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Education and Information

We at Herb Lore pride ourselves in offering the highest quality herbal products. In addition to our focus on quality, we offer extensive information about the herbal products that we manufacture in-house. Our product descriptions are thorough, covering what each product is best used for, suggested dosage, ingredients, related herbs, and any potential or known contraindications.  We feel that it’s of utmost importance that people know what they’re using, how to use it correctly, whether an herb is safe for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers or not, and anything else of special note about a particular herb.

In our Articles and Information section, we offer a variety of basic articles from information on some of our products, to what products to use for sleep & relaxation, or what to use for the cold & flu season, to what herbs to avoid during pregnancy and breastfeeding, what’s in breastmilk as well as other subjects of importance to our customers.  We understand there is a lot to learn in the arena of birth and family health and herbs, and we are here to offer this important education and added support.

Our All-Access Members also have access to Premium Articles, which are our more in-depth and specialized articles.  They provide detailed and specific information on a variety of important subjects.

There is also information under our FAQ’s, Pam’s Blog, and Helpful Resources.  We try our best to be an information resource for you as well as a resource for high-quality products designed and created by an expert in the field.

Freshness and Quality

Our standards are high. Herb Lore’s herbal products are made with only the highest-quality ingredients. We source our all-organic non-GMO herbs from well-known and ethically sustainable sources. The glycerine, alcohol, vegi-caps, oil and other materials used in our tinctures, teas, salves, and capsules are 100% organic, vegetarian, non-GMO, and are gluten-free. 

Although at this time we do not have official Certified Organic status and do not claim to be Organic Certified, all of the materials used to make our products are certified organic, and our manufacturing space and processes adhere to organic certification standards.  The certification process itself is lengthy and costly, but we are working towards that goal. 

We manufacture our products in small batches, frequently.  This assures a fresh product all of the time - and if you cook with herbs and spices, you know how much better a fresh herb will work for you rather than an old one.  It works the same for medicinal herbs. We manufacture all of our products in our own 5500 sq ft manufacturing space, which allows us to know for sure what goes into our products and that the freshness and quality live up to our high standards.   There are no additive or fillers used - only pure organic herb. We pride ourselves in offering only the highest quality products, and each ingredient and process matters.

Organic Alcohol

All of our regular alcohol-based tinctures are tinctured in gluten-free, organic grape alcohol.  It is distilled down to pure alcohol with distilled water added to dilute it.  Please see below on how the distillation process removes all traces of the grapes themselves.

Organic Vegetable Glycerine

There is a lot of important information regarding the vegetable glycerine that we use.  Please read!

- We use a mix of 75% vegetable glycerine with 25% distilled water which makes for a thick, syrupy tincture.  The lab that we use to verify our product quality tested our mix and determined that these levels would provide the greatest protection and preservative properties for our non-alcohol tinctures.

- Vegetable glycerine can be made from any seed oil - soy, corn, coconut, palm, flax seed, etc. The vegetable glycerine that Herb Lore uses to make its non-alcohol tinctures is all-organic and is usually made from flax seed, although we are currently using soy due to flax seed glycerine being temporarily unavailable. (This is as of mid-September 2022.). We will switch to flax seed again once it's available again. 

Please read below if you're concerned about soy (or other) allergies:

We asked the owner of the company who we purchase our organic vegetable glycerine from (who is a Physiologist) about soy allergies, its GMO status, and her thoughts on the estrogenic properties of the soy in the product and she had this to say.  The allergen information applies to any nut or seed that's used in the making of vegetable glycerine.  It does not matter what source the glycerine derived from - at the end of processing, all that is left is the glycerine which is all the same.  No elements of the original plant, seed or nut remains.  Just like if you process any fruit or vegetable to get the water content out of it, at the end of the processing you will be left with only water, regardless of what fruit or vegetable it was processed from.  Processing any nut or seed down to its glycerine is the same - you'll be left only with the glycerine.  No other part of the plant, nut or seed remains.  

Here is what she had to say:

1) “The word “allergens” technically (and physiologically) refers to a reaction to proteins. Proteins trigger the histamine reactions of the body. (A histamine reaction means allergy symptom, such as sneezing, rash, runny nose, etc.) There is no protein in glycerin due to the way it’s made and processed, even if it’s made from a protein source, so experiencing an allergy to soy itself in vegetable glycerine is unlikely. There may be sensitivity to other chemicals in the product (as everything is a chemical, including natural substances) but people tend to use the word allergy broadly to apply to a lot of different types of sensitivities.

