Whole Plant Medicine VS. Standardized Extracts

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in. Hello, this is Rita Hogan, your host of the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. Welcome to the show. Today we are going to talk about whole plant medicine versus standardized extracts. Before we get into it, I want to thank our sponsor, Adored Beast Apothecary. They have some wonderful remedies for dogs, cats and horses on their website, adoredbeast.com you can also find them on my website. So your dog has a relationship to plants. It's an innate relationship. You know, you can't see it. It's an unseen relationship with nature, but they share knowledge with one another. They have intuition. With plan plants, it's an unspoken history, and it's longer than our own. Plants, on the other hand, have intelligence. They also have an unspoken language and it's understood by animals and it's also understood by many people who learn how to listen to plants. I definitely would say that this language is there for us, but we need to. We have to be quiet and we have to learn how to listen and take in those messages from. From plants. I know the idea of plant intelligence seems unscientific, but by no means can it be proven false. I believe that all living beings have a predisposition to plant medicine. As humans, we may think we have control over the entire healing process, but I totally disagree. Plants as medicine, they enter the body, they seek out imbalances, and they change internal environments. They do things that we don't even know that they're doing. So prior to 1930, Western herbalism and homeopathy were pretty much at the forefront of modern medical care. Plant identification, knowing how to use plants, and intuition were skills that mothers taught children, fathers taught children. They were used by caregivers, they were used by veterinarians, they were used by traveling doctors and community healers. I shared with you in the first episode of the podcast how My grandmother raised 16 children in the Great Depression with just her garden and a midwife and the forest. She would go into the forest with her basket, she'd come out hours later. I could listen to that story my mother tells me all the time, and I could listen to it over and over again because it's just so fascinating. And after World War II, the convenience of pills and evidence based medicine became popular. And they really gave rise to things like antibiotics. And today the veterinary industry is plagued with chemically dependent medicine and all of its chronic dispensing of vaccines, antibiotics, steroids and anti inflammatory drugs. And by no way, at no means am I, you know, anti vaccine, but there is too much vaccination going on. Vaccines do not need to be given on a yearly basis. And for example, was working with a client this week, we had a little tiny rescue dog that was very, in very poor health before they gave him to her. He got four vaccines all in a row. And it is a known fact that on that vaccine package it will tell you, do not vaccinate a dog that is in poor health. And for some reason, people have completely forgotten about that little disclaimer and are acting like it's not real and it does really mean something. And we also need to give size appropriate vaccines to dogs. Size appropriate. Many times a Chihuahua will get the same amount of vaccine as a Great Dane. Now, I'm not saying all the time, but it definitely does happen. Instead of focusing on disease prevention, conventional veterinarians focus on symptom suppression and treating bodily symptoms of separate parts. Today, our pets have the highest incidence of disease, even though we spend more on veterinary care than any other country in the world. Yes, any other country in the world. Holistic herbalism, or holistic canine herbalism is a dog as ecosystem model. And it definitely works on a basis of prevention and care. Healing methods like homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and holistic herbalism are slowly becoming accepted as effective forms of medical treatment for our pets and for us. And all of these natural modalities treat the body as an ecosystem. And this is also referred to as holism. It's definitely the premise of my new and upcoming book, the Herbal Dog. And we'll talk about that in another episode. The body is, is a whole and so is a plant. In order to pull a sled with dogs, you need an entire team. And because herbs are being used allopathically and by a set of standards based on pharmaceutical principles like evidence based medicine and the ability to do like double blind studies, the process of standardization in herbalism has taken the grassroots herbal industry and kind of supercharged it. So the level of constituents, the ingredients in each plant varies from plant to plant. And natural herbs can't give you a certain percentage of constituents in a reliable way. So they're not conducive for double blind studies. And even though they do have clinical studies on herbs, a lot of times those herbs are standardized. And it's looking at herbs through pharmaceutical lens. And it will leave you feeling weird about looking at herbs through the unique principles of herbalism. You'll start to understand healing is so much more than dosage. When you understand holistic herbalism versus looking through herbs through that pharmaceutical lens. Standardization of herbs leaves us doing this, this for that switch. And that is exchanging, I mean, it's definitely exchanging powerful pharmaceuticals for powerful herbal supplements with zero respect for the individual healing and the dosage of the plant and the dog. So yes, there's a time to use standardized herbal medicine and we'll learn about that in future episodes. But standardized herbs have many risks that whole plant herbalism doesn't. So once again, science is taking plants back to the lab and creating herbal drugs. These standardized extracts have their place. They absolutely do. And again, we're going to talk about that. But first let's understand what I'm talking about here. An example of a standardized herbal extract is curcumin. So curcumin is the active ingredient in the whole plant root turmeric. And turmeric is very popular. So standardized herbal extracts and