Valerian/Lemon Balm Combination Well-Tolerated in Clinical Study

Occasional or chronic insomnia is a widespread problem among Americans and Europeans. The National Institutes of Health estimates that as many as one-third of Americans suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Other estimates hold that up to 18 percent of Germans experience occasional sleep problems, and that at least 7 percent have frequent trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Sedative herb formulas, including combinations of valerian (Valeriana officinalis L., Valerianaceae) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Lamiaceae), are widely used and have strong traditional reputations for efficacy and safety. However, few clinical studies have formally investigated their use. With that in mind, a team of Swiss investigators performed a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical study designed to evaluate the effects of a valerian/lemon balm combination in healthy adults (Cerny et al., 1999).

The primary objective of this study was to assess tolerability and incidence of side effects; secondary parameters included assessments of sleep quality and well being. Study participants were 98 healthy volunteers who took either placebo or three tablets of the valerian/lemon balm formula one-half hour before bedtime. The test formula was a Swiss product containing 480 mg valerian dry extract (4.5:1) and 240 mg lemon balm dry extract (5:1) (Songha Night®, Pharmaton Natural Health Products of Bioggio/Lugano, Switzerland).

Presumably because the primary endpoint was safety, the researchers chose to investigate the effects of the formula in healthy adults who did not suffer from insomnia. Overall tolerability was rated as good by 93 percent of those in the valerian/lemon balm group and 91 percent of the placebo group. The incidence of mild adverse events was similar in the two treatment groups (29 percent in the valerian/lemon balm group and 28 percent in the placebo group). The most frequent of these were sleep disturbances and tiredness; no serious side effects were seen. Interestingly, although none of the study participants reported problems with insomnia, there was a much greater improvement in sleep quality in the group taking the herbal combination. Among those taking valerian/lemon balm, 33 percent reported an improvement in sleep quality, as compared with only 9 percent in the placebo group.

The authors noted, "…sleep quality improved significantly in subjects who received valerian/balm, which was surprising as only healthy volunteers not complaining of insomnia participated.…it would be interesting to see how effective this preparation would prove in patients suffering from insomnia, where major improvements may be expected." - Evelyn Leigh, HRF

How to make Herbal capsule

Choosing and buying herbs

Any kind of dried herb's leaves, flowers and thin stems can be used. Consult your herbalist about your own needs and follow his instructions regarding the appropriate dose. He will determine if encapsulated herbs are the best way to treat your symptoms and will prescribe the correct dose. Buy only fresh herbs and, if possible, try to know if they were grown without the use of pesticides.

Contrary to what happens when buying herbs for flavoring oils, where it is possible to intuitively estimate how much fresh herbs will be needed, it is difficult to guess the amount dried powder that will result from a bunch of fresh herbs. The volume reduction is quite big and varies from herb to herb. In the case here described, encapsulating the powder of Ginkgo Biloba dried leaves, the decrease in volume is about tenfold: one dry volume unit of Ginkgo leaves will yield ten times less dried powder. Only experience will tell how much fresh herbs are needed. Considering that dried herbal powders can be stored for long times and that most common herbs are not expensive, buying more is a safe bet to make the desired number of capsules.

Drying

The herbs should be thoroughly washed and the excess water removed with kitchen tissue paper or a salad centrifuge. After carefully selecting the stems having more leaves and removing those with any kind of strange spots or deposited matter, they should be tied up in bunches with a piece of string or something that will not react with the plant. Enough space should be left between leaves and branches so that air circulation is not prevented. Tight or bulky bunches will not allow good aeration and will stimulate mould and rot formation in the early stages of the drying process.

In a dry corner of the house, place a string or thin rope from wall to wall the higher you can (it is warmer). Hang up the bunches from the string , leaves down, and let them until they are fully dry. The drying time will depend on the thickness of the stems and leaves and on the room's temperature and aeration. It is not difficult to judge when drying is complete. Simply break a small piece of the thicker part of a stem. It should break with ease. The color will also have changed loosing most of its fresh green tones.

