Herbalists today consider goldenseal an alterative, anti-catarrhal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent, bitter tonic, laxative, and muscular stimulant. They recommend goldenseal for gastritis, colitis, duodenal ulcers, loss of appetite and liver disease. They discuss the astringent effect it has on mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, and rectum (applied topically), and the skin. Goldenseal is very bitter, which stimulates the appetite and aids digestion, and often stimulates bile secretion....

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Goldenseal Herb Tea.

Goldenseal Root (Hydrastitis Canadenisis) is known for its antibiotic like actions.

Goldenseal may be used for inflammation of the mucous membranes and respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, genito-urinary system, poor digestion, atonic dyspepsia, fevers, inflammation, hemorrhoids, colds & flu, impetigo, viral & bacterial infections, peptic ulcers, diarrhea and improving all catarrhal conditions.

Instructions: The best way to make a good tasting cup of tea is by the infusion method. Place one tea bag into a cup and add no more than 6 oz. Of boiling water. Let steep for 3 minutes and remove the bag. Press the bag before removing to enhance the flavor. Add honey to sweeten.

No herb was more revered by American Indians than the versatile Golden Seal (hydrastis canadensis).

Once flourishing in the moist, rich woodlands of the Northeast, they called it 'yellow root' and used the brilliant golden juice extracted from its roots as an ornamental dye for their clothes and weapons, a paint for their faces, and for its health benefits.

Early settlers adopted the use of Golden Seal and it quickly became a mainstay of American folk medicine.

The name Golden Seal comes from the yellow scars left on the rhizome of the stem that bursts forth every spring; these scars look like the imprint of an old-fashioned letter seal.

Golden Seal is very difficult and sensitive plant to grow and requires five years for roots to become mature..

Goldenseal goldenseal root Root

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Primary Usage of a Echinacea & Goldenseal complex (often in a tincture) is for Colds/Flu that are active Bacterial Infections, Viral Infections, Sinus Infections, Parasites, Pink Eye.

Echinacea & Goldenseal is an acute formula to be used when either one feels like they are about to come down with a cold/flu take every couple hours or if cold/flu symptoms are already present take at least 3 times per day until symptoms subside.

Echinacea and Goldenseal are both popular herbs native to North America and Europe.

Immune System Support.

Echinacea herbal medicines are traditionally used for treatment of inflammatory and viral diseases such as cold cough and upper respiratory infections.

Recent studies show that they can also be used as antioxidants or free radical terminators to prevent cardiovascular disease, arthritis and aging.

In fact Echinacea has become one of the most widely used herbal medicines and dietary supplements in Europe North America and Australia.

Goldenseal goldenseal plant Plant

Promotes Healthy Mucous Membranes.

Goldenseal Root is a very popular herb which was used extensively by Native Americans as an herbal remedy and clothing dye.

Scientific research has identified several berberis alkaloids which are primarily responsible for its famed historical uses.

Goldenseal goldenseal root powder Root Powder

Goldenseal is a renowned herbal bitter, that has been used for many years to support immune system health.

Goldenseal's historical use is supported by several studies that have shown that berberine, one of the many active compounds in goldenseal, is helpful in supporting gastrointestinal and respiratory health.

Goldenseal has been valued as a therapeutic herb for many years in North America.

Cultivation of this important plant is necessary to preserve diminishing wild stocks, in short supply from many years of over-harvesting.

Goldenseal goldenseal flower Flower

Used as an infusion, decoction, extract, tincture and salve.

Goldenseal is a broad spectrum antibiotic and fungicide, effective against a wide range of topical and internal infections of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts.

Its use by Native America was widespread.

It was used topically for skin and eye infections, as a mouthwash for canker sores, and as a tea for diarrhea, upper respiratory and vaginal infections.

It was also used as a yellow dye for skins and fabrics.

The two primary alkaloids in goldenseal are hydrastine and berberine, along with smaller amounts of canadine.

They have demonstrated antimicrobial effects against a wide range of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi, including Chlamydia species, E. coli, Salmonella typhi, Candida albicans and Entamoeba histolytica.

Herbalists often recommend Goldenseal topically for its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic actions, which make it useful to clean wounds, reduce hemorrhoids, soothe canker sores, and alleviate skin infections (including ringworm and athlete's foot).

It can also help treat eye infections such as conjunctivitis and blepharitis.

The tea is recommended for colds.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'The American aborigines valued the root highly as a tonic, stomachic and application for sore eyes and general ulceration, as well as a yellow dye for their clothing and weapons.'

'It is official in most Pharmacopoeias, several of which refer to its yellowing the saliva when masticated.'

'The action is tonic, laxative, alterative and detergent.

It is a valuable remedy in the disordered conditions of the digestion and has a special action on the mucous membrane, making it of value as a local remedy in various forms of catarrh.

In chronic inflammation of the colon and rectum, injections of Hydrastine are often of great service, and it has been used in haemorrhoids with excellent results, the alkaloid Hydrastine having an astringent action.

