Iain Maclean Herbalist

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I’ve been a herbalist now for 30 years and even though there has been an huge increase in the knowledge of plant based medicines there is still an amazing amount of historical knowledge that we as herbalists can draw on.

22/07/2025

Funny, not funny isn’t it that herbalists and naturopathic medicine have been around along time, since the Sumerians, Egyptians, and probably before that, and yet in the 21st century where a much greater understanding of these modalities exists, it’s not talked about in schools, universities (most), the government health system, allopathic medicine unless it’s in a derogatory sense, the legacy media, and interesting how when you talk to the average person their knowledge about these medical systems is either almost nonexistent or very limited. What do think went wrong? How do you think it can be brought back to the forefront of human health? Is the allopathic system the only way forward over the next few centuries and millennia? Do you think these modalities are antiquated and have no place in medicine? Are people hooked on “state of the art” ? Do people on masse really accept the evolutionary process?

22/07/2025

Two of the most important aspects to human health are the microbiome and the mitochondria. Focus on these two aspects and health will naturally follow. This is what evolution has shown us, this is the future of health, however you’ll have to do the heavy lifting yourself because the system won’t support you and same for most practitioners. Maybe when corporate power is reined in things will change

17/07/2025

Mitochondria provide evidence for the universal presence of bacteria in cells.

Mitochondria have their own DNA, distinct from that of the chromosomes in the cell nucleus; they replicate and are transmitted from generation to generation maternally through the egg. They are now generally held to have originated as symbiotic bacteria some 2 billion years ago.

15/07/2025

A high dose of golden seal has shown no clinically relevant interaction with metformin in a comprehensive clinical study.

Coadministration of golden seal root and rhizome with a subtherapeutic dose of the diabetes drug metformin (50 mg) was previously shown to decrease metformin levels in healthy adult participants by 25%. Given that both treatments might be co-prescribed in type 2 diabetes (golden seal for its berberine content), a new study investigated the pharmacokinetic golden seal-metformin interaction in adults with type 2 diabetes taking therapeutic doses of metformin (500 to 2250 mg per day). The potential consequent effects on clinical biomarkers of glucose control were also assessed, which might also be impacted by a pharmacodynamic interaction (an additive effect on lowering blood sugar).

The study used a complex protocol. During Arm 1 (baseline), 22 participants consumed their entire daily intake of metformin as a single oral dose. During Arm 2 (acute golden seal exposure), they were administered 3.3 g of a well-characterised oral golden seal product (550 mg whole root) 30 minutes prior to metformin. Each gram of the golden seal product contained 28.9 mg of berberine, 18.6mg of (−)-β-hydrastine and 0.73 mg of canadine. During Arm 3 (chronic golden seal exposure), they self-administered 1.1 g of golden seal three times a day for 28 consecutive days as well as metformin.

The aggregate pharmacokinetic data indicated no clinically meaningful interaction, as determined by the metformin area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC). However, the metformin AUC decreased by about 20%, 14% and 0% after golden seal coadministration at low (500-750 mg), moderate (1000-1500 mg), and high (2000-2550 mg) metformin doses, respectively; renal clearance and half-life remained unchanged throughout. The exploratory pharmacodynamic endpoint, HbA1c, decreased on average from 6.8% to 6.5%, regardless of the effects of golden seal on metformin pharmacokinetics.

The authors suggested that caution may be warranted for patients taking metformin concomitantly with golden seal, regardless of the unlikelihood of changes in metformin systemic exposure, due to potential additive blood glucose lowering effects.

The dose of golden seal used in this study was very high, I rarely dose more than 1.5 g per day. Yet no significant interaction was seen for more than double this dose. Also, the berberine content of golden seal is unlikely to significantly affect blood sugar, so the authors’ concern in this regard is quite conservative. It would be interesting to know if high doses of berberine, in excess of 600 mg per day, interact pharmacokinetically with metformin.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39943692/

15/07/2025

What does “unclean” mean? Sterilization (from microbes) of humans is an impossibility and undesirable. However it doesn’t stop people thinking this is possible and desirable. It happened in the 20th century. It’s a way of dehumanizing others, others that are enemies as deamed by the state and those in power. The majority go along with this nonsense, because they are told to go along with it and have very little ability to critically think. Germs like bacteria and viruses are not evil, and they are pleomorphic not a fixed species, they change according to their environment, this was established in the 19th century and has not changed since, just a deeper understanding of how evolution and biology works. I look forward to the day when the clever sillies and the ignorant realise this so we can move forward with a mature understanding of the natural world.

14/07/2025

Host resistance is paramount in health. We all carry pleomorphic bacteria and viruses they are the basis of our biology and our ancestors, but our internal environment dictates what they do and so our host resistance is of the utmost importance. This is not acknowledged by allopathy and if it is it’s generally not considered a priority, germs to them are the harbingers of disease not the host’s cells and tissues. This is the comparison of the old paradigm and the emerging new paradigm in health and disease.

A highly recommended read, but not in the interest of the current paradigm which names prokaryotes in the same way as eu...
13/07/2025

A highly recommended read, but not in the interest of the current paradigm which names prokaryotes in the same way as eukaryotes. Hard to find, UTAS has one in the library. All medical and naturopathic students and practitioners should read.

12/07/2025

Antibiotic resistance or pleomorphic adaptation for the prokaryotes, I reckon it’s the latter, makes more sense from an evolutionary biological standpoint

Hops can be a very effective remedy to induce sleep. It’s a major problem in western societies and lack of good sleep ca...
11/07/2025

Hops can be a very effective remedy to induce sleep. It’s a major problem in western societies and lack of good sleep can cause many issues. Other herbs to consider with advice from you practitioner include
Chamomile
Valerian
Californian poppy
Vervain
Scullcap
Lemon balm
Zizyphus

Waking refreshed is a goal many people struggle with

10/07/2025

It’s a hard point to get across, science has to be questioned, theories have to be continually questioned, discarded if the evidence doesnt support the hypothesis . Science is not a belief system. I have always thought that science was about trying to understand the universe and our world, what created life on this planet, why are solar systems and life reverse entropic, what creates spin from the largest to the smallest, etc, etc

Grandad John and me in 1964 used homeopathy during his life, to great effect according to my mother.
08/07/2025

Grandad John and me in 1964 used homeopathy during his life, to great effect according to my mother.

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