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| active constituents are for a given herb and whether they are more water soluble or alcohol soluble. ''For instance, Panax ginseng contains saponin glycosides which are fairly water soluble and thus can be extracted with a low percentage of alcohol, such as 45% alcohol and 55% distilled water. On the other hand, propolis, a bee product that is very resinous, is not soluble in water at all but must be extracted in 95% grain alcohol for the strongest product to be produced. Anything less in a propolis tincture will result in less active resins and flavonoids being held in the liquidin other words, the value and strength of the tincture will be reduced," states Hobbs. |
| In a later herbal development, herb users discovered that when teas evaporated and dried they left a powdery residue that often possessed many of the herbal characteristics of the original plant or tea. This process frequently produced greater potencies than the original plant or tea because the active ingredients became more concentrated. When the active "principals" of ten ounces of an herb are concentrated into a single ounce of powder, the resulting substance is said to be a "ten to one (10:1) or 10x concentration. |
| Nowadays, most herbs are sold and consumed in pill and capsule forms: far more convenient and easy-to-use than the materials available to early herbalists. To make these products, herbal ingredients are extracted in a process similar to steeping, but which uses cold alcohol. Cold alcohol avoids the temperature damage that would occur during heating. After the alcohol evaporates, the resultant, concentrated powder, is dried, pulverized and then encapsulated or pressed into tablets. |
| A mere list of ingredients on a label does not always indicate the strength of amounts of active ingredients. If a label claims 100 mg of an herb for each capsule, you cannot know if those 100 mg were extracted from a weak herb that suffered unhealthy growing conditions or originated in a robust plant harvested in prime time. |
| At the same time, the label may claim to have 100 mg of an herb at 10:1 concentration or 10x strength, which means that it is ten times the concentration of the unprocessed herb. But, if the whole herb was deficient in active ingredients, the 10x concentrate will also be weak. A tenfold increase of not very much remains not very much. |
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