alcohol, etc

[Guest guest]

Ed, et al.,

 

It is true that alcohol is a great preservative. It is also true that it is a

great solvent. It is true that it has been used to cool down a patient with a

high fever owing to its rapid evaporation from the skin, and it works, I've

tried it. I don't believe that it pulls any toxins from the body, though the

evaporation process surely will cool the body.

 

I have often considered the issue regarding using alcohol to process Chinese

herbs, considering that the traditional process is decoction with water.

However, I believe there is also a tradition of making tinctures, perhaps Bob F.

or others who have read more than I could elucidate on this a bit. An extract

made using both solvents, which is always the case when using alcohol, clearly

has some differences and in the case of supplementing herbs I believe this to be

significant because alcohol does not " pick up " polysaccharides, a major group of

constituents thought to be of considerable importance to the way these herbs

function. However, using a low concentration of alcohol (with the rest being

water) helps to resolve the issue, though it is still not perfect. The reality

is that when making an extract with da huang the result is very similar with

either water or alcohol and it is made " better " with a little vinegar as I

stated.

 

Although alcohol is warming, perhaps even hot, it still can be used with the

appropriate herbs as a solvent for clearing heat and even resolving phlegm, in

fact it is very good for resolving phlegm, I believe it has this nature in and

of itself. You can trust me or try it yourself. Take a tincture of huang lian

and tell me if you are cooled or not. Is the infection cleared up? If the answer

is no please let me know because it would be newsworthy information.

 

As to ratio (i.e. 5:1 vs. 1:5 etc.) I think the idea that 1:5 tinctures are weak

and therefore useless is absurd and could only come from someone who is ignorant

in the use of tinctures. I'm not suggesting you said that, its not clear to me

your position based on you post. In many cases I think the more concentrated

extracts are to strong and should only be used by those who really know what

they are doing, not the novice, just out of school " herbalist " . Sorry to those

who make and sell this stuff, its just that those extracts leave a lot of room

for error and most people are not trained well enough to know how to use them.

The only difference between medicine and poison is dosage. I have manufactured

and used tinctures in my practice for well over a decade and find them to be

very effective and the strongest concentration I ever make is 1:1 and I don't

make a lot of those because they are time consuming and I simply don't have the

time any more.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

wrote:

Message: 3

Wed, 18 May 2005 17:38:28 -0700

" Ed Kasper LAc "

RE: alcohol as cooling

 

I think allopath use rubbing alcohol as cooling when applied

to the body and apply a breeze, the alcohol evaporates

pulling toxins/heat off the body. IMO. it leaves more toxins

(rubbing alcohol is very toxic) than heat it pulls off.

 

Ed Kasper LAc. Licensed Acupuncturist & Herbalist

Acupuncture is a jab well done

www.HappyHerbalist.com Santa Cruz, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

______________________

______________________

 

Message: 4

Wed, 18 May 2005 17:38:29 -0700

" Ed Kasper LAc "

Vinegar, alcohol, etc

 

Chinese herbs, for instance Da Huang, are not a Traditional

Chinese herbal alcohol extraction. The use of alcohol

extractions (8:1/5:1) is a recent western innovation. Based

upon how to make a viable commercial product. One example of

that extreme is Concentrated Standardized Ma Huang Herbal

Extract. Talk of a superior extract!! And a result that

matched nothing in traditional pharmacopoeia but made a

decent profit while it lasted. IMO, not superior at all.

 

Water decoctions, a vinegar tinctures and alcohol extraction

create three separate non-identical signatures.

Tradition has it that how it is cooked and prepared makes a

difference.

 

The value - commercially of alcohol - is not as a solvent

but as a preservative. Recognized as a legal standard. A

point of law understood not as right or wrong (or good for

the consumer) but what is legal and non-legal. Will I be

sued or not. Hence no vinegar extracts. Vinegar by

definition is contaminated, has other stuff in it that may

interfere with and creates too many unknowns / variables

that have to be calculated).

 

The martial arts hit formulas where alcohol and/or vinegar

were used were a tincture, which by today's standard are a

very low extraction of 1:5 or 1:10

 

IMHO alcohol is a poison for the body, being more Hot than

Warm, and more phlegm forming. Conditions that alcohol

extracts are often touted as treating! The properties of

alcohol are such that they are not called for in most

formulas. The value of alcohol is simply an extended shelf

life.

 

 

Ed Kasper LAc. Licensed Acupuncturist & Herbalist

Acupuncture is a jab well done

www.HappyHerbalist.com Santa Cruz, CA.

 

 

 

 

Professor of Chinese Internal Medicine

World Medicine Institute

Honolulu, HI

 

 

 

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