Oregon's Wild Harvest aims to provide herbs "as nature intended" without chemical processing and has been focusing on standardizing our growing and manufacturing processes to bring consistency and quality.

What exactly is a standardized herb and how does it differ from the historical whole herb?
There is a common misconception that standardization to a marker compound is always scientific and guarantees an effective product. This is not always true. For example, hypericin is the marker compound which is “standardized” in St. John's wort products. The hypericin, however, accounts for only 0.3% of the standardized herb. What do we know about the other 99.7% of the extract?

There are thousands of naturally occurring compounds in St. John's wort. Although herbs have been used for thousands of years, modern scientific research of herbs is a relatively new phenomenon. In the race to market standardized herbal products, many herbalists have found that when we standardize to only one marker compound, that compound may not be the only bioavailable constituent. In regard to St. John's wort, there are other flavonoids and a compound called hyperforin, which has contributed to this herb's medicinal properties.

Historical Perspective

Modern medicine originated with whole herbs. Through technology, we were able to extract and isolate plant compounds to create tinctures and pharmacologically pure substances. For example, the opium poppy became redundant as the whole herb was replaced with a pure white powder. The drug in this case, is an extremely potent chemical that has a pharmacological activity in the body.

This philosophy has recently been applied to herbs in the attempt to make a "standardized herbal drug” by modern European pharmaceutical companies. This standardization process allows drug companies to patent manufacturing processes, allowing companies to use their standardized products in clinical trials. Unfortunately, because of these standardized products, we have almost lost the art of healing with whole herbs. We are constantly bombarded by drug companies and “quick-fixes” made with poorly made standardized extracts.

Many herbalists believe that herbs are not "magic bullets" and they should not be treated as such. Many herbs do not target specific illnesses and chemical pathways, they simply nourish and balance the body, providing treatment for the body as a whole (the holistic approach).

What about the need for consistency?

The consumer has more confidence in a product which provides a measured quantity of a specific compound. Fortunately, the standardized herbal industry has driven the need for consistent analytical methods, which can be shared by many laboratories. The importance of this consistency should be applied to whole herbs, along with the means to 'fingerprint' and characterize the numerous compounds naturally present in the whole herb. This type of information can used to pursue trademarks, and can be used as a way to market a quality product.