plants derived from pharmaceuticals are not examples of plants used in their natural state like turmeric root. These medicines don't even resemble the plant that basically created them. A standardized extract may only contain one or two constituents out of hundreds and, and thousands of constituents in the plant. It's sort of like comparing raw food to kibble. The concept of standardization guarantees the consumer a specific amount of the plant's active ingredients. And yes, sometimes this is important and especially when people want to study herbs in clinical settings, but it doesn't give you the same result as the natural plant does. So that research could have some false positives and some false negatives. Exact dosage amounts in clinical studies allow for more accurate measurements. And this format enables plant extracts to be used again in all of these double blind studies, as well as marketed as proven and effective. So the unfortunate part is that people tend to gravitate towards the familiar and we've been conditioned towards the secure. No room for plant intelligence or intuition. It takes the plant and the healer out of the hands of the user and it makes us dependent on these big corporations that are making these standardized plant medicines. So standardization offers you like evidence based herbal medicine. But this process comes at a cost and I think as an herbalist, it's a huge cost. Standardization calls for the use of higher dosages to bring changes in the body and they tend to start to force the body. And again, there are like circumstances that standardized herbal medicine can play a big Part in healing. Standardized extracts, when contrasted to to whole plants, is used with all. Like whole plants are used with all of the constituents found in either the root, the leaves, the stems, the flowers, or all of those combined. Depending on the plant. Small dosages can be used without much risk of side effects. And this is not the case in standardized extracts. You're going to get side effects. A plant's effectiveness isn't due to any one action or, or ingredient, as modern medicine would have you believe. So plants in their whole form have what's called synergy. And this means that a plant's ingredients are more effective when used together versus separately. So synergy helps plants buffer their side effects as well as increase their effectiveness. An example of this of basically isolating one ingredient of a plant at the expense of another is milk thistle. So milk thistle is a plant that is very popular and I use it consistently in my practice. Not only is it a wonderful liver regenerator and protector, it helps the liver deal with toxins and helps it detoxify toxins better than basically without it, Especially when the liver has some type of acute injury or it's been exposed to a certain type of toxin. And it also can help protect the liver from pharmaceuticals like during allopathic drug therapy. The active ingredient in milk thistle is silymarin. And when silymarin is given as an isolated standardized extract, it actually can interfere with the liver's ability to metabolize prescription drugs. This is the opposite effect silymarin has when administered as a whole plant. Milk thistle using the dried seed. So when used as an infusion or a tincture or powder, coilymarin is accompanied by almost all of its plants constituents, which include hundreds and sometimes thousands of different chemicals. This allows the plant to support the liver by assisting with detoxification instead of interfering with it. Another aspect of standardization is the quality of plants that are needed to make their guaranteed extracts. Standardization has to focus on quantity, not quality. Like essential oil production. Standardized extracts call for a large amount of large, large amount of plant material. So large scale operations, source plants, like I said, from all over the world, but also different locations and different conditions, different soil conditions, different sun conditions. So you can't really replicate that medicine out of the clinical practice. So those types of clinical findings, in my opinion, can be somewhat superficial in the larger picture. With large scale growing, it's often hard to determine how and when the plants are harvested. Holistic herbalism focuses on the quality of the plant because we're not using a ton of the plant so to make the specific medicine that the animal or person is using, fresh, organic or ethically wildcrafted plants are optimal for making effective herbal medicines. Quantity over quality can also involve the use of toxic solvents as a menstruum. And the menstruum is a substance that's used to draw out the plant's ingredients. So herbalists traditionally use organic grain alcohol, vodka, brandy and glycerin as menstruums. They also can use water and vinegars for extracting purposes. Large manufacturers may use really powerful solvents like hexane and acetone and high powered ethanol as a menstruum. And these substances are toxic and they can leave behind residues that lead to unwanted side effects. So if you're using a standardized extract, you want to ask the company what solvents are used in the extraction process, and if they don't know, don't use the product. Standardized extracts aren't part of any natural healing cycle either. So synthesizing the constituents of a specific plant, creating a standardized dosage changes the structure of the plant's medicine as well as it separates it from its intended purpose and the synergistic intelligence of the plant. Using plants to create more refined extracts and medications does have its place in modern medicine for sure. With proper use and guidance, standardized herbal extracts can be used effectively, if that's your only option or if it's an option that you need when you need to force the body. So I'm not completely against standardized extracts. However, when it comes to using plants for everyday medicine, long term healing and prolonged health, I believe it's best to use plants in their natural state. The use of standardized herbal extracts can be utilized definitely when a powerful dose is needed and also when time is of the essence. Okay, again, the example here I would use is cancer or something acute. Like