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How can people tell the effects of herbal teas and tinctures? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/herbalism@slrpnk.net
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So I have some lemon balm and peppermint in my garden and we use it to make tea.

I really like the smell and aroma of lemon balm and if I look online, it mentions for example that lemon balm is used for relieving anxiety, stress and can improve cognitive function.

But how is this tested, how can people even tell?
Does it really have this effect? And what would happen if you drink a lot of it?

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[–] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)

Historically, by drinking and recording how it made them feel, over the course of generations.

Currently we have the ability to perform mass spectrometry and chemical assays to determine what the active chemical compounds produced by plants are. For example: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8998931/

Some people swear by their effects, while others don't notice them at all. Everybody processes the compounds differently, and there's certainly a psychosomatic component at play as well.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 10 months ago

    I suppose I'm one of those people who don't notice much at all. Even with modern medication. But that might be more of an issue with how my brain works, rather than that medication does not work whatsoever.

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