Herbal Tinctures: Getting or Giving the Right Dose

Herbal tinctures are the backbone of Western herbalism.  Generally, herbal tinctures are made from herbs extracted with a combination of alcohol and water, although glycerine and vinegar can also be used.  They are widely available, economical to produce and use, compact enough to stock in considerable variety and have a good shelf life. They can be combined and are convenient to take.   Dried herbs start to loose their potency after 6 months yet tinctures can last up to 10 years or more.  As a primarily Traditional Chinese Medicine herbalist, I mostly rely on concentrated decoctions, but in some cases when I am working with aerial parts of  plants, or herbs that could benefit from the effects of alcohol, increasing circulation, tinctures are more appropriate.

This posting is based on tinctures made using the weight to volume method.

Understanding dosage rates are important in achieving therapeutic outcomes.  I find that if someone isn’t responding to an herbal formula then analyzing their dosages can be helpful.

As a starting point most commercially available herbal tinctures indicate the weight to volume ratio.  For example, if the label states that it is a 1:5 extraction, this indicates that 1 gram (weight) of herb is equivalent to 5 milliliters (volume) of liquid.

A tincture formula will state the herb and the ratio of herb (by weight) to solvent (by volume), and the % alcohol (ethanol) in water.

Having this information is crucial in understanding the amount of herb that you are recommending or taking per dose.  Furthermore, this information is required by law to appear on the label. along with the serving size suggestion, which we will discuss further on.

In trying to communicate dosage equivalencies I have developed the following chart based on weight to volume ratios.  The side column indicates the common ratios and the top row indicates the volume of tincture consumed (in milliliters).  For example, if you took 1 milliliter of liquid made at a ratio of 1:2 then you would be ingesting a half of a gram of herb.

Tincture Dosage EquivalencySuggested Use:  Different companies have different suggested dosage rates.   Some companies suggest taking a dropper full and others recommended taking a range of drops as a serving size, for example, 20-60 drops.  When a dropper full is suggested the amount consumed depends on the size of the bottle and dropper.  When the suggested dosage on the bottle indicates a number of drops per dose, the amount consumed depends on the viscosity of the liquid.  Since this can change from one company to the next the best we can do is to have an understanding of some equivalents  recognizing that this is an approximation:

• 20 drops = 1 ml
• Dropperful from a one-ounce bottle—30 drops
• Dropperful from a two-ounce bottle—40 drops
• 5 ml = 1 teaspoon
• A one-ounce bottle holds approximately 30 ml, 6 teaspoons, 30 dropper full, and 900 drops.

For example if using the suggested serving of 40 drops, and 20 drops = 1 milliliter, then you are taking approximately 2 milliliters of a 1:5 tincture and getting approximately .4 grams of herb per dose.  Most commonly it is recommended to take the tincture two to three times a day, so using this same example you  would be consuming between .8 and 1.2 grams of herb per day. Knowing the actual amount of herb that is recommended on a daily basis will help with putting the this into context.  Below is a partial list of recommended daily dosage of some common herbs.

Examples of dosages of some common herbs*:

Herb	Daily Dosage
Angelica archangelica	3-9 grams
Ashwagandha	3-12 grams
Astragalus	6-15 grams
Black Cohosh	3-9 grams
Burdock	3-10 grams
Codonopsis	9-30 grams
Dandelion	9-30 grams
Dang Gui	3-15 grams
Echinacea	3-9 grams
Grindelia	3-6 grams
Hawthorn Berry	6-12 grams
Lemon Balm	½-6 grams
Motherwort	10-30 grams
Oregon Grape Root	3-9 grams
Passion flower	3-9 grams
Skullcap	3-9 grams
St. Johns Wort	3-9 grams
Uva Ursi	3-6 grams
Valerian	3-6 grams

* Planetary Herbology, Michael Tierra

In some circles there has been a discussion that the use of alcohol potentizes the action of the herbs, therefore less herb is needed.  Furthermore, the synergistic action of herbal combinations or formulas also increases effectiveness requring less herb.  These are great discussions but I work with aspiring herbalists who are often confused as to how to determine or convert tinctures to actual grams of herbs.  I hope that this helps and would encourage you to take a moment to actually consider that you might not be taking enough herbs to be effective.