The powder has proved useful as a snuff for nasal catarrh.'

'It is employed in dyspepsia, gastric catarrh, loss of appetite and liver troubles.

As a tonic, it is of extreme value in cases of habitual constipation, given as a powder, combined with any aromatic.

It is an efficient remedy for sickness and vomiting.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'It is a well-known fact, though often overlooked by those who wish to make it appear that the alkaloidal constituents of a plant are alone the valuable and active therapeutic factors, that the combination or association of principles formed naturally in the plant, or held together naturally even when derived from the plant, more completely represents the crude drug than do the isolated and forcibly separated alkaloids, and that medicinal virtues are possessed by the former that can not be even approximated by the latter.

Thus it is, that Lloyd's hydrastis (Binomial name - hydrastis canadensis) is much superior as a remedy, than if it were merely a fluid preparation of the white alkaloid.'

Goldenseal goldenseal plant Plant

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Ingredients: Echinacea angustifolia root, Goldenseal root, Chinese Licorice root, Yerba Mansa root, fresh Yarrow blossom, fresh Elder blossom, fresh Boneset herb, Bayberry root bark, fresh Dandelion root, fresh Grindelia flower, Ginger root, Red Root root, Osha root.

Breaks fevers and stimulates the immune system's response.

A favorite for fighting a cold or flu. Specific for the second, third, or more days of a cold or flu.

Reduces inflammation and strengthens tissues of the throat, sinuses and bronchioles.

Liquefies mucus, relieves deep-seated joint, muscle and bone pains, and headaches, as well as generalized body aches and headaches.

Breaks fevers and stimulates the immune system's response.

Quickly eliminates waste products and helps the body regain its balance.

Goldenseal goldenseal plant Plant

Goldenseal is a bitter that stimulates the secretion and flow of bile and can also be used as an expectorant.

It also has strong activity against a variety of bacteria yeast and fungi such as E. Coli and Candida.

Goldenseal is used for infections of the mucus membranes including the mouth sinuses throat the intestines stomach urinary tract and vagina.

Goldenseal is used for the following conditions: minor wound healing, bladder infections, fungal infections of the skin, colds & flu, sinus, and chest congestion.

Goldenseal goldenseal flower Flower

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Echinacea Goldenseal Tea.

Echinacea/ Goldenseal is an excellent combination of herbs for all kinds of viral & bacterial infections, strengthens the immune system against pathogenic infection by stimulating phagocytosis & T-Cell formation, blood cleansing properties, acne, bronchitis, colds & flu, congestion, psoriasis, tonsillitis, wounds, ear infections and stimulates the immune system.

Directions: The best way to make a good cup of tea is by the infusion method. Place one tea bag into cup and add no more than 6 oz. of boiling water. Let steep for 3 minutes and remove the bag. Press the bag before removing to enhance the flavor. Add honey to sweeten.

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Goldenseal

Goldenseal has been ascribed the following herbal properties (whole herb): bitter, hepatic, alterative, anticatarrhal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, laxative, emmenagogue, and oxytocic.

Goldenseal is often used as a multi-purpose remedy, and is thought to possess many different medicinal properties. In addition to being used as a topical antimicrobial, it is also taken internally as a digestion aid, and may remove canker sores when gargled. Goldenseal may be purchased in salve, tablet, tincture form, or as a bulk powder. Goldenseal is often used to boost the medicinal effects of other herbs it is blended or formulated with.

A second species from Japan, previously listed as Hydrastis palmatum, is sufficiently distinct that it is now usually treated in a separate genus, as Glaucidium palmatum.

Traditional usage

At the time of the European conquest of the Americas, goldenseal was in extensive use among certain Native American tribes of North America, both as a medicine and as a coloring material. Prof. Benjamin Smith Barton in his first edition of Collections for an Essay Toward a Materia Medica of the United States (1798), refers to the Cherokee use of goldenseal as a cure for cancer. Later, he calls attention to its properties as a bitter tonic, and as a local wash for ophthalmia. It became a favorite of the Eclectics from the time of Constantine Raffinesque in the 1830s.

Goldenseal was extensively used for cancers and swellings of the breasts by the Eclectics, although it was not considered sufficient for cancer alone. Hale recommended its use in hard swellings of the breast, while conium was used for smaller painless lumps. The two herbs alone or with phytoplankton Americana were used for cancers, along with alternatives like red clover.

Ellingwood's American Materia Medica lists goldenseal as being useful for functional disorders of the stomach, catarrhal gastritis, atonic dyspepsia, chronic constipation, hepatic congestion, cirrhosis, protracted fevers, cerebral engorgements of a chronic character, uterine subinvolution, in menorrhagia or metrorrhagia from the displaced uterus, post partum hemorrhage, catarrhal, ulcerating, aphthous, indolent and otherwise unhealthy conditions of mucous surfaces, leucorrhea, gallstones and breast swellings associated with the menses.

