Herbal Information

Biological activity can vary substantially between herbal preparations. For example, it depends on the parts harvested (i.e., leaves, roots, flowers, stems, etc.), plant maturity, soil and environmental conditions, and appropriate preparation and storage.

It is truly a healing art, which at times has confounded ethnobiologists, who have been provided exciting new medicinal plants by shamanic medicine men but who could not later duplicate their initial success when they harvested the plants themselves.

The variability in activity among supposedly comparable products is a major criticism of herbal medicine and inhibits its acceptance by doctors, who understandably are more confident prescribing medicines at truly defined doses. Some herbal products have been prepared without good quality control and lack standardization. There have been cases, independent of price or brand name, of products that contain little biologically active agent.

Although many companies now attempt to standardize their products, this process can also be controversial. For example, if a given herbal preparation lacks sufficient activity, it may be spiked with additional active ingredient. Such spiking, however, creates a chemical imbalance that diminishes the natural synergy of plant components, violating herbal medicine’s supposed philosophical foundation.