2)  Glycerin is considered hypoallergenic by the pharmaceutical and medical world. 

3)  It is important to know that “allergens” are technically protein - and glycerine is all sugar molecules - so no protein, no allergen.

4) Gluten is a protein and glycerine is a sugar (carbohydrate) molecule made from an oil (fat) molecule - no protein, no gluten.

5)  Allergies are (technically) triggered by proteins. People may be sensitive to other things so I won’t say that there is never a reaction - but sensitivity is different than allergies.

6) Glycerin can be made from any oil - palm, coconut, soy, flax, canola, you name it. Oils are called triglycerides because the molecule that forms an oil or fat is a glycerin backbone with 3 fatty acids off each molecule of oil.

7). Regardless of the oil source, the only thing left after processing (using heat, pressure and water) is the glycerine. No protein, no fat and no allergies. Glycerin is considered “highly refined” by FDA so is excluded from the listed allergens.
 

So, just to sum up, if someone has a soy allergy or sensitivity, the glycerine shouldn’t trigger that because there are no proteins present? 

Correct - no protein, no reaction - but I always tell people to spot check just in case. (Everybody’s bodies are all very different after all.)

(You can spot check by putting a few drops of the liquid on the inside of your elbow. If you have a sensitivity to it, you’ll have a little irritation at this spot. It will quickly disappear, but this is an indication that your body may have a sensitivity to the product and to not use it.)

Are the phytoestrogen properties still active?

Most hormones are made up of protein molecules. That said, I am not as sure about this as I am about allergens. My experience with plant-based substances is that there is an important degree of synergy between all the parts of the plant. ** So, where tofu (protein) and soybeans (edamame protein) themselves may be estrogenic, I don’t believe that the glycerine is. Also - so much glycerine is from other oils so it doesn’t make sense that it would have any kind of an estrogenic effect.

** Pam’s note - This is very true. This is why someone will get better results using a whole herb (the natural herb without any pharmaceutical processing or standardizing) rather than one that has been standardized, meaning that certain parts of a plant’s properties extracted and used without the other parts of the plant. Many mainstream companies standardize their herbs, but I (as an herbalist) don’t agree with doing this as you don’t have the other parts of the plant present and this important synergy, creating a more full effect for the user. (Standardizing allows a company to put a patent on an herb or herbal product, whereas a company is not allowed to patent a natural growing thing like a plant. That’s how this fad of standardizing by companies came into being.)
 

Pam’s specialized expertise with herbs for pregnant and breastfeeding moms – it's not your regular herbalism.  You need an expert.

Many herbalists have extensive knowledge about using herbs, but not many are specifically trained in using herbs with pregnant, trying-to-conceive or breastfeeding mothers.  This is a whole other realm of herbalism with critical considerations and consequences for pregnant and nursing mothers and their babies.  

Our herbalist, Pam Caldwell, is one of the few herbalists who specialize in this area, with 20+ years of experience.  She is knowledgeable about what works and what herbs to use for various problems, and especially what is safe and appropriate for pregnant moms, trying-to-conceive moms, and breastfeeding moms and their babies.  What might be safe for a regular person may be contraindicated (or even dangerous) for a pregnant or breastfeeding woman or her baby.  It's wise to rely on a specialist in this area rather than a general-practice herbalist. 

Pam has created the Herb Lore line of products with pregnant and breastfeeding moms specifically in mind utilizing her specialized knowledge and expertise.  She and Herb Lore's products have been a trusted resource by midwives, OB's, Lactation Consultants, pediatricians and other mama/baby care providers around the world since 1996.  We have a product or solution for just about anything a trying-to-conceive, pregnant, lactating, or new mom might need, or any problem they may encounter.  Because of our specialized information, the Herb Lore website and its information are frequently used as required reading in various birthworker or doula trainings.

 


 


 


 


 

Testimonial

Thank you so much!  Your products are a blessing!  We love your tinctures!  Your Placenta Release Tincture, in particular, has been amazing for our mothers here. Thank you for your wisdom, generosity, and love.  Your products save lives!  Thank you Pam Caldwell of Herb Lore for your support of Bumi Sehat's moms!  
Love, Ibu Robin
Robin Lim
Director, Midwife at Bumi Sehat Birth Center, Bali, Indonesia
CNN's Person of the Year 2013