The acclaimed magazine HerbalGram has published its 100th issue. Thirty years in the making, the magazine has grown in tandem with the herbal community and the American Botanical Council (ABC), which was created to support the publication and thereby further herbal education.

HerbalGram is the quarterly journal of ABC, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education using science-based and traditional information to promote responsible use of herbal medicine. ABC achieved another landmark in November 2013—its 25th anniversary.

“When Rob McCaleb and I first started writing HerbalGram as a quarterly newsletter back in 1983, it never occurred to me how it would look and what impact it would have 30 years later,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. “After working on it as a volunteer labor of love on nights and weekends, I eventually wanted to see it evolve as sort of a Scientific American of herbs … that could provide credibility to the proposition that the emerging scientific research was frequently able to document and support the general safety and many health benefits of numerous popular and yet-to-become popular herbs. HerbalGram was the kernel of the founding and development of the American Botanical Council, and its many unique educational publications and programs.

Originally published with the financial support of the newly formed American Herbal Products Association, of which Mr. Blumenthal was a founding board member, the first HerbalGram was an eight-page, black-and-white, stapled-at-the-spine newsletter.

In the years that followed, ABC was founded, HerbalGram introduced color illustrations to its pages, and staff grew beyond the duo of Mr. Blumenthal and Mr. McCaleb.

HerbalGram is now a leading publication read by thousands of individuals in more than 80 countries, representing a range of diverse professions from research scientists (e.g., pharmacognosists, ethnobotanists, etc.) and health practitioners (e.g., herbalists, naturopathic physicians, pharmacists, conventionally trained physicians, et al.), to industry members and government regulators, as well as health-conscious consumers.

Digitally archived issues of HerbalGram dating back to the spring 1990 issue #22 are available through the ABC website.
The 100th HerbalGram issue includes 24 bonus pages highlighting ABC and its history as well as the journal’s signature peer-reviewed herb profiles, features, news, research reviews and more. A timeline of the organization’s growth is interspersed with landmark events in the herbal community.