Related blog post:  https://herbalgoddessmedicinals.wordpress.com/category/herbal-preparations/

Up coming blog:  How to make tinctures using the weight to volume method.

 

 

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Making Holiday Herbal Goodies: Soaks, Sprays, Scrubs and Masks

It is that time of year again when I teach a series of herbal gift-making workshops.  Since many of you following this blog are not local I thought I would share some of my favorite recipes, along with, some ideas for packaging. Feel free to experiment with any of these recipes, if you don’t have the exact ingredients or can think of something else that would enhance the action of the formulas.

Soaks:  The first set of recipes are for a variety of herbal soaks.  For packaging,  the ingredients in these recipes can be divided into large press n’ brew tea bags or  jars with an attached cotton muslin tea bag, which can then can be reused.  Mountain Rose Herbs has several of types of bags available.  I prefer the press n’ brew bags.  I divide the recipe into 4 bags, iron them shut and then combine these bags into transparent cello bags tied with ribbon and labeled with kraft paper tags.

Bright Eyes Herbal Tea Soaks

4 Tablespoons Chamomile flowers

3 Tablespoons Chrysanthemum flowers

2 Tablespoons Peppermint Leaf

3 Tablespoons Sage Leaf

4 drops lavender oil

Measure everything into glass jar, shake and divide between three large press n’ tea bags.

Instructions:  Cover tea bags with boiling water, let cool until slightly warm then apply.

Detoxing and Warming Foot Soak

1/4 cup dead sea salts

1/4 cup Epsom salts

2 Tablespoons dry mustard

2 Tablespoons dried ginger root

2 Tablespoon cinnamon stick, broken up

2 T. of Dong Quai root (angelica sinensis)

1/4 cup of Mugwort leaf

1 Teaspoon Cayenne power

4 Tablespoons of dried Dandelion Root

Put herbs into mason jar, cap and shake.  Package in jar with muslin bag or divide into 5 press n’ brew bags.

Instructions: Put herbs in large pot with 2 quarts of water. Bring to boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add to foot basin with enough cold water to allow feet to soak. Soak until cool.

Skin Soothing Milk Bath Soaks

¼ cup of goat milk powder

1 cup of powdered dry milk

½ cup of non-GMO corn starch

1 cup of oatmeal ground finely

¼ cup of dead sea salt

2 Tablespoons of rose petals

2 Tablespoons of lavender flowers

10 drops of rosemary essential oil

10 drops of carrot seed essential oil

10 drops of neroli essential oil

20 drops of rose hips extract

Combine oatmeal in blender and grind until powder, then combine the ingredients in blender and blend until essential oils are incorporated. Package in jar with muslin bag or divide into 8 press n’ brew bags.

Instructions: Put bag into bath and then fill with hot bath water, let cool until comfortable temp to enter bath.

Sprays:  The next set of recipes are facial and aftershave sprays.  I use bottles with spay atomizers from Specialty Bottle.  Their two ounce bottles are ideal for this use.  I also use kraft paper tags for labeling these as well.

Healing Facial Toner

1 Tablespoon comfrey leaf

1 Tablespoon chamomile flowers

1 Tablespoon Calendula petals

1 Tablespoon Rose petals

2 oz of witch hazel

2 oz of vodka in jar

10 drops of carrot seed essential oil

5 drops of lavender essential oil

5 drops clary sage essential oil

5 drops of cedarwood essential oil

Combine herbs with witch hazel and vodka in jar, shake well and let sit in warm space for 1 week. Strain herbs and combine remaining essential oils, shake well and bottle.

Anti-aging Facial Spray

2 Tablespoon of aloe gel

1 Tablespoon of witch hazel

3 oz of cucumber hydrosol

6 drops of carrot essential oil

4 drops of clary sage essential oil

2 drops of geranium essential oil

3 drops of frankincense essential oil

Combine all ingredients together in jar, shake and then fill bottles.

