What are Powdered Extracts?
Bai Shao |
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Powders (once called granules or granulars) are made
from decoctions of raw herbs. They are cooked in the
traditional style with water as a tea. The liquid extract
is then concentrated and dried to a sticky sap-like
substance. The sap is then mixed with the dried powdered
herb and ground into a fine granule. More
on the extraction process |
The finished product can be made into a suspension or tea
and drunk like tea or mixed with applesauce and eaten. Some
patients prefer to just put spoonfuls directly on their
tongue and wash them down with a little water.
How Strong are the Powders?
Ding Xian |
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Powders are a 5:1 concentration. Each gram of powder
equals the potency of 5 grams of raw herb in decoction.
When patients make teas at home, errors and irregularities
in the cooking process lead to a significant to loss
of potency. |
Because powders are prepared under the strictest laboratory
conditions, powders are actually much stronger than the
numbers suggest. Each batch of powders is tested to assure
that it provides a minimum of active ingredient per gram.
Therefore, powders can be used at a slightly lower dose
than raw herbs.
How Safe are Powders?
Granules are lab-tested for heavy
metals, bacteria and fungus. Plus KPC granules are batch
tested for pesticide and herbicide residues on a regular
basis. Patients can only purchase herbs via a prescription
from a licensed acupuncturist.
More on the extraction process
How are Powders more Flexible than other
forms of Herbs?
Granule formulas can be prepared to your
exact specifications. You choose the ingredients and
dosage. You are not limited by a manufacturer's premade
formulas where you can't delete ingredients or change doses
to suit your patient. This way, you can practice chinese
herbal medicine to its fullest and give your patients the
best medicine for them.
Aren't Powders more Expensive than other
Patent Herbs?
Since powders are more potent than other solid forms of
patent and give the practitioner maximum flexibility in
prescribing, powders really shouldn't be compared to other
forms of patents. However, they are very close in price.
A two week course of powders will cost the patient around
$28. While this is slightly more than raw
herbs, the convenience more than makes up for it.
Patients often reject or eventually give up on raw herbs
because of the time it takes - and the smell! Granules avoid
both of these problems.
Practitioners are free markup the price
for their patients. That can mean thousands of dollars per
year in profits. In fact, because you collect the money
including your mark-up, you make money before you've even
ordered the herbs! Many acupuncturists make the majority
of their earnings from herb sales.
Why do you recommend dosing twice a day?
We recommend dosing no more frequently than 2 times per
day. Patient compliance can be as high as 90% when the dosage
is once per day. Compliance drops by 20% when a second dose
is added. With the addition of a third dose, patient compliance
plummets another 50%. So, while herbs three times a day
may be ideal for the patient, in our experience, the more
frequent the dosage, the less likely your patient is to
take the herbs at all.
More on The Extraction Process
KPC Herbs are produced by Kaiser Pharmaceutical
Co., Ltd. (KP Ltd.) in Taiwan and imported into the United
States by KPC Products, Inc. KP Ltd. is one of the oldest
and most respected producers of concentrated Chinese herbs
in the world. Its state-of-the-art facilities have earned
the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification of the
Department of Health, Republic of China and Commonwealth
Department of Health, Australia.
Chuan Xiong |
The attention
to quality extends from the selection of herbs
through the entire manufacturing process. The manufacture
of concentrates follows demanding and complex scientific
procedures; an outline of the process is as follows: |
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- Raw herbs are checked for quality
by well-trained personnel and with scientific instruments.
- The herbs are prepared according to the
tenets of Chinese medicine. Some herbs are stir-fried,
others are wine-fried, etc.
The following processes take place in a
clean-room environment:
- Single herbs or formulas are cooked in
large vats of water in a closed and controlled
environment while essential oils are collected
for reintroduction later on.
- The herbs are removed from the
decoction; the liquid is further concentrated,
essential oils are reintroduced, and then the mixture
is sprayed into a vacuum drying chamber.
- The concentrate forms on small particles
of raw herbs (or, in some cases, starch) that are
introduced into the chamber, and then is vacuum-dried
at low temperature.
- The concentrated herbs are then siphoned
into a separate clean-room where they are bottled,
labeled and sealed.
- After processing, the product undergoes
stringent control procedures to ensure that each lot contains
a consistent amount of active constituents.
- Further, each lot is subjected to strict
tests for bacteria count, E. coli, salmonella and
heavy metals
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