Synergy: The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. The simple act of using herbs as medicine, handed down for generations, enchants with its simplicity. The act of growing the plants – gently tending to their needs and watching over them,  carefully harvesting them for their roots or leaves or flowers, then crafting them into various methods of prevention and healing places us in synergy with Nature. We are working with and acknowledging the elements that create the perfect balance that will allow our plants to thrive. The medicinal constituents of herbs can be altered greatly in response to changes in the environment. Flooding or drought, poor soil versus nutrient-dense soil, insect infestation, extreme cold or heat, and numerous other variables affect the active ingredients inherent in the plants from the levels of the constituents to the potency of them. Countless plants offer constituents that can be extracted and used for medicinal benefits. Crafting plants into medicine is an art that can (and should) be supplemented with a study of the science of each aspect of a plant, but viewing plants from a strictly scientific perspective is dangerous. When medicines are created purely from a scientific study of them, the constituents of the plants are often manipulated and the balance inherent in each plant is compromised, usually due to the extraction of, and focus on, the most powerful aspects while disregarding and removing the more mild effects. This practice is called “standardization” and has nothing to do with the centuries-old practice of herbal medicine where formulas for simple remedies were passed down and still prove to be quite adept at healing. The “standardized herbal extract” began as an ambitious, yet misguided, attempt in Europe during the 1970’s to standardize each dose of the same herb. Standardized herbal extracts were designed to always deliver a consistent dose. The standardization process causes a single constituent to be extracted from the original herb. This concentrate, which is standardized into one active ingredient, is then loaded back into an herbal base. This phytopharmaceutical practice has increasingly prompted manufacturers to promote products with concentrated effects, as if this makes their product better. The practice even makes these remedies patentable! While to the general public this may seem harmless, the fact of the matter is that these products have actions which are much more similar to pharmaceutical drugs, often possess toxic residues from the extraction solvents, and the majority of reported adverse reactions can be directly attributed to them! In herbs, as with food, unprocessed is always best! As only one example of many that exist, the herb “Kava” was much-maligned in the press after several reports of liver damage and death were linked to its use. It has since been determined that standardization methods were partly to blame.  The standardization process concentrates the kava lactones, or the active components of Kava, to approximately 40% – 80%, while natural Kava has 10%-20% kava lactones. Adverse effects were partially caused by too much of a good thing! Another problem with the standardized remedy was the fact that the occurrences of liver damage may have been a result of the use of hexane and acetone which were employed as solvents in an effort to extract the medicinal constituents. If not completely removed from the finished product, these toxic solvents can cause a myriad of serious health concerns! Of course, using the correct part(s) of the plants is also crucial, and less scrupulous manufacturers, due to financial greed, have been found to use plant parts which have been deemed dangerous. (The only cause of injury tied to the use of Kava that was not due to standardization was the presence of mold which is believed to have been present on some of the plant material.) Growing your own herbs and then crafting them into remedies (using the correct parts of the chosen plant) is always preferable to a commercial standardized remedy that has been concentrated to promote just one major constituent. Working with Nature in its purest sense, infusing our remedies with love and good intention, is how herbal medicine began and how it should continue… As always, I wish you happy healing of the mind, body, & spirit! Views:]]>