Why Tinctures Are Better For You
Let’s talk about the tinctures first and see what questions we can answer that may be informative to all of you. Herbs can be utilized in several ways. Eating them fresh, capsulated, tableted, or in teas, and finally in a concentrated tincture. Herbs can be broken down by using two solvents. One, water and the other is alcohol. These are the primary solvents. Vinegar and glycerin can be used, but they do not break down the cellulose and plant substance as well as alcohol and water. It takes a combination of the two to get the best results and the most active ingredients out of the herbs. It takes at least 100 proof alcohol to break down herbs and straight-grain alcohol is the best at about 180-200 proof. Special attention is required to get the proper balance of herb, water, and alcohol. They also need daily attention of shaking and agitating to further breakdown the components of the herb and get the best benefit. After fourteen to twenty-one days the herbs have to be squeezed or centrifically spun so that we can get the essential oils out of the herb. In most procedures it is very difficult to get the oils out of the herbs. Dial Herbs has developed a process that extracts the oil with the other ingredients, in fact, you can see the oil running down the container in the final steps of process. Tinctures are much more potent than the tablets or capsules. About 3-4 drops equals one tablet or capsule and one 2 ounce bottle holds about 220 - 12 drop doses or the comparison of 220 doses of four tablets or capsules. The tincture is assimilated almost instantly in the mouth and then in the stomach. You get instant help rather than waiting for the gelatin capsule to dissolve and then the body digest the herbs for assimilation. The small amount of tincture needed makes one 2 ounce bottle equal to about 6-8 100 capsule bottles, and has higher potency and much faster results. As a cost comparison, a full dosage of tinctures will cost 3 to 5 cents each, whereas capsules will cost 20 to 30 cents per dose. The saving, the potency, the speed of results clearly show why tinctures are so popular.
Many people worry about the alcohol content of the tinctures. There are such minute quantities of alcohol that you get more alcohol converted from a teaspoon of sugar than from a dose of tincture. We have had alcoholics who use the tinctures with no throw back into alcoholism. The average dose of an average tincture is 4-8 drops for children and 10-15 drops for adults. These are suggested amounts and can vary according to individual needs. They should be used about 3 times daily but in some cases we use them hourly or every two hours for a day or two to stop a problem, i.e., 20-30 minutes for one to two hours, then every 3 hours or so. This is a report from a lady in Chicago whose daughter had a bad attack and it cleared in one hour. Tinctures are home remedies that have been used for centuries and are still being used. The Chinese learned to tincturate herbs 3-5000 years ago. The ancient Egyptians used them one to two thousand years B.C. Hippocrates, Gulen, Hanneran, and many other 17th and 18th century physicians used tinctures and herbal remedies for all types of disease and problems. In many countries today, herbal tinctures and remedies are the principle method of treating many maladies. I hope this has answered some of your questions and I do hope you have a very healthy and active life.
Stan Malstrom