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People everywhere are hungry for clear, practical, scientifically-validated information about how to make safe and simple use of herbs in their day to day lives. I too was once hungry for this kind of information. I discovered that working (and playing) with herbs did not need to be complex and confusing. It could be sheer pleasure. For me it was like walking down a path where a wonderful surprise is revealed at every turn. |
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I prefer to use either the whole herb or products made from whole herbs. I look for those made from plants which have been grown in healthy soils preferably organic - properly harvested and skillfully processed with great respect for the natural healing powers they contain and a desire to bring them to market as much as possible intact.
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STANDARDIZATION Pick up a bottle of herbs. You may find a word written
on it which was never used a decade ago: standardized St John’s Wort,
for instance, is often standardized which means guaranteed to contain
at least 0.3% hypericin. Milk thistle is standardized to 70% silymarin.
Ginkgo biloba is standardized to 24% flavone glycosides and 6% terpene
lactones. The practice of standardizing originated in Germany and the United States in an attempt to guarantee that a customer buying the herb will get a specific quantity of a plant’s biologically active compounds that which is believed to carry the plant’s therapeutic effects. There is some sense in this since levels of a plant’s most active ingredients can vary widely depending on how it has been grown and where, how it was gathered, processed - even the time of day at which it was harvested. It is particularly sensible when as some herbalists do you are using a plant not for its holistic healing power but rather as a source of a particular chemical which is being given much as a conventional doctor might prescribe a drug. There are some herbs which I believe can benefit from standardization In the case of these plants standardization gives you the chance to have a good idea of what you are buying since there are now many products on the market containing these particular herbs, some of which will be very poor quality. The herbs you might consider buying in standardized form are these: calendula, chamomile, echinacea, evening primrose, hawthorn, licorice, ginseng, ginkgo, kava kava, tea tree, and milk thistle, and olive leaf extract. |
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triple confusion There are three ways of standardizing herbal products to end up with consistent levels of at least some of their active ingredients:
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I prefer whole herbs for two reasons: First when you mess about with a plant, adding this and taking that away, readjusting chemical ingredients, you disrupt a plant’s natural healing synergy and may lose some of its sacred power in the process. Second, there is an amusing arrogance in the assumption that we are sure what the so-called ‘active ingredient’ is in a particular plant. You could be buying a herb in which a particular ingredient has been standardized only to find out a year or two later that scientists have discovered that this ingredient is actually not the most active ingredient as had been believed. Or you might discover that to work its best, this so-called active ingredient needs to be in the presence of yet another active ingredient which has been ignored in the standardization process. This happened recently in the case of St John’s Wort when researchers discovered that the plant chemical they were standardizing for may not at all be the most active. After all is said and done, I am probably more likely to purchase a tincture of echinacea or chamomile which has not been standardized than one which has. So, although I respect the process of standardization and sometimes use standardized herbs myself, I guess I respect the wisdom of nature even more. |
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The classic definition of a herb is a non-woody plant which dies down to its roots each winter. This definition is far too limiting. It was probably made up by 19th Century European botanists who had never seen the rainforest in which, of course there is no winter to die back in. Neither had they ever heard of woody trees and shrubs such as hawthorn and ginko and elder which are some of the best selling herbs on the market these days. I define a herb as a medicinal plant. It can come from any climate and be a leaf, a bark, a flower or a root. It can be home-grown or wild, a weed, a spice, a plant which is used for its healing or culinary or beautifying properties. Once you discover the power of herbs it is easy to become so enthusiastic about them you go overboard trying to use them for everything. It is not wise to take lots of different plants all at the same time. Or you might start to think that since a small amount of something is good for you, taking twice or three times that amount will be even better. It isn’t. If you want safe and sane herbal help here are a few guidelines to follow:
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