Ask The Herbalist: Myth of Cold & Flu Season

 well this is info I got from Dr Schulze and people I trust.

In my opinion Schulz and Christopher are very old school.  We have come a long way in herbal research and there are often better choices than the herbs they generally recommend.  For example they frequently use the berberine herbs (goldenseal, Oregon grape root and barberry), which kill the intestinal flora, damage the intestinal lining and raise blood pressure through potassium depletion.  I can think of dozens of different herbs that are safer and more effective than the berberine herbs.  They also like the high anthraquinone stimulant laxatives such as senna, cascara sagrada and rhubarb root that cause a laxative dependence after a short time of use. Again there are safer ways of dealing with constipation and cleansing the intestines.  If we wanted to continue to rely on old knowledge then we would still be using the telegraph instead of cell phones.  At some point these guys really need to catch up to modern herbology.

Master Herbalist and Healer Dr Richard Schulze said this about the burning of the herbs and I relayed it.

And there are people claiming that Elvis is still alive, but this does not make true.  If the herbs were being burnt they would not be green or brown, but rather black.  And many of the herbs would not have their characteristic smell since their oils would have been burnt off.  All it takes is a little common sense to see that his claim is bogus.

The amount of alcohol is tinctures is EXTREMELY negligible

Which is what I said already.

 If one is worried they can put a teaspoon/tbs or so of boiling water over it and the alcohol will dissipate.

Most, not all.  And again the heat can damage many herbs.  For example echinacea and yohimbe are both extremely sensitive to heat.  And the boiling water will also volatilize the essential oils in the plants along with the alcohol as I also already pointed out.

One only needs the 100 proof vodka for very resinous herbs.

One of the herbs I mentioned is yerba mansa, which requires 190 proof alcohol to be extracted. The point I was making though is that the higher the proof the higher the concentration of alcohol and thus the more alcohol you are going to get in each dose.  So the old same amount of alcohol as in a banana claim does not always apply. 

And again the reaction of alcohol with certain plant compounds can alter their chemistry and even render the herb worthless.  Again this is why herbalists need to keep up on the chemistry of herbs and their interactions rather than rely on old outdated information.

Who could take several pounds of herb within 8 months. Powdered herbs lose potency after about a year.

LOL!!!!   Where do you get this stuff?!!!!  Herbs vary in their stability.  Some herbs such as echinacea are extremely unstable.  But others such as pau d' arco are extremely stable.  I have used pau d' arco that was in the cupboard for over 10 years and it still worked like a charm.  It all depends on the chemistry of the herb and how it is stored.

By the way the shelf life of most herbs stored properly is around 3 to 5 years.

Tinctures last a minimum of 5 years and Schulze said he has tasted ones over a 100 years.

The shelf life of tinctures is considered 4 to 6 years on average, but the stability depends a lot on the alcohol concentration.

By the way, just because Schulze tasted a tincture over 100 years old this doe not mean it was potent.  Just like I can taste an herbal powder over 100 years old but this does not mean it has all its effects still.   You are not going to stop oxidative destruction of the herbs whether you store them in glass jars as powders or as a tincture.  Even alcohol oxidizes.  Every time you open that bottle you are allowing harmful oxygen in.  And the rubber dropper caps on the top of most tincture bottles are also permeable to oxygen.  So unless you are storing your tinctures in outer space then you are losing potency on your tinctures by the day just like powdered herbs.

this is a great way to preserve the properties of one's herbs

And again, what about the herbs that are neutralized by alcohol, or their chemistry is altered by the presence of alcohol?  And we still have to keep in mind that all the beneficial properties of herbs ARE NOT extracted by tincturing or by making teas.  In other words you are losing benefits of the herbs no matter how you want to look at it.

In fact, tinctures are primarily what he sels as he feel they are the best form to take herbs

Which is why he is outright lying about herbal powders.  If he is telling the truth then explain to all of us how it is these "burnt herbs" still retain their original color and smell.  It does not take a rocket scientist to see the herbs are not burnt as he claims.

and his are some of the best formulas on the planet in my view and that of many others.

And in my opinion and many others who really understand the chemistry and the side effects of the herbs he uses view the formulas to be some of the crappiest on the planet.  I see formulas like his all over the market and I just shake my head in disbelief.  You would think that someone claiming to be a master herbalist would keep up with modern herbology.  Again we have come a long way in understanding the chemistry and effects of herbs over the last hundred years.  The old traditional herbs are rarely the safest or most effective treatments.  They use to use cocaine as a cure all.  So do you also advocate still using cocaine to cure things since it is an old traditional herb?  I hope not because again we have learned since then that there are safer and better herbs.

As an example let's take a look at his Kidney Cleanse formula:

Juniper Berries, Parsley, Uva Ursi, Marshmallow Root, Lobelia, Ginger & Golden Seal Root.

