Herbal Remedies
 

An Interesting Herb Fact

Two Natural Herbs to Detoxify Your Liver
Your liver may just be one of the most overlooked organs in your body. Your liver is vital to your body's ability to filter out any number of toxins or poisons that may enter your body. Here are two highly regarded herbs that can help detoxify your liver so that it is working at its highest capacity. Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum): Milk thistle seeds are essentially comprised of three components that are collectively referred to as silymarin. Milk thistle seeds are well known for their...

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Goldenseal -- A Traditional Native American Herb with Many Uses

Goldenseal, Latin name Hydrastis canadensis, is one of the most popular herbs used in herbal remedies today. Goldenseal has traditionally operated as a traditional healing herb of Native Americans but it has entered the European herbal cabinet with zeal. Traditionally, the Cherokee used goldenseal as an herbal treatment for indigestion, local inflammations, and to improve appetite. The Iroquois, meanwhile, used Goldenseal to treat heart problems, liver disorders, and whooping cough and to treat fevers. Goldenseal reached European shores by 1760. During the nineteenth century, Goldenseal had become a popular favorite with practitioners of the Eclectic and Thomsonian schools of medicine. In 1926, Goldenseal was included in the list of United States medicinal ingredients in the Pharmacopoeia.

The character of Goldenseal has alternately been described as bitter, dry, astringent, and cold. The plants constituents are described as resins, volatile oils, and alkaloids. Herbalists traditionally describe the actions of Goldenseal as astringent, a digestive and bile stimulant, a tonic, and a laxative. Goldenseal has also been used to reduce phlegm, to heal gastric mucous membranes, and to raise blood pressure.

The part of the Goldenseal plant that is most commonly used is the rhizome. The rhizome is traditionally harvested in the fall, and it is the main ingredient in many herbal remedies. Many traditional herbalists recommend the rhizome of the Goldenseal plant as an excellent drying and mucus-reducing remedy that works well for the gastric, upper respiratory tract. It is also used for the vaginal mucous membranes. The rhizome of the Goldenseal plant is also used to treat conditions involving the spastic colon (mucous colitis), nasal inflammations, and ear infections. In essence, Goldenseal is very much an herbal remedy for ear, nose and throat problems. But it has many other applications as well. The Goldenseal plant is often used as an herbal remedy to treat gynecological problems. It can help reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms, and it has been known to ease the pain associated with premenstrual symptoms, especially symptoms linked to stagnation. The rhizome of the Goldenseal plant can often be found in commercial herbal remedies as a tonic.

Even though Goldenseal has proven itself to be a very effective healing herb, there are some cautions you use take when ingesting herbal remedies that feature Goldenseal as one of its main ingredients. For instance, Goldenseal is well known as a powerful uterine stimulant, so its use should be avoided women who are pregnant. Goldenseal is also well known as a hypertensive, so it should be avoided in known cases of high blood pressure. Also, you should not use herbal remedies containing Goldenseal for an ear infection if you know that there is a risk that an eardrum is perforated. Another caveat: avoid ingesting fresh Goldenseal plant. Eating fresh Golden seal plant has been known to cause ulceration of the mucous membranes. It is a very potent plant. Also, if you suffer from digestive complaints, many herbalists recommend that you take barberry for these types of complaints because Goldenseal has recently become very endangered in the wild.
01/06/2009
Give up detox - it's bad for your health (Evening Standard)
New Year's resolutions normally involve a renunciation of pleasure. You may give up smoking, as I have done with an iron will every year since 1986, or boozing or fatty food. However righteous you feel, you will be unable to suppress a yearning for the lost enjoyment of bad habits.

Give up detox - it's bad for your health (Evening Standard)

01/06/2009
Literature Walk Down Ongpin (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
TO MANY, ONGPIN IS not so much a geographical reference as a state of being, synonymous to being Chinese in the Philippines. Two kilometers in length and named after businessman Ramon Ongpin, the street lies at the figurative heart of Chinatown.

Literature Walk Down Ongpin (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

12/29/2008
Put an end to holiday hangovers (The Springfield News-Leader)
New Year's Eve is a-comin', and with it come many traditions: Watching the ball drop on Times Square, singing "Auld Lang Syne" and, often, socializing at alcohol-fueled parties.

Put an end to holiday hangovers (The Springfield News-Leader)

12/19/2008
False cancer cures (Malaya)
few weeks ago, an international vendor of herbal products and "food supplements" denounced the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for launching what it described as "a campaign of terror against companies selling natural cures for cancer."

False cancer cures (Malaya)

12/12/2008
NIHSeniorHealth Adds Complementary and Alternative Medicine Information (National Institutes of Health)
Older adults are frequent users of complementary and alternative medicine, also known as CAM, which can include products such as vitamins and herbal supplements, and practices such as chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture, meditation and massage.

NIHSeniorHealth Adds Complementary and Alternative Medicine Information (National Institutes of Health)

01/06/2009
Literature Walk Down Ongpin (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
TO MANY, ONGPIN IS not so much a geographical reference as a state of being, synonymous to being Chinese in the Philippines. Two kilometers in length and named after businessman Ramon Ongpin, the street lies at the figurative heart of Chinatown.

Literature Walk Down Ongpin (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

12/30/2008
Trick or Treatment (Slashdot)
brothke writes "The recent collapse of financial companies occurred in part because their operations were run like a black box. For many years, alternative medicine has similarly operated in the shadows with its own set of black boxes. In Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, MD, break open that box, and show with devastating clarity ...

Trick or Treatment (Slashdot)

12/30/2008
Trick or Treatment (Slashdot)
brothke writes "The recent collapse of financial companies occurred in part because their operations were run like a black box. For many years, alternative medicine has similarly operated in the shadows with its own set of black boxes. In Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, MD, break open that box, and show with devastating clarity ...

Trick or Treatment (Slashdot)

12/29/2008
Put an end to holiday hangovers (The Springfield News-Leader)
New Year's Eve is a-comin', and with it come many traditions: Watching the ball drop on Times Square, singing "Auld Lang Syne" and, often, socializing at alcohol-fueled parties.

Put an end to holiday hangovers (The Springfield News-Leader)

Herbal Remedies
◦ Herbal Remedy Treatments Made from the Angelica Plant
◦ Goldenseal -- A Traditional Native American Herb with Many Uses
◦ Mint: The Traditional Herbalist's Best Friend
◦ Two Natural Herbs to Detoxify Your Liver
◦ Ginkgo Biloba and Historic Herbal Remedies
◦ Chase the Blues Away with St John's Wort
◦ Antioxidant Rich Milk Thistle Herbal Remedies
◦ Cleansing Herbal Remedies Made from Burdock
◦ Fountain of Youth? Sage and Herbal Remedies
◦ Echinacea: Cure to the Common Cold?
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