Vidari is a sweet, cooling Ayurvedic root used as a strength-building rejuvenative, a traditional aid for new mothers' milk, and a pitta-soothing herb in acid-indigestion regimes. Here's what the tradition says, the (mostly animal) research on its isoflavones, why it's often mixed up with other "vidari" roots, and who should skip it.
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.
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.
A dark mountain resin that Ayurveda has treated as a prized rejuvenating tonic for centuries, now sold worldwide for energy and men's vitality, and one of the supplements most likely to be contaminated.
The tea plant was first grown in China thousands of years ago, and a Japanese monk wrote in 1211 that tea was a medicine for long life. Today green tea is one of the world's most-loved daily drinks, and its leaf and extracts are some of the most-studied plant compounds there are.
A hardy root from the high Peruvian Andes, grown at around 4,000 metres for up to 2,000 years. Andean families have long eaten it as a staple food and an energizing tonic, and today it's one of the most popular "superfood" roots for energy and vitality.
A hardy Arctic and mountain root that Scandinavian, Siberian and Russian folk medicine have long used for endurance, cold winters and recovering strength. Today it's one of the best-known "adaptogens" for everyday stress and tiredness.
The silver-green leaves of the olive tree, one of the oldest cultivated trees on earth, have been brewed into a bitter tea around the Mediterranean for centuries. Here's what tradition and research say about them, and who should be careful.
A striped, fan-shaped mushroom that grows on fallen logs across North America, Europe and Asia, turkey tail is one of the most studied medicinal mushrooms in the world. It has a long history in Chinese and Japanese medicine as an immune tonic, and its extracts are used in hospitals in Japan and China.
Lion's mane is the shaggy white "monkey head" mushroom of Chinese and Japanese tradition, eaten as a delicacy and used for centuries to support the stomach and, more recently, memory and mood. Here's what tradition says, what the early research shows, and who should be careful with it.
