Open Source Apothecary At Home / Digestion
Digestion
Stomach, gut, liver, bowel
Stomach, gut, liver and bowel — the area where plant medicines have the most clinical evidence and also the most nonsense sold. Peppermint oil has real trials in irritable bowel syndrome. Psyllium has real trials for constipation. A great deal of what is marketed for bloating and detoxification has none. The pages here separate those categories, and flag the symptoms that mean a gut problem is not a self-care problem.
12 entries
Acute diarrhoea: rehydration first, everything else second
The treatment that saves lives is a measured salt-and-sugar solution. No herb in this handbook comes close.
remedyConstipation: fibre, water, and when a laxative is the wrong tool
Fibre is the evidence-backed answer and it is also the thing that makes constipation worse if you add it without water.
remedyHemorrhoids
The treatment is stool consistency and time. The soothing preparation is the part people enjoy.
remedyIndigestion without an ulcer (functional dyspepsia)
A German combination of nine herbs has the largest trial base of any herbal preparation in this handbook.
remedyInflammatory bowel disease: curcumin, boswellia and the rule about supplements
Some adjuncts have small trials. None of them replaces immunosuppression, and stopping treatment is what causes harm here.
remedyIrritable bowel syndrome: the diet has the strongest evidence
Two diets and one fibre beat most supplements, and peppermint oil is the herb with the best data.
remedyLiver and bile: milk thistle, artichoke, and the limits of liver herbs
There is no herb that treats liver disease, and one poison that must never be taken again.
remedyNausea and vomiting, including morning sickness
Ginger has real trial evidence, including in pregnancy. It is one of the few herbs where that sentence is true.
remedyPeppermint oil and peppermint tea for IBS and indigestion
One of the few herbs whose mechanism is known, whose trials exist, and whose effect is modest.
remedyReflux and heartburn
Most herbs that settle the stomach relax the valve at the top of it. For reflux, that is the wrong direction.
remedyStomach ulcers and Helicobacter pylori
A bacterium causes most ulcers. Antibiotics cure it. Some plant compounds suppress it and none replace the treatment.
remedyThe gut microbiome: what is actually established
Fermented food raises microbiome diversity in a controlled trial. Almost everything else sold for the microbiome does not have that evidence.
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