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Herbal Extracts Herbal Classification and Glossary   A Guide to Maintaining Your Health Naturally with Pure Herbs Extracts   Historic Uses of Herbs

Click for alphabetical lists of Single Herb Extracts or Herbal Extract Combinations

Herbal Extracts are an herbal food, or combination of foods, diluted in liquids such as water and ethanol that may be used as a "natural medicine." Natural ethanol is an alcohol commonly distilled from grain and is also known as neutral alcohol. Synthetic ethanol is made from an explosive, inflammable, compound know as acetylene gas. It is cheap, "lifeless," and unnatural, and should not be used in making herbal extracts.

A frequently asked question is what herbal extracts are and why do they contain a natural or neutral alcohol. Herbal extracts are herbal plant foods that have been diluted in a liquid that dissolves and or suspends them. They are "natural medicines."

An herbal extract can be made with something which allows an herb to dissolve in it. This can include most common liquids, such as water, vinegar, wine, glycerin (sugar and fat compound most commonly derived from animal tissue), or a neutral alcohol. When you put an herbal tea bag into a cup of hot water, the color, taste, and aroma which dissolve into the water make an herbal extract (or water extract). However, some parts of the herb in the tea bag do not dissolve in water. Water will not dissolve the oily, waxy, detergent, enzymatic, or hormonal content of the herb. Vinegar, wine, and glycerin will dissolve a small amount of this.

The fact is, a combination of water and a neutral alcohol is the best fluid known for dissolving all parts of an herb. A water and neutral alcohol extract provide an herbal food in a "predigested" form. It should be noted that when you get the full strength of an herbal food, a little goes a long way. So don't overeat. This is a "natural medicine" made from an herbal food. The concept of moderation is the key.

Extracts are intended to be used to supplement the diet with herbal foods in an easily absorbable form. Most people are not even aware that they may be carrying around as much as ten pounds of rather disgusting debris coating the surfaces of their digestive canal: stomach, small intestines, and large intestines. This debris forms a barrier between the food which is eaten and the absorption of the needed nutrition. This means the digestive system needs some help. When you take a look at the digestive canal of the adult, you see a tube or pipe about 26 feet long which is often clogged or very slow to empty due to debris, or worse yet, if not eliminated, this putrid barrier film can itself be constantly reabsorbed back into the body. Not only is this barrier of debris bad for absorption of commonly eaten foods, but also herbal powders, herbal powders in capsules, herbal pills, and vitamin tablets. An efficient method is needed to get herbal foods absorbed through this barrier film and dissolve the barrier itself. Otherwise, herbs will not nourish and act like the health food books say they should. Herbal extracts solve this puzzle. Not only can they cross the debris barrier, they do so rapidly and help to dissolve the barrier in the process. This eliminates the problem of having to take "114 tablets and capsules per day to finally get something through the debris barrier and dissolve it". As a matter of fact, an herbal extract can be applied externally right over the area where required. This, of course, would be difficult to do with a capsule of powdered herbs or a tablet.

Depending on the quantity, a neutral alcohol performs different functions when introduced into or put on the body. In minute quantities (drops), it acts as a carrier for whatever is dissolved in it. This goes so far as the alcohol content actually showing up as reduced, when a complex is formed from the water, herbs, and alcohol. These dissolved herbal food substances are very easily absorbed by the body. In larger quantities, alcohol acts as a stimulant. By the glassful, alcohol acts as a depressant to body functions and an intoxicant. This constitutes abuse rather than use. A person can tell the difference.

Dr. William Donald Kelly, author of many books on natural ways to become more healthy, tells us that the human pancreas (principal digestive organ of the body) actually produces a small amount of a natural, neutral (ethanol) alcohol on a constant basis so that we will not freeze. As a further observation, most mouthwashes and deodorants utilize a fairly high percentage of alcohol which acts as a carrier for mouth and breath cleansing substances or deodorant. In many cases, these are extracts of cleansing and aromatic substances. The alcohol acts as a carrier. If a person can use a mouthwash or underarm deodorant, they can probably use an herbal extract without a problem. If they cannot use them without a problem, then they should probably use capsules, tablets, or teas.

A fair question might be how much neutral alcohol should an extract contain? Roughly, a mixture of one-third neutral alcohol and two-thirds distilled water will dissolve enough of the herb so that a person gets the proper nourishment in a few drops of the extract. When you add more water, then you need more extract to do the same thing. An extract could be made with so much water that you would have to consume bottles of the extract to achieve the same nutritional value you could get in a few drops of a one-third neutral alcohol extract.

With kindest regards,

Dr. Eugene C. Watkins B.S.Ed., M.S., N.D.
The Center for Building Better Health Naturally, Inc.
 

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