HERB - ephedra

[Gaylin Walli]

Genevieve kindly asked:
>Being new to the whole world of herbalism I have to admit my ignorance about
>your statement above. Just what do you mean by balancing chemicals? What is
>the difference between consuming the plant as a whole compared with
>consuming extracts? Thanks.

Here are some online sites that may be of interest to you.
If you don't have access to the web, I'd be happy to send
you the text files via private e-mail.

The Smart Basics Herbal Glossary has a write-up on Ephedra:

http://www.smartbasic.com/glos.herbs/ephedra.html

There are plenty of other pages describing the full information
and the hoopla information about the herb. Stay away from news
and newspaper sites and try for education and research sites
on the web. This will allow you to avoid the sensationalism
inherent in news production and get closer to factual and actual
research study information.

Here is a quote and a source that might help with the understanding
and give you a place to start looking and doing your own
research both online and in books. You can find this quote online
at http://vitawise.com/mahuang.htm :

"Mainstream medical researchers insist pseudoephedrine, the related
chemical used in commercial cold preparations, is safer than ephedrine.
Herbalists will agree with that, but they insist that the whole
ephedra plant is safer than either ephedrine or psuedoephedrine.
In Herbal Medicine for Everyone, British herbalist Michael McIntyre
writes that pure ephedrine "markedly raises blood pressure....but
the whole (ephedra) plant actually reduces blood pressure." German
medical herbalist Rudolph Fritz Weiss, M.D., maintains that the
whole plant " has certain advantages (over psuedoephedrine). Above
all, it is better tolerated, cusing fewer heart symptoms such as
palpitations.""

I hope this helps.

jasmine
jasmine at infoengine.com or g.walli at infoengine.com
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