Why Use Organic Herbs?

Why organic?

When herbs are harvested from the wild, it is important that this is done in an ethical and sustainable manner to ensure that the ecosystem is nurtured and stewarded, rather than exploited and destroyed. Ethical wild harvesting helps protect the environment and provides an income for local people which allows them to do so. When herbs are cultivated organically this also protects the environment.

When the soil is managed organically long term soil fertility is improved, particularly as regards levels of minerals and micro-nutrients in the soil, and therefore in the plant. In some cases, levels of minerals in conventionally grown plants can be 50% or less than those grown organically. The mineral content of herbs is important as a dietary source of these and because minerals enhance metabolic function and the absorption of active constituents.

Organic farming is sustainable farming, which helps to create healthy soil. Because organic farming restricts the use of herbicides and pesticides it maintains and increases genetic diversity in plant, insect and animal populations, by providing unpolluted habitats.

When plants are grown under conventional methods, with the application of chemical fertilisers they often produce a profusion of lush growth. However, the active constituent levels and mineral levels are often lower than those grown organically. The reason for lower mineral levels has already been discussed.

The reason that plants grown with excessive amounts of fertiliser produce less active constituents is that the therapeutically important compounds are secondary metabolites produced in response to moderate stresses. So basically, if the plant has it too easy as regards nutrition, lack of insects and too much water it does not produce the full range of constituents.

Plants need to be stewarded in a sustainable manner in accordance to their specific cultivation needs.

We are working with our growers to ensure that all the herbs produced are done so in accordance with the best cultivation practice for each species.

Why whole herb?

What is the advantage of using the whole herb, rather than isolated constituents or standardised extracts?

Not only is it a generally held belief of herbalists that the most effective therapeutic agent is the whole herb, but there is evidence to support this as well.

Due to the lack of processing, they also have less environmental impact than medicines which are highly processed.

Philosophically, the whole plant is seen as having co-evolved with the animals and humans. Plants produce various secondary metabolites which do not have a direct effect on their own metabolism, but which have significant effects on animals and humans.

It is felt that the whole herb has a more harmonious therapeutic effect on the human organism, balancing the system rather than suppressing disease processes. They can be used to bring the organism into a better state of health, and to strengthen parts of the constitution which are either congenitally weak , or weakened by disease or stress.

These components act together on the organism, so that the action of the whole is greater than that of the individual components (synergy), and in many cases may increase the bioavailability of the compounds present in the whole herb for example:

Hypericum perforatum contains hypericin and pseudohypericin, which have been demonstrated to have an antidepressant activity. It also contains procyanidins, and it has been demonstrated that the antidepressant activity is more effective when both classes of compounds are present.

Daidzin, an isoflavone glycoside present in Pueraria lobata, achieves much higher plasma concentrations when a crude whole herb extract is given rather than equivalent doses of pure daidzin.

Ascorbic acid in a crude citrus extract is more effective than ascorbic acid administered in isolation.

In other cases the whole plant appears to contain substances which act as buffers or quenchers of undesirable effects.

For example: Dandelion leaf is commonly used as a diuretic. With many pharmaceutical diuretics it is necessary to take potassium concomitantly to prevent potassium depletion. However, dandelion leaf contains so much potassium that it will give a net gain in potassium, even whilst acting as a diuretic.

Meadowsweet is one of the plants from which aspirin precursors were originally extracted (the name aspirin means from Spirea the former botanical genus name for meadowsweet). As is well known one side effect that can occur with aspirin is gastric irritation/hyperacidity and bleeding. However, due to the other constituents in meadowsweet, it not only has an anti-inflammatory action but is used to reduce over secretion of acid it the stomach and to treat ulcers.

Whole herb extracts also contain significant amounts of vitamins and minerals which assists the human metabolic processes, and in some cases are present insignificant enough levels to act as vegetable sources of supplementation.

In many cases, all the constituents of the herb have not been identified, or the action of the constituents (individually and synergistically) elucidated. For example, the valepotriates present in Valerian are known to be sedative, but it is also known that there are other constituents that contribute to the action of valerian which have not yet been identified. By using the whole herb, it is ensured that all the unidentified constituents are also included.

In Germany, St. John’s Wort preparations are now given as whole herb rather than standardised extracts, since it has been recognised that the researched active constituents are only part of the therapeutic components of the plant.

When standardised extracts are used which contain the whole herb, but have what is seen as the principal active constituent corrected to a higher level, problems can occur. With such products there tends to be a higher incidence of adverse events, including side effects and undesirable interactions with pharmaceutical drugs. This has been seen with herbs such as Kava Kava, St. John’s Wort and Gingko Biloba.

It is beginning to be reconised that many modern diseases are as a result of taking in substances that are over refined. It makes sense to take medicines that are in a whole and natural form to redress these imbalances.

The argument for using standardised extracts is that it is only the identified active constituents that are important in the therapeutic action of the herb, but actually it is the complex nature of the whole herb that gives the most rounded action. There will be slight variations from one harvest to the next, but these are in response to the same environmental factors that the consumer is subject to and does not present a problem.

When herbs are properly harvested, dried and processed the full range of constituents that are present in the living plant are preserved in the herbal preparation. The minimal processing invloved in producing encapsulated whole herbs gives a high level of therapeutic potency and reduces environmental impact.

As Sharma says:
“the active ingredient model does not stem from a strength of the scientific method, as often supposed: rather it stems from a weakness – from the inability of the reductionist methods to deal with complex systems.”

References:
• Chevallier, A: The Encylopedia of Medicinal Plants, London, 1996. Dorling Kindersley
• Bone, K : A Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs, Edinburgh, 2003. Churchill Livingstone.
• Hoffmann, D: The New holistic Herbal, Dorset, 1996 Element Pub: Dorling Kindersley
• The Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine Thomas Bartram
• The New Age Herbal Ed. Richard Mabey