Bay West Indies Aftershave Splash

This essential oil is distilled from the Bay Rum Tree (Pimenta racemosa). It is a common scent in men’s aftershave products.

1 cups of witch hazel extract

1 ounce of rum

zest from half organic orange

1/2 cinnamon stick

6 peppercorns

1 sprig of rosemary

1 tsp of coriander

1 bay leaf

3-cloves

3-whole allspice

1 tsp teaspoon aloe vera gel

1 tsp of glycerin

15-25 drops of Bay West Indies Essential Oil, depending on preference

Combine all ingredients in 1 quart mason jar, cover and shake well.  Let sit for 2 weeks, shaking daily.  Strain and fill bottles.

Scrubs:  The internet is filled with recipes for scrubs but I wanted to offer up a few of my favorites.  In terms of packaging I use a 4 ounce jar with swing-top lid, which is convenient when using in a shower.  There are many places to download printable labels, but this is one site I often use http://putitinajar.com/crafts/printables/  I use full sheet shipping labels and then print out my labels.  There are numerous examples of labels available at craft supply stores for this purpose if you don’t want to trouble yourself with downloading and printing.

Seaweed Detox Salt Scrub

2 tablespoons comfrey root

2 tablespoons Calendula flower

1 ½ cup of sesame oil

¼ cup of bladderwack seaweed powder

½ cup of kelp powder

2 cups of dead sea salt

½ cup of Rhassoul clay

¼ cup of castor oil

10 drops of rosemary essential oil

10 drops of lavender essential oil

Combine the comfrey and calendula herbs with the sesame oil, heat on low for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat, let cool and strain out herbs.  Combine remaining ingredients, mixing well.  Add more clay if necessary to make it the consistency of peanut butter.

Chocolicious Body Scrub

1/4 cup of Epsom salt

1/4 cup of Dead Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

½ tsp of cinnamon

1 Teaspoon of vanilla

3 Tablespoon of melted coconut oil

Combine all ingredients together mixing well, then fill jars.

Mocha Facial Scrub

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoon of cocoa powder

2 Tablespoon of finely ground coffee

1/3 cup of oatmeal powder*

5-7 Tablespoons of sesame oil

2 Tablespoon of Aloe Vera Gel

1 teaspoon of Vit. E oil

Combine all ingredients together mixing well, then fill jars.  * put oatmeal in blend and grind finely

Masks:  Ever since I was a young girl I loved using facial masks.  Over the years I have enjoyed exploring the full range of masks from fresh fruits to honey to clay.  Here are two of my favorites. For packaging I use hexagon shaped jars, along with kraft paper tags.

Goat Milk and Clay Pore Refining Masque

1/2 cup of French Clay

4 Tablespoon of slippery elm powder

4 Tablespoon of dried goat’s milk powder

2 Tablespoon of comfrey root powder

2 Tablespoon of rose powder

1 Tablespoon of sandalwood powder

20 drops of carrot seed essential oil

10 drops of clary sage essential oil

10 drops of lavender essential oil

5 drops of cedarwood essential oil

Combine all in blender and blend until well mixed.  Fill jars

Instructions: Moisten 1 Tablespoon of the masque with milk, yogurt or water. Apply to face and leave on until dry, rinse and pat dry.

Rose, Frankincense and Sandalwood Facial Mask

2 Tablespoons Rose powder

2 Teaspoons Sandalwood powder

2 Tablespoons Frankincense powder

1/2 cup of sugar

3 Tablespoons cosmetic white clay

½ cup of sesame seed oil

5 drops of black pepper essential oil

6 drops of coriander essential oil

2 Teaspoons of Vit E.

Mix all ingredients together in bowl and mix well.  Mixture should be thick adding more clay if necessary. Fill jars.