Prepare and grind

Dispose the dried stems over a clean table and make a final selection of the material to be ground. In the example described, only the leaves of Ginkgo Biloba were used. The stems were cut out with a with a pair of scissors.

The next step is reduce the leaves to a fine powder. One may use any grinding device that can do this kind of operation. One of the most practical and less expensive is the small electric coffee grinder used to reduce roasted coffee beans to powder. The procedure described uses this familiar kitchenware.

As mentioned before, a great volume of Ginko dried leaves has to be reduced to a small amount of powder. This means that the big pile of leaves will have to be ground in small portions. Start by loading as many leaves as possible in the grinder, without overloading or pressing them in. The leaves should not form a compact mass that may hinder the free rotation of the grinding blade. If this happens the electric motor may be damaged.

Grinder's bowl full of leaves

Grind the first load until it is reduced to a coarse texture and load a new charge of leaves on top of it. After the coarse mixture reaches two thirds of the grinder's bowl, stop loading new leaves and grind the coarse mixture until it is reduced to powder. Discharge the powder into a glass container and continue to repeat the operations until all dried leaves are reduced to powder. The powder can be stored if one does not want to encapsulate the herb immediately.

Coarse ground Ginkgo leaves

Capsules

Gelatine capsules where used to hold the Ginkgo powder. They come in several capacities, usually expressed in milligrams of dry material contained. Jelly capsules are easy to swallow and do not require any additional hardware to be filled up. The snag with this kind of enclosure is that they are usually sold only in big quantities like a thousand units. However, they are very cheap and one may get a smaller number from a friendly health store that makes use of them for several purposes.

Gelatine capsules

Filling

When filling gel capsules for the first time, you may find this operation quite difficult but once you learn the trick, it will be easily done. Gelatine capsules consist of two parts, a cap and a base. They both have a thin inside rim on the portion that stays in contact when they are closed. The rims slide one over the other and lock both parts together. Start by separating all caps from bodies in two different piles. Wear thin surgical gloves that you may get for free from your dentist or buy a box for a few dollars. Gel capsules will stick to anything wet, so be sure that the glove's outside surface is dry.

Pour a good quantity of powder into a cylindrical plastic or glass bowl about 2.5 inches in diameter and 3.0 inches deep. Pick up a capsule's base (the larger part) and immerse its open end into the powder. Repeat the operation but now move it inside the powder towards the bow's wall. Press it firmly against the powder between the capsule's tip and the wall. Take it out with its open end up in order to avoid loosing the powder inside. Pick up a capsule's cap and slide it over the filled base. One may feel when both parts lock together. To ensure the even distribution of the powder inside the capsule, gently tap over its surface until the powder fills evenly both sides. If you fail to have a fully and evenly filled capsule, apply more pressure when you are filling the base with powder. It is the expansion on the pressed powder inside the base that will fill its cap.

Glass bowl with powder

Storing

Capsules that will be consumed immediately after preparation do not require special precautions other than being kept in a bottle that can be tightly closed. One may use empty vitamin bottles for this purpose. On the other end, powders do require some extra care. Preference should be given to amber glass bottles tight closing caps. Again, certain vitamin brands do have these kind of bottles. Store them in a dry and dark place. Do not forget to label the capsule and powder bottles in order to avoid any mistakes. Clearly identify the container's content and the powder's production date.

Oolong tea helps in the treatment of stubborn atopic dermatitis

An open Japanese study suggests that consumption of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) helps speed clearance of recalcitrant atopic dermatitis lesions. The 118 study participants continued their usual dermatologic treatments but also drank oolong tea (10 g steeped in 1000 mL water a day, divided into three doses). Beneficial results were noted after one to two weeks, and 74 (63%) of the participants showed marked to moderate improvement of lesions after one month. After 6 months, 64 patients (54%) still demonstrated a good response to treatment. The study builds on animal research showing that oral administration of green, black, or oolong tea suppressed allergic skin reactions. Uehara M, Sugiura J, Sakurai K. A trial of oolong tea in the management of recalcitrant atopic dermatitis. Arch Dermatol

Usual forms of medicinal remedies

1) Infusions

Infusions are a simple way of extracting the active principles of herbs through the action of hot water. The preparation of infusions is similar to way we prepare tea. This method is used to extract the volatile components of the dried or green aerial parts of herbs and plants like flowers and leaves. Infusions may use single herbs or a blend and are drunk hot or cold. Certainly this is the most common and cheap method of extracting the medicinal compounds of herbs.

