19-04-2012, 14:10
Would it be better to chew herbs?
March 5 2009 at 7:57 PM
Antheia (Login Antheia)
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Hello,
I read a post on here a while back in which the woman said that she chewed gum containing PM because the nerves in the tongue helped the PM to be absorbed better and would go straight into the bloodstream (and therefore bypassing the liver?). I tried using the google scholar search tool, and couldn't find anything on this, and I tried the web search and couldn't find anything as well. I may just be trying the wrong keywords, I dunno. I mostly found stuff about nicotine gum. =( I was able to find out that applying progesterone cream was better than taking progesterone orally because the 80 - 90% of the hormone is processed through the liver, so your body only absorbs about 10 - 20% of the hormone. (So, are creams better, too?)
Anyway, are there any aspiring herbalist out there who have heard of this? If so, would it be better to chew herbs, or even to just apply the creams? Sorry if this has been asked before, but I didn't see anything like this on here yet. ("Chew herbs" only brought up one post in the search function.)
Thanks in advance for your help!
~Antheia
Author Reply
Moon
(Login -Moon-)
SENIOR MEMBER Re: Would it be better to chew herbs? March 6 2009, 9:25 AM
Absorbing herbs throguh the oral mucosa has a similar significence as applying them topically on the skin - they avoid liver, which degrades a part of the herbs. But at the same time, the intestine is the organ specialized for absorption of nutritients and does a better job with that than skin and mucosa. Overall I think you still get a relevantly higher concentration of herbs if you also use the topical/mucosal delivery route. But how relevant is this for chances of success? I think it might help, but it might also not make so much of a difference. Hard to say, probably depends on the herb, on the individual. Concentration of herbs is not really an issue for people with a healthy intestine, we are more worried about stalling than we are for not getting enoguh into us. And we can and probably do compensate for the liver loss with a higher dose. Also most NBE herbs are supposed to have a relatively long half life (several days), so that appears to say it shouldn't be so hard to achieve effective concentration. Another relevant fact is that the liver may change the active molecules from herbs - into a more or less active form. So it's all very complex.
I'd guess that topical/mucosal application is not necessary for growth, but it could help. It would be best to consider practical experience for this as well. Some people said topicals didn't seem to make much of a difference for them, other felt they did help them. I'm thinking the latter could be particualry the case for PM, I remeber Katie and Beth both benefited a lot from topical/mucosal application.
Antheia
(Login Antheia) Thanks, Moon! March 6 2009, 7:09 PM
I am so glad that you replied to this; I know that you have a ton of knowledge about this stuff. When in doubt, ask one of the NBE "moons"! =D That made a lot of sense, thanks for explaining it to me!
I hope this post helped somebody else who had the same question.
Happy journeying!
~Antheia
March 5 2009 at 7:57 PM
Antheia (Login Antheia)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I read a post on here a while back in which the woman said that she chewed gum containing PM because the nerves in the tongue helped the PM to be absorbed better and would go straight into the bloodstream (and therefore bypassing the liver?). I tried using the google scholar search tool, and couldn't find anything on this, and I tried the web search and couldn't find anything as well. I may just be trying the wrong keywords, I dunno. I mostly found stuff about nicotine gum. =( I was able to find out that applying progesterone cream was better than taking progesterone orally because the 80 - 90% of the hormone is processed through the liver, so your body only absorbs about 10 - 20% of the hormone. (So, are creams better, too?)
Anyway, are there any aspiring herbalist out there who have heard of this? If so, would it be better to chew herbs, or even to just apply the creams? Sorry if this has been asked before, but I didn't see anything like this on here yet. ("Chew herbs" only brought up one post in the search function.)
Thanks in advance for your help!
~Antheia
Author Reply
Moon
(Login -Moon-)
SENIOR MEMBER Re: Would it be better to chew herbs? March 6 2009, 9:25 AM
Absorbing herbs throguh the oral mucosa has a similar significence as applying them topically on the skin - they avoid liver, which degrades a part of the herbs. But at the same time, the intestine is the organ specialized for absorption of nutritients and does a better job with that than skin and mucosa. Overall I think you still get a relevantly higher concentration of herbs if you also use the topical/mucosal delivery route. But how relevant is this for chances of success? I think it might help, but it might also not make so much of a difference. Hard to say, probably depends on the herb, on the individual. Concentration of herbs is not really an issue for people with a healthy intestine, we are more worried about stalling than we are for not getting enoguh into us. And we can and probably do compensate for the liver loss with a higher dose. Also most NBE herbs are supposed to have a relatively long half life (several days), so that appears to say it shouldn't be so hard to achieve effective concentration. Another relevant fact is that the liver may change the active molecules from herbs - into a more or less active form. So it's all very complex.
I'd guess that topical/mucosal application is not necessary for growth, but it could help. It would be best to consider practical experience for this as well. Some people said topicals didn't seem to make much of a difference for them, other felt they did help them. I'm thinking the latter could be particualry the case for PM, I remeber Katie and Beth both benefited a lot from topical/mucosal application.
Antheia
(Login Antheia) Thanks, Moon! March 6 2009, 7:09 PM
I am so glad that you replied to this; I know that you have a ton of knowledge about this stuff. When in doubt, ask one of the NBE "moons"! =D That made a lot of sense, thanks for explaining it to me!
I hope this post helped somebody else who had the same question.
Happy journeying!
~Antheia