Comments on: Herbal quality : the Fuzi (aconite) dilemma

By: Chun-Kai

Chun-Kai — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:00:44 +0000

YOur post is great Eric. Fu Zi is largely disregarded, although it is one of the best herbs there is. People downplay the importance Si Ni Tang, and modern Si Ni Tang decoctions all use processed Fu zi, which is crap, since it’s meant to be decocted raw. Si Ni Tang decoction is supposed to make your feet warm and withstand the cold. however i’ve tried concentrated si ni tang powders using processed fu zi, and to my disappointment it’s completely useless, what a shame. couldn’t feel a thing, and i was scooping like mad.

there needs to be new recognition of chinese herbs, especially in their raw form, ancient literature uses them for a reason, when a person is near death, you don’t use processed fu zi, that person will die anyway

raw fu zi all the way man

By: Gabe Fuentes

Gabe Fuentes — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:03:28 +0000

Hi Eric
Great post! This subject of herbal quality discernment does not get enough attention. When I was in school back in the states, it was not touched upon, but in Taiwan is a subject of great importance, it is so important that at China Medical University in Taiwan ,they allocate one full semester for herbal quality discernment and another semester for formula preparation. Many of the students also go to local herbal stores to learn the craft. Old practitioners around here understand that the quality of herbs can greatly influence their treatment outcome.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:35:57 +0000

Hi Deepest Health,

I am a student of TCM (Acupuncture only) in the UK. Although we are not schooled in herbal medicine in our school, I am personally interested in herbs. I don’t study herbs per se, more experiment with them. Well I wanted to try a decoction of You Gui Wan, becuase I have the herbs for Zuo Gui Wan and believe that nourishing only the left kidney could lead to an imbalance. Besides I wanted to use herbs to promote kidney and spleen yang, as I live in a very damp climate and suffer maladies, from these environmental factors.

Unfortunately there is a lot of regulation of herbs in this country and as a result obtaining Fu Zi commercially is a dream in this country. As it happens all animal derivative herbs are also outlawed in this land too, but I was able to obtain Zuo Gui Wan from one of the chinese run clinics.

When one of my family went to china to watch the paralympic games, I thought I would give them a list of rare herbs. They did seek them out and reported back that the herbs I was looking for Fu Zi and Zhu Sha are not available any more due to regulations and the fact that they are toxic.

So it appears that the regulations are the same in for commercial suppliers in the UK and in China. Is there some kind of one world regulation of herbs going on, I ask?

By: AirJordan

AirJordan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:59:00 +0000

I would greatly prefer the herbs from China although quality control is a major concern in any imported products from China. We may be “mistreated” to inappropriate added chemicals. If the Chinese government shows disregard for its own babies (the formula debacle) what concern will they have for adults.

The soil they are grown in are the key to quality as long as the preparation process can be trusted.

By: Abdallah B. Stickley

Abdallah B. Stickley — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:53:54 +0000

Yes! And… Shen Nong style all the way.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:11:04 +0000

Great post, I think you answered your own question . The only way to guarantee the quality of herbs we prescribe to patients is to be intimately familiar with the herb ourselves. By touching, tasting and comparing, we should create our own personal benchmark by which we judge the quality of herbs.

If you don’t taste them yourself, how can you know for sure?