Members-only herb and supplement profiles from a traditional and naturopathic point of view.
Frangula, or alder buckthorn bark, is a strong stimulant laxative herb used in Europe since the 1500s. It's for short-term use only, and the bark has to be properly aged first; here's what to know before reaching for it.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Chinese rhubarb root is a strong stimulant laxative herb with a 2,000-year history in Chinese medicine. Europe's herbal regulators allow it only for short-term use, and it isn't for everyone; here's what members need to know before trying it.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Ajwain is the tiny, thyme-scented seed that goes into Indian breads, pakoras and bean dishes, and it's one of Ayurveda's and Unani medicine's best-known kitchen remedies for wind and indigestion. Here's what those traditions use it for, what little research there is, how it's taken, and why it's a firm no in pregnancy.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Asafoetida, or hing, is the pungent resin that Indian cooks add by the pinch to beans and lentils, and that Ayurvedic and Persian healers have long used for wind and sluggish digestion. Here's what traditions use it for, what the small trials found, and who should keep it to food amounts.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Caraway is the seed that flavours rye bread and sauerkraut, and Europe's classic after-dinner tea for wind and that over-full feeling. Here's what traditions use it for, what the studies on the caraway-plus-peppermint capsules show, how the EU says to brew it, and who should skip it.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Vitex is the peppery little berry of the chaste tree, used by women for over two thousand years and best known today for the days before a period. In Europe one vitex extract is an approved herbal medicine for premenstrual syndrome.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
A tall woodland plant with white flower spikes, used by Indigenous peoples of eastern North America and by 19th-century Eclectic doctors, and now one of the best-known herbs for hot flushes. Here's what the tradition used it for, what the menopause studies really show, the EU amounts, and why its rare liver warning matters.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Huang Qi, the yellow root behind Chinese "Jade Windscreen" formulas, is one of the best-known qi tonics in traditional Chinese medicine and a popular immune-season herb in the West. Here's what the tradition uses it for, what the (mostly small, Chinese) studies show, the Health Canada amounts, and why people with autoimmune disease or a transplant should steer clear.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
A rare Himalayan fungus that grows out of moth caterpillars, cordyceps has been prized in Tibetan and Chinese medicine since at least the 1400s as an energy and lung–kidney tonic. Today almost all of it is grown in labs, and the research is far thinner than the marketing.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
Chaga is the black, crusty "birch conk" of the northern forests, brewed for centuries into a dark, earthy tea in Siberia, Scandinavia and Indigenous North America. Here's where it comes from, what the research actually shows so far, and the kidney caution everyone should know before trying it.
The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.
