Is it better to buy liquid herbal extracts or softgels made from fresh herbs or dried herbs?
There is no simple answer to this question. It depends on why you are taking the herbs that you are taking. Stinging Nettle, for example, can be used fresh or dried. If you need an herb to increase mineral absorption in your body, dried Stinging Nettle offers the most benefits. On the other hand, fresh Stinging Nettle offers you optimum hayfever relief because once this herb is dried, its hayfever-alleviating properties disappear. Certain herbs such as Blue Cohosh, Dong Quai, Goldenseal, and Milk Thistle, are better dried because the drying process modifies and enhances their medicinal action. Other herbs, such as Chamomile, Oat seed, Peppermint and Shepherd’s Purse should be processed while fresh in order to preserve their delicate volatile oils and other fragile constituents.
