Many Considerations
Choosing and using herbal remedies shouldn't be an ordeal, and it shouldn't require a degree in botany or medicine (or both). But there are a few important issues to consider.
Consider potency: Some herbs can do their work at their natural concentration: Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum), for example, can be used straight. Other herbs need to be concentrated.
Among the various remedies taken internally, teas have the least potency — and therefore the least medicinal effect. Tinctures are a bit more powerful than teas, extracts are more powerful than tinctures, and concentrated extracts are the most potent.
For example, a handful of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) leaves won't do much for you on its own, as it takes several pounds of natural ginkgo to make a dose of real therapeutic value.
An herbal product that's been standardized is guaranteed to contain a certain amount of one or more specific compounds, which have been identified as the active, or therapeutic, ingredients. Herbalists agree that the best standardized extracts, at least as far as herbal medicine is concerned, are made from crude (whole plant) extracts, not isolated constituents. Thus, the label will read “Grape Seed Extract with Resveratrol” and not “Resveratrol” or “Antioxidant Complex.” Herbs that are typically sold as standardized extracts include:
Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)
Garlic (Allium sativum)
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Grape (Vitis vinifera)
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna, C. oxyacantha)
Kava (Piper methysticum)
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum)
Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)
Saint John's wort (Hypericum perforatum)
