Why don Chinese herbal medicine practitioners refine and purify the crude herbs, extract and concentrate their active ingredients, and produce modern medications in capsules and ampules?
The modern Western way is not necessarily nature’s way, and nature’s way, which never changes, is the way the Chinese have been following since the beginning of medicine. It is also the way that herbal medicine works most effectively. Nature gave us our medicine. While the effects of the natural forms are slower, the effects are real and actually balance the person’s condition and get to the root of the problem. There are no ill side-effects, because nature balances itself perfectly. The drug, in its natural state, is more suitable for gradual absorption and metabolizability into the body because the active ingredients are accompanied by other natural ingredients in the plant. These act as metabolic buffers and prevent the shocks to the system caused by concentrated chemicals. For example, the Chinese herb ma huang, (Ephedra sinica). The roots and stems contain up to one percent of the alkaloid, ephedrine, which is the world’s most effective preventive for bronchial asthma. This herb h
