Astragalus Root

Astragalus root (astragalus membranaceus) is a medicinal herb that is native to China and other parts of Asia for literally over 2,000 years. Astragalus is believed to balance the flow of vital lifeforce energy (qi in Chinese, hiim in Korean, and ki in Japanese) that flows through all living organisms.

In fact, in the former Soviet Union, Kirlian photography validated this 6,000 year-old, anciently held belief that is at the core of natural Chinese medicine.  Astragalus root is a botanical relative of licorice and the pea plant.

Benefits

• Boosts the immune system, which has a number of secondary benefits due to such strengthening including warding off significant diseases.
• It also can, when taken as a tonic, enhance stamina and vitality. It also helps produce interferon, which is the anti-viral agent that is responsible for its immune system enhancing capability.
• It can help eradicate or limit candida overgrowth syndrome by taking 500 mg twice a week.
• Helps minimize a cold or flu effect by taking 200 to 400 mg extract taken once a day. (Rotation with another herb like echinacea is recommended for maximum effect.)
• This herb's properties include potent antioxidant capability, helping to neutralize free radical radicals -- unstable oxygen molecules in the system that cause aging and some researchers say also play a role in degenerative diseases.
• The polysaccharides in this herb help the body to improve red blood cell creation -- something important to anemia sufferers.

Recommendations & Guidelines

How To Choose a Good Astragalus Supplement

Here are some general guidelines that can help you select the best astragalus root supplement, but also some necessary precautions as well. In order to be as safe as possible for remember, most herbals are highly concentrated medicinal plants that have highly concentrated compounds or active ingredients, which is where the therapeutic benefits reside.

These active ingredients can either amplify or lessen prescription medications' effects and as such, please consult with your doctor before using any herbal medicine or supplement. However, this is a general warning.

Astragalus root can actually be safely combined with many traditional medical treatments without any real significant problems arising. In fact, it is generally wise advise to consult with a doctor before beginning any new supplement or in embarking on a new supplement regime.

Pregnant and lactating women especially should also consult with their physician before taking astragalus root, or any new supplement or herbal medicine for that matter. As you know, the body can develop a tolerance to such herbs like astragalus if taken for prolonged periods of time.

Master herbalists recommend alternating taking this herb with other immune-system herbs like echinacea, pau d'arco, and cat's claw (una de gato).This is sound advice and we concur. Usually, with such potent and powerful herbals like astragalus root, it has some significant side effects.

Not so with astragalus. It appears to be a very safe herb with no significant side effects. As a general rule, though, stick to recommended dosages to be safe.

What should you look for when choosing a good astragalus supplement? Look for two things: standardized extracts as this preserves the active ingredients and pharmaceutical grade quality products produced at GMP compliant facilities.

Most companies avoid standardized extracts and GMP compliant facilities as it's expensive to do so. To be safe you're getting quality products, make sure those two things are in place. Dietary supplements and herbal medicines aren't regulated by the FDA and as a consequence, dishonesty reigns.

By making sure you're getting standardized extracts and pharmaceutical grade quality, you've taken two big steps to ensure safe herbal medicines and/or supplements.

If, by the way, you're looking for an astragalus root supplement substitute with the same kind of benefits yet in a pill form, click on the preceding link.

I sincerely hope this astragalus root web page has been useful to you.

Yours in health, hope, and harmony,
Nutritional-Supplement-Bible.com