What is the value of adding standardized extracts to herbal formulas?

We believe that the combination of both the standardized extract and the whole herb creates a more balanced formulation that combines the best of both traditional herbal knowledge and modern scientific research. We add the standardized extract only when we are assured of efficacy and safety of that specific extract. Each herb is assessed on an individual basis to investigate these two important factors:

• Efficacy: Most of the current scientific studies on herbal medicines have been done using standardized extracts. There are some standardized extracts for which clinical evidence is not compelling (perhaps because the wrong marker constituent has been chosen). Conversely, there are herbs, such as ginkgo, in which the research results for the standardized extract is impressive. In these cases we have added the extract in our product.
• Safety and Quality: Since the process of extracting an herb concentrates a certain constituent and reduces the other potentially synergistic constituents, the herb is transformed from an herb to a phytochemical. This results in a supplement which is very different from the traditional herbs that the human body has co-existed with over the millennia. Many herbalists believe that the loss of the synergistic constituents may compromise the safety and quality of the herb. Indeed, many standardized extracts do not have the same shelf life as their whole herb counterparts. We share this concern at Oregon's Wild Harvest and have selected only the standardized extracts that we can be assured are safe and stable as well as efficacious.

It is our mission to study whole herbs scientifically and compare them to standardized extracts. We are conducting studies in local academic and clinical institutions using our whole herb products

What are the benefits of adding the whole organic green tea?

We have chosen organic green tea made by gentle steam processing. This carefully selected variety has lower caffeine levels and higher health-promoting flavonoid levels (Rutin) compared to other green teas.

This product naturally contains caffeine, and we have researched that it plays an important supporting mechanism to the primary polyphenols. One study indicates that caffeinated tea as opposed to decaffeinated tea has a supporting role in the activity of Green Tea.

Additionally, the whole organic Green Tea supplies the amino acid, l-theanine, which has been investigated for its calming properties. It explains why Green Tea consumers tend to experience relaxation rather than agitation, which is normally experienced after consuming caffeine. An interesting study showed that L-Theanine reduces the negative side effects of a chemotherapy drug (doxorubicin) by increasing the level of one of the body's most important internally produced antioxidants, glutathione, in normal tissues in the liver and heart-but not in tumors.

What is the advantage of using the water-extracted green tea?

Many green tea extracts are produced by extraction using ethanol, or other harsh chemicals. This produces an extract that is extremely high in EGCG, but is lower in supporting synergistic compounds.

Many studies have implicated EGCG as the active component of green tea, yet several studies have demonstrated that there it is more effective to use the extract, due to the synergism between the catechins or between EGCG and other polyphenols present.

There have been instances of pesticide contamination in conventionally grown green tea. One sampling of random from a New York health food store, showed that two of the 10 brands were contaminated with DDT, in violation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules. This pesticide, and others, have been banned by the EPA, but still persist in China.