Ellingwood cites one unusual use:

Cuthberton gave hydrastis canadensis as a tonic to a pregnant woman who had a goitre of recent appearance. The goitre was promptly cured. As a result of this observation, he treated twenty-five other cases of goitre at the time of puberty, or during the pregnant state. At times when interference with the function of the reproductive organs seemed to produce reflex irritation. He claims that every case was cured by this remedy. He gave the agent from six weeks to three months, three times a day after eating. One of the patients had become steadily worse under the use of iodine, the iodides, and thyroid extract. This patient began to improve as soon as hydrastis was given, and was promptly cured with this remedy alone.

How goldenseal works

While most people assume that goldenseal has direct antimicrobial effects, it may work by more diffuse means. Herbalist Paul Bergner, AHG, investigated the research and has been unable to find case reports where the level of intestinal pathogens are lower after taking goldenseal, although he has found many reports where symptoms were reduced. In fact a study by Rabbani where men with E. coli induced diarrhea had 42–48% reduced symptoms after taking berberine showed unchanged levels of intestinal bacteria, pathogenic or otherwise. His conclusion on how it works:

One traditional use of goldenseal is as a mucous membrane tonic. Note that it does not have to come in contact with the mucous membranes to have this effect. Hold some goldenseal in your mouth for a minute or two, and you can feel the effect on the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses. Traditional doctors stated that goldenseal increases the secretion of the mucous membranes. At the same time, goldenseal contains astringent factors, which also counter that flow. Thus it was referred to as a mucous membrane "alterative", increasing deficient flow but decreasing excessive flow. How this happens has not been determined by science, but is thoroughly supported by the traditional uses.... It is my opinion that goldenseal acts as an "antibiotic" to the mucous membranes not by killing germs directly, but by increasing the flow of healthy mucous, which contains its own innate antibiotic factors—IgA antibodies. This effect is unnecessary in the early stages of a cold or flu, when mucous is already flowing freely.

It appears likely that goldenseal shares with Mahonia (Oregon grape) and Berberis (Barberry) the ability to inhibit the drug resistance efflux pumps (MDR pumps) of bacteria, as discussed below.

Constituents and modern pharmacology

Goldenseal contains these isoquinoline alkaloids: hydrastine, berberine, berberastine, hydrastinine, tetrahydroberberastine, canadine, and canalidine. A related compound, 8-oxotetrahydrothalifendine was identified in one study. Berberine and hydrastine act as quaternary bases and are poorly soluble in water but freely soluble in alcohol.

Multiple bacteria and fungi, along with selected protozoa and chlamydia are susceptible to berberine in vitro. Berberine alone has weak antibiotic activity in vitro since many microorganisms actively export it from the cell (although a whole herb is likely to work on the immune system as well as on attacking the microbes and hence have a stronger clinical effect than the antibiotic activity alone would suggest). Interestingly, there is some evidence for other berberine-containing species synthesizing an efflux pump inhibitor that tends to prevent antibiotic resistance, a case of solid scientific evidence that the herb is superior to the isolated active principle. However, it is not yet known whether goldenseal contains a drug resistance efflux pump inhibitor, although many antimicrobial herbs do.

Toxicity

While goldenseal, like all alkaloid-rich herbs including coffee and tobacco should be avoided during pregnancy and given to very young children with care, it appears that goldenseal is unlikely to be toxic in normal doses. Interactions with drugs with narrow therapeutic windows like warfarin, ciclosporin, protease inhibitors and cardiac glycosides are potential concerns.

Cautions

According to Herbalist Paul Bergner, AHG, only 10% of goldenseal is used when it is appropriate and there are no better substitutes. Goldenseal has an affinity for mucosa, and is cooling so should not be used if an infection is at an early stage or there are more chills than fever. Goldenseal should be used with caution only while sick with illnesses that respond to hydrastine and berberine. It should generally not be taken for an early stage Upper Respiratory Infection (URI), but reserved for illnesses in which there is yellow or green phlegm. Generally a two week maximum dosage is suggested. Taking goldenseal over a long period of time can reduce absorption of B vitamins. Avoid goldenseal during pregnancy and lactation, with gastrointestinal inflammation, and with proinflammatory disorders.

There are several berberine-containing plants that can serve as useful alternatives, including Chinese coptis, yellowroot, or Oregon grape root. *

* Read an article in Wikipedia with references and links Feb 6, 2011

Read an article in Wikipedia with references and links June 14, 2012

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Goldenseal

In the United states goldenseal is often referred to as Yellow Root.

One of the Goldenseal's most common uses is to enhance the body's seasonal resistance.

Goldenseal is an antibacterial that actively supports the immune system.

Goldenseal may help limit the duration of some colds.

When you are already sick, with thick mucus is a great time to consider using goldenseal.

You should supplement with magnesium when taking goldenseal.

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