Herbs, Teas and Tinctures: Are They Doing You More Harm Than Good?
Mar 01, 2022 06:00AM ● By Diane Eaton
Shannon Gowland
These days, many of us insist on monitoring the quality of what we consume by reading labels in the grocery store and choosing organics as often as possible. But when it comes to making sure our favorite herbs, teas, tinctures and other botanicals are potent and not tainted with toxins, most of us are unaware of what to look for. I spoke with Shannon Gowland, an Atlanta-area herbalist and owner of Roswell Farmers Market and Seeds of Wellness, to get the inside scoop on how to reduce the risk that our botanicals are actually doing us harm. She recommends we get answers to a few very important questions.
Where were they grown?
Do you know where the botanicals you consume—those herbs, teas and other plants that you use for their curative properties, flavor or scent—come from? Their origin is just one of many things that will be valuable for you to know if you want to make sure you’re consuming the highest quality products you can get.
Knowing where botanicals are grown can tell us a lot about the conditions in which they were likely cultivated and the purity and quality of the product, says Gowland. Unfortunately, under current labeling laws, it’s easy for a brand or private practitioner to purchase botanicals in bulk from anywhere in the world, ship them to their location, package or bottle them and then slap on a label that gives the impression they’re grown locally. It’s perfectly legal and often quite profitable for them to “private label” their products, that is, to get a license to put their logo on products that were made by other manufacturers. Unfortunately, many also use the practice to mislead consumers and hide key facts about their botanicals, including where in the world they originated.
Like most of the foods we consume, the air and soil of the place where botanicals are cultivated make a huge difference to their quality, too. If something is grown in certain countries in Asia, for example, “the soil quality probably won’t be pristine,” says Gowland. “They will probably be filled with heavy metals. So if you’re working on detoxing your liver and you’re taking something like dandelion root that was grown in a toxic field somewhere, you’re just putting all that in your body and absorbing it all.” Plus, dandelion root “is one of those herbs used to clean up toxic areas, like around railroads, or where there’ve been spills or container leaks. If it’s done any of that, it is no longer usable [for humans].”
But poor soil quality doesn’t only exist halfway around the globe. It can be found in any country, in any city, even close to home, Gowland points out. In the meantime, many product brands come up with deceptive marketing slogans that misrepresent their adherence to quality standards. They might proclaim: “High quality is our highest priority” in their promotional materials, but they don’t have to prove it. That’s why it’s so important to do the research and find out as much as we can about where our botanicals are grown and whether they are handled in ways that ensure potency and purity. Only then can we avoid consuming hidden toxins and products that have lost their potency.
How were they processed?
The methods that manufacturers use to transform a botanical into a consumable form can have a big impact on the product’s quality. Tinctures, for example, require an extraction process to pull out the beneficial phytochemicals from the plant. “This can be done slowly using alcohol and [requiring up to] 30 days to end up with a good strong tincture before it’s ready to actually be bottled,” says Gowland. “But that can be a long time for those that want to mass-produce something and get it out there on the retail market. So they might use other methods—ones that use heat or other solvents to extract it and bottle it.” Those methods can diminish the potency of the product.
If alcohol is used in the process, it should be organic, says Gowland. If it’s not, it might contain GMOs as well as pesticides or fungicides that were applied to the corn or grain used to make the alcohol. Even if the tincture is water-based, if the water isn’t pure, the toxins can prevent the plant's valuable phytochemicals from getting infused in the water.
What’s really in there?
When it comes to purchasing botanicals in capsule form, it’s imperative to read labels and look for what additives and fillers you’re getting. “I get my products directly from the lab that is processing it, and I’ve vetted the lab, so I know it’s a quality product. I know there’s no lead in their machinery and that I’m getting pure powders.” Gowland recommends people do their research, learn about the manufacturers they want to buy from and ask important questions. Are the capsules themselves vegan or GMO- and toxin-free? When it comes to tablets, does the heat they use to compress them into tablet form reduce the potency of the product? Have they had their machinery tested for lead? There are many factors that can degrade or contaminate the herbs.
Gowland has personally investigated several brands so that she could stand behind the ones she recommends to her clients. Among “mainstream” brands, she gives a stamp of approval to Gaia Herbs, Red Moon Herbs, Herb Pharm, Traditional Medicines, and Hawaii Pharms.
Where did they travel to before they got to you?
Since our botanicals so often originate in far-off places, the way they are transported and the time it takes them to get to us can radically reduce their potency and effectiveness. These days, botanical products usually change hands multiple times—a typical trip goes from the manufacturer to the packaging facility to the wholesale distributor to the retail distributor to the consumer or retail store—and each step increases the risk of exposure to unsuitable conditions and damage to the product. For example, if probiotics, which are live microorganisms, sit in temperatures of 110 degrees or more, they die. “So if you’ve got a shipment of probiotics sitting out in the hot sun in Texas during the middle of summer, and even though you’re buying them from the refrigerator at a grocery store, they won’t do you any good—because they’re dead,” says Gowland.
Packaged teas are also affected by their journey to the consumer. Before they’re put into tea bags and packaged in boxes, brand-name teas often sit in big barrels in warehouses or production houses for a long time, where they can be susceptible to all sorts of problems, including mold and rodents. Ideally, we should grow our own herbs and teas in our backyards, so we have total control over quality, freshness and purity, says Gowland. But for many of us, that’s not feasible. In that case, she says, the safest way to consume tea is to buy loose-leaf varieties.
Gowland has personally investigated several brands so she could stand behind the ones she recommends to her clients. Among “mainstream” brands, she gives her stamp of approval to Gaia Herbs, Red Moon Herbs, Herb Pharm, Hawaii Pharm, and Traditional Medicinals. ❧
Checklist for Purchasing High-Quality Botanicals
- Read labels to find out where the product was grown, not just where it was packaged or bottled.
- To maximize benefits and reduce the risk of ingesting harmful ingredients, choose liquid or powdered forms of medicinal or therapeutic botanicals over capsules.
- If purchasing capsules, check for fillers in the product.
- Research your sources—retailers, manufacturers, practitioners—to find out if they are ensuring quality standards throughout the production and transportation process.
- Don’t trust brand marketing slogans. Do the research to determine how much they really do to ensure purity and potency.
- If possible, grow your own fresh herbs and make your own teas. Or purchase directly from farms or growers you’ve vetted.
