from the Amaryllidaceae family. Billions of people have used these foods with no dangerous side effects. Once again, as taught at the School of Natural Healing “the whole is greater than the part,” in other words, whole herbs are safe “partsome” herbs (drugs) are dangerous. 

David Christopher is a Master Herbalist, director of The School of Natural Healing, and son of our beloved Dr. John R. Christopher. He is continually helping others improve their health and that of their family members. The School loves having him as the director.