How can you tell how much herb is in an herbal extract?
You may be wondering how to figure out how much herb is in your extract. To get started, it’s actually helpful to first rephrase the question. This is because extracts, by their very nature, no longer contain the starting herb. Instead, they contain phytochemical extractives from the herb that are now separated from the structural material of the plant. This is what gives an extract its special properties. So, it might be better to ask, how much herb does the extract represent? Or put another way, how much herb is this extract made from?
The answer to the question lies in the weight to volume strength ratio. Strength ratios describe the weight of the starting herb and the volume of menstruum (combined liquids) used to extract it, and are also known as the extraction rate. So, for example, a 1:4 ratio means 1 gram (g) of herb is extracted with 4 milliliters (mL) of menstruum. You can also divide out the ratio to give 0.250 g/mL, equivalent to 250 mg/mL. And if you multiply this by the dose in mL you’ll get the extraction rate per serving. Here, if the serving is 0.7 mL, you get an extraction rate of 175 mg/serving.
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Ian Breakspear break it down further here: Dosage calculations & extract equivalency in herbal medicine – Ian Breakspear
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FOLK METHOD DOSING
Another popular dosing method that can be used, often for tinctures that have been made following the folk method and use 50% alcohol or glycerin, is to give 1 drop for every 2 pounds of body weight as a starting point and then titrating the dose, as explained above, from there.
- Helpful apps
There are some free and paid phone apps for working out herbs calculations, however beware that other than the BHP there is no guideline for herb dried amount for efficacy.