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The Mineral Content of Herbal Decoctions
People throughout the world have used herbal powders since the dawn of recorded medical history. In North America, in the past 150 years, paralleling the scientific interest in pharmaceutically active plant constituents, we've seen increasing emphasis on alcohol tinctures and concentrated extracts, and a downplaying of beverage forms of herbs in professional herbal practice. This shift from decoctions and infusions to more or less sophisticated solvent extracts may suit those practitioners who emphasize the drug-like qualities of herbs but may omit some of the most important health-building constituents: the minerals.