Welcome back to the Emporium. This week I wanted to continue our journey in discussing herbal actions. This week I wanted to do a deep dive into anti-inflammatory herbs because this is a commonly used action in the supplementation and herbal community. Someone, somewhere is looking for an anti-inflammatory right now.
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So what is inflammation?
Medically speaking, WebMD labels inflammation as “… a process by which your body's white blood cells and the things they make protect you from infection from outside invaders, such as bacteria and viruses.”
There are symptoms that include
redness
swelling
joint pain
fever
fatigue
headaches
muscle stiffness
etc.
Doctors typically do a physical exam and take a look at your blood panels to see if there are increased white blood cells that may indicate inflammation.
What does anti-inflammatory really mean?
These types of herbs have a general effect on helping to decrease the inflammation in your body. This means they do some mitigation to aid your body come back to a normal level if you have been suffering from inflammation.
Remember, not all inflammation is bad. Inflammation is a normal bodily response to a range of things. Our body works hard to protect us and keep us functioning properly.
What is different between pharma and herbal anti-inflammatories is that pharma typically does suppression of the inflammation while herbal anti-inflammatories do not.
Herbs work with our bodies to bring healing to the areas or systems that need it.
Types of anti-inflammatory herbs.
salicylates - good for inflammation of the musculoskeletal system.
steroidal precursors - inflammation of an autoimmune origin.
volatile oils (also may be called bitters) - the digestive system.
resins - arthritic inflammation.
Let’s get into each one…
Salicylates:
These support the musculoskeletal system.
When researching drugs that may help certain things like muscle soreness, you may come across salicylate-containing medicines. A common product is pain relief cream, methyl salicylate topical (Icy Hot). Another common medicine is aspirin.
Common herbs with salicylates include
Willow (Salix sp.)
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
Salicylates may irritate some with an allergy. Consult your physician before use.
Steroidal Precursors:
Plant steroids have been looked to for support of immune disorders that lead to inflammation. There has been a lot of research on this topic and they found that plants that act as precursors to support your regular functions and have an immunomodulating effect.
Common herbs that are being researched:
Hops (Humulus lupus)
Sarsaparilla (Smilax spp)
Ashwaganda (Withania somnifera)
Chinese Skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis)
To read more on this topic click here.
Volatile Oils:
These can be called bitters as well. Volatile oils are what people also call essential oils. It can be hard to keep definitions straight. We usually use the term bitters when we talk about digestion.
How these work is that we can reharmonize your relationship with your digestive system by getting the proper digestive juices flowing to mitigate the issues that you may be experiencing.
You do need to taste the bitter herb to be able to reap the benefits. Try consuming bitters 15 minutes before a meal to see if this may help with your issues.
Some examples of herbs that may help with GI induced inflammation:
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Burdock (Arctium lappa)
Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
Dandelion (Taxaracum officinale)
Resins:
Resins are made in resin cells in plants. Resin is produced when an injury occurs to the plant. Imagine what this plant constituent can do for you if you have inflammation of arthritic nature.
Back in the day when we didn’t have research like we do now, they observed plants. When a plant had an injury, the resin formed a shield and people hoped this would translate to helping us heal with injury.
There is some research on certain resins when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis. When you have inflammation of arthritic nature, you may want to turn to plants that have these constituents to be able to help yourself.
Some examples of herbs that contain resin:
Boswellia serrata (known as frankincense or olibanum)
willow bark extract
Pine bark (and extract)
The idea here is the sticky, gooey herbs that would form if you start taking the plant apart.
Now that we have taken apart some of what anti-inflammatories are, I hope you are able to be more equipped to pick an herb that best suits your needs and condition when it comes to inflammation.
Please reach out with any questions so I can further assist you.
I cannot wait to see you in our next Herb101 series.
I hope everyone has a blessed week.
This was very informative and well put together! I tend to avoid using medicines because I never know what the side effects can be, so natural remedies make more sense. Thank you for making this article!