Nutritive Herbs for Companion Animals
By Gregory L Tilford, Herbalist
With all the hoopla generated by
a booming herbal products industry, it's easy to find ourselves
lost in a sea of "scientifically-proven" herb
supplements. Certainly, whenever progress is made in the
scientific validation of herbs, great new possibilities
unfold. But if we wish to use herbs at their full potential,
we must be careful not to get caught up in a whirlwind of
hype. If we do, we may fail to see the true breadth of an
herb's usefulness. Sometimes the greatest attributes of
a popular herb are overshadowed by whichever of its uses
have received the best press.
For example, Ginkgo biloba is aggressively
marketed as a medicine that can increase blood circulation
to the brain and improve mental clarity in persons and animals
suffering from various forms of dementia. This is backed
up by dozens of scientific studies, and indeed, ginkgo can
help the brain. But did you know that the mechanisms by
which ginkgo accomplishes these feats, make it broadly useful
throughout the entire body, not just the brain? In fact,
ginkgo was used by the Chinese as a digestive and kidney
tonic for thousands of years before brain attributes were
discovered by modern scientists.
From the perspective of a holistic herbalist,
the brain attributes of ginkgo are only a segment of what
the herb really has to offer. Ginkgo can help strengthen
the structural integrity of blood vessels and improve blood
delivery to oxygen-dependent tissues of the extremities,
digestive organs, the kidneys, and even the eyes. This means
that ginkgo is useful in a wide variety of applications
- from the treatment of arthritis to kidney failure. Ginkgo
is also useful as a nutritive adjunct to assist the transport
of blood-carried nutrients, such as those provided by various
other herbs, like nettle, dandelion, or burdock.
One of the pitfalls of evaluating herbs
from only what the headlines read is that most scientific
studies compare herbs with conventional medicine, meaning
the focus of most studies is centered on what an herb can
or cannot do in the treatment of a specific ailment. As
a result of this, herbs are treated as "plant drugs"
by most of the scientific community, and their broader food
values are largely overlooked. The herbalist who views health
from a whole body perspective sees herbs as something unique
to both food and medicine. Herbs are not drugs, nor are
the simple foods. Instead, the holistic herbalist sees herbs
as something in between. Simply put, herbs provide the body
with special measures of support that bridge the gaps that
may exist between what a body receives from diet, and what
it needs in terms of added systemic assistance.
For example, an animal that does not fully
digest and assimilate its food and cannot put on body weight
may benefit from the support of powdered Yucca schidigera
root. When added in small amounts to the animal's food,
the herb will help improve the absorption of nutrients in
the intestine, thus optimizing the nutrient value of the
food. Dandelion or burdock root on the other hand, may serve
to improve the liver's production of bile, enzymes, and
various other biochemicals, which are critical to digestion
and the transport of nutrients throughout the body, while
at the same time adding a rich diversity of vitamins and
minerals to the animal's diet. This makes dandelion and
burdock especially useful in animals suffering from chronic
constipation, arthritis, skin problems, or other disorders
that may be associated with deficient liver function.
In addition to their capacity to improve
the body's utilization of the food it receives, many herbs
contribute their own rich sources of vitamins, minerals,
and antioxidants. Unlike many high-potency vitamin supplements
that have the potential to over-load the body with excess
nutrients, nutritive herbs do not place added burden upon
the liver, kidneys and digestive system. Instead, herbs
provide their nutritional values in food-like form that
the body can freely digest and utilize. This makes nutritive
herbs especially useful for animals that have malabsorption
problems - such as elderly dogs and cats, and those who
suffer from food allergies or the long term effects of antibiotic
therapies or intestinal parasites. In other words, nutritive
herbs can help provide special measures of added support,
without contributing stress to an already over-stressed
body.
© Copyright 1999
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