Buying Herbal Remedies

When plants are harvested they are naturally infected with all sorts of microorganisms including E-Coli and Salmonella. Most manufacturers insist that the final blend be sterilized before use to remove these organisms. Sterilization can of course introduce a huge problem.

There are two common ways of sterilization (1) Ethylene Oxide and (2) Radiation. Ethylene Oxide is a known carcinogen and radiation violates the principle of "all natural".  Products derived from grape seed or pine bark must go through a refinement and reduction process. Chemicals are used to accomplish these tasks and in the meantime these products are supposed to be used as antioxidants. Antioxidants are for the purpose of elimination of free radical and harmful toxins in the body. The chemicals normally used in this process are: Acetone, Ethyl Acetate, Methylene Chloride, Ethyl Alcohol, and Buty; Alcohol. In the course of these sterilization processes, the product is exposing you to more toxic chemicals than it is supposed to remove. 

Another example would be that when you examine a label of a product, the ingredients such as Magnesium, selenium, Manganese, Zinc, Chromium and iron, on the list, “the % of U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances” is listed. If the amount of Chromium listed was 40 milligrams and the RDA amount also was 40 milligrams, the customer would assume that they are getting 100% of the RDA by using this product.   Looking at the label closer, where iron is listed, for example, in parenthesis you might see a small "Fe" which doesn't mean a lot to the customer, but it points out that the iron in the product is actually Ferrous Oxide, a chemical substitute for iron and is not bio-available as natural iron. "Fe" has only 1% bio-availability. This means that the body can only absorb 1% of the RDA amount.

Chromium is listed as "chromium/chromium polynicon", which is a chemical substitute for Chromium, and its bio-availability is less than 5%. 

Selenium is listed as "Sodium Selenate" a chemical substitute for Selenium.

Zinc is listed as "Glutconate" another chemical substitute for the real thing.

Bio-availably of these chemicals are almost non existing. 

Then there is the process of standardization.  There are currently three methods used to standardized herbal products. One is to dissolve certain active components in a solvent (like alcohol) to make a tincture. The other method is to blend a variety of batches of herbs together hoping to get a more consistent product; and the third and the least expensive way is spiking.   In the case of Spiking, the active component or synthesized version is added to a base of herbs. The end product may not have any of the initial herbs at all, but when examined in a lab it will show it has been "standardized" to contain just the right amount of the active component. 

Standardization of herbal products does not guarantee a more advanced version of whole herbs. Whole herbs have been used for preventing and treatment of various ailments for thousand of years, and are the chief form of medicine for many cultures around the world today. Standardized forms of these herbs should in no way be considered a substitute for or an improvement on whole herbs.

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