Tea, Tablet or Tincture?

Herbs come in many forms, and deciding which form is the most suitable for you depends on three factors: 1) which herb you are taking, 2) the potency of the form and 3) what fits into your lifestyle. The herbal forms obtainable are water extracts, alcohol extracts, capsules or tablets and standardized extracts.

Water extracts are known as teas or infusions. A teaspoon of herb soaked in hot water for 5-20 minutes typically extracts colors, flavors and necessary oils to make a tea. For fragile blossoms, such as chamomile or elder flowers, teas are a brilliant form of preparation. However, to extract most water-soluble medicinal constituents and to get adequate for a therapeutic effect, you need to make an infusion. This involves soaking one ounce of dried herb in a quart of hot water, covered, for approximately 4-8 hours. Infusions are often the greatest medium for nutritive herbs such as oat straw tops, nettle leaves or red clover blossoms. Infusions will stay in the fridge for a few days, and may be iced, reheated, flavored or sweetened.

Alcohol extracts or tinctures are made by soaking suitable plant parts in alcohol for six weeks. During that time, the alcohol bonds to therapeutic constituents in the plant, pulling them into answer and preserving them for years. Tinctures are typically made from fresh plants and are quite potent, particularly if made with a 1:1 plant-alcohol ratio.

Tinctures are easily and rapidly ingested and absorbed--simply dilute in a little water, tea or juice--and are brilliant mediums for tonic herbs such as burdock root, milk thistle seed, Echinacea root and most other herbs.

Capsules are made by grinding dried herbs and putting them into gel caps or vegicaps. Tablets also contain dried and earth plant material which is compressed with binders (such as magnesium stearate) to hold it mutually. Although quite suitable for many people, capsules and tablets must be digested well in order to be effectual. In addition, herbs may lose some of their strength in drying, processing and shelf time. Large amounts of pills (anywhere from 6-12 per day) could be desired for tonic herbs to be effective. Capsules and tablets are ideal when made from motivating or sedating herbs such as valerian or kava whose drug like potency can withstand processing.

Standardized extracts are made from dried plants--one chemical or "active" ingredient is usually extracted from the dried plant material with hexane or another solvent, and then concentrated in larger amounts than normally found in the herb. This potency can be advantageous, but some herbalists believe that many other beneficial actions of the herb are sacrificed. Still, some plants seem to work well in standardized extracts despite the processing, such as St. John's Wort.

When deciding which form of herb is best for you, consider the following loose guidelines: take nutritive herbs as infusions, tonic herbs as tinctures and stimulating/sedating herbs as tinctures or capsules. If a pill is the only realistic lifestyle option for you, talk to one of our staff members about herbs that will be effective in pill form.

Finally, be open to new ways of taking your herbal medicine. While pills might work for strong chemicals, many herbs work by providing optimum nutrition and/or toning an organ or system over time. Herbal pills cannot usually provide these effects.