my partner was on a ladder and hurt themselves, didn't need to go to the hospital, but was very badly bruised, and we used a curcumin extract to help with inflammation that evening because they needed more immediate results. And we use that in combination with homeopathic arnica and it worked really well. So, yes, they do have a purpose if a standardized herb is recommended over a whole plant herbal, I mean, you want to understand and explore why and understand and comprehend the distinction that's being given to you. I also want to point out that using plants in their whole form, like for instance, if you're using nettles, you're going to use young nettles, you're going to use dried nettles, you're going to take them in your body either in powdered form or give them to your dog in powdered form or as an infusion that uses water to draw out their constituents. Or dandelion root. You know, you can use both nettles and dandelion as a tincture. You can use the root as a decoction, which is like an infusion, it's like a tea. But you simmer the root on the stove on low heat to help draw out that root's constituents, and then you let it cool and you give that broth to your dog or yourself. Or you can give the broth and the chopped up root to your dog. And different plants have different ways to use them more effectively with your dogs, it just depends on the plant and it depends on, you know, your dog's tolerance and if your dog will let you put something in their mouth or they'll only eat it in the food, or they might eat it in some goat's milk or dripped on a treat. It just depends because again, dogs are individuals and that's what this podcast is all about. I hope I explained in reasonable, understandable terms the difference between standardization and holistic plant medicine. Standardization does definitely have its place. And, you know, you can see standardized extracts all over the market, but they're not comparable to their whole plant counterparts. Standardization really does involve bringing them back to the lab, making sure that they can prove the active constituents in that standardized product. And you cannot do that very well at all with regular herbal medicine. But. But the herbs in their natural form have all of those constituents that help buffer the side effects of the plant. Okay, so that really is a huge component of the difference between standardized and whole plant medicine news you can use. So I always try to give you a little something that you can do hands on with your dogs at home. And we are coming into fall here in the northern hemisphere. If you are in the southern hemisphere, I apologize. But in the northern hemisphere, we are experiencing changes in weather. Fall is coming, and fall rules the lungs and the large intestine. And these are times when we're going to see things like constipation. You might, I mean, you might see the breath of your dog being a little more labored. You might see some coughing or hacking or straining to go potty. These are all things that can have an effect on your dog during this transitional season or, you know, full on fall energy before we hit winter. Giving small amounts of fresh herbs during this time can really help the lungs. It can help the large intestine. It can help your dog breathe better and experience this seasonal transition better. And some of the herbs that are really good for fall include turmeric astrologous ginger. A ginger infusion is lovely for dogs that aren't too warm. Mullein leaf infusion. So you're going to use dried mullein leaf as a tea, cordyceps mushroom and freshly ground flaxseed, marshmallow root and deglycerized licorice. I think that together turmeric, astralagus, ginger, mullein, cordyceps, freshly ground flax, marshmallow, licorice. These are all really great herbs that you can cycle through fall to help your dogs with these issues that come up during the fall. The constipation, the stool changes, the breathing that can be more labored or your dog could start coughing, things like that. Of course, these herbs are not for every dog. And you want to look at your dog as an individual and you want to look at the herb as an individual and see if you know that herb is good for your dog. But infusions using herbs in a tea format is a really good way to experience all of these herbs, except for the freshly ground flaxseed, turmeric tea, astrologous tea, ginger tea, mullen tea, cordyceps tea, and licorice and marshmallow root tea. These are wonderful ways to put your dog into a state of healing during this time. You can do for most of it there, you know, there's a lot of gray area in herbalism, but for most things, just using these herbs in a very light way in a very preventative healing way, you can use 2 tablespoons or let's just say 1 tablespoon to 8 ounces of almost boiling water and let it let the herb sit for about 10 to 20 to 30 minutes and then you can give your dog a size appropriate amount of the liquid. And you can do this every day. The, the infusions that you make will last about two to three days, so you don't have to make them every day. And, and if you have any questions about this, just go to my website, canineherbalist.com and click on the podcast section there and ask a question and I'll answer it here on the podcast that is about it for today. I want to thank my sponsor, realmushrooms.com for sponsoring my podcast. One of the things that Real Mushrooms for Dogs has is it does have a reishi mushroom capsule that is good for giving your dogs reishi mushroom because reishi is super bitter and it's really hard to dogs to get dogs to take it. But Reishi is such a wonderful antiviral. Anti allergy. It's an antihistamine. It can help with arthritis. It's slightly warming. It's also an antifungal and it's really good for bronchitis and lung afflictions. You can mix it with cordyceps for that. It also has an effect on the kidney and the nervous system. So it's a really wonderful herb to give during the fall season. And you can get that on my website, canineherbalist.com or@realmushrooms.com thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals Podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com, click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm gonna talk to you in our next episod.