Happy Holidays

Resources for herbs and Tea Bags:

https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/

http://www.oregonswildharvest.com/owh/browse/bulk_herbs,_teas_and_spices

For bottles:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/

For cello bags and other packaging:

http://www.papermart.com/HOME

Happy Holidays to you and yours

 

 

 

Consumer Beware: The Rampant Under Dosing of Herbal Products

The world of herbal supplements is often confusing and making heads or tails out of dosages, etc. takes time, research and a bit of math. Many folks buy herbs from their local health food stores, through the Internet or from alternative care providers. More often than not, they follow the instructions that appear on the bottle. I have analyzed many formulas that clients have brought to me and I am always struck by the fact that what they are taking is far below the recommended daily therapeutic dosage. As an herbalist, I contend that if folks are not seeing the intended effects it is either due to under dosing or not addressing the root cause of their condition. For the purposes of this article I am going to concentrate on the issue of under dosing and although I know that this topic is potentially controversial, it nonetheless needs to be examined.

I believe that under dosing is rampant due to the following: the true cost of taking herbs therapeutically, herbal profit margins and the risk adverse nature of supplement manufactures. To illustrate my point we will look at several forms of existing herbal products in relationship to recommended daily therapeutic dosages.

Let’s start by picking an herb. An average recommended dose of Vitex (Chaste Tree) berry is 3-6 grams a day of dried ground herb, as stated in several prominent books on herbalism. For this analysis I will use this as my baseline for establishing a daily therapeutic dose. When we look at using tinctures several leading brands provide Vitex tinctured at a 1:5 ratio (a standard ratio that many manufactures use, I believe based on profit margins). This measurement is an herb to liquid ratio, meaning that 5 milliliters of liquid equals one gram of herb. If you want to take the therapeutic dose of 3 grams of Vitex a day, you would need to take 1 teaspoon of tincture, three times a day (1 tsp is approximately 5 milliliters). When we look at the cost of this dose, a standard 1-ounce tincture bottle would last two days (1 oz equals 6 teaspoons). At an average cost of $10 a day this would cost $40 a week. If you take the upper range of the recommended dose – 6 grams, you would need to double the amount of tincture equaling an ounce of tincture a day at $10 a day this would be approximately $70 per week.

Most tincture bottles provide recommendations based on a drop dosage. In the case of Vitex a review of several manufacturers suggest an average of 30 drops (30 drops equals approximately 1 ml although this depends on the viscosity) three times a day. There are several ways to look at this, but the simplest is to remember that 5 milliliters of a 1:5 ratio equals one gram of Vitex. If this amount is taken 3 times a day you would be taking 3 milliliters of Vitex or less than 1 gram of herb which is far below the low range of the 3-6 grams a day. Some herbalists would make the case that tinctures are a more concentrated form of herbal preparation due to their bio-availability of chemical constituents thereby lower dosages are appropriate. This might indeed be true and depends on your frame of reference. Either way it behooves us to take the time to do the research and math to figure out the actual dosage that you are taking or recommending.

When we look at the comparison of therapeutic dosage in relationship to herbal capsules under dosing becomes even more apparent. For example many leading manufactures supply Vitex at 400 mg per capsule (400 mg equals .4 gram) with a recommend daily dose of 2 to 3 capsules a day. In doing the math this translates to consuming .8 gram of Vitex at 2 capsules a day and 1.2 gram of Vitex at 3 capsules a day, far below the recommended daily therapeutic dose. In fact to get to 3 grams you would have to consume 8 capsules a day and at 6 grams a day you would have to consume 16 capsules a day.

I have done similar analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, medicinal mushrooms and standardized herbal supplement formulas only to find that the dosages on the bottle fall far below therapeutic recommendations. So what is the answer?

1. Invest in a comprehensive book on herbs that lists therapeutic dosages in grams for example Planetary Herbology by Michael Tierra.
2. Determine the therapeutic dose for a given herb.
3. Read the information in the box (Supplement Facts panel). What is the recommended serving size? What is the suggested dosage?
4. Do the math. Compare the supplements recommended daily dose to the therapeutic dose.
5. Look for fluid extracts which are tinctured at 1:1 or 1:2 ratio or other concentrated forms of herbal preparations.