Subject: Re: Herbs for a maintaining a healthy liver?

From: [email-masked] (Mark D. Gold)
Date: 3 Jan 95 01:04:56 -0500

>From: [email-masked] (Camilla Cracchiolo)
>Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
>Subject: Re: Herbs for a maintaining a healthy liver?
>Date: 2 Jan 1995 20:31:51 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

>: With reference to the original part of the question, Licorice Root is used
>: in China for treatment of Liver disorders, and in one study at Shanxi medical
>: college was found to prevent the development of "experimental" cirrhosis.
>: Read into "experimental" what you will - artifically induced?
>
>I'm interested in the licorice root experiment.  Do you have a more detailed
>reference on this?  However, the dangers of licorice root are well known,
>and it absolutely should not be used except under supervision.

Camilla,

Licorice root is one of the most widely used herbs in the world.  
Hundreds of millions of people (or more) have used it without any 
apparent side effects.

I've never seen one documented case of a serious adverse reaction to 
licorice root (not candy and not cigarettes).  I've seen several 
documented cases of serious adverse reactions to strawberries and 
mangos, yet I wouldn't recommend avoiding those except under
supervision.  Even if there were a few adverse reactions amongst the 
millions of users of licorice root, it would be no more than happens 
with some foods.  If you have *any* *documented* evidence of a 
significant number of serious adverse reactions to *whole* licorice root
(as opposed to candy extracts of a single chemical), I'd like to see it.  
Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D. discusses the myths about licorice root at the 
end of his book, "The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine."

Varro Tyler's recent participation in the petition to the FDA to remove 
homeopathic remedies from the shelves demonstrates his extreme bias 
against holistic healing.  I have respect for his pharmacological 
knowledge, but beyond that, his suggested way of using herbs is not 
helpful for persons who trying to affect a permanent cure to a
chronic illness (as part of a holistic healing program).  For 
picking up "neat" tidbits of information about the use of single herbs,
I recommend Tyler's work.  But for a real herbal treatment, there are
many good books available such as "The Herbs of Life" by Lesley 
Tierra or, even better, see an experienced Herbalist.

On the other hand, licorice is traditionally used as *part* of an 
herbal formula.  I have never used it as more than 25% of an herbal 
formula.  Tierra's book listed above can help beginners learn about 
making appropriate herbal formulas rather than taking the drug-like, 
single-herb approach expoused by Tyler.

Regards,
				- Mark
                            [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Sharon Rust)
Date: Tue, 03 Jan 1995 01:28:18 +0000

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Mark D.

> single-herb approach expoused by Tyler.

          Well said Conrad and Mark I would like to add that licorice root
has been used as a binder ,one of the" non-active substances" , in many
prescription medicines in the past and some in the present.   Sharon