He makes the same mistake I see most often, which is adding a high tannin herb to a formula.  And the most common herb this is done with is uva ursi.  Tannins precipitate the active alkaloids and glycosides from herbs they are taken with.  What this means is that when people make the common formulating mistake of adding high tannin herbs to a formulation they are actually DECREASING THE OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS of the formula by locking up many of the active constituents of the other herbs so they cannot be utilized by the body.  I can easily spot formulas made by "textbook herbalists" by the basic mistakes they make like this.  Textbook herbalists are people who read in a book somewhere or hear somewhere that _____ herb does _______ so they throw it is to the mix without a clue of how it is going to interact with the other ingredients for better or for worse.

Then there is the goldenseal I mentioned earlier, which kills the flora and damages the intestinal lining.   At least he has parsley in there, which will help compensate for the potassium excreting effect of the goldenseal, although I doubt if that is why he put it in there.   More likely it was for the diuretic effect.

Another big mistake he made was to combine juniper berry with uva ursi.  Juniper berry stimulates the excretion of uric acid, which makes the urine more acidic.  The problem is that uva ursi will not work in an acidic environment.  Uva ursi contains two aglycones.  When these aglycones hit the kidneys the glucose molecule is split off releasing the two hydroquinones.  It is these hydroquinones that kill the infections in the urinary tract.  But they require an alkaline environment to kill the infection.  Again a common textbook herbalist mistake.  If these herbalists would keep up with the modern research of these herbs then they would not be making such basic mistakes.

I chose to trust these wonderful natural healers who showed us the power of herbs and use the forms they recommended and used.

If you choose to trust their formulating mistakes then that is your problem.  I prefer to rely on things I have seen work personally, which among other things include powdered herbs.

Cayenne is NOT overrated.

Yes it is!!!

I saw it stop three heart attacks in progress in my mother when nitro did nothing.

Nitroglycerine is not used to stop heart attacks, it is used to stop angina attacks.  And once opened its potency is gone within a month since it also oxidizes.  This is why so often people reach for their nitro and it has no effect on their angina.  They did not realize that when they last opened that bottle a month or two earlier that they introducing oxygen that was destroying the potency of the drug.

By the way, a little more important trivia for you.  It is not the actual heart attack that leads to most of the heart damage, it is the cardiac enzymes released afterward from the injury.  So exactly how did the cayenne deal with these cardiac enzymes?

I saw it bring my mother's blood pressure on her deathbed from the 30s to the normal.

LOL!!!!  Do you even know why the cayenne raised her blood pressure?  It is called PAIN!!!! Pinching her hard would have had the same effect.  The pain causes the adrenals to release epinephrine, which constricts the blood vessels raising the blood pressure.  It also speeds up the heart and makes it work harder.  

Dr Christopher credits cayenne with helping reverse his lifetime hypertension 

You have a lot to learn about herbs and medicine.  Hypertension can occur from a number of things.  Calcium, angiotensin, epinephrine, sodium retention, elevated insulin, etc.  Just because cayenne may have helped one case of hypertension does not mean it will work for everyone.  That is like saying ephedra increased my energy so everyone should do it for an energy boost.  What if the person has low energy from anemia?  Do you think ephedra is going to cure their low energy? I hope not!!!  Point is that conditions often have multiple causes and there is no one fix for all.  And the reason I said "may have" above is I seriously doubt that this was the only thing he was doing.  Who is to say that other herbs or a change in diet is not what cured his hypertension?

He also has a case story on his videos about a lady who saved a child's life who was accidentally shot with cayenne when the ambulance was 50 to 75 miles away..the lack of bleeding shocked the doctors doing the surgery as cayenne is so excellent at arresting bleeding.

Yes, along with dozens of other herbs such as horsetail grass, puffballs, Mormon tea leaves, bamboo, etc.  This is because they coagulate the blood when applied directly to a wound.  This is likely due to the cellulose in the plants that the blood is reacting with.  But taken internally the cayenne is a blood thinner due to the high salicylate content.

I heard it is the only thing that can help save shock victims when they cannot get medical attention as well.

You know how shock is best treated when the hospital is a ways away?  You elevate the patients legs about 6 inches so the blood flows back up to the chest cavity and brain.  Passing out is a form of shock.  Why do you think we fall down when this happens?  it is to help get blood flow back to the critical organs including the brain!!!

The true bottom line is that herbs are amazing creations for the use of man and beast.

I totally agree when taken as Nature made them for our bodies.  We don't find herbal tinctures in Nature.  If we did then we would find that the herbs could have different effects or no effect on the body since they alcohol can alter the chemistry of the herbs sometimes even rendering them useless.  I love herbs.  I even teach classes on them and take people on herb walks several times a year to show them the medicinal and edible properties of the herbs.  But I still prefer the herbs as they were intended for us to take by Nature.