dosage again

[Guest guest]

I was able to ask Ted Kapchuk a question about the dosage of Kan products

at Pacific symposium when he was speaking to a group of attendees. He was

talking about Kan's lab analysis and I asked if there was any evidence

that Kan products delivered a decoction equivalent at their recommended

daily dose. He said there was no such thing as decoction equivalent

because of the variability in the home cooking process. Since variations

in temperature, humidity, amount of water, etc. all dramatically affect

extraction, there is no standard by which to make this judgment. He also

said we just don't know what correct dosage is. Sadly, the session ended

before I could rebut, so here goes.

 

I too have serious concerns about home decoction which is why I prefer

powders and also korean liquid extractors (more on this device later).

However, it would be a very simple matter to make a range of decoctions

(at varying temperature, etc.) and measure the total milligrams of a

marker constituent in all the final products. We will establish a

decoction range by cooking the herbs in various ways that yield better or

worse extraction. So in ma huang tang, we could measure the

pseudoephedrine that was produced by making one cup of decoction versus

the number of milligrams in one dropper of the same product made according

to the kan process. the kan products are obviously strong in taste and

smell. There is no question that are made by a very potent extraction

process. The open question, the only one I want answered is how the

concentration compares to a decoction. I understand there is a range of

variability in home extraction, I just want to know where kan and similar

products (far east summit, china herbs) fall in this range, so I may use

these products and dose them accordingly. I think my request is rational

and scientific and easily accomplished and I may arrange for CHA to do

this experiment. In fact, one japanese company called Honso does just

this thing for their own products.

 

As for the contention that we just don't know what correct dosage is,

that is indeed true from the perspective of clinical research on these

matters. However, classical texts definitely put dosage in a certain

range. You can see formulas as small as 30 gram per day packs up to the

modern (and many ancient) 150 gram formulas. We can be pretty sure that

doses like 5 grams per day of an entire formula were never common. So we

can never be certain, but we can establish a range and we can determine

whether our modern extractions fit into the range (with adjustments for

poor cooking versus lab extraction) or not. For example, the Honso

company works with reference ranges, not absolutes.

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein