Traditional Elderberry Fresh Freeze-Dried by Eclectic Institute
Eclectic Institute - Traditional Elderberry Fresh Freeze-Dried 475 mg. - 90 Vegetarian Capsules
Eclectic Institute Fresh Freeze-Dried Traditional Elderberry capsules contain 475 mg each of the Immune Support Combination. Fresh freeze-drying maintains the biologically active constituents for highest potency and action.
100% Fresh Freeze-Dried Ingredients
- Wild-grown elder enhanced with Larix, synergistic spices and antioxidant rich blackberries
- High in flavonoids, anthocyanins, high molecular weight polysaccharides and beneficial lectins
- Berries are hand harvested by Eclectic in the Pacific Northwest
Parts used and where grown
Numerous species of elder or elderberry grow in Europe and North America. Only those with blue/black berries are medicinal. The flowers and berries are both used. Species with red berries are not medicinal.
Historical or traditional use
Elderberries have long been used as food, particularly in the dried form. Elderberry wine, pie, and lemonade are some of the popular ways to prepare this plant as food. The leaves were touted by European herbalists to be pain relieving and to promote healing of injuries when applied as a poultice. Native American herbalists used the plant for infections, coughs, and skin conditions.
Flavonoids, including quercetin, are believed to account for the therapeutic actions of the elderberry flowers and berries. These flavonoids include anthocyanins that are powerful antioxidants and protect cells against damage according to test tube studies. According to laboratory research, an extract from the leaves, combined with St. John’s wort and soapwort, inhibits the influenza virus and herpes simplex virus. The effect on influenza of a syrup made from the berries of the black elderberry has been studied in a small double-blind trial. People receiving an elderberry extract (2 tablespoons [30 ml] per day for children, 4 tablespoons [60 ml] per day for adults) appeared to recover faster than did those receiving a placebo. Animal studies have shown the flowers to have anti-inflammatory properties. These actions have not been verified in human clinical trials.
Intact Vital Herbs Through Freeze Drying
One of the unique features that Eclectic brings to the market place is the process of freeze drying their plants. Some plants are best used fresh. The active constituents of the plants are lost through the normal process of air drying. By utilizing the freeze drying process Eclectic is able to provide the next best thing to fresh plant material.
The process of freeze drying (lyophilization for the hi-tech crowd) involves harvesting the plants at their peak. They are then washed in fresh spring water and sprayed clean.The cleaned plants are immediately frozen to provide for the necessary conditions for low temperature drying. The plants are then placed under a vacuum. This enables the frozen water in the herb to vaporize without passing through the liquid stage, a process known as sublimination. Low temperature condenser plates remove the vaporized water from the vacuum chamber by converting it back to a solid. This completes the separation process.
After the vacuum has been introduces there is about 4-5% of moisture left in the plant material. To reduce this final moisture content, low temperature heat is applied to the frozen material to accelerate sublimation and pull off the remaining moisture.
Eclectic Institute Frequently Asked Questions
Plants have provided mankind with food and medicine since ancient times. Rich traditions have arisen on every continent involving the use of herbs for nourishing, cleansing and balancing the body, mind and spirit. Many of these traditions have been passed down and enriched with scientific understanding, and made available in the form of practical information for the maintenance of optimum health.
What about herbal quality?
Herb quality cannot be over emphasized. It is critical to effective herbal therapy that the proper plants are picked in the proper season and used fresh. High quality herbs will retain all the characteristics of the whole herb: aroma, color, taste and effect. Whenever possible the plants used should be organically grown or locally abundant herbs can be specifically wildcrafted to avoid contamination (such as with pesticides).
Many commercially available bulk herbs contain residues from agricultural chemicals, fumigation and irradiation. Organic cultivation allows the manufacturer of herbal extracts to maintain access to high quality botanical ingredients. A recent advance in herb technology and research (fresh freeze-drying) allows maintenance of the natural potency of most herbs by preserving all the biologically active constituents of the fresh plant. In many instances, improved or unique therapeutic action has resulted from the fresh freeze-drying process.
What About Herbal Extracts?
Herbal extracts have been used in many forms and strengths as galenicals, tinctures, fluid extracts, etc.: these are water and alcohol extractions made from fresh or shade-dried plants. Some extracts include the addition of a little vegetable glycerin. A few herbs are also extracted in 100% organic olive oil for external use. Herbal extracts offer the advantage of being more readily available to body than powdered herbs. These plant extracts are effective preparations which are well tolerated. They may be taken alone or in a little water or juice.
Why use herbal combinations?
An herbal combination is chosen to specifically address the entire complaint of an individual. The herbs that best address their particular symptoms are chosen over similar plants. Several plants or their extracts can work together in a balanced fashion. What one herb lacks another can provide, so that the combined action improves what can be accomplished by a single herb. Some herbs in the combination would help relieve the symptoms while others act to correct the cause of the symptoms. Though sometimes called a "shotgun" approach, combining herbs can be very effective when the goal is to resolve the cause of the problem. Otherwise, there may be no long lasting benefit.
Why is alcohol used in the making of herbal extracts?
Alcohol is second only to water as a solvent (extracting fluid) for making herbal extracts. Herbs are composed of a wide variety of chemical components to which their benefit is attributed. Some of these components are more soluble in water and some are more soluble in alcohol. This explains why the alcohol content is different from herb to herb. Resins in Myrrh or Cayenne are best extracted in alcohol and will have a higher alcohol content. Other herbs such as Marshmallow or Slippery Elm are best extracted in water.