2) Decoctions

Roots, barks and fruits being thicker and less permeable than the aerial parts of medicinal plants, do not liberate their active principles by simple infusion. It is necessary to simmer these parts in boiling water in order to extract their medicinal constituents. The material should be cut or broken into small pieces. In order to avoid loosing volatile constituents, use a lid over the simmering pan. After cooling down and separating the solid from the liquid, decoctions can be taken hot or cold.

3) Tinctures

Most of the volatile components of medicinal plants and herbs are soluble in alcohol. By immersing dried or fresh parts of plants in alcohol, the active principles are easily extracted at concentrations that exceed those that can be achieved by infusion or decoction. Highly concentrate solutions that will last for one to two years are a convenient way to store and use medicinal plants constituents. Ideally tinctures should be made using pure ethyl alcohol distilled from cereals. However, since this product is not available to the public, good Vodka with 45-35% alcohol can be used. The extraction is fairly quick. A 50% mixture of herbs and alcohol kept in a tightly closed jar will held a tincture ready for use at the prescribed dosage. Never use methyl alcohol, methylated spirits, isopropyl alcohol or any other kind of unknown spirit to make tinctures.

4) Syrups

With some rare exceptions, like peppermint that is a familiar flavoring agent in toot paste and chewing gum, infused or decocted herbs are not palatable, specially for children. In order to disguise their taste, infusion and decoctions can be mixed with honey or unrefined sugar from cane. These syrups combine the soothing action of these solvents to the medicinal properties of the infusions and decoctions resulting in additional benefits specially for treating cough and sore throats.

5) Infused Oils

Pure vegetable oils like sunflower, almond and olive oil are easily found at grocer stores. They have the property of dissolving the active, fat-soluble active principles of medicinal plants and herbs. This process is called infusion and can be carried out at room temperature or higher. Infusion is a slower process than alcohol extraction but has the advantage of resulting in an oil based solution of medicinal constituents that can easily be used to make creams and ointments. Hot infusion is recommended for the harder parts of the plants while cold infusion is more suitable for flowers and leaves.

6) Essential Oils

Essential oils are the volatile oily components of aromatic plants, trees and grasses. They are found in tiny glands located in the flowers (neroli), leaves (eucalyptus), roots (calamus), wood (sandal) and resins (frankincense). Essential oils are extracted by four main methods: steam distillation, expression, solvent extraction and efleurage. In the first method the oil is extracted by the action of hot steam and then selectively condensed with water from which it is separated. In the second method the oil is extracted by pressure or centrifugation. In the third method the oil is dissolved in a volatile solvent that when evaporated leaves a heavily natural wax substance called concrete. When separated from the wax, the resulting liquid is called an absolute, the most concentrated from of aroma available. Efleurage is a longer process involving the dissolution of the oils in animal fat and its separation using alcohol. Although essential oils main usage is in cosmetics and perfumery, many of them do have proved therapeutic properties.

7) Ointments

Ointments are prepared like hot infused oils, the difference being that herbs are simmered in waxes or fats containing no water. After separating the simmered herbs by squeezing and cooling, the result is a solid mixture of the wax or fat with the medicinal constituents of the plant. Petroleum jelly, soft paraffin wax and bees wax are some common bases used. Ointments form a oily barrier on the surface of injuries and carry the active principles to the affected area.

8) Creams

Creams are mixtures of oils or fats with water. Since water and oils are not miscible, it is necessary to add an emulsifying agent that avoids their separation. Creams are therefore stable emulsions of oils or fats. Medicinal properties are added to creams when they use or are made with tinctures, infusions, oil infusions, essential oils or decoctions. Creams are permeable allowing the skin to breathe and sweat. Their water content and some additional hydrophobic agent like Glycerin promotes the hydration and cooling of the skin.