Guest guest Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Greetings all, I am a relatively new member/newish practitioner (licensed Aug. 2002, struggling to get busy in Santa Cruz, CA) and have been " lurking " off and on for awhile. I have appreciated being able to listen in on some very interesting and illuminating conversations; thank you. I currently need advice on a question that has probably already been addressed, though I have not been able to find it in the archives...in any case people may have new opinions on the matter (or new members may wish to opine). I am getting ready to help a colleague set up a pharmacy, and she wants to use granules; the question is, which companies have folks had the best results with? My impressions of Qualiherb and Min Tong are pretty good, KPC not so good; but what about the others - Sun Ten, Plum Flower, and in particular Evergreen...and any others I am forgetting. Customer service and cost are concerns as well, but of course quality is primary. Also, is anyone using Secara, and if so what do they think? (They are tablet only, I believe...) Thanks for any advice you can give, Nora Madden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 Secara has very potent herb products from what I've tried, but they are almost all mixtures with Western herbs. Therefore, I would consider them experimental medicines, and use cautiously, especially with patients. On Mar 15, 2005, at 6:45 PM, noraneedles wrote: > Also, is anyone using Secara, and if so what do they think? (They are > tablet only, I believe...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 Secara's products look quite good, and they try to use organic herbs as much as possible. In addition to the addition of Western herbs, my other caution is around price. Some of their products work out to ~10 times what the equivalent Chinese patent would be. Quoting <zrosenbe: > Secara has very potent herb products from what I've tried, but they are > almost all mixtures with Western herbs. Therefore, I would consider > them experimental medicines, and use cautiously, especially with > patients. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 " In addition to the addition of Western herbs, " Gotta remember, Christopher Hobbs was a famous Western herbalist who only fairly recently became an acupuncturist/practitioner of Chinese medicine. Since I don't know anything that he's published specifically on Chinese medicine, we don't known the depth or quality of his knowledge. Having met him, he does seem like a very smart individual. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 , " noraneedles " <nora@h...> wrote: ; the question is, which companies have folks had > the best results with? My impressions of Qualiherb and Min Tong are > pretty good, KPC not so good; but what about the others - Sun Ten, > Plum Flower, and in particular Evergreen...and any others I am > forgetting. Customer service and cost are concerns as well, but of > course quality is primary. > > > Thanks for any advice you can give, > Nora Madden Nora, I have been using KPC granules for four years and I have been very satisfied with the results. Crane Herb sells KPC and gives excellent service. I sometimes buy Min Tong when I can't get a formula or herb from KPC. I have been very satified with them as well. I also buy some concentrated 12:1 or 10:1 extracts from Peoples Herbs but they have a limited variety. Peoples also sell Plum Flower products and I usually get my order the next day. good Luck, Jill Likkel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 , " Jill A. Likkel " <jilllikkel@h...> wrote: > > , " noraneedles " <nora@h...> > wrote: > ; the question is, which companies have folks had > > the best results with? My impressions of Qualiherb and Min Tong > are > > pretty good, KPC not so good; but what about the others - Sun Ten, > > Plum Flower, and in particular Evergreen...and any others I am > > forgetting. Customer service and cost are concerns as well, but of > > course quality is primary. > > > > > > Thanks for any advice you can give, > > Nora Madden I don't know why you have a bad impression of KPC. All of these ones that you mention (with the exception of Plum Flower) are Taiwanese made. In Taiwan, KPC (in Asia it is called KP or Gang Xiang Lang) has a very good reputation. Sun Ten (Shun Tian Tang) has the highest market share, but I think KPC is comparable in quality. Qualiherb gets good reviews in Taiwan for their extractions of delicate products such as exterior-resolving medicinals. Keep in mind that companies like KPC are huge pharmaceutical corporations that produce products used by tens of thousands of doctors. They aren't in the business of making cheap bunk stuff to fool Westerners. We represent a fraction of their market interests, and there is too much competition in the industry for them to waste money producing poor quality stuff. I think the choice between companies like Sun Ten vs. KPC is probably made more on the basis of price and business contacts (customer service, a good rapport with the sales rep, etc), rather than a reflection on a dramatic difference in quality. If the difference in quality between these two huge firms was a big difference, one of them would have been eliminated years ago. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 Nora: The Min Tong Corp. was established in 1938 and has been the leader in research and production of Chinese Herbs. It has received GMP certification every year since 1988. Min Tong has also passed the Japanese Department of Health's requirements and the Australian government inspections in order to export to those countries. Min Tong Pharmaceutical Company has invested huge sums of money into research and keeping their facility on the cutting edge of Chinese Herbal Extraction. Min Tong's formulas are always prepared by the traditional method. Raw herbs undergo macro and micro inspection to ensure authenticity and the ingredients of each herb's biochemical index is confirmed by TLC. All final product goes through strict quality control - checking microbial counts, testing for heavy metals and pesticide residues. All the ingredients in Min Tong formulas are preprocessed, premixed and cooked together. Taiwan Min Tong Pharmaceutical Company has won the award for Manufacturer of the Year in 2004 for the Whole Facility Producing . This award was issued by the Department of Health, Taiwan, R.O.C. Min Tong has also passed testing single herb extracts in Europe by independent laboratory for heavy metals, aflatoxins, pesticide residues and is allowed to export to European countries. Barry Thorne _____ I am getting ready to help a colleague set up a pharmacy, and she wants to use granules; the question is, which companies have folks had the best results with? My impressions of Qualiherb and Min Tong are pretty good, KPC not so good; but what about the others - Sun Ten, Plum Flower, and in particular Evergreen...and any others I am forgetting. Customer service and cost are concerns as well, but of course quality is primary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 I have been very satified with them as well. I also buy some concentrated 12:1 or 10:1 extracts from Peoples Herbs but they have a limited variety. >>>>How do you keep these for clumping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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