Buckthorn, or alder, is a tall shrub native to northern Europe. The bark
of alder buckthorn is removed, cut into small pieces, and dried for one
year before being used medicinally.
Buckthorn has been used as a
cathartic laxative in North...
* Please Note: This information is based partly on Traditional Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
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Buckthorn (Alder)
Buckthorn, or alder, is a tall shrub native to northern Europe. The bark
of alder buckthorn is removed, cut into small pieces, and dried for one
year before being used medicinally.
Buckthorn has been used as a
cathartic laxative in Northern and Central Europe for centuries. It is
still widely used today for constipation and resulting conditions such as
hemorrhoids and anal fissures. Buckthorn stimulates contractions of the
colon (peristalsis) and increases water content during stool
formation.
A closely related shrub, cascara sagrada, is more widely
known in North America due to its origins and cultivation on the Pacific
coast of Canada and the United States.
Directions
Hot tea brewing method: Bring freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 tea bag for each cup into the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the pot, cover and let steep for 2-4 minutes. Pour into your cup; add milk and sugar to taste.
Iced tea brewing method: (to make 1 liter/quart): Place 5 tea bags into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea itself. Steep for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into the serving pitcher straining the tea bags. Add ice and top-up with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste.
Cautions
Do not use if you are taking water pills, as Black Currant Leaf can increase the amount of water loss from the body.
Avoid Buckthorn if you have an intestinal obstruction, an acute inflammatory intestinal disorder such as Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis, appendicitis, or any abdominal pain of unknown origin.
Not for use by children under 12.
Buckthorn can cause abdominal pain or discomfort. If it does, reduce the dosage.
Do not take Buckthorn for more than 1 to 2 weeks without consulting a doctor. Long-term use can lead to potassium deficiency, intestinal dysfunction, heart problems, kidney disease, swelling, and bone problems.
Avoid combining Buckthorn with other medications that flush water and potassium from the body, including diuretics such as Diuril and Lasix, steroid drugs such as prednisone, and licorice root.
Potassium plays an important role in regulating the heart, so depleting it through long-term use of laxatives can affect the action of certain heart medications. There could be an increase in the effect of drugs such as digitalis and digoxin (Lanoxin). Medications taken to steady the heartbeat could also be affected.
Consult with your doctor before using Buckthorn while pregnant or breastfeeding.
Do not use when the colon is already empty.
Rhubarb Root may cause urine to appear yellow or red, but this is common and no cause for concern.
Additional Information
TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.
TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.
ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to Simona Heather at 905-494-1785.
Related Reading - As Voted by You!
Killing Rage
Publisher's Notes This is the most important, and disturbing, book ever published about the IRA. It is the first, unsparingly detailed account of the reality of political violence in a small country divided by rival ideas of nationhood.
No book has ever documented so compulsively the dreadful cost of an unwinnable guerilla war.
This is a chilling book written by a former Intelligence Officer for the IRA whose job it was to plan the murders of local IRA victims who sometimes were his neighbors.
The book seems to come from the headlines of today's newspapers and, even with the current peace agreement, splinter groups of the IRA continue its attack on unarmed civilians. Last week (late June) one such attack critically injured a 15-year-old boy.
The author was captured by British forces, served years in detention before being released and writing about the IRA.
Excerpt from The Reader's Catalog Over 3,000 people have died in Northern Ireland since 1969, and most at the hands of their neighbours. The intimacy of this conflict, what it means to carry out a political murder when you know your victim or live nearby, has often been imagined in novels or films. It has never been rendered accurately by a former participant. This is Collins's immensely detailed account of his life as an "Intelligence Officer" for the IRA as he spotted, tracked, and arranged the murders of local targets, and was responsible for five killings himself. This truly frightening, relentlessly honest book is the most unvarnished picture ever painted of the brutality and waste caused by the IRA's unwinnable campaign. It is also a cruelly accurate portrait of the despair and disintegration, the hardening of conscience and numbing of feeling, that accompany political violence
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."