Bayberry V Wild Endive

Many synthetically produced medicines originate from botanical species with the most popular of all medicine; the humble aspirin, being a prime example.

A great many health benefits can be found in plants. And roughage that cleans the gut is found in green leafy vegetables that we should all eat some of on a daily basis.

Wild endive that grows in many parts of the world has always been considered beneficial in many ways including that roughage property. Some recent research indicates that the high inulin and fibre content helps bring down glucose levels in the blood along with cholesterol so it’s obviously beneficial to diabetics and obese people.

This plant also contains antioxidant properties with high levels of carotene and vitamin A, something that helps with skin and mucus membrane. It’s also an essential vitamin to help maintain good eyesight.

Some plants are like Jekyll and Hyde. There is a healthy and highly beneficial part and another part to be avoided at all costs. Rhubarb and Bayberry springs to mind here.

The latter is a plant that has been known to provide many benefits for thousands of years. The Greeks, the Romans and every apothecary following, has known of these benefits. For many years these beneficial components were reduced to a form that was available at all health outlets.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that just a small part of a particular type of this plant was considered dangerous, the whole family of them has been banned by some committee in the EEC.

As a result more work has been put into producing a commercial supplement containing the useful parts of the endive family.

This slightly begs the question as to whether we should make rhubarb crumble and custard illegal. Rhubarb stalks may be delicious but the leaves are known to be deadly.

As an aside, a Belgium once stored young endive in a dark storage area and covered them with a blanket hoping they would last throughout the winter.

When he went to check them they had not grown like ordinary endive and turned green but had remained slightly stunted with closed leaves and remained white; and are delicious.

Choose Supplements With Care

One of the problems with dietary and beauty products is that there are just too many to choose from and knowing the best from the rest isn’t easy.

Because dietary and vitamin products are taken by so many of us some unscrupulous producers have jumped on the bandwagon. In the UK alone it’s a three-quarter of a billion pound business every year.

So choosing the ones that work and avoiding the ones that are probably doing little good for you, is hard work.

The first tip is to buy from a reputable supplier that has been around for plenty of time. New suppliers that have very recently sprung up on the internet are best avoided. Ones that actually go into some more detail than others and are willing to offer unsolicited helpful criticism from customers are also more likely to be trustworthy.

Major manufacturers, like the makers of Biocare Products, are likely to be more effective than one product wonders that suddenly pop-up on the internet. If you look carefully you’ll find some suppliers of a multitude of products have been trading for decades.

These providers of supplements must have something right if they have been successfully trading a long time.

The internet means you can research very easily the basic attributes of products that are contained in the product. In other words, if a product reveals it contains an amount of aloe-vera in its skin cream then just research that plant and see if it really is good for skin.

As it happens in that instance the plant has been known for hundreds if not thousands of years to be good for skin. Many societies living in very hot countries where the plant grows have always known that if anyone gets sunburn then cutting with a knife through a thick leaf and rubbing the juicy end over the burnt skin brings instant relief.

Whether it’s taken orally or is a skin product there seems to be a supplement for every ill. But just do a little homework before buying a product that might just be a waste of money.

If you would like to know more visit Finchleyclinic,