Access to all articles, new health classes, discounts in our store, and more!
Goldenseal: The Antibiotic Myth
Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, is among the top five selling herbal products in the United States, and is commonly sold to the public in combination with the herb echinacea as an "herbal antibiotic." Both these plants are powerful healers, panacea herbs whose use was learned by European settlers from Native American tribes. Both also entered into the physician-level herbal medicine of nineteenth and early twentieth century America, and were regarded as reliable mainstays in medical practice for more than 100 years. Their commercial use today, however, has little resemblance to legitimate medical use, and possibly makes the user sicker in the long run than if they had not taken the herbs.