Alcohol is not only important for extracting components of herbs, but it has the ability to preserve the extract from spoiling. Even when water is the best solvent, the extract must contain 15-30% alcohol to maintain stability and prevent spoiling. The alcohol content on labels indicates what percent of the liquid is alcohol not how much herb is in the bottle. Each ounce of an herbal extract represents the soluble components of 7.5 to 30 grams of herb no matter if the alcohol content is 25% or 85%. The concentration level is determined by the nature of each herb.
If a label states the concentration as 1:4 then each ounce represents the soluble portion of 7.5 grams of that herb. A label declaring a 1:1 concentration represents 30 grams of the soluble herb. The average daily dose of an herbal extract is 45-90 drops. Overall herbal extracts average 45% alcohol. Therefore, the average total daily consumption of alcohol is a mere 40 drops. We advise other high quality alternatives such as fresh freeze-dried encapsulated herbs when even these small amounts of alcohol are not appropriate.
What advantage in using Organic Alchohol?
Since alcohol is indispensable for making high quality herbal extracts, more emphasis should be placed on the kind of alcohol used to make them. Commercial grain alcohol is made with corn.
Most of this country's total annual agricultural chemicals go toward the cultivation of corn. These agricultural chemicals are a serious and persistent threat to the air, soil and ground water which support all life forms. Do you want the alcohol in your herbal extract to contribute to the further pollution of our planet?
What about "Glycerins" or "Alcohol free" extracts?
Until recently, the production of glycerite (Alcohol free extracts) met with limited success. Several innovations have helped to alleviate these short comings. Glycerites can be extracted directly with glycerin in some instances but traditional knowledge recommends alcohol extraction initially and then removal of the alcohol under vacuum. The Eclectic Medical period (1854-1937) provided clinical successes using this method with equipment developed by John Uri Lloyd. The Lloyd Extractor, a pharmaceutical cold still is described in the Remmington Practice of Pharmacy. In addition, the stability of some glycerite extractions is enhanced by a lower pH and therefore ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) should be added to sensitive botanicals (i.e.. Echinacea).
Flavoring of glycerites is enhanced by the inherent sweetness of glycerin. Natural flavoring of raspberry or orange can augment the compliance and increase the biological effectiveness in people adverse to the taste of alcoholic extracts.
What about alcohol made from corn?
If you have food sensitivities or allergies to corn avoid extracts made with grain alcohol. Although grain alcohol is highly refined it still carries the allergen of corn and due to the rapid absorption of alcohol, the allergic symptoms appear in a few minutes. For example, many people use a White Willow extract to relieve a headache. Since the majority of the US population has some allergic reaction to corn, it is possible that alcohol made from grain will increase the likelihood of aggravating the condition. This same caution can be given to the use of extracts for most conditions (i.e. corn is known to aggravate arthritic symptoms, bladder, etc.)
A Story of Herbal Lore
Once upon a time, all herbs were whole, fresh, and pure. Cultures around the world respected the wisdom of Mother Nature and considered her plants healing gifts, perfect just as they were.
Then extract manufacturers entered the industry and thought they could improve on nature by identifying and standardizing an herb's "active constituent." By selectively extracting herbs with various kinds of toxic solvents, they could create herbal extract with unnaturally high levels of some constituents, while completely eliminating others.
The idea that an herb's action can be attributed to just one constituent is misguided. Whole herbs contain a myriad of different factors taht synergistically deliver a complete healing mesage; eliminate some of the factors and it will change the message. How much can a manufacturer alter, extract, fractionate, press, dry, and chemically process an herb such as Echinacea before it stops being Echinacea? Isn't the real thing better?
Nature Knows Best
Here at Eclectic Institute, they take the stance that Nature is the Master Formulator. They believe that no matter how much you separate, fractionate, or standardize an herb, you only subtract from Nature's Wisdom. That's why Eclectic prefers fresh herbs over air-dried, whole herbs over extracts, and pure one over those that have been processed with chemical solvents.
Did You Order Toxic Solvents With That Extract?
Sometimes toxic solvents such as hexane, acetone and methanol are used to extract marker constituents, which are then added back to the herb to create standardized extracts. This disrupts the synergistic balance of constituents created by nature. In many cases residues of the toxic solvent remain in the finished extract and is consumed along with the product.
When Herbs Become Drugs
All this is not to say that extracts don't have any benefit, many scientific studies ahve found that they do. But every time you extract an herb, something is being thrown away, and you only get part of what an herb has to offer. The more you extract, isolate, and standardize an herb, the further the herb is taken from its natural state and the closer it becomes to a drug.
Happily Ever After
At Eclectic Institute, they offer fresh, whole and pure herbs that contain all the herb's original phytochemical matrix, completely balanced just as nature intended, preserved using the gentle actions of physics rather than chemistry.
About Eclectic Institute
Eclectic owns and operates a 90 acre farm in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Mt Hood, Oregon. Located in Sandy Oregon, 45 min. east of Portland, the farm is in one the remaining pristine areas of the U.S. There are approximately 40 different plants that are grown Certified Organic by the Oregon Tilth including four species of Echinacea and the largest patch of Goldenseal west of the Mississippi.
Our goal is to be 100% vertically integrated, that is we would like to grow as much of our herbs as possible. We are currently running at about 30% and growing. Although we realize that we will never be able to cultivate certain plants in this climate we do feel that we have a responsibility to grow as much as is possible in order to maintain adequate resources of high quality material.
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