I'm starting to learn about eastern medicine and herbs and got a great book on various teas and their benefits, went to the store today and got some milk thistle to clean the liver, bilberry for eyes and yerba mate for energy in the morning.
But I was wondering if it would be ok to mix them up, because milk thistle doesent have much of a flavor, so I mixed in with bilberry.
Would this combo be ok?
I was thinking yerba+bilberry in the morning
and milk thistle+bilberry before bed.
I dont know if possibly mixing the 2 would diminish ones quality. If thats the case, I'll drink them seperately, I just like the taste of bilberry.
thanks
Jul 10th, '07, 00:50
Posts: 334
Joined: Jul 8th, '07, 17:19
Location: Submerged in a good cuppa
This seems like the kind of thing that would require more research than the lay person's immediate knowledge. As far as the effectiveness of herbal medicine, it's officially considered more speculative than anything else.
That aside, I'd suggest looking into what compounds in the milk thistle and the bilberry do what they do. That's the first step. Then see if those chemicals react adversely with each other. I left off the yerba mate because you're using it for its caffeine. And caffeine seems to be non-reactive with many things (considering its liberal distribution to so many food stuffs).
I could ramble on, but I think that would be a good place to start your investigation of interaction of these ingredients.
That aside, I'd suggest looking into what compounds in the milk thistle and the bilberry do what they do. That's the first step. Then see if those chemicals react adversely with each other. I left off the yerba mate because you're using it for its caffeine. And caffeine seems to be non-reactive with many things (considering its liberal distribution to so many food stuffs).
I could ramble on, but I think that would be a good place to start your investigation of interaction of these ingredients.
Researching compound interactions as a layperson is pretty darn difficult. A way to cut around that, particularly in regards to the herbal mumbo gumbo, is to run a few google searches to see if any of these things are put together in other products and then perhaps a little more research to see how well accepted the products are.
Of course, you won't be poisoning yourself if you mix any of these together, and in tea form the concentrations of each one's beneficial compounds are small enough that any negative interaction won't really matter. If you like the taste, go for it.
Of course, you won't be poisoning yourself if you mix any of these together, and in tea form the concentrations of each one's beneficial compounds are small enough that any negative interaction won't really matter. If you like the taste, go for it.
